THE THIRD ANNUAL VOICE MAGAZINE WRITING CONTEST!
$1000 in scholarships to be awarded
$500 each in the fiction and non-fiction categories
Write for The Voice and win money for your education.
The Voice is launching its third annual writing contest, with categories for both fiction and non-fiction.
Non-Fiction: In 1500 words or less, write about any issue affecting the environment. You may write about issues in your local area, or global ones. You may focus on the human aspects of environmental change, or the impact on the earth. Feel free to use research or statistics in your article [with proper citations], or write a creative opinion piece.
Fiction: Free form – write a 1500 word or less fiction submission in any genre or any format. Short stories, poetry, a scene from a play, even a comic. Be creative!
Please read the contest rules and regulations and submission guidelines very carefully to ensure you are not disqualified. It’s free to enter. The length limits are firm and all entries that go beyond these limits will be disqualified. Good luck!
Rules and Regulations:
Entrants must be AU students. Student status will be confirmed with the AU registrar. Please ensure that the registrar has your current address and contact information.
Winning entries will be published in The Voice. The Voice reserves the right to print non-winning entries at a rate of remuneration in accordance with current Voice freelance submission rates. The Voice may use portions of non winning non-fiction entries in a composite about students perspectives on the environment. No remuneration will be provided for such use.
All decisions regarding this contest and the selection of winners remain with the judging panel and are final.
AU, AUSU, and Voice staff and AUSU Council members are not eligible for the contest.
Entries will be judged by a panel to be selected by the Voice Editor, and this panel may include: AU students, AU tutors, and/or AUSU council members. The panel will include at least 3 members.
The Voice Editor will collect articles and oversee the judging, but will not be a judge.
Entries must be original works which have not been printed or published elsewhere, and must not be course assignment papers or derivatives of.
Entries must not contain any information that would make the identity of the author evident to judges. To ensure fairness, all entries will be forwarded to the judging panel with a reference number attached, but no personally identifying information will be forwarded. The Voice Editor will keep the identity of the authors private until the contest closes. The Voice editor will keep a record of the authors of submissions, and will be the sole owner of this list.
Entries will not be edited for grammar, spelling, or content, although The Voice Editor may black out any personally identifying information contained within the submission. Otherwise, entries will be forwarded to the judging panel, as is, with the exception that all entries will be converted to use the same file format, margins, font size and font style to ensure that all entries are equally readable.
The deadline for submissions in both categories will be January 31, 2006. The winner will be announced by February 15, 2006. The Voice reserves the right to extend either deadline if necessary.
One grand prize winner will be selected in both the fiction and non-fiction categories. If no entries are received in one of the categories, the prize money will be returned to the Voice scholarship budget. Prizes will be awarded in the form of a cheque, payable in Canadian funds.
The Voice reserves the right to add additional, secondary prizes.
The Voice is not responsible for lost emails. The Voice editor will confirm receipt of all entries by email. Please follow up if you do not receive a reply in two business days.
All entrants agree to allow their name and city of residence to be printed, along with their submission, should it be selected as a winning entry. No further remuneration – beyond the contest prize – will be paid to the contest winner when their entry is printed.
Entrants will be asked to sign a standard Release and Indemnity form; each prize winner agrees to release the Sponsor and its agents from any liability in connection with the prizes awarded in this contest.
Any entrant found to be tampering with the contest results, or attempting to influence any of the judging members, or using any forums or other public communications media to advise others of which entry is theirs will be disqualified; or if The Voice editor determines, at her sole discretion, that any other form of tampering has been attempted, that entrant will be disqualified.
No preference will be given to regular Voice writers. Entries will not identify the writer as a regular Voice contributor when sent to the judging panel.
Where applicable, this contest is subject to all federal, provincial and municipal laws. Contest void where prohibited.
Submission Guidelines:
Your submission must be an electronic file attached to an email. Submissions sent as the body of an email will not be accepted. Contact voice@ausu.org if you require instructions on how to attach a file to an email.
Submissions should be in Microsoft Word format [.doc], rich text format [.rtf] or plain text format [.txt]. If you use a Word Processor other than Word or work on a Mac computer, you can save a file in one of these alternate formats using the ‘save as’ function and selecting the desired format on the save menu. Contact The Voice editor if you require assistance in formatting your submission. Users of older Macs may have to send entries in HTML format.
Each entrant may submit one entry to each of the two categories
All entries must be under 1500 words due to judging time constraints. Length will be determined by the Word Count feature in Microsoft Word. Your References and Citations section will not be included in the word count. References should be formatted consistently according to a standardized publishing style guide, such as the American Psychological Association (APA) or the MLA press style.
Entries should not include unnecessary formatting such as drop caps, graphics [unless the graphic is integral to the work], or unusual fonts. Entries must be text – scans of hand written or typed documents will not be accepted.
The email should include the following information: Your full name, AU student ID number, email address, telephone number, mailing address, the title of your entry, and whether you are submitting to the fiction or non-fiction category. Make sure non-fiction entries are based on the topic question detailed above. Fiction entries can be on any topic you like. Do not include your contact information within your article – but be sure to include a title.
Entries will be judged on the following criteria:
Non Fiction entries: will be judged on originality, creativity, accuracy, and how well your support your assertions with data or argument. You will also be judged on the presentation of your article, including professionalism, proper spelling, grammar and syntax, and readability. You may write in journalistic style or essay format.
Fiction entries: will be judged on creativity, entertainment value, and the originality or your writing style. Regardless of the genre you choose, you will be judged on the effectiveness of your piece and your technical writing skills.
Contact voice@ausu.org if you have any questions.
