The 'Don Knotts Golden Donut Short Story Contest' Seeks Entries

This week, the Writers' Police Academy (WPA) announced that the Don Knotts Golden Donut Short Story Contest is open for entries.

The contest is seeking short stories of exactly 200 words (including the title) about the photograph published here and on the WPA website. The photo was taken by Sunday Kaminski, a Maryland-based photographer whose work has appeared in shows, exhibits and publications including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

The entry guidelines:
-Use exactly 200 words, including the title.
-The image in the photograph must be the main subject of the story.
-The story must be polished and complete (with a beginning, middle and a twist of an ending).
-All stories must be submitted electronically.
-The submission deadline is midnight, August 19, 2011.
-A $20 entry fee must accompany each entry. The proceeds go to the Writers' Police Academy fund to benefit the Guilford Technical Community College criminal justice foundation.

For detailed submission guidelines, go to the WPA website and click on Short Story Contest in the blue menu ribbon at the top of the screen.

The contest winner will receive the Don Knotts Golden Donut Award sponsored by the High Point (North Carolina) Public Library and Krispy Kreme. The award will be presented at the Writers' Police Academy banquet on Saturday, Sept. 24.

The contest is open to everyone. Registration and attendance at the Writers' Police Academy is not required to participate.


**Photograph by Sunday Kaminski. The image may not be copied, reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of Sunday Kaminski.

'Creative Nonfiction' Seeks True Crime Stories

Creative Nonfiction magazine is seeking new essays about true crime – detailed reports of premeditation, follow-through and aftermath – whether taken from police blotters or the news, passed down as small-town legend or family lore, or committed in cold blood.

For the Spring 2012 issue (#45), the magazine's editors are looking for “true stories of petty theft, identity theft, embezzlement or first-degree murder; of jaywalking, selling (or maybe buying) weed or assault; of crimes and punishments and unsolved mysteries. Think The Devil in the White City (Larson), In Cold Blood (Capote) and Iphegenia in Forest Hills (Malcolm); or Half a Life (Strauss), Lucky (Sebold) and The Night of the Gun (Carr). If it’s against the law and someone – maybe even you – did it anyway, we want to know all about it.”

CNF is in search of “well-written prose, rich with detail and a distinctive voice.” Essays can be serious, humorous or somewhere in between. The Best Essay will receive a $1,000 award.


The submission guidelines:
Essays must be unpublished.
Length: 4,000 words maximum.
Postmarked by Sept. 30, 2011.
Clearly mark “True Crime” on the essay and on the outside of the envelope.

There is a $20 reading fee for each submission. For $25, submitters in the United States can pay the reading fee for a single submission and receive a four-issue subscription to Creative Nonfiction magazine.

Submissions from outside the U.S. are welcome, but not eligible for the reading fee/subscription discount due to shipping costs.

Send your manuscript, a cover letter with complete contact information including the title of the essay, word count, self-addressed stamped envelope and payment to:

Creative Nonfiction
Attention: True Crime
5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

For more information, go to www.creativenonfiction.org.