Fiction Competition: The Doug Fir Fiction Award

Bear Deluxe Magazine Presents:
The Doug Fir Fiction Award
Every Story Begins Somewhere

Grand Prize: $1,000, writer’s residency at Sitka Center for Art & Ecology*, national publication and recognition

Finalists: Recognition and publication consideration

Deadline: September 4, 2012 (postmark)**

Award Judge (2012-13): Brian Doyle (Mink River, Bin Laden’s Bald Spot, Grace Notes, Best American Essays)

Entry Fee: $15

Co-sponsor: Sitka Center for Art & Ecology

The Bear Deluxe Magazine welcomes submissions of previously unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words, relating to a sense of place or the natural world, interpreted as broadly or narrowly as the author defines.

For complete guidelines.

*Authors must meet complete residency requirements.
**Online submissions, payments and sample issue requests are accepted at www.orlo.org

About the judge: Brian Doyle’s essays have appeared in The American Scholar, The Atlantic Monthly, Orion, Commonwealth, Georgia Review, and Harper’s, among other periodicals. His essays have also been reprinted in the Best American Essays anthologies of 1998 and 1999, in Best Spiritual Writing 1999, 2001, and 2002, and in the anthologies Thoughts of Home (1995), Family (1997), In Brief (1998), Resurrecting Grace (2001). He also reviews books for The San Francisco Chronicle, The Oregonian and Preservation magazine; is a columnist for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia; and is the recipient of The American Scholar’s Best Essay Award in 2000, for an essay on Plutarch.

Past judges: Katherine Dunn, Jon Raymond, Rivka Galchen, Jim Lynch, Gina Ochsner

Submission Guidelines
The Doug Fir Fiction Award welcomes submissions of previously unpublished short stories up to 5,000 words, relating to a sense of place or the natural world, interpreted as broadly or narrowly as the author defines.

If you are not familiar The Bear Deluxe, a sample copy of issue #32 (in which the 2010-11 winner appears) is available through mail for $5 at the address below. Issue #29 (including the 2008 award winner and one finalist) and issue #26 (including the 2007 winner and two finalists) are available for $5 each as well. When requesting sample copies, indicate your preferred issues.

Simultaneous submissions are not permitted. Multiple submissions are allowed but must be mailed separately with separate entry fees. Upon acceptance, Orlo and The Bear Deluxe Magazine assume first-time publishing rights and Web-publishing rights for the period of one year following print publication.

About the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology Residency Program
The Sitka Center offers workshops, residencies and community events, while maintaining a facility appropriate to its needs in harmony with its inspirational coastal environment near Cascade Head and the Salmon River estuary. Along with the $1,000 cash prize, award organizers are partnering with the Sitka Center to offer a writer’s residency of up to 10 weeks to the winning author. Due to Sitka's residency program structure, you must be able to participate in the whole residency time period of 3 1/2 months. There are two residency periods per year: October to mid January and January to late May. Unfortunately, if you cannot participate in the entire residency time, you will need to forfeit this award. For more details on residency benefits and requirements, visit our site.

Deadline, Mailing Address, Online Submissions
Entries must be postmarked by September 4, 2012. Mail your entry to:

Doug Fir Fiction Award/Bear Deluxe Magazine
810 SE Belmont, Studio 5
Portland, OR 97214. 

Online submissions and payments can be made here. (please indicate "Doug Fir submission 2012-13" in the notes with your payment).

Entry Requirements
An entry fee of $15. Make check or money order in U.S. dollars, drawn on a U.S. bank, payable to Orlo/The Bear Deluxe Magazine. All entrants receive a copy of the issue in which the winner appears. All entry fees are nonrefundable. Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for notification of contest results.

Manuscript Format Guidelines
Manuscripts must be typed and double-spaced on 8 ½ x 11 paper. The author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Please submit two title pages: one with the story title, author’s name, address, telephone number and email address; and one with just the story title.

Terms

- Your submitted story must be an original work of which you are the sole author.

- Submitted stories must be unpublished in both print and Web formats.

-Your story must be submitted in accordance with the eligibility requirements, format guidelines, entry requirements, deadline, and terms, or it will be disqualified.

- This competition is open to all writers in English, regardless of nationality.

-The Bear Deluxe Magazine reserves the right to edit the winning story for length and clarity upon consultation with the author.

- Entry fees or manuscripts will not be returned.

-Participating writers will receive an email notification upon receipt of their submission. If access to email is not possible, include an additional SASE for notification.

- Participating writers will be notified no later than January 30, 2013, of the award results.

-Writers currently involved with Orlo or The Bear Deluxe Magazine are not eligible for the award. To avoid a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, friends and current or former students of the award judge are not eligible for the award.

- The competition is void where prohibited or restricted by law.

- No phone calls or emails please.

- The decision of the judge is final.