Short story competition - very expensive. I wonder how many entries they get and whether it is a money-making thing or what?
Rules
1. Maximum of 3,000 words.
2. Entry fee € 20.00 per entry. Bank Drafts only should be made payable to William Trevor Short Story Competition.
3. Entries must not have been previously published.
4. Anonymous. : please use the official entry form that can be downloaded from www.williamtrevorshortstory.com.
5. Typed using double spacing, two copies.
6. Awards will only be made where a satisfactory standard is achieved. (interesting)
The 6 finalists will be notified by letter/email on or before 30th April 2008.
The prizes will be presented at a ceremony, in Mitchelstown, on Saturday 24th May 2008.
The adjudicator is William Trevor.
Closing Date Friday 30th November 2007
Entries by post only to: William Trevor Short Story Competition, 37 Upper Cork Street, Mitchelstown, County Cork, Ireland.
1st Prize: €2,500 plus laptop computer
5 comments:
I deleted my earlier comment. I think I'll just not say anything more about it. You can probably guess what I think about it, and the 20 euros and all the rest of it.
Hi, I am not yet a blogger but I do read ( and enjoy) your blog and wished to draw your attention to three interesting issues regarding this competition, which has recently announced the shortlist for 2007.
1)Hester Casey, who was shortlisted, has now had her name withdrawn with an apology from the organisers, who state that they got complaints because her story had been broadcast earlier, though never published. Ms. Casey apparently fully disclosed this to them when she entered the contest and they agreed to accept her entry. Now they state that on the basis of the complaints they received, they contacted her and she has withdrawn her story.
2) I wrote to the organisers after the shortlist was announced, asking them how it was that a competition that had "International" in its title, has announced almost all Irish (with a couple of exceptions, those being from England)shortlisters and winners for two years in a row, the entirety of its existence. I wondered what that said about the 'triaging' committee and also said it seemed incredible to me that not a single entry from abroad ( they listed receiving 'many' entries from Italy, USA, Singapore, Australia, India etc for both 2006 and 2007) would have any merit at all, at least enough to send it on to Mr. Trevor for final adjudication. I got a reply stating that 96 percent of entries were from Ireland, 2 percent from UK, and of the remaining 4 percent, less than 2 percent from the U.S. (!). I told them that then they should state that on their website, as at the least, it would clarify to those of us from countries outside Ireland, who submitted ( I am from the U.S and sent in an entry)this strange pattern of winners being only/mostly from Ireland and also correct the misperception that they received many entries from abroad. ( They got a total of "almost 400" stories).
3) Now I discover from another blog,( Women Rule Writer) that William Trevor did NOT judge the 2007 competition and someone named Seamus H ( sorry, I'll have to get the correct last name and if I go look for it, with my luck, this entry will disappear into the ether, so I'll give the full name later) was the judge!
Hey guys, do you think this is fair? I know I entered this contest, despite the hefty fees for those of us in the US ( given the weak dollar), just because of the chance, however small it might have been, that Trevor might judge my entry. Shouldn't the organisers have made this fact known to the public as soon as possible? I just wrote to them asking if this was true and to clarify.
I am so riled up right now ( ;-)) that I am sure I have made a lot of typos - forgive me.
Interested in knowing your opinion.
Thanks!
Hi Ethical scribe. Poor Hester Casey. I think the organisers should stick by their decision once they've made it and not prevaricate. (See last posting on Willesden Herald)
As for William Trevor not judging, I'll do some more research. I would imagine Mr Trevor, being such a busy and important man, would only read the culled shortlist.
And Ethical scribe, thos would be better discussed on a blog of your own, much as I appreciate your comments on my blog. Go for it! Get a blog.
Hi, EmergingWriter,
Thanks for your reply. You are right ..I should write a blog of my own but two things stop me 1) I'm the world's worst ( or best, depending on POV ;-)) Luddite; 2) I'm afraid that once I start blogging, I'll basically use that as an excuse to not write my short stories, hehehe. I have excuses enough, as it is.
As for William Trevor reading only the culled shortlist, yeah, I'd agree if it weren't for the fact that for the 2006 competition (which I did not enter), the shortlist was posted with the announcement that "William Trevor has judged the following stories to be worthy of awards." ( I may be paraphrasing a bit but that was the gist of it).In other words, the clear impression given was that Mr. Trevor chose the shortlisters.
C'est la vie!
By the way, it is Seamus Hosey of RTE who was the judge. Next year this competition will change its name to the Mitchelstown Short Story Contest - go figure :-)!
Thanks again for replying and good luck with your novel :-)
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