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Habee's Writing Contest: Southern Fiction

Updated on March 5, 2013
Fishing is one of the approved topics.
Fishing is one of the approved topics. | Source

Our Fellow Hubber, billybuc, recently held a friendly writing competition, and I thought it was a great idea. I decided to do the same. BB awarded a signed copy of his book to the winner, but I can’t do that. Alas, I haven’t finished any of the novels I’ve started, as I’ve been too busy writing on Hubpages and for clients. As a result, I’ll have to offer cold, hard cash. Don’t get too excited – I’m not wealthy, so the prizes will be more of a token. First prize will be $50, second prize will be $25, and third prize will be $10. The prize money will be sent via Paypal.

The Rules

1. Entries must be between 500 and 2,000 words.

2. Submissions must be in narrative form – no poetry or drama.

3. At least three original photos should accompany the hub, but not the doc attachment.

4. The setting should be the rural Deep South: Alabama, North Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, or East Texas. Hunting, fishing, farming, ranching, camping, canoeing, horseback riding, boating, or hiking should be involved in the plot.

5. Entry must have a title.

6. Only one entry per person, please.

7. Contest is for Hubpages members only.

8. Each entry should contain a small amount of dialogue in southern dialect.

9. Entries must be received by February 28, 2013.

10. Entries must be original and not published elsewhere.

11. Entry must be published as a hub.

12. Failure to follow any of these guidelines will result in disqualification.

Judging Rubric

The total possible points an entry can achieve is 50. Here’s the breakdown:

Interest and engagement – 20 points

Grammar and mechanics – 10 points

Authentic southern flavor – 10 points

Organization and transition – 10 points

The Judges

I will read all the entries and narrow the field down to the best. I have no way of knowing how many that will include yet. I will then send the best entries to two or three former colleagues to get feedback from them. Those judges will be high school/college writing and literature teachers.

Why do I feel qualified to judge writing? I have a degree in Language Arts and taught at the high school level for almost twenty years. In the summers, I sometimes taught at the college level. I also tutored writing students for a college English department. I have coordinated writing fairs and judged numerous writing contests at the local, regional, and state levels. I attended summer classes in order to become certified to teach Advanced Placement students, and much of the time was spent learning to rate essays.

I’m a native southerner and am a big fan of southern literature. The Deep South has a special “feel” to it, and its inhabitants are often quirky or eccentric. If you know nothing about the South, I’ll probably be able to pick up on that pretty quickly!

How to Enter

To send an entry for the Habee Southern Fiction Contest, find my “contact writer” button. On my profile page, go to “fan mail.” At the top right corner, you’ll see “send habee an email.” The email should be entitled “writing contest.” DO NOT put the title of your story in the email subject line. Send the story as an attachment in Word. The attachment should include the title, but not your name. I'll go back later and match the titles with the writers, from the emails.

Fairness

I honestly strive to be a fair person, but I’ve made some good friends here, and I don’t want that to cloud my judgment. To avoid this, I’m going to have someone else retrieve the email entries and copy them to Word, without the writers’ names included. That way, I’ll have no idea who wrote what.

If you don’t think you can abide by the decision of the judges, please don’t enter the contest. I’m doing this to promote and encourage fiction with a southern flair, and I have no “hidden agenda.” Good luck to everyone!

UPDATE

To enter, contact me via my profile page. I'll reply with my email. Then you can send your entry to my email address.

Another Update

We have the top three stories! Austinstar's "East Texas Ghost Lights" has been awarded third place. Congrats! The judges are still working on first and second place: Cam8510's "Swampwise" and Randy Godwin's "One Man's Fortune."

I can't find some of the entries on HP. If you sent an entry and would like me to link to it, please contact me.

We have a winner!

I just heard from the final judge, and the decision was unanimous: Randy Godwin! In second place is Cam8510. Congrats to the winners! Randy and Cam, please email me your Paypal address so I can send your money. Thanks for entering!

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