And the winners are...
Final Results: The final results of the Ralph Williams Memorial Short Story Contest, 2008, are as follows:
Alaskana:
First Prize, $1,000.00: "Hatched Mason" by Amber Jusefowytsch
First Runner Up: "The Nature of Need" by Bruce Orton
Second Runner Up: "Time of the Otter" by Cora Holmes
Science Fiction:
First Prize, $1,000.00: "What Gets Thrown Away" by Amy McDonald
First Runner Up: "Ezekiel, Prophet to Bones" by Eric Witchey
Second Runner Up: "Service" by Eric Witchey
Fantasy:
First Prize, $1,000.00: "The Cold Man" by William Farrar
First Runner Up: "Fly" by Steve Roberts
Second Runner Up: "The Pass-Through Window" by Patricia King
Grand Prize Winner, $4,000.00: "Hatched Mason" by Amber Jusefowytsch
On behalf of the Ralph Williams Speculative Fiction Contest, I offer my congratulations to the winners. The judging was difficult because there were so many fine entries. All entries were initially judged in the category in which they were submitted; however, there were insufficient entries in the Young Adult and Humor/Horror categories to offer a separate prize, and so those passed on to the final round were re-categorized as considered most appropriate to the individual story.
Critiques are still being mailed out as they are being collated and matched with envelopes. Thank you to all the participants. A decision has not been made whether the Ralph Williams contest will be offered in 2009. If you are interested, please check back on this site after February 1, 2009.
Stephanie Patel
Chairperson
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Speculative Fiction
Please be aware that this is a SPECULATIVE FICTION contest, meaning that all entries must be within that genre. This includes the categories for Alaskana, Humor/Horror and Young Adult (see guidelines).
Wikkipedia has a good definition of speculative fiction, but specifically notes that it includes the following: science fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, alternate history and magic realism.
Our definition is that it must include, as an integral part of the plot, some departure from what is generally accepted by today's society as fact or reality -- think: may be, could be, might be someday, probably isn't, wouldn't it be interesting if....
Wikkipedia has a good definition of speculative fiction, but specifically notes that it includes the following: science fiction, fantasy fiction, horror fiction, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, alternate history and magic realism.
Our definition is that it must include, as an integral part of the plot, some departure from what is generally accepted by today's society as fact or reality -- think: may be, could be, might be someday, probably isn't, wouldn't it be interesting if....
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Ralph Williams Contest to Continue --- Extended Deadline
The Ralph Williams Speculative Fiction Contest was originally sponsored by the Alaska Writers Guild. However, the AWG elected to cancel the contest because of the low number of entries. Rather than see the contest cancelled, it has been picked up by a family member of Ralph William Slone. There is a new extended deadline to submit entries, until September 10, 2008, or until 300 entries are received, if that happens sooner (see specifics below). Please read guidelines carefully and email stpatel@gci.net for an entry form, call 907-317-8154 or write to: RW Contest, 7800 Snow View Drive, Anchorage Alaska 99507.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Guidelines
THE RALPH WILLIAMS PRIZE FOR SPECULATIVE FICTION
SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED: Complete short stories, written in English, fitting into the broad category of speculative fiction. See Guidelines on Speculative Fiction. See also guidelines for manuscripts submissions below.
DEADLINE: See separate entry concerhning deadline.
CATEGORIES AND PRIZES: All speculative fiction which will fit into one of the following categories. The author indicates the category in which he or she wishes the submission to be judged. Judges reserve the right to re-categorize any entry if appropriate and to combine categories if less than twenty entries are received in any category. There will be one prize per judged category, as indicated, with a grand prize winner chosen from one of the category winners.
a) Science Fiction: $1,000.00 prize
Must have some integral element of a scientific nature
b) Fantasy $1,000.00 prize
Any departure from generally accepted limits of present or past reality
c) Humor or Horror $1,000.00 prize
Any speculative fiction grounded in humor or horror.
d) Alaskana $1,000.00 prize
Any speculative fiction with an Alaskan theme or integrated setting. Merely placing the story in Anchorage, if the setting is not integral to the story, will not qualify the entry as Alaskana. Some unique aspect of life in Alaska must be an integral element of story.
e) Young adult $1,000.00 prize
Speculative fiction, which might otherwise fall into any of the above categories, written for and appealing particularly to an audience from upper elementary through high-school level.
GRAND PRIZE: $5,000 ($4,000 in addition to $1,000 first place prize = $5,000)
Five to six finalists will be chosen in each category, with the final judging to be from this short list. Prizes will be awarded in October, 2008.
The Ralph Williams Contest acquires North American publication rights to all winning stories and may publish winning stories in an anthology available to the public. Finalists or other entries of merit will be given the opportunity to have their stories included in any anthology, but no payment will be made for publication of non-prize winning stories.
No poetry or anime or illustrated work is accepted.
CRITIQUE:
No accepted entries will be returned. However, all non-winning entries will be critiqued by at least two judges and written critiques provided to entrants who submit a SASE with their entry.
FEES: $50.00 ea. entry, non-refundable, check or money order.
Individuals may submit as many entries as desired in the same or different categories, but each submission must be accompanied by a $50.00 entry fee and a separate entry form.
MANUSCRIPT CRITERIA: Entries in English only. 25-page limit, double spaced, Courier 12-point type, one-inch margins, title in caps at top of first page, single or double-sided, stapled in upper left corner. The title and page number must appear on the lower right corner, but the author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Each manuscript must be accompanied by a completed entry form, which may be downloaded or printed from the web site, or obtained by writing and sending an SASE to the address below. Two copies of each manuscript must be submitted, postmarked on or before September 10, 2008, and properly addressed to:
Ralph Williams Speculative Prize Contest
7800 Snow View Drive
Anchorage, AK 99507
Failure to comply with these specifications will result in the manuscript being disqualified from the contest.
ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS: All writers of speculative fiction, whether or not having previously published works, except as rendered ineligible under criteria below.
INELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS: All individuals on the committee for the Ralph Williams Prize for Speculative Fiction or involved in judging, and their immediate families, are ineligible for this contest.
SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED: Complete short stories, written in English, fitting into the broad category of speculative fiction. See Guidelines on Speculative Fiction. See also guidelines for manuscripts submissions below.
DEADLINE: See separate entry concerhning deadline.
CATEGORIES AND PRIZES: All speculative fiction which will fit into one of the following categories. The author indicates the category in which he or she wishes the submission to be judged. Judges reserve the right to re-categorize any entry if appropriate and to combine categories if less than twenty entries are received in any category. There will be one prize per judged category, as indicated, with a grand prize winner chosen from one of the category winners.
a) Science Fiction: $1,000.00 prize
Must have some integral element of a scientific nature
b) Fantasy $1,000.00 prize
Any departure from generally accepted limits of present or past reality
c) Humor or Horror $1,000.00 prize
Any speculative fiction grounded in humor or horror.
d) Alaskana $1,000.00 prize
Any speculative fiction with an Alaskan theme or integrated setting. Merely placing the story in Anchorage, if the setting is not integral to the story, will not qualify the entry as Alaskana. Some unique aspect of life in Alaska must be an integral element of story.
e) Young adult $1,000.00 prize
Speculative fiction, which might otherwise fall into any of the above categories, written for and appealing particularly to an audience from upper elementary through high-school level.
GRAND PRIZE: $5,000 ($4,000 in addition to $1,000 first place prize = $5,000)
Five to six finalists will be chosen in each category, with the final judging to be from this short list. Prizes will be awarded in October, 2008.
The Ralph Williams Contest acquires North American publication rights to all winning stories and may publish winning stories in an anthology available to the public. Finalists or other entries of merit will be given the opportunity to have their stories included in any anthology, but no payment will be made for publication of non-prize winning stories.
No poetry or anime or illustrated work is accepted.
CRITIQUE:
No accepted entries will be returned. However, all non-winning entries will be critiqued by at least two judges and written critiques provided to entrants who submit a SASE with their entry.
FEES: $50.00 ea. entry, non-refundable, check or money order.
Individuals may submit as many entries as desired in the same or different categories, but each submission must be accompanied by a $50.00 entry fee and a separate entry form.
MANUSCRIPT CRITERIA: Entries in English only. 25-page limit, double spaced, Courier 12-point type, one-inch margins, title in caps at top of first page, single or double-sided, stapled in upper left corner. The title and page number must appear on the lower right corner, but the author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Each manuscript must be accompanied by a completed entry form, which may be downloaded or printed from the web site, or obtained by writing and sending an SASE to the address below. Two copies of each manuscript must be submitted, postmarked on or before September 10, 2008, and properly addressed to:
Ralph Williams Speculative Prize Contest
7800 Snow View Drive
Anchorage, AK 99507
Failure to comply with these specifications will result in the manuscript being disqualified from the contest.
ELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS: All writers of speculative fiction, whether or not having previously published works, except as rendered ineligible under criteria below.
INELIGIBLE PARTICIPANTS: All individuals on the committee for the Ralph Williams Prize for Speculative Fiction or involved in judging, and their immediate families, are ineligible for this contest.
THE MAN BEHIND THE PRIZE
Ralph Slone, writing under the pen name of Ralph Williams
Ralph Slone arrived in McGrath, Alaska in 1941 with his young wife and their two small children. An engineer for the Civilian Aeronautics Administration, precursor to the FAA, Ralph was to work at the new McGrath airport for the next thirteen years. He immediately fell in love with his new home, and the years passed quickly. He learned to fish, to hunt, and to survive in the wilderness. In the long dark winters he fed a passion for the written word. Ralph published his first science fiction story in 1942. There followed a long period during which he was too pre-occupied with other commitments to spend much time at the typewriter – he and his wife produced nine more children before 1953, almost all of them born at home. It was a busy life caring for and feeding this brood. But in the early 1950s, driven by the need to develop a supplemental income to provide for his family, Ralph rekindled his passion for writing. He began once again to sell stories, mostly to pulp magazines, but also to hunting magazines and more mainstream publications. His first interest was science fiction, and he soon developed a friendship through correspondence with John Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction (now Analog). Ralph sold a number of stories to Astounding during the 1950s, getting his start along with many whose names have become more well-known: Asimov, Bradbury, Hubbard, Poul. Several of his stories were collected into anthologies published by Campbell. Ralph sold other stories wherever he could find a market: horror, nature, humor. In 1953 he and his wife and their eleven children moved to Homer, Alaska, where he continued to work for the CAA. By 1959, the couple had thirteen children, and Ralph was a very busy man. During summer leave from his job (he was by then the station manager of the airport), he would commercial-fish for salmon. In 1959, at the age of 42, Ralph and his eleven-year-old son, his apprentice deckhand, were lost at sea during a fishing trip. His last sale was the cover story for Astounding’s June, 1959 edition for which the author became, posthumously, a finalist for the Hugo Award.
The Ralph Williams Prize for Speculative Fiction is offered in honor of a great Alaskan, a truly versatile man of the frontier – engineer, carpenter, fisherman, hunter, writer and family man – who contributed in his short life to the development of Science Fiction as a respected genre, although his own development as a writer was cut unexpectedly short. It is hoped that through this prize his commitment to quality writing, to intelligent plots and meaningful themes, will continue to flourish through other hands.
Ralph Slone, writing under the pen name of Ralph Williams
Ralph Slone arrived in McGrath, Alaska in 1941 with his young wife and their two small children. An engineer for the Civilian Aeronautics Administration, precursor to the FAA, Ralph was to work at the new McGrath airport for the next thirteen years. He immediately fell in love with his new home, and the years passed quickly. He learned to fish, to hunt, and to survive in the wilderness. In the long dark winters he fed a passion for the written word. Ralph published his first science fiction story in 1942. There followed a long period during which he was too pre-occupied with other commitments to spend much time at the typewriter – he and his wife produced nine more children before 1953, almost all of them born at home. It was a busy life caring for and feeding this brood. But in the early 1950s, driven by the need to develop a supplemental income to provide for his family, Ralph rekindled his passion for writing. He began once again to sell stories, mostly to pulp magazines, but also to hunting magazines and more mainstream publications. His first interest was science fiction, and he soon developed a friendship through correspondence with John Campbell, editor of Astounding Science Fiction (now Analog). Ralph sold a number of stories to Astounding during the 1950s, getting his start along with many whose names have become more well-known: Asimov, Bradbury, Hubbard, Poul. Several of his stories were collected into anthologies published by Campbell. Ralph sold other stories wherever he could find a market: horror, nature, humor. In 1953 he and his wife and their eleven children moved to Homer, Alaska, where he continued to work for the CAA. By 1959, the couple had thirteen children, and Ralph was a very busy man. During summer leave from his job (he was by then the station manager of the airport), he would commercial-fish for salmon. In 1959, at the age of 42, Ralph and his eleven-year-old son, his apprentice deckhand, were lost at sea during a fishing trip. His last sale was the cover story for Astounding’s June, 1959 edition for which the author became, posthumously, a finalist for the Hugo Award.
The Ralph Williams Prize for Speculative Fiction is offered in honor of a great Alaskan, a truly versatile man of the frontier – engineer, carpenter, fisherman, hunter, writer and family man – who contributed in his short life to the development of Science Fiction as a respected genre, although his own development as a writer was cut unexpectedly short. It is hoped that through this prize his commitment to quality writing, to intelligent plots and meaningful themes, will continue to flourish through other hands.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The deadline for the Ralph Williams Speculative Fiction Contest has been extended to September 10, 2008, or until a total of 300 entries are received, whichever occurs first. If 300 entries are received by the administrators, an announcement will be placed on this site that submissions are closed. However, there will be a 72 hour window for additional entries. Provided that new submissions are postmarked within 72 hours after the announcement is placed on the site, they will be accepted and eligible for the prizes and critiques. Therefore, please check the website frequently as you prepare your entry to ensure that you are within the time limits.
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