To help celebrate the official relaunch of Abandoned Towers we are holding a writing contest! Please read the whole page for complete details.
Theme

The theme for the first Abandoned Towers writing contest is:

The concept of “abandoned towers” must be incorporated into the piece, as a phrase, allusion, metaphor, physical tower… however you choose.

Genres

Short Story: any genre is acceptable for the contest
Poetry: any form is acceptable for the contest
Flash Fiction: any genre is acceptable for the contest

Length

Short Story: 5,000 words or less
Poetry: 10 pages or less (aprox 250 lines or less)
Flash Fiction: 1000 words or less

Cost

Short Story: $10 per entry or $25 for 3 entries
Poetry: $5 per entry or $12 for 3 entries
Flash Fiction: $2 per entry or $5 for 3 entries

Note: all entry fees and prizes are in US dollars.
Prizes

All winners and honourable mentions receive publication and a free electronic copy of the Abandoned Towers issue in which their entry appears. They also receive an author page on AbandonedTowers.com where they can include a biography and links to their assorted websites, works and accomplishments.
Short Story
1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honourable Mention
$500 $250 $100 $10
Poetry
1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honourable Mention
$100 $75 $50 $5
Flash Fiction
1st Place 2nd Place 3rd Place Honourable Mention
$50 $25 $15 $5

Note: all entry fees and prizes are in US dollars.
Purpose

We’re hosting this writing contest for a number of reasons, but in the interest of transparency we’ll share them with you here:

To celebrate the relaunch of Abandoned Towers!
To provide an opportunity for writers to be recognized and rewarded for the excellence of their writing
To provide a sense of excitement about and interest in in Abandoned Towers
To increase the profile of Abandoned Towers
To provide a source of material to be published on AbandonedTowers.com and in print editions of Abandoned Towers
To provide seed funding to Abandoned Towers, allowing for a budget to improve and expand the magazine
To help Abandoned Towers move closer to its goal of becoming a professional market

Fine Print

Each submission category requires a minimum number of entries in order to proceed. If the minimum is not achieved all entry fees will be returned to the authors, and all rights will revert to the author. The minimums are:

Short Story: 100 total entries
Poetry: 50 total entries
Flash Fiction: 50 total entries

Winners will be selected prior to short list announcement in order to preserve anonymity of the pieces. Short listed pieces which do not win or receive honourable mentions will be published to AbandonedTowers.com (upon contest close). If in the opinion of the judges there are not 3 pieces worthy of prizes, those deemed worthy of prizes will split the remaining unrewarded purse(s).

Example: if no third place short story is chosen, then first place would instead receive $500 + $50 = $550 and second place would receive $250 + $50 = $300, so the total purse of $850 is still awarded.

If, in the opinion of the judges, no piece is worthy of being declared “winner” the entire purse for the category will be awarded to a randomly selected author of a short listed piece.
Rights

During the submission process you will be asked to provide the following rights to Abandoned Towers.
Submitted Piece

First world electronic rights (text and audio). If the piece is not published electronically within the calendar year 2012, all rights revert to the author.
Short Listed Piece

In addition to first world electronic rights (text and audio), we claim first print rights and non-exclusive anthology rights.
Honourable Mention

In addition to first world electronic rights (text and audio), we claim first print rights and exclusive anthology rights (for 1 year, after which they become non-exclusive anthology rights).
Winning Piece

In addition to first world electronic rights (text and audio) we claim first print rights and exclusive anthology rights (for 2 years, after which they become non-exclusive anthology rights).
Judging

Pieces will be judged on the following 5 criteria (equally):

Theme: how well the piece incorporates the theme “abandoned towers”
Writing: the quality of the writing
Potential: the quality of the ideas
Enjoyment: how much the judge enjoyed the piece
Intangibles: everything else

Dates

The following are the milestone dates for the contest:

01 Feb 2012: Announcement of the Contest
February 2012: publicity and judge recruiting
01 Mar 2012: Contest starts accepting submissions
18 May 2012: Contest closes to new entries
01 Jul 2012: Flash Fiction Short List announced
08 Jul 2012: Poetry Short List announced
15 Jul 2012: Short Story Short List announced
22 Jul 2012: Flash Fiction winners announced
29 Jul 2012: Poetry winners announced
05 Aug 2012: Short Story winners announced
August 2012: Issue of Abandoned Towers featuring the contest winning pieces is released

Note: the above dates are subject to change depending on the volume of entries received. We believe that they are realistic, but we reserve the right to adjust them if required, although we will do so as little as possible.

http://abandonedtowers.com/
http://abandonedtowers.com/contest/

Click on the link above and go to the contest official site