Your ad placed here. See the Ad Rates page for both the web site and newsletter rates.

Contests, grants, markets that pay writers may list at no charge...as long as they pay. Send to Hope.

Our 10th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest

(NOTE: This year's contest is closed. Watch for the 2012 contest in July 2012. In the meantime, enjoy the winning entries listed below. Thanks! )

2011 WINNERS - Theme: DILIGENCE

ENTRY FEE

Theme for 2011: "Diligence"

Oh my gosh, has it been a decade since we started this contest? How phenomenal is that? What's phenomenal is looking back and seeing where I was in 2000 when I started FundsforWriters. I wrote for simple sanity's sake, each and every night when I arrived home from a stressful day job. Today, twelve years later, FundsforWriters has 40,000 readers and has received the infamous Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers recognition eleven times. That's diligence.

Your definition of diligence, however, might involve a personal relationship, a child, a career, a manuscript. Maybe you weathered a difficult phase in your life, and now that you've come out on the other side relieved yet wiser, stronger and empowered.

In this day of instant publishing versus traditional, of impatient waits for answers to query letters, the theme of Diligence seemed most appropriate. No, you don't have to write about self-publishing versus traditional. Just make Diligence the clear, ultimate, and striking point of your nonfiction essay.

The Entry Fee Option

A major different between FundsforWriters' contest and other writing contests is the option of paying an entry fee. Some writers don't believe in fees and other can't afford them. So we offer a no entry fee category. Others, however, are willing to submit the $5 entry fee in order to vie for the higher prize purse. Take your pick.

Last year's 351 entrants made this contest a resounding success. It's when I read those essays that I realize why I do this contest. People pour their hearts into these pieces, these stories. Some raise a tear. Some send a shiver. Some make me wonder why some individuals aren't well-published and known across the Web. I see the souls of people striving to spin words into stories, turn thoughts into communication. I see them teaching school, selling insurance, fixing computers, fighting crime, taking care of elderly parents, carpooling kids, and going through life like everyone else. But in their bedrooms, studies and kitchens, they dig down into themselves to enter contests like this. They want to write.

Contests offer a barometer. Everyday people and seasoned scholars can enter the same competitions, both trying to step up another rung on that ladder. Even honorable mention is hope. It's a nod that what you fight to pen words at night, on weekends, at dawn before the family is up, your effort is deemed worthy.

I'm honored to be a part of that process and look forward to your submissions.

Contest Guidelines:

What to Put In/On your Email Submission:

1. The title of the essay (do NOT use the theme as your title)
2. Your name.
3. Your email address.
4. Note Entry Fee or No Entry Fee category.
5. The word count.
6. The essay itself in the body.

Guidelines:

• Not to exceed 750 words.
• Essay/nonfiction only. Includes memoir, creative nonfiction, journalistic nonfiction...nonfiction period. NO fiction, poetry or children's writing.
• Receipt deadline Midnight (Eastern Time), October 31, 2011.
• Email entry to hope@fundsforwriters.com. (No fax or hard copy submissions.)
• No attachments to emails. Embed in the email itself. (Viruses are nasty creatures.)
• Entry fee $5 or ZERO dollars. Payable via PayPal or check. Put name, email address and essay title with check if you send via mail. Make checks payable to C. Hope Clark or FundsforWriters.
• Note ENTRY FEE or NO ENTRY FEE on your submission. 
• Same piece cannot be submitted in both ENTRY FEE and NO ENTRY FEE categories.
• No changes/alterations to an already submitted piece. The second edit will be deleted.
• Must be original and unpublished.
• Must be in English but entries accepted internationally. Entry fees must be in US dollars.
• No limit to the number of submissions.
• All writers must be 18 or older.
• Do not bother with SASE for winners lists. Winners posted on website and in newsletters.
• Single or double-spaced accepted.
• Winners and public notified by December 1, 2011.
• Winners published in December 2, 2011 FundsforWriters newsletters.
• Winners paid via check or PayPal. If you are from a country where that is a problem, please do not enter.
• Other submissions will be considered for publication but will be paid the standard rate of $45 if selected.
• Judges are selected from Hope's peer group of writers, authors and journalists, still pending, but the finalists are chosen by C. Hope Clark.
• Final determination of winners is not negotiable.
• You do NOT have to be a FundsforWriters reader to enter the contest.
• You will not be added to any sort of mailing list.

Direct any additional questions to Hope Clark at hope@fundsforwriters.com . Checks can be mailed to: C. Hope Clark, c/o FundsforWriters.com, 140A Amicks Ferry Road, Box 4, Chapin, SC 29036

Read our past winners . . .

2010 WINNERS - Theme: When Writing Made a Difference

2008 WINNERS - Theme: The Best Advice I Ever Had

• 1st ENTRY FEE- Ryma Shohami - "I Can Never Write That Well"
• 2nd ENTRY FEE - Amy Mullis - "Being Bombeck"
• 3rd ENTRY FEE - Sheryl Platte - "You Don't Need a Real Cabbage Patch Doll"
• 1st NO ENTRY FEE  - Anna Steegmann - "Don't Submit to the New York Times"
• 2nd NO ENTRY FEE- Miranda Ward - "Bliss"
• 3rd NO ENTRY FEE - Kelly Christensen - "The Tired Dog"

2007 WINNERS - Theme: Make Us Want to Be You

• 1st ENTRY FEE- Rachel Gurevich - "A Passionate, Risk-Taking Year"
• 2nd ENTRY FEE - Michelle Miller Allen - "A Fork in One Hand, a Pen in the Other"
• 3rd ENTRY FEE - Lindy Schneider - "One Year with NO BOOTS!"
• 1st NO ENTRY FEE  - Chris Mac - "Old Friends"
• 2nd NO ENTRY FEE- Lee Hanekom - "Terrs No More"
• 3rd NO ENTRY FEE - Eva M. Lemeh - "A Fabulous Year"

2006 WINNERS - Choice of four themes on mentoring and grants

• 1st ENTRY FEE -Diane Lau - The Successful Author, Revised
• 2nd ENTRY FEE - Katherine Hauswirth-  I Googled Myself
• 3rd ENTRY FEE - Joan Foley Baier - My Virtual Grant
• 1st NO ENTRY FEE - Margaret Skipworth - All You Need Is...
• 2nd NO ENTRY FEE - Amber Herrick - My Own Definition  
• 3rd NO ENTRY FEE - Nateisha Taylor - The Reluctant Reader

2005 WINNERS - Theme: They Actually Paid Me To Write

• 1st ENTRY FEE - Cynthia Morris, "Frivolous Poetry"
• 2nd ENTRY FEE - Kathleen Ewing, "Pay Back"
• 3rd ENTRY FEE - Joni Fisher, "Call Me"
• 1st NO ENTRY FEE -  Jill E. Alicea, "Matters of the Heart"
• 2nd NO ENTRY FEE - Katherine Hauswirth, "Write First Surf Later"
• 3rd NO ENTRY FEE - Lowell Thomas, "A Little Encouragement Goes a Long Way"

Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers - 2001-2011

Enroll in the equivalent of an MFA program in creative writing for just $1.60.

The famous Bylines Desk Calendar is out for 2012. Get your now to manage your writing year right.

Copyright 2000-2012, C. Hope Clark and FundsforWriters - FFW does not warranty the information on this site. This site and its contents are provided  on an "as is" basis without warranty. Information can change at a moment's notice, so FundsforWriters/C. Hope Clark does not represent that this information is complete or current by the time you access it. Please use at your own risk just as you would any information in your writing career - with educated caution. The names of companies, their magazines or other products mentioned on this site may be the trademarks of their respective owners. FundsforWriters/C. Hope Clark will not be held liable for damages arising out or or in connection with the use of this site. If this sounds like legalese, we apologize. We provide the freshest information we can find, but the Internet changes faster than we can be responsible for. We do not collect name or email information for distribution. Email addresses are not shared with other sources. Direct any questions to Hope@fundsforwriters.com - or by snail mail to 140-A Amicks Ferry Road #4, Chapin, SC 29036