WRiTE CLUB 2020 Needs Your Help!

WRiTE CLUB - the tournament-style writing contest - is back for its ninth year and needs your assistance!

How does WRiTE CLUB work? It's simple. Contestants submit a 500-word sample of their writing (previously unpublished or posted on the internet) and the top 30 submissions are chosen to battle against one another in daily bouts with the winners chosen by the WRiTE CLUB readers. The last writer standing wins free admission to the DFW Writers Conference (among other things).

The backbone of the contest is the work that our slushpile readers put in before the bell rings on the first bout - and that's where we need volunteers. In order to narrow down what is estimated to be 200-225 entries (500-word samples) in a fair and unbiased manner, we need a selection committee of 20 judges (I like to call them my slushpile readers) to read all of the entries and vote for their favorites, which I will then use to select the top 30.

Before you raise your hand, I need to fully explain what you would be volunteering for.  This is a big commitment!  First, you must be open to installing and using Dropbox (a free file sharing program that I will provide complete instructions on how to use). After the submission window opens on March 23rd and closes on April 19th, you will have until May 3rd to read the entries (which equates to the length of a small book), select 30 of what you believe are the best ones -- then rank those 30 in order of most liked.

Most importantly – you cannot be a WRiTE CLUB contestant if you do this. 

One other thing. After the contest is over the applicants who were not chosen to compete in the ring can request a mini-critique from the slushpile readers who are willing - provided the contestants voted in 2/3 of the bouts. Last year that ended up being 30 writers.

The slushpile readers serve as promoters for the contest as well, so you'll need to be willing to hit the social media trail when you can to help raise interest leading up its start. In this vein, we'll hold a couple of Twitter Parties during the open submission window to help spark participation.

So, what do you say?  Interested in helping shape how the competition plays out – without officially participating?  If so, send an email to writeclub2020@gmail.com and I will be in touch.

If you’ve been a slushpile reader in the past, do me a favor and leave a comment below letting everyone what a favorable experience it can be.

Thank you in advance.

DL

Oh…and it’s never too early to start promoting. Submissions for WRiTE CLUB will open on March ^23rd. Tell your friends!