THE BEST OF SOFT SCIENCE FICTION CONTEST
Sponsored Annually by the Soft SF Writer's Association
Contest Director
1277 Joan Drive
Merritt Island FL 32952
Congratulations to the 2000 Winners:
First - Stephen D. Rogers for "The Meek Inherit" published in Jackhammer
Second - James Van Pelt for "Infodict"
Third - Pete Manison for "Dust Station Omega" published in Space
and Time
Honorable Mentions:
Mary Soon Lee for "Murder Absolute" published in The Age of Wonders
Ken Rand for "The Find" published in Extremes - Fantasy and Horror
from the
Ends of the Earth
Guidelines:
Who Can Enter
The contest is open to
all writers, and you can enter as many manuscripts as you wish. The
entry must have been published or offered for sale within the year the
contest is entered. If the story has been published, include this
information so it can be listed with any announcement of winners.
Opening and Closing Dates
The contest will open
October 1 and close December 15 to avoid the Christmas rush. Judging
should be complete by the first of the year and prizes disbursed by March.
Entry Fee
There will be no entry
fee for the contest at this time.
Judges and Prizes
The manuscripts will
be judged by the members of the Soft SF Writer's Association, who also
contribute the prizes. Current awards are: First place $100,
second place $50 and third place $25.
Judging Criteria
Emotional impact, artistic
style, cleverness, originality, characterization, theme weight, imagery,
sensuality. Stories which contain shocking or disturbing elements
are unlikely to win. This is not the type of emotional impact we're
looking for.
Format and Length
No form is required for
entrance to the Best of Soft SF Contest. Please send a disposable
manuscript in standard format addressed to the Contest Director, 7000 words
or less with you name and address securely attached. If you want
a personal notification of the winners, include a SASE.
Transfer of Rights
Winner's stories will
be kept on file, and others disposed to keep administrative costs to a
minimum. No rights will be transferred by submission to the contest.
If an anthology is planned, writers will be contacted later.
General
Soft SF is different
from hard in that characters, emotional content and artistic effect are
emphasized rather than plot and deterministic science. Although adult
issues are encouraged, gratuitous violence and graphic sex should be kept
to a reasonable minimum. Mixed-genre stories are acceptable (fantasy/SF,
mystery/SF, horror/SF) as long as elements of science fiction are included--that
is, some projection of trends, facts or technology in a scientific way.
Social, behavioral, natural or hard science are all acceptable as a basis;
and past, present, future or alternate universe are all fine as a setting.
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Revised 12/20/2000
