Last of the January Submission Opportunities

Spirit First is pleased to announce its Meditation Poetry Contest 2015. Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of Meditation, Mindfulness, Silence, Stillness, or Solitude (we are referring to peaceful solitude and contemplation--not loneliness). First Prize $200. Free to enter. Deadline: January 31, 2015. For more information and how to enter, see our website at www.SpiritFirst.org. We can accept up to 3 poems from each poet. Last year we received 1,752 poems from around the world, and we look forward to another amazing gathering of poems in our 2015 contest. Thank you, poets, for your beautiful writing--we wish you the very best in our new contest.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Nurses - This will be our third book for nurses with coauthor LeAnn Thieman.We all know that times are tough in healthcare today. Nurses are dedicated and caring professionals who are doing more... with less. We are looking for true stories that will inspire, support, motivate and nurture those in the nursing profession. These true stories can be serious or humorous. They should be heartwarming and uplifting stories that will make our readers laugh, cry, sigh or just say, "Wow!" The deadline for story and poem submissions has been extended to January 25, 2015.

READER'S DIGEST POETRY PRIZE http://www.rd.com/poetry NO ENTRY FEE. The simple rules are to craft a compelling poem, in fewer than 16 lines, that the judges deem as the best. The finalist will receive a cash prize of $500, plus publication. Deadline January 31, 2015. Open to U.S. residents ages 18 and over.

NELSON AGREN AWARD https://algren.submittable.com/submit NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline January 31, 2015. Limit 8,000 words. Fiction only. One grand prize winner will receive $3,500. Four finalists will each receive $1,000. Five runners-up will each receive $500. Limit two entries.

THE JAMES WHITE AWARD http://www.jameswhiteaward.com/rules OPTIONAL ENTRY FEE. The James White Award is a competition for original short stories of not more than 6,000 words by non-professional writers. The closing date for entries to this year's competition is midnight (GMT) 31 January 2015 The winner will be announced at Dysprosium, Eastercon 2015 (3-5 April, 2015) during the BSFA Awards ceremony (details to be confirmed). This year's prize is £200 plus publication in Interzone. The competition is free to enter but we encourage authors (and others) to support the competition by making a donation, if they can. Deadline January 31, 2015.

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Stories about the Christmas Season Our holiday books are very popular. We do a new edition every other year and so we are now collecting stories for our Christmas 2015 book. Share your special stories about the holiday season - including Chanukah and Kwanzaa - from inspirational and joyous, to heartwarming and humorous. Remember all of the stories in our Christmas books are "Santa Safe" - we don't want to spoil the magic for children. The deadline for story and poem submissions is January 31, 2015.