Million Writers Award

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Million Writers Award was a short story literary award presented annually by storySouth [1] [2] from 2003 to 2016. [3] [4] It honored the best online short stories. The award was structured to be egalitarian allowing for anyone to nominate a story including readers, authors, editors and publishers; prize money was donated by readers and writers; and the winners were selected by public vote from a short-list of entries selected by judges. [5] [6]

Contents

Overview

The Million Writers Award was founded by author Jason Sanford in 2003 at a time when the literary establishment "didn't believe online magazines were legitimate places to publish fiction," seeing it as a fad. [7] [8] Sanford set out to honor and highlight online only publications and stories with the award. [8]

Stories eligible for the award include those first published in online literary journals, magazines, and e-zines that have an editorial process. [7] The award had a variable cash prize, in 2011 for example it was $600 for the winner, $200 for the runner-up and $100 for third place. [5] Prize money was raised through donations from writers, editors and readers and thus fluctuates each year. [5] Anyone could nominate up to one story, while editors and publishers can nominate three stories. Stories must be at least 1000 words. [5]

The award became one of the premier online literary awards and was named a Hot Site by USA Today . [9] The award was profiled in a six-page feature interview with editor Jason Sanford in the 2005 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market [10] and mentioned in The 100 Best Trends, 2006: Emerging Developments You Can't Afford to Ignore as an example of the emerging online literary movement. [11]

In 2012 Spotlight Publishing released two anthologies of stories from the Million Writers Award, with one focused on literary stories and the other on science fiction and fantasy stories. [12] [13] [1]

Winners

Previous winners. [14]

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

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References

  1. 1 2 "Starred review of Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved July 11, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Congratulations to the storySouth Million Writers Award Nominees!" Tor.com, Oct 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Million Writers Awards". storySouth . Million Writers. Archived from the original on May 28, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  4. ↑ Kellogg, Carolyn (April 23, 2009). "Million Writers Award: more than 100 top short stories". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "2012 Million Writers Award Rules". Jason Sanford.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Million Writers Award Winners," Locus Magazine, August 17, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Introduction to the 2012 Million Writers Award". Jason Sanford.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Rank and slush pile: Is There a Literary Magazine Hierarchy?" by Timothy Schaffert, Poets & Writers Magazine, May-June 2009, Volume 37, Issue 3.
  9. ↑ "WebGuide: Hot Sites". USA Today . March 9, 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Personal Views: Jason Sanford On the Million Writers Award" by Mary Cox, 2005 Novel and Short Story Writer's Market Writer's Digest Books, 2004, p. 23.
  11. ↑ The 100 Best Trends, 2006: Emerging Developments You Can't Afford to Ignore by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, Adams Media Corporation, 2005, p. 55.
  12. ↑ "Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy". Spotlight Publishing. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices". Spotlight Publishing. Archived from the original on May 29, 2014. Retrieved May 28, 2014.
  14. ↑ "The storySouth Million Writers Award". storysouth.com. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Top Ten Online Stories of 2003". storySouth . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
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