Are you a writer, a storyteller, an avid reader? Have you ever dreamed of seeing your own written work published? Are you the next J.K. Rowling? Boy do we have news for you! We’re excited to announce B—Published, our first-ever fiction contest. It’s simple: We know you have stories, and we want you to share them.
Divisions and Prizes
There are three divisions: student (ninth–12th grade), college, and adult. There will be one winner selected from each division to receive a $500 cash prize, and the three winning pieces will be published in B-Metro’s January 2015 issue. B-Metro will also host a reading event where each winner will get the opportunity to share his or her story with an audience.
Rules and Entry
The contest will be judged by a panel of writers, wordsmiths, and literary geeks. The deadline for entry is Oct. 15, 2014. Entries can be emailed to [email protected] or mailed to 1314 Cobb Lane, Birmingham, AL, 35205. See below for a list of contest rules.
1. Any works submitted to the B-Metro B—Published contest must be original content of the submitting writer and must be fiction.
2. No work that has been professionally published will be considered.
3. Submitted works must not exceed a 3,000-word limit.
4. No works submitted by writers, columnists, or persons otherwise affiliated with B-Metro will be considered.
5. Submitting authors must reside in Birmingham, Alabama, or surrounding area.
I assume you are only allowed one submission?
Mandy–actually, you may submit as many times as you’d like!
Thanks for your response!
Would love to enter your contest but I live in N. Alabama. May I submit? I am a member of Southern
Women’s Writer Review Journal and just completed a reading with them this past weekend. Will that allow me to submit?
Thanks so much
Cindy Small
Cindy–we are accepting submissions from the following counties: Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, Walker, Chilton, and Cullman.
Is poetry allowed? If not, would love to see a poetry contest!
Tiffany–for this contest, we are only asking for prose. Great idea, though! We’ll keep this in mind for future contest ideas.
Can a person only submit 1 story?
John–you may submit multiple entries if you’d like. Thanks for your interest!
Thanks you for replying.
Do you have a preference as to the genre of the work?
Thanks, John
John–we are open to all genres. We can’t wait to see what you send us!
How far out does “surrounding area” extend?
Brenda–we’re accepting entries from the following counties: Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, Walker, Cullman, and Chilton.
Thank you.
I live in Montgomery. Does the Birmingham “or surrounding area” include Montgomery?
Nicole–we’re accepting entries from the following counties: Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Blount, Walker, Cullman, and Chilton.
Hello:
I noticed the counties you are accepting submissions from and I live in Decatur, Alabama and work in Huntsville, AL. May I still submit?
Thanks again,
Cindy
Cindy–if you live and/or work in one of the listed counties, you may enter our contest. Thanks!
When you say the divisions are student, college, and adult – do you mean that to apply to the age of the writer who is submitting the work? Or the level of reader/audience? So for example, if I’m an adult writing a story targeted for pre teens, would I be submitting in adult or student division?
Hi Hilda–the age divisions are referring to the age of the writer, so you’ll want to submit in the adult division. Great question!
Should the author’s name appear on the first page?
Hi Thomas–it doesn’t matter where the author’s name appears, as long as it’s on there! 🙂
Will the judging process be blind (no author names)?
George–yes, it will be blind.
One of my stories has snippets of poetry between sections — is that allowed? They’re very small, and the story definitely cannot be considered anything but prose.
K–we encourage you to submit it!
Are there any formatting requirements? Meaning, does the story have to be in a certain font type/size, have specific margins or specific headers? Also, do you care about types of attachments to the submission email? Do you even want it as an attachment or does it have to be in the body of the email?
Jonathan–formatting does not matter, as if your story is published, we will re-format it for print. You can submit your story either in the body of an email or as an attachment. For attachments, we prefer something that can be edited (e.g. a word doc, but not a PDF.) Great questions!
Can you submit under a pseudonym?
B–if you would prefer to submit under a pseudonym, you certainly may do that.
Hello, I graduated from undergrad a year and a half ago. However, I’m currently enrolled in a writing class at UAB. Should I submit as an “adult” or a “student”? I’m not full-time at the university, so I really don’t know where I fall.
Hi Julie–since you are not enrolled full-time, we’d recommend you submit in the Adult category. Good question!
Hello, I have published a story in UAB Aura Lit Magazine, I was wondering if that was considered a professional publication? Also, are you looking for submissions closer to the 3,000 limit or flashfic (500 words or less)?
Hi Kim–we are open to all story lengths, whether that be the full 3,000 words or something considerably shorter. As for being published in UAB Aura Lit Magazine, we recommend that you submit your story anyway, but please include the disclosure that your story has been in this publication. We will leave the decision to consider it or not up to our judging panel.
What information needs to be included on the submission? Any particular format requested?
Thanks
Hi Misty–we need your name and the age division you will be entering. We request a simple word doc format.
Is mild cursing for characterization allowed?
Hi Mandy–that should be fine. If your story is selected and the cursing becomes a problem for print, we will be in touch.
Where can I find the entries to read them? Thanks.
Hi Patientlee–the entries will not be available for the public to read. We have a judging panel that will read all entries and select the winners. Thanks for your interest, though!
Thanks for the opportunity, I have one ? My story is combination of fiction and non fiction. May I submit?
Thanks
Donna–we encourage you to submit it! Please include a note that your story is a combination.
Hey, I was wondering when the winners would be chosen and how will we know?
Kim–the winners will be selected by the end of November so their stories can be published in our January 2015 issue. Winners will be emailed via the email address they used to send in their story.
How soon after the end of November will they be emailed?
Kim–the winning stories will run in our February issue, and the winners will be notified prior to its publication.
I neglected to indicate my division when I submitted my entry Oct. 15. I sent the division info to the contest email address last week, but wanted to direct y’all to that just in case it got lost among late entries.
Sean–you should be fine. Thanks for sending that info to us.
Have you selected the winners yet?
Emily–no, the winners have not yet been selected.
How many stories were submitted to the contest?
Steve–we received more than 75 entries!
still planning to publish some of these in jan.?
Hi Sean–the winning stories will actually be published in our March 2015 issue.
I am wondering if the winners have been contacted yet?
Denise–the winners have not been notified, but they will be very soon!
Nervously awaiting the results!!!
Probably very repetitive to ask this, so I apologize: have the winners been announced yet? Saw the above posts… so I am curious
Sam–the winners have not yet been announced. The winners will be selected and notified soon, and the winning stories will run in our March 2015 issue.
Thanks!!
I realize the redundancy at this point, but have the winners been notified? A friend of mine entered and it has been very frustrating to hear that the results keep getting pushed back to the next month and the next. Not a great start for the first ever fiction writing contest.
Allison–our winners have not yet been notified. Our judging panel is currently making their final decisions. We apologize that this has taken longer than expected; with so many quality entries, our judges are having a hard time choosing! Thanks for understanding.
Will you guys please post here when winners have been notified…just so those who entered know? Thanks!
Allison–we certainly will. At this moment we are still waiting on our judges to make their final decisions.
Not to be rude, but you are almost four months over the planned notification for winners. Is it actually going to be announced or has the whole contest just dissolved?
Hi Ellie–we apologize again for the delay and assure you the contest is still on. While we had originally planned to publish the winners in January, we have had to push it back a few issues. The winning stories will now be published in our April 2015 issue (next month!). We appreciate your patience.
I’m afraid to ask….PLEASE tell us the winners have been chosen/notified
Penelope–the winning stories will be published in our April 2015 issue, and the winners will be notified by the end of the month. Thank you for your patience!
Have the winners been announced yet? Haven’t yet received a rejection notice myself, so was wondering.
Yes–the three winners were published in our April issue. Read online at http://b-metro.com/fictioncontest/20336/