Submissions for our writing contest are now closed.
Our upcoming Issue #12 “THUNDER 雷” marks three years of Sine Theta! To celebrate, we invite you to participate in our first-ever summer writing competition! We are delighted to welcome back previously featured writers Nancy Huang (poetry, author of Favorite Daughter) and Sharlene Teo (prose, author of Ponti) as judges.
Submit by July 15th for a chance to be published in Issue #12 and receive feedback from established writers! First place in each category will receive a $50 cash prize.
We’re accepting entries for both prose (fiction) and poetry. We invite you to reflect on the following three quotes as inspiration for your pieces. You may reflect on the quotes separately or as a collective, drawing themes and ideas that resonate with you. Entries must engage with the prompt(s), but can do so either directly or indirectly. You may only submit one entry per category, so send us your best work!
金麟岂是池中物， 一遇风云便化龙。
Translation: “Are the fish truly trapped in the pond? The minute they meet the storm, they become dragons.”
你瞧这些白云聚了又散，散了又聚，人生离合，亦复如斯。
Translation: “Look at the way these clouds scatter after assembling, the way they assemble after scattering; the meetings and partings of people’s lives repeat in turn like this as well.”
雷惊天地龙蛇蛰，雨足郊原草木柔。
Translation: “Thunder shocks the snakes and dragons of heaven and earth from their slumber as the rain sustains the soft grasses of the plains.”
HOW TO ENTER
Email sinethetamag@gmail.com with “Writing Competition - NAME - CATEGORY” as the subject line. Please include a brief biography written in third person, including your Chinese name (if applicable). Attach your submission as a PDF or Word document. Do not include your name on the document, as entries will be judged anonymously. If you are entering a poetry and a prose piece, please submit each piece separately via email.
JUDGES
Fiction – Sharlene Teo
Sharlene Teo has an LLB in Law from the University of Warwick and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she received the Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship and the David TK Wong Creative Writing award. In 2016, she won the inaugural Deborah Rogers Writer's Award for Ponti, her first novel.
Poetry – Nancy Huang
Nancy grew up in America and China. She is a winner of the 2016 Write Bloody Poetry Chapbook contest, an Andrew Julius Gutow Academy of American Poets Prize, a James F. Parker Award in Poetry, and more. Her debut poetry collection, Favorite Daughter, is out by Write Bloody Publishing.
TERMS AND GUIDELINES
- The competition is open to all people of Sino descent, regardless of age or nationality.
- All entries must be received by 11:59PM GMT on July 15, 2019.
- An entrant may submit only one piece per category (poetry and prose) for consideration. Pieces may not be altered once submitted.
- The competition organisers reserve the right to change the judging panel without notice.
- Our editorial board will review all pieces and forward shortlisted pieces to judges, who will determine the winners. Judges’ decisions are final. There will be no correspondence between the editorial board and judges.
- Winning pieces will be published in our upcoming Issue #12 THUNDER (雷). Additional prizes may be available, subject to availability.
- Entries will also be considered for regular publication in Issue #12.
- All entries are judged anonymously--do not include your name on your works.
- Every piece must have a title.
- Pieces must engage with the prompt(s) provided, either directly or indirectly.
- Word counts: prose submissions can be no longer than 2000 words (excluding title), and poetry submissions can be no longer than 35 lines (excluding title).
- Entries must be submitters’ original work. Plagiarized work will be disqualified from the competition.
- Prose pieces must be works of fiction.
- We do not accept simultaneous submissions. Entries also may not have been previously published, whether online or in print (including self-publishing on a blog).
- Entries can include Chinese or other languages so long as they are written primarily in English.
- Winners will be notified after the judging period has concluded, at the end of July.
We look forward to receiving your entries!