Q & A – San Miguel Writers’ Conference “Writing Contest”

Photo-by-Rui-Fernandes
Photo by Rui Fernandes

This article has been updated for 2018.

Over the last few weeks we’ve received quite a few emails asking questions about the San Miguel Writers’ Conference “Writing Contest.”  We’ve gotten so many it seemed like a good idea to answer them publicly.  Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions.  If you have one you’d like to add please send it to register@sanmiguelwritersconference.org .

The deadline for this year’s writing contest is November 1, 2018. Submit a piece of writing to the San Miguel Writers’ Conference “Writing Contest.”

How do you pick the winning entry?  It’s a long process that usually takes over a month because we read every single submission in its entirety and we read the ones we think are possible winners a couple of times.  When a person submits through our online submission manager an email is sent out to the appropriate judge, who can then access the submission, but the submitter’s name is masked and our judges read completely blind.  Once we’ve read every single submission we review our top five picks as a committee, and then we choose one submission from each category as a winner.

On the contest guidelines it says that people can not submit if they have published a book that has sold over 1,000 copies.  Does that include self-published books?  The idea of our contest is to bring novice writers with a lot of potential to San Miguel to experience our conference and pitch their work to literary agents.  With the above rule we are trying to avoid having a professional writer swoop in and grab the prize.  But to answer the question: If you have self-published a book that has sold less than 1,000 copies we will allow you to enter the contest.

pencils
Photo by Angie Garrett

I write haiku.  Can I submit more than three poems?  No, you cannot submit more than three.  When we read a submission in any category we judge it on its own.  For example, last year we had two amazing poets who we had a very hard time deciding between.  Over all the work of the first one was very strong.  Each of her three poems were solid pieces of writing.  The second poet had one amazing poem and the other two were good, but did not come up to the same standard.  However, that one poem was excellent and we felt it was a better choice over the three good poems submitted by the first poet.  So, we chose the second poet because we judge on a single piece, not a body of work.  In this light a single haiku has just as much of a chance to win as a longer poem.

I write stories that are 50% English and 50% Spanish.  Do you have a Spanish or bi-lingual category?  This year we have a category solely for Spanish short story writing.  We encourage people to submit their writing to this category if the piece is primarily in Spanish. We also except entries that are primarily in English with some Spanish in the other categories (Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, & Poetry).  If your writing is predominantly Spanish and not a short story, please contact Armida Zepeda at zepeda.armida@gmail.com  for more information.

What does my $30 entry fee pay for?  The fee we receive when a person submits their work goes to a few different places.  Part of it pays for administering  the contest such as the use of Submittable.com’s online submission manager.  Some of it goes towards subsidizing the prizes.  A portion goes to pay for the “Teen Writing Workshops” we offer during the conference and throughout the year.  This program helps 70+ teens 12-19 years of age to tap into their imaginations and writing skills while attending a conference with heavy weight authors such as Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, and Sandra Cisneros.

Who judges the writing contest?  We have four judges.  All of them volunteer for the San Miguel Writers Conference and have extensive backgrounds in writing.  Each judge reads through submissions in their category and then the judges meet as a committee to choose the wining pieces of writing.

mittie roger
Photo by Shedrich Willames

Mittie Babette Roger – Poetry

Mittie is a native Louisianian, born and raised in Baton Rouge. She earned her MFA in Poetry from Naropa University in Boulder Colorado.  Her first book, Aurora, was published by Monkey Puzzle Press after “Aurora” won second place in the 2012 Richard Bausch Contest and was published in the anthology, The Best of Our Stories: Volume 4.  An adventure overland enthusiast, her travels have taken her to the jungles of Ghana, the lakes of Bolivia, the rainy knolls of Romania, the beaches of Greece, the castles of France, the mountains of Peru and throughout the coat of many colors, otherwise known as Mexico. Her travel articles have been published in Huffington Post, Alloy & Grit, and LRM, among others. Currently, she teaches Enlgish at the university of Papaloapan in Oaxaca where she is working on multiple book length projects, including her first novel, Born of a Mother’s Rib

Mary Katherine Wainright
Mary Katherine Wainright

Mary Katherine Wainright – Creative Nonfiction

Mary Katherine has lived in San Miguel for a little over three years. Her hometown is Bradenton, Florida. She has a PhD in American Studies and has taught literature and creative writing for over 30 years at many colleges and universities in the United States. She has published poems and creative nonfiction in many literary magazines. Currently, she is the liaison between the Literary Sala and La Tienda at the Library.  She also assists Susan Page in choosing the faculty for the Writers’ Conference.  Her favorite authors include Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

Nathan Feuerberg
Photo by Debra Bigge-Holloran

Nathan Feuerberg – Fiction

Nathan writes short stories, novels, and plays. He received a BA from The American University of Rome, an MSc in Creative Writing from The University of Edinburgh, and an MFA from The University of New Orleans. His fiction has appeared in a variety of literary journals and anthologies. He was a contributing editor for the 2017 anthology, Solamente en San Miguel: A Literary Celebration.  His short film El Hamsterino Viajador del Tiempo, premiered at the 2018 Guanajuato International Film Festival. His screenplay, “Wish Bringer,” won the Cine Story 4th Annual Script Sessions Screen Writing Award. His plays have been performed in England, France, and Italy. Currently, he resides in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and is working on a project called Flies in the Jar.

Armida Zepeda

Armida Zepeda García Moreno – Spanish Short Story

Armida is a writer and researcher, a cultural promoter by conviction, and an editor by profession. She has headed the writing department for various national magazines and cultural supplements. As a scriptwriter, she has worked in radio, television, the press, video, multimedia, with art and history museums, and for one of Guanajuato’s archaeological sites. Her specialties include copy editing, editorial coordination, and the preservation of the books she has edited. Armida combines her fondness for music, literature, and magical cities like San Miguel de Allende.

So what are you waiting for.  Submit a piece of writing to the San Miguel Writers’ Conference “Writing Contest.”

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