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THE GLASS WOMAN PRIZE - The Seventh Glass Woman Prize reading period is now in effect through March 21, 2010. Please see guidelines below. -
THE WINNING STORY FOR THE SIXTH GLASS WOMAN PRIZE is Louise Beech's story "Notes From The Night."
RUNNER UP PRIZE WINNERS are Sarah Evans’ story “How Not To Be Unfaithful,” Tammi Pratt’s story “The Future Is A Coffin,” Sarah Chauncey’s story “Coming Out Straight,” and Barbara Crane’s story “The Raft Of The Medusa.” The eight top contenders for the Sixth Glass Woman Prize are Jane Banning’s story “Holes,” Sharon Knauer’s story “White Gloves And Saturday Ice Cream” (forthcoming in Room Magazine, 2010), Tracie McBride’s story “Last Chance To See,” Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz’ story “Getting Paid,” Josie Sigler’s story “World History,” Sherri Turner’s story “Shuffling The Tiles,” Dallas Woodburn’s story “Three Sundays At The Grove,” and Miriam Zoll’s story “Confetti Love.” I received 472 entries for the Sixth Glass Woman Prize. Thanks to all 472 of you for your inspiring submissions! I ended up with 63 very intriguing stories, and many more of the remaining entries were on my mind long after I read them. Check back here soon for some the remaining winning stories and top contenders. I would like to thank all the readers who helped me make the selections. They are: Beverly Akerman, Risa Badeo, Jane Banning, Jessica Barrow, Tavi Black, Ludmilla Bollow, Alvina Carcary, Ching-In Chen, Kristina Darling, Folakemi Emem-Akpan, Elizabeth Kathryn Gerold-Miller, Gracie Hill, Gabrielle Hovendon, Myra King, Sharon Knauer, Maude Larke, Kirsty Logan, Tracie McBride, Linda McLaughlin, Sasha Martinez, Suzanne Elaine Nelson, Fatima M Noronha, Katrina Robinson, Kim Robinson, Raquel D. Bailey, Sara E. Rowe, Lisa Rusczyki, Heather Sappenfield, Lynne Spreen, Nancy Stebbins, Sarah Wood, Jen Wyrauch, and Melissa Yuan-Innes. Thanks you, my friends; I couldn't have done it without you. To see past winning and top stories click here.
GUIDELINES FOR The seventh Glass Woman Prize: The Seventh Glass Woman Prize will be awarded for a work of short fiction or creative non-fiction (prose) written by a woman. Length: between 50 and 5,000 words. The top prize for the seventh Glass Woman Prize award is US $600 and possible (but not obligatory) online publication; I will also award one runner up prize of $100 and one runner up prize of $50, together with possible (but not obligatory) online publication.
Subject is open, but must be of significance to women. My criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman’s writing voice. Previously published work and simultaneous submissions are OK. Previous Glass Woman Prize winners are welcome to submit again. Copyright is retained by the author.
There is no reading fee.
Previous winners are welcome to submit again for any subsequent prize.
Submission deadline: March 21, 2010 (receipt date; anything received after that date will be considered for a future prize). Notification date: June 21, 2010.
The winners will be announced on this website. Submissions will not be returned, rejected, or otherwise acknowledged except for the winner announcement. I promise that every submission will be read with respect and with my commitment to the voices of women in this world.
One submission per person per prize submission period, by email, with "Glass Woman Prize Submission" in the subject line and the text pasted in the body of the email (no attachments!) to:
or in hard copy and via regular mail, to:
Beate Sigriddaughter
IMPORTANT: I will regretfully ignore and delete submissions of anything other than specified above, for example: submissions with any kind of attachment*, more than one piece of writing in a given prize reading period, more than 5,000 words, poetry, or submissions without "Glass Woman Prize Submission" in the subject line of the email. *Please note that some fancy email stationery comes across as attachment; try to avoid using that, as you run the risk of having your entry deleted.
Some additional information
Who judges the contest?
At the moment I am the final judge, but a number of women writers volunteer to read submissions and make selections. I am very happy about this because my personal tastes and passions will no longer be the sole criteria for selecting future winners.
How is the prize funded?
The prize is funded with ten percent of my personal income. It therefore has a chance of increasing in the future.
Why?
Because this is something I would have liked to have received for myself. Since I haven’t, at least not recently, and in order to make things right with the world all the same, I feel I have to offer it to someone else.
Why the name Glass Woman Prize?
I’ve been playing with the glass woman concept for a while. I want women to be able to acknowledge, transparently, who we are, and that who we are is not trivial and unimportant, despite the fact that it is not typically rewarded in a man-made and money-motivated world.
Here’s my original description of a glass woman as I would depict her if I were a visual artist: a woman of glass, with a blood system and gut system visible inside her, pipes and veins, and in those there would be bits of poetry, newspapers, roses, sentimental things, baby’s teeth, locks of baby hair, all kinds of lace bits, birds, and foxes, ice-picks, wedding rings, veils, and wedding cake doves, graduations gowns, tarot cards, sacred stones, pressed flowers, and a whole lot of joy and a whole lot of sorrow. She’d have a flute and a piano key, an ankh, everything, anger and joy, hope, hiking gear, rock climbing gear, motorcycle gear, dirt, fear, bras, lilacs, mirrors, underwear.
What about the brittleness of glass? I would make it unbreakable glass, of course: transparent, but shatter-proof.
Kathee from Golden provided the following additional food for thought about the mysterious quality of glass:
Why no reading fee?
Because I absolutely hate the way every other journal or other entity nowadays uses reading fees for contests as fundraisers. I can see their point. I still hate it.
What am I trying to accomplish with this?
I want to help along the cause of women expressing themselves authentically and fearlessly and passionately. It has something to do with a contribution to justice and soul growing in the world. One of my ex-husbands once said that women don't support each other. I want to either change that or prove it wrong. This is my small gesture of changing the world.
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