Rules for the 2020 Golden Nib Contest
The 2020 Golden Nib writing contest is officially open. The Golden Nib is the Virginia Writers Club (VWC) annual writing competition in three categories: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry with cash prizes for first, second and third place finishers. Contestants must be members in good-standing of a VWC chapter and a current member of the state organization. Due to the COVID-19 situation, if you are not yet a member of a local chapter, we are enacting an online submission option for this year. Each chapter submits one representative in each category to the state finals, where first, second and third place winners are announced at the annual meeting held in November.
ABOUT THE CONTEST:
In 2005, the Virginia Writers Club, Inc. created a two-tier writing contest. Entries would be submitted and judged at the VWC Chapter-level first, and then each Chapter would forward its first-place winning entries for judging at the (second tier) State VWC level. Entrants who are members of a VWC Chapter must enter the first tier of the competition through that Chapter. VWC members who are not members of a local Chapter can submit their entries via the online submission form. See below for more details.
CONTEST RULES
Entries will be accepted on any subject the author or poet chooses in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction and Poetry.
SUBMIT ENTRIES TO YOUR VWC CHAPTER BY ITS SPECIFIED DEADLINE
Each Chapter has its own guidelines, deadline and membership requirements for entering the Chapter-level contest. All Chapters must adhere to the state contest rules.
ONLINE SUBMISSIONS
If you are not yet a member of a local chapter, but are a member in good standing of the state organization, you can submit your work online. Membership status will be verified by the online membership directory.
NOTE: If you are a member of a VWC chapter, you must submit through your local chapter.
STATE VWC AWARDS:
There are ten VWC Chapters and one online submission option in the state. Only first-place winners from the Chapters will be eligible for the state contest. That means only 33 entries will be forwarded for the State competition -- eleven entries total per category (fiction, nonfiction, poetry) -- by the State Deadline of August 31. Winners of State VWC Contest will be announced and awards presented at the VWC Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony in November. Awards for each category: First Place-$100; Second Place-$50; Third Place-$25.
VWC CHAPTERS WINNING CHAPTER SUBMISSIONS
NOTE: This info is only for chapters submitting their winning Nib entries to Golden Nib. If you're a member who wants to submit your writing, contact your local chapter or follow the link above to online submissions for details on how to enter the local contest. All Golden Nib entries come from local chapters.
Winning Chapter entries must be submitted by August. 31, 2020 to:
Michelle McBeth