Deadline: 30 September 2012
The Nova Short Story Competition is our annual competition for budding writers of science fiction and fantasy short stories. Usually contested in two categories, General and South African, the competition is open for entry from April until 30 September annually. Winning entries and finalists are published in Probe.
The Nova Short Story Competition for 2012 is now open for entries, and will close on 30 September 2012. Please start thinking about your stories, thinking about writing the stories, and writing the stories. September is a lot closer than you think.
The South African section of the competition is sponsored by Arthur Goldstuck of WorldWideWorx
Please note that we reserve the right to determine if a story meets our criteria for a South African story. If we judge that a story is not South African, we will judge it as a General section story.
2012 RULES
There are two sections which may be entered with prize money as follows :
- General section : 1st - R 750.00 2nd - R500.00 3rd - R250.00
- South African section : 1st - R1000.00 2nd - R600.00 3rd - R400.00
The SA section prize is sponsored by World Wide Worx (http://www.worldwideworx.com)
1. By submitting to the competition, the entrant agrees to abide by all Competition Rules.
2. The judge's decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
3. Prizes will be awarded in two categories: a General Section, and a South African Section.
4. Should, in the opinion of the judges, an entry submitted for the South African Section not qualify as a South African story, it will be judged in the General Section.
5. Short stories in both sections must be in the genres of Science Fiction or Fantasy. If, in the judges’ opinion, the short story is not written in these genres, the entry will be disqualified and the entry fee will be forfeited.
6. Should there be enough entrants under 18 with a suitable quality of work, an additional award may be made to the best author in this category.
7. SFFSA reserves the right not to award prizes if, in the opinion of the final judge, the standard does not warrant it.
8. All entries must be in English prose, and must be between 2000 and 5000 words.
9. SFFSA reserves the right to publish any story free of charge in the club’s magazine “Probe”, or in the club’s “Best of…” short story collection, but the copyright will remain with the author. (If possible, please keep the electronic version of the entry, as entrants may be asked to send this to SFFSA for publishing.)
10. There is no age restriction.
11. The competition is open to professional and amateur writers.
12. All entries must be the original, unpublished work of the author, and not may not have won a prize in any previous competition.
13. There is no limit to the number of entries submitted by the author.
14. All entries must be accompanied by a completed entry form.
15. No hand-written entries will be accepted. All entries must be printed or typed (hardcopy). Alternatively (for an additional fee), entries in PDF or DOC format (softcopy) may be sent via email, and will be printed by SFFSA.
16. Typed, printed or printable entries must be double-spaced and single-sided. Typed and printed entries must be bound (with staples, paperclips, folder, etc.). Printable entries must be in ready-to-print form (i.e. page numbers, page layout, font, etc will NOT be modified before printing).
17. The author’s name must NOT appear on the manuscript.
18. Entrants will be judged on:
- Presentation
- Characterisation
- Dialogue
- Plot
- Grammar & Spelling
- Writing Quality & Style
- Appeal.
19. The closing date is midnight of 30 September 2012 (envelopes postmarked before this date and time will be accepted).
20. Entrants will be notified of the results of the competition approximately 5 months after the closing date, provided that a second self-addressed stamped envelope (or an e-mail address) is enclosed for this purpose.
21. Printed or typed entries must be posted to:
SFFSA Short Story Competition
c/o Gavin Kreuiter
P.O. Box 8022
Edenglen
1613
No registered letters will be accepted.
22. Electronic entries must be emailed to: nova.sffsa@gmail.com
23. If acknowledgment of receipt of entries is required, include a stamped, self-addressed envelope, or provide an email address and request a receipt.
24. SFFSA does not accept liability for entries lost in the post.
25. No manuscripts will be returned so please do not send originals.
26. If the full entry fee has not been received by SFFSA before the closing date of the competition, the entry will be disqualified.
27. Fees.
The total fee comprises an admin fee of R15.00, PLUS an entry fee for EACH story entered, PLUS a printing fee (for electronic entries) of R20 per story, PLUS a critique fee (optional) of R25 per story.
The admin fee of R15.00 is paid only once per author, no matter how many stories are entered. For members, the entry fee is R5.00 per story submitted; for non-members, the entry fee is R10.00 per story submitted. If a short, written critique is requested, an additional fee of R25 is charged for EACH critiqued story.
The fee is only payable in cash, S.A. cheque (made payable to “Science Fiction South Africa”, not SFFSA), or internet transfer (see our web site under “Join Us” for details. Please provide proof of transfer).
THE GENRES OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY
Because the term Science Fiction often encompasses more than some strict definitions would allow, some authors prefer to expand the acronym SF to the term Speculative Fiction (coined by Robert A. Heinlein),which is an umbrella term that includes Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural and Alternative Histories, as well as highly specialised genres like dystopian or apocalyptic fiction. Some stories fit neatly into these categories, while others can be classified into two (or even more) genres. As a rule, Nova stories should be either Science Fiction or Fantasy (SF or F). This explicitly excludes stories that are retold myths and horror stories (with no SF or F elements). Sub-genres such as apocalyptic fiction – while rather overdone - do, usually, fall into the SF category, Alternative Histories, stories of the supernatural (ghost stories, or stories exclusively involving daemons, etc), have to be written extremely well to impress the judges.
While the Fantasy genre is sometimes understood to include myths and legends, they do not apply to Nova. For us, Fantasy stories usually involve magic or magical creatures (unicorns, trolls, etc, but not tokoloshes). Talking rabbits and furniture may make good stories, but don’t really qualify as Nova Fantasy.
And if “I woke up and it was all a dream”... then it IS a dream, not Fantasy.
Nova SF expects stories that have a scientific or technological basis, usually with a plausible (even if it does require suspension of disbelief) plot or premise.
While it can be either SF or F, it may be difficult (but not impossible) to write a South African Fantasy story. Expectations of what makes a story South African can be found in the next section.
Finally, these are general guidelines. The best authors of the world have been known to break “rules of good writing”, but they do it well. Extremely well. A winning story can bend the guidelines above, as long as it is well written and well received.
Download: entry form
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: nova.sffsa@gmail.com
Website: http://www.sfsa.org.za