Wisconsin People & Ideas 2015 Fiction Contest

ENTER YOUR SHORT STORY IN THE FICTION CONTEST AND WIN PRIZES!!!

Winners of the Wisconsin People & Ideas 2015 Fiction Contest receive publiction in the magazine and cash awards of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place). The first-place author also receives a one-week artist residency at Shake Rag School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point, and all three award-winning authors will read their stories at the 2015 Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison.
ABOUT OUR 2015 FICTION CONTEST
Submissions are accepted from September 15 to December 15, 2014. See complete contest rules below to win cash prizes of $500 (first place), $250 (second place), and $100 (third place) and a special contest winners' reading at the 2015 Wisconsin Book Festival. First- through third-place winning stories will appear in print and online issues of Wisconsin People & Ideas, beginning with the spring 2015 issue of the magazine. The first-place winner also receives a one-week artist residency at Shake Rag Alley School for Arts and Crafts in Mineral Point. Any Wisconsin resident or student over the age of 18 can enter the contest. All preliminary and final judging is done blindly and ranking is done solely on the merit of individual stories. See complete rules below. The lead contest judge for 2015 is author Nickolas Butler, and contest sponsors include Wisconsin Public Radio, Shake Rag Alley Schools for Arts and Crafts, and the Wisconsin Book Festival.

Every year our fiction contest elicits some amazing fiction from established and emerging Wisconsin writers alike, thereby placing a spotlight on one of our state's finest cultural resources. Wisconsin People & Ideas is the only quarterly magazine in the state that regularly highlights Wisconsin fiction and poetry along with articles by and about Wisconsinites who make our state great. Contest entry fees are applied toward paying the prizes and contest-related expenses. It's through submissions to our annual contest and membership in the Wisconsin Academy that we can continue to publish this magazine. If you haven't already, please begin your subscription to Wisconsin People & Ideas by becoming a member of the Wisconsin Academy. As a member, you'll also receive a 20% discount on your submissions to the fiction contest ($15 instead of $20) in addition to four issues of the best magazine of contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture.

ABOUT OUR LEAD JUDGE
Nickolas Butler was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His writings have appeared in Christian Science Monitor, Kenyon Review Online, Narrative Magazine, Ploughshares, The Progressive, and elsewhere. Butler is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Released in March of 2014, Butler’s debut novel Shotgun Lovesongs was called “impressively original” by New York Times book critic Janet Maslin and hailed by critic Jonathan Evison as “a sure-footed and unabashedly sentimental first effort that deserves to be among the standouts in this year’s field of fiction debuts.” Read the Wisconsin People & Ideas interview with Nick here.


2015 FICTION CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES
Authors must reside in or attend school in Wisconsin.
Fiction submissions must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words in length.
Print or online submissions will be accepted. Print submissions must include three photocopies of each fiction submission. Online submissions must be in PDF format to ensure fonts, line breaks, and the overall authorial integrity of the manuscript.
Each fiction submission must be accompanied by a $20 entry fee (non-Academy members) or $15 (Academy members, including those who join while submitting an entry) payable to Wisconsin People & Ideas Fiction Contest or an order number from a completed payment transaction from an online submission.
Writers may submit more than one entry, but each story must be mailed or uploaded separately with its own cover letter (see Rule 9) and entry fee or order number from a completed online payment transaction.
Submissions must be postmarked, delivered, or date stamped by 11:59 pm on December 15, 2014. Entries may be hand-delivered to the Wisconsin Academy (1922 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53726). Entries postmarked or delivered in print or electronic format after the deadline will not be considered and the entry fee will be retained to cover handling.
Stories previously published in print are not eligible. If you have questions about eligibility, please contact the contest coordinator (see below)
Each manuscript must be typed, double-spaced, in standard 10- or 12-point type. Each page must include the title of the story as a header. All pages must be numbered with both an individual page number and the total number of pages (e.g., Stormy Night, page 1/15, Stormy Night, page 2/15, Stormy Night, page 3/15, etc.).
The author's name may not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself. The manuscript must be accompanied by a letter bearing the story title, author's name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Please indicate and the story word count as well. Every contestant must be able to provide an electronic version of the story via e-mail if needed.
Keep a copy of your manuscript! Print manuscripts will be recycled, not returned. Do not send an SASE! If you want to save paper, consider an online submission.
Contest winners will be notified in May 2015 of their award. A general contest announcement will be made to the public and on our websitewww.wisconsinacademy.org by June 1, 2015. First- through third-place winners will be published in the spring 2015, summer 2015, and fall 2015 issues of Wisconsin People & Ideas.