The Voting is Complete. The Winner Announced: For the 3rd year in a row, MoonTownCafe was selected as the Best Poetry Website for writers by Writer’s Digest.

What’s so great about MoonTownCafe and why has it been voted the top poetry website in 2008, 2009, and 2010? For those who are not MoonTownCafe Junkies, here’s a few reasons they were voted the best:

– They have dozens of free forums for reading, writing, reviewing and ranking poetry. There’s no monthly fees like many poetry websites.

– Users get their very own Cafe Area for showcasing their work and profile.

– They have a one-of-a-kind point system that allows users to gain points for reading and critiquing poetry; while losing points for posting their own poetry. This forces users to read other people’s poetry on the site while eliminating over-posting. Points have no cash value, you have to help others to earn them and to keep posting.

– They have a poetry chat room, personal blog space, free poetry contests, (no entry or reading fees), friend’s lists, online messaging system, weekly radio show, YouTube area, Facebook area, Free Publishing and too much more to list. Best of all, it’s Free!

Visit them today at www.MoonTownCafe.com __________________________________________________________________

2011 Contest Announcements – Some Ending Soon!

These are a couple of great contest to enter in 2011:

$1,500 honorarium and book publication: Submit book-length collection of poems to the Colorado Prize for Poetry by January 14, 2011. Final judge is Cole Swensen. $25 entry fee includes subscription to Colorado Review. Complete guidelines at http://coloradoprize.colostate.edu or Colorado Prize for Poetry, Center for Literary Publishing, 9105 Campus Delivery, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-9105.

2011 STELLA Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. Winning story selected by Jennifer Egan, $1,000 prize, and read as part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space in NYC on June 8, 2011. Theme: Set in Restaurants and Bars, no more than 2 pages, 750 words. Fee: $25. Deadline: March 1, 2011. Details: www.selectedshorts.org.

CONVERSE COLLEGE Creative Writing program announces the Julia Peterkin Award in Fiction. Prize of $1,000 plus expenses for a reading in Fall 2011. To enter send maximum 16 pages of fiction (published or unpublished), cover letter, and $15 handling fee payable to “Converse College English Department.” Deadline: February 15, 2011. Send: Julia Peterkin Award, Creative Writing Program, Converse College, Spartanburg, SC 29302. Guidelines: www.converse.edu/academics/schools-departments/english/creative-and-prof…. The Converse College creative writing program congratulates Jude Nutter of Minnesota, winner of the 2010 Julia Peterkin Award.

THE COUNCIL for Wisconsin Writers invites submissions of work published in 2010 by Wisconsin residents in categories including short and book-length fiction and nonfiction, poems, book-length poetry, children’s literature, outdoor writing. Winners each receive $500 and a week’s residency at Edenfred. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: January 31, 2011. See: www.wisconsinwriters.org.

CUTBANK LITERARY Magazine is calling for submissions to the Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry, the Montana Prize in Fiction and the Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction. Submissions are accepted December 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011. There is a $15 entry fee and winners receive $500 and publication in CutBank 75. Web site: www.cutbankonline.org.

DYLAN THOMAS American Poet Prize: $1,000, publication in Rosebud, awarded to an American poet under 40. Deadline: December 31 postmark. Name and address on cover letter only. Lifetime-appointed judge: John Smelcer. Three poems max, $10 entry fee (payable to “Rosebud”) to: John Smelcer, Dept. of English, Binghamton University, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000.

FIRST ANNUAL Irish-American Crossroads Writing Contest. First prize: $300. Submit memoir about the meaning of an Irish-American heritage (multiple or hybrid ancestries included). One submission per person. Deadline: December 31. Entry Fee: $15. Send previously unpublished works (max 3,000 wc) to: info@irishamericancrossroads.org. For complete details and submission guidelines: www.irishamericancrossroads.org.

FOURTH GENRE: Explorations in Nonfiction. 7th Annual Michael Steinberg Essay Prize. $1,000 prize awarded annually for winning essay or memoir; winning and runner-up entries published in Fourth Genre Spring 2012. All entries considered for publication in Fourth Genre. Ryan Van Meter is 2011 contest judge. 6,000 word limit; nonrefundable $15 entry fee. Contest guidelines unchanged-available at www.msupress.msu.edu/journals/fg. Submit January 15-February 28, 2011 only to: Fourth Genre Contest, Dept. of English, Michigan State University, 201 Morrill Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1036. E-mail: genre4@msu.edu.

GEMINI MAGAZINE Poetry Open. Grand prize: $1,000. No restrictions on content, length or type of poetry. Second/third place: $100/$50. Three honorable mentions. All finalists published online in February 2011. Entry fee: $5 (up to three poems) payable to “Gemini Magazine,” P.O. Box 1485, Onset, MA 02558. Deadline: December 31. www.gemini-magazine.com

HEART POETRY Award $500. Winner, Honorable Mentions published 2011. $10 covers 3 unpublished poems, reserves issue. On each page include name, address, phone, e-mail. SASE or Web site announces winners, poems discarded. Deadline: postmark December 31. Sample $5. Nostalgia Press, 2003 Broughton St., Orangeburg, SC 29115. Web site: www.nostalgiapress.com. E-mail: heart@sc.rr.com.

INDIANA University South Bend’s Lester M. Wolfson Poetry Award will be awarded to an emerging or established poet for a book length manuscript of at least 48 pages. Winner receives $1,000, 50 copies, and will be invited to give a reading in South Bend. Deadline is March 1, 2011. David Dodd Lee, Series Editor, will judge. Entry fee: $25. For complete guidelines go to www.42miles.wordpress.com.

JUDITH KITCHEN Creative Nonfiction Prize presented by Water~Stone Review. Winner receives $1,000 plus publication. $15 entry fee includes copy of Fall 2011 issue. Deadline: December 1. Original, unpublished work; maximum length, 8,000 words. Include name, address, phone number, and e-mail on cover sheet (only). Manuscripts will not be returned (recycled). Send SASE and 3 copies of submission to Creative Nonfiction Prize, Water~Stone Review, Graduate School of Liberal Studies, MS-A1730, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104-1284.

MANY MOUNTAINS Moving Poetry & Flash Fiction Contests. $500 prizes plus publication. All entrants get free subscriptions. Deadline: December 30. Anonymous judging. Include only in cover letter: name, address, e-mail, title(s) and genre. Entry fees: $15 for 5 poems or 10 pages, or $15 for 2 flash fictions (under 1,500 words) payable to: “Many Mountains Moving.” Mail duplicate copies to Editors, MMM, (genre) Contest, 1705 Lombard St., Philadelphia, PA 19146. Or to editors@mmminc.org without identification in attached MS. Send cover letter and check via U.S. Mail. Full guidelines at http://mmminc.org.

MERIDIAN, the semi-annual from the University of Virginia, is accepting online entries for its Editors’ Prize Contests in fiction and poetry. Deadline: midnight, December 17. Winners receive a $1,000 prize and publication; all U.S. entries receive a one-year subscription. Entry fee: $16. For full details, visit www.readmeridian.org.

A NEW LOOK awaits at www.NewMillenniumWritings.com. Visit our updated Web site for awards contest details and to enter online. $4,000 plus publication in New Millennium Writings and online. $1,000 each for Best Poem, Nonfiction, Fiction or Short-Short Fiction. New Millennium Writing Awards. Deadline is November 17. 20 Poetry Honorable Mentions published and selected Prose Finalists. You receive 2012 issue featuring winners. Guidelines: No restrictions on style or content. Enter between now and midnight of November 17 (postmark ok) with a $17 check payable to NMW for each set of three poems (five pages max) or each story or nonfiction (6,000 words max, except in the Short-Short fiction category-1,000 words max.). Multiple and simultaneous submissions welcome. Enter as often as you like. Include name, phone, address, e-mail and category entered on cover page only. To: NMW, Room A, P.O. Box 2463, Knoxville, TN 37901. Provide e-mail or SASE for results. Or enter online at www.writingawards.com.

NEW OHIO REVIEW prize in fiction and poetry. Poetry winners, selected by Stephen Dunn, were Michael Derrick Hudson of Fort Wayne, Indiana, first prize of $1,500; Beth Marzoni, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, second prize of $500. Fiction winners, selected by Ann Beattie, were Angie Pelekidis of Binghamton, New York, first prize of $1,500; and Matthew Duffus of Knoxville, Tennessee, second prize of $500. The winning poems and stories appear in the Fall 2010 issue of New Ohio Review. Deadline for next year is May 1, 2011. Web site: www.ohiou.edu/nor.

NEW POETRY CONTEST. $250 and guaranteed publishing to the winner. One poem, any subject/any length. Deadline: November 1. $10 entry fee-check to “Trajectory-Helvey Enterprises.” Submit to: Trajectory, P.O. Box 655, Frankfort, KY 40602.

OMNIDAWN offers $1,000 prize for our annual chapbook poetry contest. Ben Lerner will judge. Accepting electronic and postal submissions January 1-February 28, 2011. Winner receives prize, publication, and 100 copies. Entry fee: $15. Entrants who send SASE cost receive copy of winning chapbook. For guidelines, see www.omnidawn.com.

OUTRIDER Press/TallGrass Writers Guild anthology theme: “Bird in the Hand’s Worth Two in the Bush: Risk/Flight.” Broadly interpreted-birds, flight, gambling, risk aversion, danger sports. $500-poetry; $500-fiction/essays (to 2,500 words). Deadline: February 27, 2011. Copy to published contributors. Entry: $12/$16 TallGrass members/non-members. Complete guidelines: outriderpress@sbcglobal.net.

PASSAGER CONTEST for writers over 50. 5 poems, 35 lines max each; fee $20 includes 1 year subscription. Send bio. SASE for results only. Deadline: February 15, 2011. First prize: $500. Honorable mentions published. Passager, University of Baltimore, 1420 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. Checks payable to UB. Web site: http://passagerpress.com.

POETRY SOCIETY of Virginia (PSV) adult and student categories. Over $3,000 in prizes awarded annually. Deadline: January 19, 2011. $4/poem for non-member adults. No fee for current members. All may enter/join. For guidelines, send SASE to PSV, 3723 Gardners Road, Mineral, VA 23117 or at www.poetrysocietyofvirginia.org.

PRISM REVIEW’S annual $250 fiction and poetry prizes. Our excellent judges are Lucy Corin (The Entire Predicament) and Craig Santos Perez (from Unincorporated Territory). Your $9 entry gets you a swell $9 issue. Deadline is midnight, November 30. Information and submissions at prismreview.submishmash.com/Submit or visit us at www.laverne.edu/prism-review.

RIVER STYX Schlafly Beer Micro-Fiction Contest. A prize of $1,500, one case of Schlafly Beer, and publication in River Styx is given annually for the best micro-fiction story. The editors of River Styx will judge. 500 words maximum per story, up to 3 stories per entry. $20 entry fee, postmarked by December 31. All entrants receive a one-year subscription to River Styx. River Styx, 3547 Olive St., Ste. 107, St. Louis, MO 63103. Richard Newman, Editor: bigriver@riverstyx.org, or (314) 533-4541.

Author Bio: http://www.moontowncafe.com

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