Center Field of Gravity’s Inaugural Gravity Award
A Notice: Submissions are now open for the Second Annual Gravity Award.
A Notice: The submission period for this contest has ended. We will be judging the stories in the coming months. Expect winner and runner-up announcements around early spring, and make sure to check back later for our next contest’s guidelines! Good luck to all our writers, who should be expecting personal e-mails when we wrap up reading and judging, but please be patient because we’ve been pleasantly overwhelmed by all the submissions. So a big thank you to every one of you, and we hope you and yours have a happy and safe new year!
It is with great excitement that we here at Center Field of Gravity are announcing the first annual Gravity Award, which we hope to grow, with the help of all our submitters and visitors, to encompass multiple categories in future years.
The rules and guidelines are simple and as follows:
1) There will be no submission fee; yes, it is free. The author of the winning story will be awarded $200.
2) We will be accepting previously unpublished science-fiction, fantasy, and horror short stories or long-form poems up to but not exceeding 17,000 words. This is a strict limit. Any story over the maximum by even a single word will be subject to immediate disqualification.
3) Please limit submissions to one per person. Also, all submissions should be anonymously submitted. Any characterizing marks, names, or forms of identification will warrant immediate disqualification. Your submission should be submitted in reasonable typeface and size; we’re not picky, but please use discretion.
4) All submissions will be judged by the Center Field of Gravity staff and five finalists will be chosen from among them to be published on the website. After the winning story is chosen, the runners-up will each receive $25 as a consolation prize.
5) Submissions are open as of this posting and will close on December 31st. Finalists will be announced in early Spring.
6) We request internet rights only for the five finalists. Print, television, movie, and audio rights will all be maintained by the author.
7) Submissions should be sent to CFofGravity@gmail.com. We will gladly accept simultaneous submissions, but please alert us if the work is accepted elsewhere prior to the publishing of our results.
We hope to expand this contest in future years, so we greatly appreciate any and all submissions and visitors. Thank you for reading, and we look forward to reading your work!
-Center Field of Gravity
What does internet rights mean?
Thank you for asking! We are simply requesting the right to keep the winning stories on our site in perpetuity. You can continue querying and entering your story into contests, but we do not wish to remove the stories after a set period of time. We will not be printing the works nor will we be doing anything other than simply keeping them on the site without express permission from the authors. We are authors ourselves and respect your work; we wish to honor that effort through fair and reasonable treatment of your art.
If we submit our work anonymously, how will you know who to send the money to?
Once winners and runners-up are chosen, we will respond to their original e-mails and gather the required information. We ask this of submissions to ensure unbiased results and avoid any controversy.
I’m assuming that means the actual story document (i.e. the attachment) has no byline or other author info, that being included instead in the body/cover letter of the email, correct? Or do you want it all just completely anonymous, since you have the e-mail address? Just want to make sure I’m clear, so I’m not forced to say “Doh!” later on…
Don’t worry! All you need to do is remove your name and email from the story document. It simply needs a header with page count and title. We look forward to reading!
– Center Field staff
If someone won, would you allow them to have the money sent to their mailing address?
Hello Amber,
Thank you for the question! Due to both privacy and security concerns, the winnings will not be sent through the post. When that time comes we will arrange with the winner a form of payment, most likely through Paypal or Venmo or another reliable online payment system. We hope this does not deter you from entering and we look forward to reading your work.
– Center Field of Gravity Staff
Does the contest accept Google Docs?
Hello and thank you for the question. Please submit with an attached file, .doc or .docx preferably. Sorry but google docs files will not be admitted.
– Center Field Staff
Hi, are teens under 18 allowed to submit?
Hello and thank you for the question. All ages are welcome, so feel free to submit even if you’re a minor.
– Center Field Staff
Oh good question!
Hello!! I also have some enquiries, is the competition international?
Hello. Thanks for reaching out. Yes, the contest is open to submissions from international writers.
– Center Field Staff
Can we submit our story as .pdf?? And where to send the story?
Hello. The story needs to be e-mailed to our website’s address: CFofGravity@gmail.com; please use .doc or .docx file extensions, as we cannot accept .pdfs. Thank you.
– Center Field Staff
Hi There, where do you submit stories to?
Hello, please send all submissions to CFofGravity@gmail.com.
– Center Field Staff
Can we still send our stories ?
For about two more hours, yes.
– Center Field staff
I tried to send it but your email didn’t work is there any other way or full email address I can send it at.
Hello,
CFofGravity@gmail.com is the proper email. Submissions close in about 90 minutes, so you’ve time!
– Center Field staff
Hi, I was wondering when we will find out the winner(s?) And is it only first place that gets a prize?
Please review the original post; all these questions are answered there. Although the contest is now closed to submissions, the post is still on the site. Thank you for your continued interest!
– Center Field staff
Oh, sorry. It was right in front of me! Thank you!