Side Project

Coming soon… Son of the Revenge of Dawn of the Commie Pinko Writing Contest

Signups begin December 1, 2011
Writing period is February 10 - 25, 2011

TO SIGN UP:

Send an email to CommiePinkoSignup@hanneblank.com
Use the subject line "Signup: Fiction" or "Signup: Nonfiction" depending on which category you plan to enter.
In the body of the email, please provide: your full name, your preferred email address, the category for which you are registering (fiction/nonfiction), and your country of residence (to help us figure out postal limitations for prizes).

SIGNUPS WILL BE CLOSED AFTER WE HAVE REGISTERED 50 WRITERS IN EACH CATEGORY.

The original DIY for-writers-by-writers crowdsourced writing competition last held in 2006 is back, and it’s bigger and pinker than ever!

In February 2012, up to 100 intrepid writers will vie for fame, glory, and some truly awesome prize packages in a writing throwdown so intense, so revolutionary, and so literarily satisfying that the entire English language will need a cigarette afterward.

In the Commie Pinko Writing Contest, not only will you write like a dervish drunk on the majesty of prose, but you will also read every other entry in your division and cast your votes for who should win, place, and show. (That’s right, not only do you get to see what the competition’s like but you get to vote for your favorites.) You will contribute a prize item to the pool that will then be shared amongst the winners. And, should your piece make it into the top 10 finalists in your division, it’ll be read and voted on by an All-Star Panel of professional writers, editors, and experts who will decide who wins the boxes of Fabulous Prizes… and the ultimate in literary braggin’ rights.

WHO: Any writer, published or unpublished, who is willing to abide by the rules of the Contest and participate in full in all four phases of the competition: writing, reading, judging, and prizes.

WHEN: The 2012 competition’s writing period will begin at midnight on Friday, February 10, 2012, and all submissions will be due at or before midnight on Saturday, February 25, 2012.

WHERE: Wherever you write, baby. We do this through the magic of the Internet.

WHY: Fame, glory, and the correct use of the subjunctive mood.

WHAT: The “what” consists of writing, reading, voting, judging, and fabulous prizes.

WRITING
Writers will compete by writing, during the set writing period, an original English-language work between 1000 and 6,500 words in length, in one of two categories, either Short Story or Creative Nonfiction / Essay. Each category will be assigned a theme. All submissions must reflect the theme in some way. Themes will be announced on February 5, five days before the writing period begins.

READING & VOTING
Here’s where the Commie Pinko Writing Contest is different from your average contest, because every writer who competes is also one of the judges. After the writing period is over, each writer will be issued a PDF containing every piece submitted in his or her category, presented without author names or other identifying information. Writers will have two weeks to read the works and then vote on their top 5 favorites.

FINAL JUDGING
After the competitors’ votes have been tallied, the 10 highest-rated pieces from each division will be read by an all-star panel of professional writers, editors, and other experts who have (in the Commie Pinko spirit of the affair) volunteered to read and rate the finalists. The judging panel’s votes will be used to choose three (or four, in case of a tie) Grand Prize Winners. Who’s on the panel? Glad you asked. The All-Star Final Judging Panel for the 2012 Commie Pinko Writing Contest includes

• S. Bear Bergman, Minister of Subculture
• Elizabeth Bear, Commissar for Future Affairs
• Hanne Blank, Benevolent Dictator, the founder and organizer of the Commie Pinko Writing Contests
• Admiral Roxane Gay
• Keridwen Luis, Supreme Justice
• Scott Turner Schofield, The Leopard-Print Tsarevitch

FABULOUS PRIZES
Each entrant will, prior to February 5, mail an actual fabulous prize to a given mailing address, where they will be collected. After the Grand Prize Winners are announced, the prizes will be divided up into Grand Prize Packages and mailed to the contestants who have won them. Guidelines for what kinds of prizes are appropriate will be distributed to all participants after they register.

Signups begin December 1, 2011… watch this space.