[NFB-Conventions] National Federation of the Blind Writers' Division 2020 Contest Guidelines

[Shelley Alongi]

Good morning, Here are the 2020 National Federation of the Blind Writers’ Division guidelines. Please share these with conventioniers and feel free to reach out with questions.

2020 WRITING CONTEST GUIDELINES

The annual youth and adult writing contests sponsored by the NFB Writers’ Division will open January 1st and close April 30th for all aspiring writers whether blind, sighted or visually impaired.

Adult contest categories are: short Fiction, nonfiction including personal essay and memoir, and poetry.

Youth contest categories are: Short fiction and poetry. The youth contest is divided into three groups, determined by grade level – elementary, 1st through 4th grade, middle, 5th through 8th grade, and high school 9th through 12th grade.
As always, in both adult and youth contests, there may be up to three prize winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and one or more receiving honorable mention. Additionally, a prize winning entry may be published within the Writers’ Division’s magazine, Slate & Style.
All contest winners will be announced during the national convention held from June 30 to July 5 held in Houston, Texas.

PRIZES
*Youth contest winners will receive cash and prizes up to $30 for 1st place, $20 for 2nd place, and $10 for 3rd place.
*Adult contest winners will receive cash and prizes up to $75 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, and $25 for 3rd place.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

YOUTH CONTESTS
*This is a contest for students who use Braille.
*If you are 18 years old, or older, you must enter the adult contest.
*Entries must be submitted in hand embossed Braille, either with a slate and stylus or Perkins Braille writer, and there are no exceptions.
*Submissions must be Brailled by the entrant.
*All submissions, no matter your grade level, must be in contracted Braille. Let us know if you “know” or are “learning” contracted Braille. Additionally, let us know if you have chosen to use UEB, or not.
*Each entrant must provide an identical electronic copy of the cover letter and contest entry as a Microsoft Word file [doc] or as a Rich Text Format [rtf] file).
*Attach the electronic copies to an email and send them to Shelley Alongi, Queenofbells at outlook.com.
*Send your hardcopy Braille and cover letter to:
Chelsea Cook
901 Englewood Parkway, Apt. J304, Englewood, CO  80110

COVER LETTER
Entries must be accompanied by a cover letter containing the following information for each entrant:
*Your name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address.
*List the titles of all submissions, including the category in which they are being entered.
*List your school and grade level.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
*We will consider only unpublished original entries. Please do not submit entries that have been previously submitted on a web site or blog.
*Youth short fiction stories submissions cannot be more than 1,000 words, and poetry of no more than 50 lines.
*Authors of either poetry or fiction are encouraged to submit multiple pieces.

Youth ENTRY FEES – None

Are you the best Brailler in the contest? Be sure to double check your work for spelling and grammatical errors. Remember to use Braille paper so the Braille is easy to read. Good luck!

ADULT CONTEST
*This contest is for everyone 18 years old, or older. One need not be blind to enter.
*We will consider only unpublished original entries. Please do not submit entries that have been published on a website or blog.
*Fiction and nonfiction categories can be of any main stream genre, and cannot exceed 3,000 words.
*Poetry: We will accept poetry of any length
*Authors of either poetry and/or prose are encouraged to submit multiple pieces.
*Adults are required to submit all poetry, fiction and nonfiction as attachments to an E-mail message.
*The attachments must be in either Microsoft Word (doc) or Rich Text Format (rtf).
*Fiction and nonfiction should be written in a normal prose style, with paragraphs being left justified, lines being single spaced, and having a 14 point font of Aerial, regular.
* Be sure to double check your work for spelling and grammatical errors
*No hard copy submissions will be accepted.

COVER LETTER
Along with your entry or entries, include a cover letter providing the following information:
*Your name, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address.
*List the titles of all submissions, including the category in which they are being entered.
*State your method of payment for the entry fee (check or PayPal).
*Finally, the cover letter could be your e-mail message, or a separate document attached along with your submissions.

CONTEST ENTRY FEES PAYMENT AND METHODS
Adult Fees:
*The fee for each short story is $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members.
*The fee for each nonfiction entry is $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members.
*The base fee for poetry will cover up to three poems, if the combined line-count of all three pieces does not exceed 108 lines - additional poems require a second fee, following the same fee payment scheme. Base fees are $15.00 for members and $20.00 for non-members.

PAYMENT
*You may use PayPal from the Writers’ Division website, http://writers.nfb.org
*Alternatively, you may mail a check made out to NFB Writers’ Division, with a note in the memo line relating to the contest. Send to:

Shawn Jacobson
19541 Olney Mill Rd.
Olney, MD 20832.

*E-mail submissions should be sent to Shelley Alongi Queenofbells at outlook.com.

****We look forward to seeing your words. ****


Shelley, Queen of Bells Out!
President, NFB Writers’ Division
Editor, Slate and Style
Email: Queenofbells at outlook.com with submissions
List of Self-published Books
Christ Crush: Poems and a Story
Angel Hug
Brave Pilot
Trespasser
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Purchase Trespasser
Http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/Queenofbells712

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Shelley, Queen of Bells Out!
President, NFB Writers' Division
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Editor, Slate and Style

List of self-published books
Forgiving Sky
Angel Hug
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<SPAN>Angel Hug by Shelley Alongi</SPAN><BR><SPAN><A
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Brave Pilot
https://www.amazon.com/Brave-Pilot-Shelley-J-Alongi/dp/1974398730/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523039143&sr=1-3&keywords=Brave+Pilot
Trespasser
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/queenofbells712

Link to ebooks
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