GUIDELINES

THE 2011 BLOOM CHAPBOOK CONTEST

FOR POETRY, SHORT FICTION, & CREATIVE NONFICTION

DEADLINE EXTENDED!

MUST BE POSTMARKED OR EMAILED BY MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

Please read the following guidelines carefully before sending any questions to queerarts@gmail.com. More about our 2011 judges.

1) Contest is open to any author who identifies as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender.

2) Any entry by an author who is not LGBT will be disqualified upon BLOOM’s confirmation of author’s identity. Any entry fee will not be refunded.

3) Previous publication in BLOOM does not privilege or diminish an author’s eligibility.

4) For Fiction, material must be original and unpublished, either in print or online. An excerpt from a larger work is eligible, but should not be identified as such. The excerpt will be judged as a stand-alone piece of work.

5) For Poetry, material must be original and at least 50% unpublished. If poems have been published in literary journals, either in print or online, please list the acknowledgments on the Submission Form and not anywhere in the Manuscript. Poems published in books, including anthologies and e-books, are not eligible.

6) For Creative Nonfiction, material must be memoir, biogaphy, travel writing, or personal essay. Material must be original and unpublished, either in print or online. An excerpt from a larger work is eligible, but should not be identified as such. The excerpt will be judged as a stand-alone piece of work.

7) No joint authors.  An author may enter any contest, but each entry requires a Submission Form (download PDF), a Manuscript, and an Entry Fee. Simultaneous submission to other contests is permissible.

8) Manuscripts will be judged anonymously. The author’s name should appear only on the Submission Form that accompanies the manuscript and nowhere else, including Headers and Footers.

9) No translations; manuscripts must be in English.

10 ) Manuscript Preparation:

Poetry – Every manuscript must have a Title Page, with the title of the manuscript and a table of the contents (i.e. a list of the poems included). Pages should be numbered in upper right corner, with the Title of the manuscript in the heading. No more than one poem per page; no more than 25 pages (does not include Title Page). A paper clip is preferred, but staples are fine.

Fiction and Nonfiction – Every manuscript must have a Title Page, with only title of the manuscript (no personal information, no word counts, nada). Pages should be numbered in upper right corner,  with the Title of the manuscript in the heading. Please double-space the text; use standard margins; no more than 25 pages (does not include Title Page). A paper clip is preferred, but a staple is fine.

11) ENTRY FEE: $15 by check (payable to BLOOM Magazine) or paid online.  To pay online, complete the form below. Each fee entitles author to one issue of BLOOM.

Entry Fee $15