Monthly Archives: July 2020

$100 for 100 Words or Art Contest Results

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$100 for 100 Words or Art

The judging for the $100 for 100 Words or Art contest is finished. Competition was tight this year, with a slew of entries touching on topics ranging from the pandemic to social justice. The quiet moments of life, especially those filled with meaning, were also frequent topics.

This year, two winners were selected for first place. As always, Sunspot does not split the prize in the case of a tie. Instead, the prize money is doubled and the full payment is made to both winners.

Congratulations to Karen Walker for her flash prose piece “Willow Widow,” the first prize selection.

Prose runner-up: Duology (poem) Kameko Lashlee Gaul

Congratulations to Alice Dillon for “In These Uncertain Times” for her artwork, which was also selected for first place.

Art runner-up: Time A Grand And Final Judge, Grow Bravely In Love (art) Church Goin Mule

Each winner receives $100 cash, publication in Volume II, Issue 3 (digital only), and the 2021 print edition due out in fall. They are also featured on the website under the Winners tab, and will be featured on two blogs with a following of over 20,000 on various social media channels.

We’d also like to call out the following works that placed as finalists. The shortlist follows the finalist list.

 

FINALISTS

Cambodian Campaign I (prose poem) Ojo Taiye

Red (poem) Jacqueline Schaalje

Rescue (flash) Charlotte Wyatt

Guernica (flash) ST Brant

No Rest for The Weary (art) Kelly Anderson

Keep Those Hard Times Away (art) Benjamin  Malay

Resident Light (art) Louis Staeble

Horned Dark Goddess Coming to Life (art) Amalia Galdona Broche

Tilting towards Self-Annihilation (art) George L Stein

 

SHORTLIST

Light Trail

No Rest for The Weary

Red (Caroline T)

Golden

The End

In these uncertain times

Afterthought

Time a Grand and Final Judge, Grow Bravely in Love

Covid Garden 2

Endogenous

Quarantina

Brazilian Woman

Willow Widow

No Turn on Red

The Song

Keep Those Hard Times Away

Loveless Park; Roswell, New Mexico

Song of the Drowned

Can You Even Dye My Eyes to Match My Gown?

Resident Light

Zoonotic Spillover

In the Heart of My Own City

Endoparasite

The Machine Zombie Rebellion, Fox Valley Junkyard, 2020

Red (Jacqueline S)

The Couple on the Mezzanine

Sundry Items

Thank you. No, Thank You! Excuse me, THANK YOU! OK

Springtide Ditty

Family Day at The Genocide

Waking Up on Black Hole

Wash Your Hands, or Who Would Have Thought

The Dark

Horned Dark Goddess Coming to Life

Stay-At-Home – Houston, April 2020

Rescue

Guernica

Duology

The Edge of Solitude

cured meat

Dis·cord·ance

Nightlife

Barren Land

When Levees Break

October Walk in Tower Grove Park

Tilting towards Self-Annihilation

once it took root, the idea grew quickly

swept

Daybreak

Here I Was Angry

Valetudo

Eigengrau

oklahoma rose is an oxymoron here

Inception Contest Offers $250 to Authors and Artists Plus Lower Fee

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Beginnings have the power to spark passion or curiosity. They might immediately connect a specific place and time with an emotional tone. The best offer a feeling, atmosphere, action, or image that is gripping.

Too often in commercially driven industries, this results in sensationalism. But meaning, thoughtfulness, emotions, or shadings of tone…that is, connection…are the impulses that draw audiences into the moment. A poem handles this differently than a flash piece, which handles an opening differently than a novel. The first photo, painting or frame presented in a gallery, series, or collection strives for the same intent. Openings contain a spark that promises to continue to burn.

For Sunspot Lit’s 2020 Inception contest, send your best opening. There are no restrictions on theme, category, or the length of the piece or collection from which the beginning comes. Word limit is 250 for prose, 25 words for poetry. Graphic novel entries should be the first page (unlimited number of panels on that page) with a maximum of 250 words…so, cut the number of panels in order to meet the word count, if needed. Visual art entries should be the first in a series, the first in a gallery lineup, the first photo in a themed collection, etc. Entries are limited to one image with up to 250 words to describe the series, lineup or collection.

For 2020, the entry fee has been reduced due to COVID’s economic impact.

Open: July 1, 2020 (submit here)

Close: September 30, 2020

Entry fee: $5

Prize: $250 cash, publication for the winner, publication offered to runners-up and finalists.

Open Call from Sunspot Literary Journal

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Submissions for the third quarterly edition open June 1, 2020. Sunspot Lit accepts all prose forms from 1 to 49,000 words, poetry from 1 to 50 pages, and artwork. No restriction on theme or content. Submit here as many times as you like.