Date:         Tue, 3 Jun 1997 12:34:11 -0500
From: Phanny <corbett@SLUAXA.SLU.EDU>
Subject:      ALL: SUMMER WRITING CONTEST (fwd)

SUMMER WRITING CONTEST

Submission dates:  June 11 through midnight June 24 (your time)
Voting:  June 25 through midnight July 8
Results:  Announced on July 9

Categories:     HUMOR WRITING: (humorous entries only)
                        poem
                        prose (essay, vignette, etc.)
                        dialog (a total dialog piece, 2-4 characters)
                        limerick (must conform to standard limerick form,
                                which will be posted to the list)

                NON-HUMOR WRITINGS: (theme:  Modern maenads - see
                                        following description/springboard)
                        poem
                        prose (story, vignette, anything not a poem)

A note for those who may not be sure who the maenads are:

"His [Dionysus] devotees, armed with thyrsoi (wands tipped with a pine
cone and wreathed with vine or ivy) and known as maenads (literally "mad
women"), were reputed to wander in thiasoi (revel bands) about mountain
slopes, such as Cithaeron or Parnassus; the practice persisted into Roman
imperial times.  They were also supposed, in their ecstasy, to practice
the sparagmos, the tearing of living victims to pieces and feasting on
their raw flesh (omophagia).  While such behavior continued in the wild,
in the cities--in Athens, at any rate--the cult of Dionysus was tamed
before 500 BC.  Tragedy developed from the choral song of Dionysus."

From Britannica Online (and Tink)

Read this over and think about it.  Who are the modern maenads and
eccentrics of today?  What is your interpretation?  Stretch those brain
cells and create a fascinating read for us!

First Prize for each category will be something funny for the humor
section and something yet to be determined for the non-humor section.
Six prize categories in all.

Rules:

1.  All entries should be sent privately to Phanny (Sharon Corbett) at
corbett@sluaxa.slu.edu.  I will then repost them to the list, so the
author remains unknown.  (I will not be voting.)  Entries sent to the list
will be disqualified, but the author may submit a different one privately.
Please don't send works that have been on the list in the last 3 months.

2.  Please mark entries as follows:
        SUB: CONTEST: Humor: Poem: Your unique title
        SUB: CONTEST: Non: Poem: Your title
No entries marked UNTITLED, please.

3.  Limit of 4 entries per author, *one* in each of 4 *different*
categories.  Please submit your best efforts.

4.  Contest limited to members of WRITERS.

5. Voting:  Each entrant *must* vote in each category he enters, but
may vote in all categories.  Entrants voting in entered categories will
have two votes -- the first one *must* be given to yourself, the second
one to your *other* top choice. (Should eliminate the vote-for-self-or-
not dilemma.)  All others voting, and entrants voting in non-entered
categories, will have one vote in each category.  If an entrant does
*not* vote in a category he entered, he will automatically lose one vote.
For those who haven't done this before, the voting is often very close,
making every vote count.

Tink will post all entries to the web at:
        http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/sum97/summer.html

At least one other person will help verify voting results, so that
everyone knows the tabulations are above-board.

Phanny