Please read the following guidelines carefully before sending any questions to queerarts@gmail.com. More about our 2014 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) DEADLINE: The deadline has passed, and submissions are closed.
4) Previous publication in BLOOM does not privilege or diminish an author’s eligibility.
5) For Fiction, material must be original and unpublished, either in print or online.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.
6) For Poetry, material must be original and at least 50% unpublished.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 Title Page and not anywhere in the Manuscript. Poems previously published in books, including anthologies and e-books, are not eligible.
7) For Creative Nonfiction, material must be memoir, biography, 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 Material must be original and unpublished, either in print or online.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.
8) No joint authors. An author may enter any contest, but each entry requires a Submission Form, a Manuscript, and an Entry Fee. Simultaneous submission to other contests is permissible.
9) 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.
10) No translations; manuscripts must be in English.
11) 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 20 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.
12) ENTRY FEE: $15 by check (payable to BLOOM Magazine) or paid online. When you submit electronically, it will include the fee.
13) SUBMISSION FORM: Submission Form 2014
14)ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION (PREFERRED): Submit to Bloom. Any questions, please email us at queerarts@gmail.com.
15)REGULAR SUBMISSION: Send Submission Form, Manuscript, and Entry Fee to BLOOM Chapbook Contest, 5482 Wilshire Blvd, #1616, Los Angeles, CA 90036. If you want to be notified of receipt, please include a self-addressed, stamped postcard or envelope.
16) ANNOUNCEMENT: The nonfiction and fiction winners will be announced the week of March 23, with the poetry winner to follow (hopefully) in April 2015.
17) Each winner receives $100 and 25 copies of chapbook.
18) Additional guidelines may emerge if we forgot something, but we tried to cover everything.