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Young Writer's Contest

DemiCon 18: May 18-20, 2007

DemiCon 18 is pleased to announce that our Guest of Honor Catherine Asaro and noted author Rob Chilson have agreed to judge our “Young Writers” contest. DemiCon is Des Moines' annual science fiction and fantasy convention, which will be held May 18-20, 2007 at the Hotel Fort Des Moines in Des Moines, IA. In order to promote literacy and the interest in the genres of fantasy and science fiction, DemiCon will present the winner of this year’s contest with a membership to DemiCon 19, to be held May 2-4, 2008. Our winner and finalists will have the opportunity to read their entries at the Award presentation at 1:00 p.m. on May 20 at the convention. There will be two categories of writing, short stories and poetry. We would encourage any of your students who are interested in writing fiction to consider entering this contest. There is no fee for entry.

Rules:

  • Contestants must be either 18 years of age or younger at the time of DemiCon 18 (born on or after May 18, 1988), or a senior in high school, graduating no earlier than spring term, 2007.
  • The written piece must be either:
    • a) a science fiction or fantasy story of less than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) words, or
    • b) a piece of poetry clearly related to science fiction or fantasy no more than 20 lines on in any form.
  • The written submission must be the original, individual work of the entrant. Team entries (collaborative works by two or more authors) will be permitted.
  • Each entrant may submit a maximum of one short story and two poems individually, and may in addition be a co-author of one short story and two additional poems. (In other words, an entrant can write one story and two poems, and collaborate on one more story and two more poems).
  • All submissions (physical piece of paper the submission is on) become the property of DemiCon. Authors agree that their submissions may be read aloud in whole or in part at DemiCon 18 by themselves or a person of the convention’s choice, should the author/s not care to read aloud themselves.
  • Authors agree that their submissions may be reproduced in whole or in part in any print or web-based publications that DemiCon or its parent organization, the Des Moines Science Fiction Society (DMSFS) may produce.
  • Authors agree that their names and photographs may be reproduced in any print or web-based publication that the convention or DMSFS produces, including but not limited to program books, t-shirts, or press releases.
  • The author retains all copyrights to the submitted story or poem. If reprinted by DemiCon or DMSFS in any format, a copyright notice will appear with it.
  • All entries must be either submitted electronically (preferred) by April 15, 2007, or by mail postmarked no later than April 12, 2007. If submitted electronically, text should be cut and pasted into the body of an e-mail addressed to writingcontest@demicon.org. The entrant’s full name/s, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, school name(s) should precede the text in the body of the e-mail. If submitted by US Mail, entrants should provide four copies of their work, each with an unattached cover sheet that includes full name/s, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses and school names. Printed submissions should be stapled or bound and have a running head that includes a brief title, but should not include the author’s name/s. Items submitted by US Mail should be sent to:

    Young Writer’s Contest
    DemiCon 18
    P.O. Box 7572
    Des Moines, IA 50323-7572

  • Poems not meeting the requirements for line limitation or short stories exceeding the word count will be automatically disqualified. Since final judging will occur at the convention we will be unable to notify finalists and winners prior to the award ceremony; however all entrants and their friends and family may attend the convention on Sunday, May 20, 2007 without purchasing a membership. Entrants wishing to do so should report to the Registration Desk and request a one-day pass for the writing contest.
  • DemiCon 18 will collect personal information for the purpose of notifying contest winners, should they not appear at the convention on Sunday, May 20, 2007. All information submitted is kept in confidence, and used solely for notification purposes and shall not be made public by DemiCon 18 or DMSFS except as noted above. DemiCon 18 will not not lease, lend, sell, or share personal information collected. For further information about DemiCon 18, please expore more of our web site. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail the contest coordinator at contest@demicon.org


Prior to the convention, this was a form allowing you to contact the appropriate department head.
If you wish to contact the Des Moines Science Fiction Society, please email info@dmsfs.org
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Copyright 2006, 2007 Des Moines Science Fiction Society LTD.
Certain images used with permission of Theresa Mather
For more information, email info@demicon.org
Page Last Updated: 02/18/2007