Free contests for humour and stories about raptors, plus the Elora Writers' Festival short story contest, and the Twisted Vine wants submissions

From I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats

Mergle Flomp free Humour Poetry Contest

Submit one humor poem. This poem should be your own original work. You may submit the same work simultaneously to this contest and to others, and you may submit a work that have been published or won prizes elsewhere. Deadline: April 1, 2014

Word Limit: Poem may be of any length

Entry Fee: No fee. Submit one poem only, please.

Prizes: First Prize, $1,000; Honorable Mentions, 10 awards of $100 each

Full guidelines here. Submit poem here.

Raptorfest free writing contest for kids (kindergarten through grade 12)

Write a story involving any Hawk, Eagle, Owl, Falcon, or Vulture. Ribbons will be awarded for each grade, Kindergarten through grade 8 and one set of ribbons for grade 9 to 12.

Grades 1 – 3 students are also invited to submit a poem about a bird of prey. Grades 4 – 6 students are invited to submit an explanatory piece about adaptations of a bird of prey. Grades 8 – 12 students are invited to submit a piece from a bird’s point of view.

Deadline April 2. Full contest rules here.

Raptorfest also has an art contest for kids (here) and invites the public to their annual Raptofest on Saturday, April 26 in Grimsby (here).

Hi, Brian.

The Elora Writers’ Festival is holding a short story contest this year, and we invite you to send in your short stories. If you belong to a writing group, please send this information to all members of your group, and pass on the information to any other writers you know. 

This is always a terrifically entertaining festival, and the intention is to help foster and give recognition to writers.

Marilyn Kleiber
Contest Committee Member

Note the contest is restricted to residents of Wellington, Waterloo, Dufferin and Hamilton-Wentworth counties.  Entry fee: $15. Deadline: postmarked by April 4, 2014. Full guidelines here.

Twisted Vine, literary journal for Western New Mexico University, seeks submissions for their spring issue. Looking for fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, art, interview and video that crosses, overlaps, and transcends traditional genres. Strongly encourages submissions that are interdisciplinary in nature (i.e. poetry about math). Like the progressive, unexpected and ever-evolving. 

Deadline: April 7, 2014. Guidelines here. 

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Barrie, Brampton, Bolton, Burlington, Caledon, Cambridge, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Stouffville, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Algoma, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.