Contest Description:

DUCTS.org is seeking the best personal essay about artifacts and you.

We are looking for deeply personal essays, no more than 2,000 words, telling us how some artifact – something discovered cleaning the attic, the garage, the basement, something stuffed into that drawer that you never thought you’d open – affected and changed your life. What does that old diary remind you of now? That old photo? A long lost letter? Inspire us, make us laugh, make us cry, amaze us, shock us. Tell us what you’ve found in your attic besides that rusty old fan (unless that inspired you too!).

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Title:I Found It In My Attic
Entry Fee: $10
Prize: 1st, $150, 2nd, $50, 3rd $25
Word Count: Up to 2,000 words.
Deadline: March 1, 2006
Winner: Winner will be announced in the Summer 2006 issue.

OFFICIAL RULES:

*Reading Fee: $10. Payments are made by credit card or electronic check through PayPal. To submit your entry by mail use the Print and Mail Entry Form and enclose a check with your entry form and essay. If you experience any problems, please e-mail us.

* Postmark/Email Deadline: March 1, 2006. Submissions with a later postmark date or received via email later than this date will be discarded.

*All entries are non-returnable.

*We accept submissions three ways. (1) You can submit using our online form (2) by e-mailing your manuscript as a Word.doc or Text file, or (3) you can send manuscripts via regular mail. Please complete the Print and Mail Entry Form and include it with your manuscript(s).  If a form does not open when you click the link, you may download Adobe PDF Reader here.

*Manuscript Requirements: Send no more than 2,000 words, plus title page. Good photocopies acceptable. Mailed manuscripts must be paginated and secured with a staple.

*More than one manuscript may be submitted but each requires a reading fee. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but ducts webzine must be notified if the manuscript is taken elsewhere.

*Manuscripts will be judged by members of the Ducts staff purely on the basis of skill and will be judged on quality of the writing (33.3%), originality (33.3%) and how clearly the writer articulates the contest theme (33.3%). No chance will be involved in determining the winner and there will be no ties.

*Notification Dates: Results will be announced in our Summer 2006 Issue on June 1, 2006. The 1st place submission will be posted in the June 1, 2006, Issue.

*The Winning Entry: Winner receives publication, $150. Second prize receives publication, $50. Third prize receives $25.

*The odds of winning this contest will depend upon the number of entries.

*All Ducts staff are disqualified from this contest.