WRITING CONTEST

All Massachusetts writers are invited to submit their best work to this year’s Marblehead Festival of Arts writing contest.

By entering our writing competition, you are supporting the festival’s mission to promote and foster the arts in Marblehead and surrounding communities. As in years past, the contest will recognize the strongest submissions, as deemed by our esteemed judges, in three categories: adult fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and student (18 and under) fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

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We reserve the right to publish winning works on the Marblehead Festival of Arts website, in other Festival publications, and in local newspapers, but the copyright belongs to the author. The Literary Festival does NOT retain rights to the work after we publish it.

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ELIGIBILITY

This contest is open to all Massachusetts residents who are writers of fiction, non-fiction (including memoir and personal essay) and poetry. Submitted work may NOT have been previously published unless on a personal blog, personal website, or in another self-produced publication. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please notify us within 24 hours, via email if your work is accepted elsewhere.

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Submission fee is $15 per entry; you may submit up to three works. You are also welcome to submit in multiple categories. There is no submission fee for student entries.

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The Literary Festival welcomes and encourages entries from writers of all backgrounds, groups, and identities. 

 

By entering the Literary Festival Writing Contest you agree that:

(1) Your submission is your own original work

(2) No one else owns the rights to publish said work

(3) If you are one of the winners, you grant Marblehead Festival of Arts the right to publish said work, unless you withdraw your work prior to our announcement of winners. All rights revert to the author after publication with the Marblehead Literary Festival.

 

PRIZES

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Adult

• First prize in each category: $100, ribbon and certificate, and a 1/4 page black and white ad in The Current to be donated to a local non-profit of your choice

• Second place in each category: ribbon and certificate

• Honorable mentions: ribbon and certificate

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Student (18 and under)

• First prize in each category: $50*, first-prize ribbon, certificate, and Abbot Public Library swag

• Second place in each category: second-place ribbon, certificate, and and Abbot Public Library swag

• Honorable mentions: honorable mention ribbon and certificate, and and Abbot Public Library swag

*Sponsored by Abbot Public Library

 

Marblehead Current Best of Show Award

Thanks to the generous support of the Marblehead Current this year, an inaugural Marblehead Current Best of Show Award will be presented to the one entry across all categories that demonstrates the ideals of outstanding written prose or poetry. In addition to the engraved award, the winner will receive a $100 cash prize.

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If you are submitting work to our contest, please consider joining us for other events that compose the Marblehead Festival of Arts events, including its literary events. 

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SUBMISSION RULES & GUIDELINES

Please read carefully! Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be rejected.

Fee: Unfortunately fees cannot be collected online right now. We will contact you with further instructions for ways to submit entry fees once we have resolved this issue

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Entries—and entry fees— must be submitted online on or by JUNE 1, 2023 (EST) no later than midnight. (Entries time-stamped June 2nd or later will not be considered.)
 

Payments can be made by check and mailed to 

***until an online payment is available***

Marblehead Festival of Arts

P.O. Box 331

Marblehead, MA 01945

Please put "Literary Festival" in the memo line.

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Length of entries

Poetry: Each poem may be a maximum of 32 lines

Fiction: Short stories or novel stand-alone chapters/excerpts may be no longer than 3,000 words.

Non-fiction: Essays, brief memoirs and other non-fiction submissions may be no longer than 3,000 words.

 

The above parameters apply to student submissions as well.

 

Formatting requirements

• Entries for all categories (except poetry) must be double-spaced with one-inch margins in Times New Roman or another standard 12-point font. We ask poets to use a standard 12-point font, but do not require standard margins.

• Include your name, address, phone number, and email address on your cover page, along with the TITLE of your submission, CATEGORY of work, and number of words. Please also include a short (two- to three-sentence) bio. Do NOT describe your submitted work. The writing should stand on its own without explanation.

 

Cover Page Example:

Jan Doe

123 Four Street

Marblehead, MA 01945

(781) 111-2222

janemail@mail.com

Title of work: THE TEMPEST

Category: FICTION

Word count: 2,700

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Bio: Jane Doe is a nature writer based in Gloucester. She grew up on a commune west of the city with her parents and seven siblings. When she’s not writing, she’s tending to her llamas, rock climbing, and helping out at the her local farmer’s market.

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HOW TO ENTER

Fee: Unfortunately fees cannot be collected online right now. We will contact you with further instructions for ways to submit entry fees once we have resolved this issue

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Email your cover page and writing entry as an attachment/attachments in these formats only: PDF, Word, or Google doc, via email to literaryfestival@marbleheadfestival.org 

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You will receive a confirmation email when your entry has been received and logged into our system. Thank you for entering the 2023 Marblehead Festival of Arts writing contest!