The 2010 DAWN THOMPSON MEMORIAL
HAUNTED HEARTS CONTEST
"I found the quality of the submissions unusually high. I'm very glad I participated in the judging." - Alicia Condon, Dorchester
"This has been the most enjoyable contest I've judged. Every entry
was strong." - Susan McCarty, Berkley
 THE GOTHIC ROMANCE WRITERS, Inc. (GOTHROM) chapter of Romance Writers of America® proudly announces the sixth annual DAWN THOMPSON MEMORIAL HAUNTED HEARTS contest.
The late Dawn Thompson was the first winner of Gothic Romance Writers' Haunted Hearts Contest and
it helped propel her on to her successful, but all-too-brief career. We miss her. This is what Dawn said about the contest:
"As a former winner of the Haunted Heart for my Historical Paranormal, THE RAVENCLIFF BRIDE in 2004, I cannot recommend this contest highly enough. It is run by professional, responsible authors committed to excellence in the art of writing Gothic Romance. This prestigious win encouraged me to persist until I sold in 2005. Several authors went on to sell after winning and finalling in the Haunted Heart. It's magical!"
-- Dawn Thompson
Sponsor: RWA Gothic Romance Writers
Fee: $15 for Goth Rom Members; $25 for Non-Goth Rom entrants
Postmarked Deadline: Oct 8, 2010
E-Mail Receipt: Midnight, Oct 8, 2010
Paper Entries:
Sheila Polansky
3318 Maple Park
Kingwood, TX. 77339
E-Mail Entries: Sheila Polansky, srpolansky@yahoo.com (Word or RTF format)
Enter: First Chapter (25 pages max), Synopsis (one page max);
Must include Gothic elements**
Eligibility: Not published in last 5 years.; Not contracted by deadline
Categories: Historical Gothic and Contemporary Gothic***
Final Judges: To Be Announced
For more information: email Sheila Polansky, srpolansky@yahoo.com
Top Prize: Certificate
* include SASE for return of Judge’s comments
** you may enter as many submissions as you wish; each submission requires the appropriate entry fee
*** in the event insufficient entries in either category are received, the categories will be merged into a single category
Judging and Scoring
- First round judges will be experienced, trained, published, and non-published. Entrants must understand that judging is subjective and they may receive scores/comments with which they do not agree. Entrants must accept and abide by the decision of the judges. The decision of the judges is final.
- The contest coordinator will determine finalists based upon first-round scores.
- Judges are encouraged to annotate electronic entries with positive and helpful comments as well as fill in the comment sheet. Each mark of “3” or below will be accompanied by justification and suggestions as to how, in the judge’s opinion, the manuscript can be strengthened.
- Each entry will have three judges, at least one of which will be a published author. The contest coordinator will drop the lowest of the three scores and will compute the entrant’s final score based on the two highest scores.
- All three score sheets along with the annotated entries will be returned to the entrant for review.
- The three finalist with the highest scoring entries will be notified by the contest coordinator. The finalist’s entries will be sent to the final judges.
- Final round judges:
- * Contemporary—Alicia Condon, Dorchester Editor
- * Historical—Julia Thornhill, The Wild Rose Press
Scoresheet in .doc format
Scoresheet in PDF format
Entry Checklist:
____ Submit completed Contest Entry Form w/waiver acceptance checked
____ Payment via PayPal or credit card
____ Check/money order made payable to Gothic Romance Writers.
Submit Contest Entries to:
Electronic Submissions should be saved in .rtf form and e-mailed to srpolansky@yahoo.com
Paper Entries should be mailed to:
Sheila Polansky
3318 Maple Park
Kingwood, TX. 77339
ONLINE ENTRY FORM
If you are paying by Paypal, click below and
please specify "Contest Entry "
Credit cards processed through Paypal.
2008 Winners Announced!
It is with great pleasure and excitement that we announce the final results of the 2008 Haunted Hearts contest, from our final judge, Alicia Condon, Editorial Director of Dorchester Publishing.
FIRST PLACE WINNER
EMBRACE OF SHADOWS
by Clarissa Ellison a/k/a Erin Kellison
Elilson's m anuscript has sold to Dorchester in a two-book deal as a result of this contest!
SECOND PLACE
HIDDEN BEAUTY
by Tiffany Chalmers
(Full requested by Ms. Condon)
THIRD PLACE
WITH MY LAST BREATH
by Tricia Schneider
Design and graphics copyright 2008 by Karen
McCullough
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