2010 News Archive

Current News | 2009 News | 2008 News | 2007 News | 2006 News

November 2010

CZP/Rannu Fund for Writers of Speculative Literature
rannu.webs.com/entryrules.htm
The Fund, brought to you in collaboration with ChiZine Publications, offers two awards per year of $500 CDN each, one for fiction, one for poetry, granted to two writers of speculative literature (i.e., science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, surrealism, etc.), of any nationality/place of residence, at any stage of their career. The next round of submissions for this award will be accepted between November 15, 2010 and January 15, 2011. The winners will be announced May 15, 2011. Submit up to 5 poems (unpublished work), not to exceed 10 pages, single-spaced. Submit one short story or a novel excerpt (unpublished work) of no more than 7,000 words, double-spaced. If submitting a novel excerpt, include a brief synopsis. All entries in both fiction and poetry MUST be "speculative literature" in content; in other words: science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, alternate history, steampunk, etc. Two Honourable Mentions in each category will win $50.


August 2010

SFPA Announces New Poets Contest Winners
A panel of judges from the SFPA membership has selected the winners of this year's first-ever SFPA New Poets Contest, held on our official forum. The contest was designed with art as its inspiration and offered cash prizes to the winners, with no fees to enter. New poets were invited to contribute, and non-members as well as members were eligible. Entrants were challenged to write a speculative poem of 20 lines or less inspired by a work of art. The top three prize-winners are listed below. Read their winning poems and see larger images of the artworks that inspired them on the 2010 New Poets Contest page.

First Place

Ishita Basu Mallik, West Bengal, India

Poem title: Do Unicorns Dream of Electric Virgins?

Inspired by The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry

The Hunt of the Unicorn
   

Second Place

Martin Elster, West Hartford, Connecticut

Poem title: Astronomy in the Seventeenth Century

Inspired by Jan Vermeer's The Astronomer

The Astronomer
   

Third Place

Jessica Rainey, Barcelona, Spain

Poem title: Collision reCourse

Inspired by Donald E. Davis's Stanford Torus

The Stanford Torus

June 2010

SFPA Members Hold Panel at OASIS SF 23
SFPA member Marge Simon reports that she and other member poets gathered in Orlando over Memorial Day weekend for sfnal poetry events at OASIS SF 23. The "Voices from Alternate Worlds" panel on Saturday was well attended, according to Simon, and the group also gave a poetry reading panel on Sunday. Unfortunately, Malcolm Deeley was unable to attend this year. OASIS is produced each year by the Orlando Area Science Fiction Society.
SFPA members at OASIS 23
Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Elissa Malcohn, John Tumlin, Chris Ambrose and Chris Berman. Photo by Arlene Ambrose.

SFPA members at OASIS 23
John Tumlin, Chris Ambrose, Chris Berman. Photo by Arlene Ambrose.

SFPA members at OASIS 23
Elissa Malcohn, Chris Ambrose, Marina Buryak. Photo by Arlene Ambrose.


May 2010

2010 SFPA Announces "New Poets" Contest: The Art of Poetry
The Science Fiction Poetry Association is holding a poetry contest with art as its inspiration! The contest is offering cash prizes, with an entry deadline of June 30, and there are no fees to enter. New poets are invited to contribute. Non-members as well as members are eligible. Please read the complete rules below for theme, submission specifics, etc.

PRIZES:
First prize: $10, a one-year SFPA membership, and publication on SFPA's website
Second prize: $8, a copy of Cinema Spec: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy, and publication on SFPA's website
Third prize: $7, a copy of Dwarf Stars 2009, and publication on SFPA's website

We plan to archive the winning poems indefinitely, but authors may request removal from the website after six months. SFPA reserves the right to grant all, some, or none of the prizes, at its discretion.

WHO MAY ENTER:
The contest is open to new poets, SFPA members and nonmembers alike, with the following exclusions:

CONTEST THEME:
SFPA has posted links to five works of art at the SFPA Forum. Write a speculative poem of 20 lines or less inspired by one of these works of art. All forms are welcome — haiku, cinquains, tanka, sonnets, free verse, etc. — but poems must contain one or more of the following elements: science fiction, fantasy, horror, surrealism or straight science. Post previously unpublished poems only. No reprints. Poems should be appropriate for a general audience. We reserve the right to remove from contest consideration and from the forums any poems that might be considered above a "PG" rating.

SUBMISSION SPECIFICS:
Submissions must be made at the SFPA Forum. Registration at the forum will be required to post poems. Poets shall submit poems as posts under the heading SFPA New Poets Contest: The Art of Poetry. This topic will be password-protected. The password will be listed on the forum, right under the contest topic heading. One must register to even SEE the contest topic. One poem per post, with a maximum of three poems per person. Include your name, title of poem, and then text of poem. Winners will be contacted for their addresses via e-mail after the contest closes.

DEADLINE:
The deadline for submissions is 11:59 EDT on June 30, 2010
. SFPA reserves the right to extend the contest deadline, if necessary. Winners will be announced on the SFPA Forum.

Questions? The first topic under the contest heading is the place to post questions. If you cannot access this topic after registering, post your question in the "Website and Forum" area. The SFPA shall not be held liable if submissions cannot be made due to website problems or connection difficulties, etc.


March 2010

2010 SFPA Grandmaster Nominees Announced
Richard L. Tierney and Jane Yolen have been nominated for SFPA's Grandmaster honor, which has been given to only three other speculative poets in the organization's history.

Tierney was nominated by Charles Lovecraft, who writes, "Richard L. Tierney's impressive contribution to the field of weird literature goes beyond nearly sixty years of fine literary and poetic output. It extends into the development of ideas and the continuity of a tradition of weird literature."

Yolen's nominator, W. Gregory Stewart, calls her "a woman wonderfully gracious—kind and courteous and charming" and writes that she is worthy of becoming the first woman recipient of SFPA's Grandmaster title.

Current Grandmasters are Ray Bradbury, Robert Frazier, and Bruce Boston. A Grandmaster of Speculative Poetry must be a living poet who has been actively publishing within the target genres of science fiction and fantasy for a period of no less than 20 years, and whose poetry has been noted to be exceptional in merit, scope, vision and innovation. A poet need not be a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association to be awarded this honor. The 2010 Grandmaster recipient will be voted on by the SFPA membership on the Rhysling Award ballot and announced at the same time as the 2010 Rhysling Award winners.


February 2010

2009 Dwarf Stars Winners Announced
Editors Deborah P. Kolodji and Stephen M. Wilson have named the winners of the 2009 Dwarf Stars Award for the best short-short poetry published in 2008.

First place: Geoffrey A. Landis, "Fireflies," Asimov's SF June 2008.
Second place: Elizabeth Barrette, "the leaf whisperer,"Doorways Magazine #5.
Third place: Jane Yolen, "Goodbye Billy Goat Gruff,"Asimov's SF Oct/Nov 2008.

Learn more about the Dwarf Stars Award on our Dwarf Stars page. See a list of all of this year's nominees and purchase a copy of the 2009 Dwarf Stars anthology, published by Gromagon Press for the SFPA, or those from previous years. The Dwarf Stars Award was first given in 2006.

top of page


background image sfpa logo