INTERNATIONAL WRITERS' ASSOCIATION

Word Limit:  Short Stories  ( 500-5000 )                        

Poems  ( No word Limit ) 

Cut-off Age:  18  ( Participants should be at least 18 years of age when submitting their work )

Language: English   

GENERAL INFO: 

1)  Around The World is a monthly fiction writing contest ( all genres accepted ) which features work of writers from around the world.

2)  It is a theme-based contest; that is, the submissions have to be based on the provided theme. 

3)  Writers are free to interpret the theme in any way.

4)  The contest is for previously unpublished entries by unpublished authors ( those writers who have not had deals with any commercial publishing house/company ). However, self-published authors are welcome to submit.  

5)  A deliberate effort would be made to maintain regional and cultural diversity when selecting stories. However, the selection of any good piece of writing would not be affected by this clause. 

6)  Please limit your submissions to a maximum of 3 short stories and/or 3 poems per person per month. 

7)  If the work of a writer is selected one month, he/she is allowed to submit the next month. There is no restriction on submitting your work even if you are selected before.

8)  All work containing plagiarism and/or sexually explicit material would be instantly rejected.

9)  All submissions become the property of the International Writers’ Association ( for their magazine The Quill ) till the 31^st of December of the year next to the year of submission, and the International Writers’ Association reserves all the rights to publish them in any medium ( print or online ) for that period without prior permission of or notification to the writer. However, the writers will still hold all the rights to their submissions.   

AIMS: 

1)  To provide emerging writers with an opportunity to showcase their work.

2)  To expose emerging writers to the world of writing and publishers.

3)  To encourage writers to write from their heart and write about things that matter to them. 

4)  To unite writers from around the world on a single platform of the craft of writing.

5)  To appreciate regional and cultural diversity through writing.    

INFO ABOUT THE SELECTED SUBMISSIONS: 

1)  Every month, a total of 10 short stories and 5 poems would be selected, and made into an e-book which would be made available to the selected writers free of cost in their email accounts. The e-book would also contain the biographies of the selected writers, and any contact information that they wish to give ( together with their photos, if they so desire ).

2)  The e-book would be put up on the Internet, and would be used for the purpose of marketing of the writers and for providing them with exposure to the world of writing and publishers through numerous means.

3)  The selected writers would receive bonus emails from the International Writers’ Association containing tips for being a writer extraordinaire. 

4)  The writer whose work is selected three times in a row (  that is, in three consecutive months ) would be awarded with special publicity, a surprise bonus and a letter of appreciation from the International Writers’ Association.  

5)  All submitting writers will receive notifications about the selections.   

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:  

1)  The word limit for short stories is 500-5000 words. There is no word limit for poems. 

2)  Please limit the number of submissions to a maximum of 3 short stories and/or 3 poems per person per month. 

3)  Send the submissions as attachments and in the body of the email ( in case the attachments don’t work ). 

4)  Only Microsoft Word documents ( .doc ) or Rich Text Format ( .rtf ) files will be accepted. 

5)  In the body of the email, please include your:   First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Country, email id, Bio, Title of your story/poem, Word count: ( for short stories only), ( And then the actual submission )

Note:  Hit the “enter” key between paragraphs in your submissions.

Tip:  Run your submissions through the spell and grammar check to avoid rejection on this ground. 

6)  When submitting, write “entry” in the subject line of your email.

7)  For multiple submissions, you may use either one email or send each submission in a separate email. In either case, number each submission and write its title and word count separately. Put the number of the submission in the subject line of your email if sending them in separate emails.

8)  Your bio should not be of more than 100 words. 

9)  The bio that you provide would be put at the end of the e-book, together with any contact information that you wish to provide ( the e-book will feature the bio of only those writers whose submissions will be selected ). 

10)  Only the selected writers will be contacted after the selections have been made to submit their photos to be printed in the e-book alongside their bio if they so desire. 

11)   Email all submissions to:  submit@iwa-thequill-aroundtheworld.faithweb.com 

12)  You are welcome to query. Direct all your queries to:  thequill_aroundtheworld.info@yahoo.com    

BEST OF LUCK

AND

HAVE FUN!