http://shortaustralianstories.com.au/submissions/the-carmel-bird-award/The Carmel Bird Award
The CARMEL BIRD Award 2014
— Long Story Competition
Judged by Michael McGirr
First prize: $500
Open Theme
4,000 – 10,000 words.
Entry fee: $20
Winning and shortlisted entrants will be considered for inclusion in the SPINELESSWONDERS Michael McGirr Selects eSingles series.
Closing date: 31 August 2014
To view and download entry form, click here.
Michael McGirrwebWhat are we looking for?
Your entry could be a very long short story, a very short novel, a short story cycle, a story sequence, a soliloquy, a novella, a dramatic monologue, a multi-voiced non-linear story with a shifting point of view and time slips. It may be a self-reflexive, post-modern metafiction. It might be a fable. Or an absurdity. It might be in a literary style that has no label. We just want it to blow our minds and fill our hearts. We don’t just want to read your words, we want to feel them.
Our Judge
Michael McGirr is a well-known Australian writer. His books include Things You Get For Free (Scribe), Bypass: the story of a road (Picador) and The Lost Art of Sleep (Picador). His short fiction has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, anthologies and collections, both in Australia and overseas. For five years, he was the fiction editor of Meanjin. His favourite long short story is ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’, a late masterpiece by Leo Tolstoy.
Terms and Conditions of Entry
1. Entries must be from 4,000 – 10,000 words in length.2. Entries from within Australia must be sent in hard copy. Entries must be printed on one side only, using 1.5 line spacing and 12 pt font size. Each page must be numbered and include the story title but not author name. ***Entries from Australians living overseas can be submitted electronically via Submission Manager. To enter, click here.
3. Stories under consideration by another competition or publication or previously published or awarded, at a national level, will not be accepted.
4. Entries will be judged anonymously. The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript.
5. The judge’s decision will be final. No correspondence will be entered into.
6. Entrants must be over 18 years of age.
7. Entrants must be either Australian citizens (living anywhere), or permanent residents of Australia.
8. Entry fee is $20.00. Multiple entries are acceptable. Payment can be made electronically on our Products page using a credit card or Paypal via our website, OR by cheque or money order made out to Spineless Wonders and mailed along with entries.
9. Each individual entry must be accompanied by an Entry Form. To view and print out an entry form, click here.
10. Mail entries to:
Carmel Bird Long Story Competition
PO Box 220
STRAWBERRY HILLS
NSW 2012
11. Entries must be postmarked 31 August, 2014 or earlier. Late entries will not be accepted.
12. Shortlisted entries will be notified no later than February, 2015. Results will be announced via this website by March, 2015.
13. The winning and shortlisted stories will be considered for publication in electronic form by SPINELESSWONDERS as part of its Michael McGirr Selects series*. All entries, including the winning stories, may be edited for publication.
About the eSingles series
SPINELESS WONDERS eSingles are available in ebook and PDF formats. Proceeds of the e-story series sales will go directly to authors, excluding a minimal percentage to cover administration costs. Further details regarding issues such as copyright, distribution etc are included in the publisher-author contractual agreement.
*The Michael McGirr Selects will be the second in our long stories series. To find out more, go to The Amanda Lohrey Selects series.
