In each issue of Poets & Writers Magazine we highlight new writing contests never before published in the Deadlines section of Grants & Awards. The May/June 2009 issue features seven such contests: ABZ Press's First Book Prize, Emergency Press's Book Contest, Grub Street's Nonfiction Book Prize, Narrative Magazine's Poetry Contest, Snake Nation Press's Vilet Reed Haas Poetry Award, St. Francis College's Literary Prize, and The Writer's Short Story Contest.
On G&A: The Contest Blog we'll occasionally offer more information about some of the sponsors of these new contests. First up, Emergency Press.
A nonprofit, independent publisher located in New York City, Emergency Press was founded about eight years ago by the Emergency Collective, a group of writers who wanted to bridge what they considered "counterproductive divides in contemporary literature." From their Web site: "We engage in sustained artistic explorations of issues that we each individually believe are on the verge of emerging from the unconscious commonplace into collective emergencies. We publish poetry, fiction, essays, drama, new media, or hybrids of these. More often than not, the work is investigative, research-intensive, or engaged with the language of facts."
The only problem is that you have to be a member of the collective to get a book published by Emergency Press. Well, that's not really a problem anymore. The winner of the press's new book contest, which will be given annually for a book of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid of genres that explores a single topic, automatically gains membership—and a thousand dollars and publication of the winning book.
Emergency titles include Chad Faries's The Border Will Be Soon: Meditations on the Other Side and Brian Tomasovich's Ouisconsin: The Dead in Our Clouds.
The deadline for the inaugural contest is June 1, and there's a twenty-dollar entry fee. Jayson Iwen will be the first judge.
And for those confused readers who came here looking for an instructional video about the Chinese emergency press button, well here it is: