Current News | 2009 News | 2008 News | 2007 News | 2006 News
November 2010CZP/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poems (unpublished work), not to exceed 10 pages, single-spaced.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one short story or a novel excerpt (unpublished work) of no more than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 |
 |
Second Place Martin Elster, West Hartford, Connecticut Poem title: Astronomy in the Seventeenth Century Inspired by Jan Vermeer's The Astronomer |
 |
Third Place Jessica Rainey, Barcelona, Spain Poem title: Collision reCourse Inspired by Donald E. Davis's 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.
Bruce Boston, Marge Simon, Elissa Malcohn, John Tumlin, Chris Ambrose and
Chris Berman. Photo by Arlene Ambrose.
John
Tumlin, Chris Ambrose, Chris Berman. Photo
by Arlene Ambrose.
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:
- Poets must have three or fewer paid poetry publication credits.
- No members of the contest committee, no current SFPA officers or website staff, and no family members of the judges may enter the contest.
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.
