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Gothic Romance Writers Inc., a chapter of Romance Writers of america


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 

Dawn ThompsonTHE 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

PRINTABLE CONTEST ENTRY FORM

ONLINE ENTRY FORM

 

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please specify "Contest Entry "

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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
 

 

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