Date: Wed, 1 Jan 1997 14:05:41 -0500 From: BARBARA HARRIS Subject: ALL: Valentine's Contest Rules Comments: cc: trishb@earthlink.net -- [ From: Barbara Harris * EMC.Ver #2.5.1 ] -- Rule # 1: DO NOT SEND ENTRIES TO THE LIST: Read this all the way through before entering! Don't risk being disqualified! Rule # 2: If you feel a need to reply to this, please delete the ALL in the header... I'm only using it to ensure everyone gets a chance to enter who wants to. Okay, now that I made sure that's right up front, The Haven for Hopeful Romantics is happy to announce it's second annual Valentine's Day Contest. Michelle Hakala (aka Winebird) has graciously volunteered to assist, and so the show will go on! Thankyou Michelle! :) I will not be entering the contest myself. However, I (and Phanny agreed :) don't think helpers should be penalized for helping... so Michelle is free to enter... we will after all *both* be counting the votes. The theme for this contest, of course, is Romance and Love... this means anything on those themes... whatever loving feelings you have... share them... write about them. The genre is up to you... always wanted to turn a Frog into a Prince like Bunny? Well, write about that! Want to really romance a stone? Or maybe a space alien? That's okay too. Want to talk about your love of all of mankind? Finding your Soul Mate? A beloved but lost friend? Fine with us! So... that's the theme. This year there are four categories, and there will be a prize for first place in each category. The prizes will be a custom designed piece of handcrafted jewelry from Rock Garden Crafts, which you may choose either to have made for yourself or a loved one. We work primarily with beads (especially semi-precious stones) and do natural wire-wrapped crystals and old arrowheads... quite a variety of choices will be available, and I will work with the winners to design a piece that suits them. The four categories are: SHORT STORIES POETRY (including Limericks) ESSAYS ONE-ACT PLAYS You may enter all four if you so desire... the purpose being to stimulate you to try writing in new directions. You also may limit yourself to just one (or two or three... don't wanna leave that out... 'cause someone's sure to think it either has to be one or four... details, details! ). You may only enter each category one time. **All entries are limited to 3500 words.** This length can be handled by everyone's mail programs without requiring attachments. Please be sure to send the entry as an ascii text e-mail. All Subject Lines must be done thusly: SUB: Valentine's Contest: Your Title: Category. Please try to follow these rules... it will make it easier for me and Michelle, okay? All entries **MUST** be submitted to Michelle Hakala, , with a carbon copy to me at . Submissions may be made between January 2 and January 31. The deadline is midnight, January 31, EST. We will allow a few hours beyond that for computer snafus and internet traffic jams... but do be sure to send them by then. Michelle will then remove any identifying headers and repost the submissions to the List. This is to keep the submissions anonymous and ensure that the voting is based on writing skill, not popularity. Please be very careful to follow this, as any entries sent directly to the List will regretfully have to be disqualified. Also, Michelle will post them as SUBS, so if you want to read them and vote on them, be sure your topics include submissions. We don't want to overuse or abuse Tink's ALL header. We ask that all critiques on contest submissions be held until after Valentine's Day... at that time a List of the authors will be posted... and critiques can then be sent to them or to the List. Posting them earlier might influence voting. And right now I haven't the energy to forward them all individually, nor do I think it's fair to ask Michelle to do that much extra work. Thanks! :) Voting will take place February 2 - 13, and again, all votes should be sent to both Michelle and me. When voting, vote for places 1 - 5 in each category. The first place will receive five points, second four, and so on. The points will be totalled to determine winners. In the event of a tie, the person with more first place votes will be the winner. If that doesn't break the tie, then we'll have a tiebreaker vote . I *do not* care whether you vote for yourself... you will not be penalized for it... but please only do so if you honestly feel yours is the *best* writing in the category... be an adult... be objective. Contest WINNERS will be announced at the Annual Valentine's Bash at the Haven for Hopeful Romantics on February 14... hope you'll all turn out! Anyone who is subscribed to WRITERS is free to enter. If you think of anything I haven't covered, please e-mail me! Thanks! Love & Light, Barbara -- @>-->-->------ Love & ------<--<--<@ Light, Barbara, who definitely is Snow Angel @)--,--'-- @>-->-->-- @}~~~~~ @)--,--'-- @>-->-->-- @}~~~~~ @)--,--'-- Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below. -John Dryden "All for Love" "Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." -Carl Jung --'--,--(@ --<--<--<@ ~~~~~{@ --'--,--(@ --<--<--<@ ~~~~~{@ --'--,--(@ Barbara Harris ~ TCZJ32B@Prodigy.com Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (See, I can too spell! -Hagatha Goodwich)