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MVP Project 2008
Our submission period is September 15 - November 1 (postmark), 2008. This year, there is a $20 entry fee to enter this book-length competition; there is also a required entry form, available HERE. The poetry prize is a national prize. We are limiting our prose competition this year to writers who reside in Minnesota or New York City. The three winning manuscripts (the national poetry prize + two books, one in prose and one in any genre, by Minnesota or New York City writers) will be published in Fall 2010; each author receives a $1,000 honorarium and a standard book contract. All of our books are distributed nationally by Consortium Book Sales & Distribution.
We have not chosen finalist judges yet. Recent judges include Jack Driscoll, Alice Friman, Ann Hood, Richard Hoffman, Antonya Nelson, Ron Rindo, Lee Ann Roripaugh, and Charles Simic.
2008 MVP Submission Guidelines:
General
• Submit between Sept. 15 and Nov. 1, 2008.
• Submissions MUST include an entry form.
• Include a $20 entry fee for each manuscript, made out to New Rivers Press.
• Include a self-addressed, stamped postcard for confirmation of receipt of ms. (optional)
• Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for result notification. (optional)
• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but notify NRP immediately of acceptance elsewhere. (If you fail to give such notification and your manuscript is selected, your signature on the entry form gives NRP permission to proceed with publication.)
• You may acknowledge individual poems, stories, and other pieces published in magazines, anthologies, or elsewhere, but such acknowledgments or your name can not appear in the manuscript itself, since judging is blind.
• Notify NRP in writing of address or telephone number changes.
• MSS. will be recycled.
Manuscript Preparation
• You may submit more than one manuscript, but only if there is no overlap in content.
• Send complete manuscript in a plain manila folder. We do not accept electronic submissions for the MVP Competition.
• Manuscript must be word processed on 8.5" x 11" paper, one-sided.
• Manuscript pages must be numbered.
• Include a cover sheet with name, address, and manuscript title.
• DO NOT include your name, address or acknowledgments on the manuscript pages; the judging is blind.
Poetry Specs
• In 2008, the poetry competition is national. Any citizen of the United States is eligible.
• Manuscript length: 50-80 pages.
• Single-spaced.
• No more than one poem per page.
Prose & Creative Nonfiction Specs
• The prose competition is limited in 2008 to writers who are residents of Minnesota or New York City.
• Manuscript length: short stories and novellas (or a combination thereof), or personal essays: 100-200 pages. Novels and memoirs: up to 400 pages.
• Double-spaced.
Mailing Address
After verifying that you meet the above guidelines, submit your manuscript and entry form to:
MVP Competition
1104 Seventh Avenue South
Moorhead, MN 56563
History of Many Voices Project
Books Published as part of MVP
BROWSE BOOKS
2008 Titles: available October 1
Benjamin Drevlow
Bend with the Knees, stories
Many Voices Project, 2006
"These interlocking stories ... are harsh, raw, desperate, smart-ass, smooth, fast, and frequently hilarious...." Barton Sutter
Kelsea Habecker
Hollow Out,poems
Many Voices Project, 2006
"No one since John Haine's Winter News has written so well about the interminable winters, the snow, the cold and the human solitude of those living in polar regions." Charles Simic, 2007 Poet Laureate of the United States
Tim Nolan
The Sound of It, poems
Many Voices Project, 2006
"Tim Nolan's voice is funny and serious at once, sly and direct, wry and heartfelt." Jim Moore
Tricia Currans-Sheehan
The River Road, stories
American Fiction Series
"An amazing journey into rural Iowa, full of animals, passion, childhood imagination and longings, and unique characters—a magical world, which reminds me painfully how America has fallen from grace into suburbia and corporate farming." Josip Novakovich
Penelope Schwartz Robinson
Slippery Men, essays
Stonecoast Book Prize
"Penelope Schwartz Robinson manages to be both clever and warm, a neat trick, and a real storyteller, too. Both women and men will smile at themselves in the mirror she holds up to contemporary life." Katha Pollitt
John Chattin
Cars Go Fast, stories
Many Voices Project, 2005
Marianne Herrmann
Signaling For Rescue, stories
Many Voices Project, 2005.
Long-Listed for Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award: “Intelligent,
even brilliant, but never merely cerebral, these stories pulse with
life. If you have ever wondered how life would appear without the
dodges and filters we bring to our interactions, if you have ever
yearned for an understanding broad and deep enough to bless and
celebrate people’s misaimed, tangled, confused yet determined attempts
to love, then read these vivid, luminous, heartbreaking stories.” Richard Hoffman, author of Half the House and Gold Star Road
Diane Jarvenpa
The Tender Wild Things, poems
Many Voices Project, 2005
Wins Midwest Book Award: The Midwest
Independent Publishers Association has announced that The Tender, Wild Things
won in the poetry category. Diane Jarvenpa is a Minnesota
native whose grandparents all emigrated from Finland. She has received
grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and, as Diane Jarvi,
performs folk and world music in Europe, Australia, and the United
States.
Towards the Forest, poems
New American Poetry Series
Questions? 218.477.5870
Featured Web Pages:
Beth Alvarado
Not a Matter of Love, stories
Winner, 2005 MVP
Lisa Gill
Mortar & Pestle, poems
Winner, NEA 2007 Fellowship
Michael Hettich
Flock and Shadow, poems
Top 10 Poetry Book,
Book Sense, Spring 2006
Ed Bok Lee
Real Karaoke People, poems
MN Book Award Finalist
Awards: 2006 Members' Choice,
2006 PEN/Beyond Margins,
Asian-American Writers (http://www.aaww.org)
Debra Marquart
The Hunger Bone, stories
Everything's a Verb, poems
Winner, PEN USA 2007
Creative Nonfiction Award
Purvi Shah
Terrain Tracks, poems
2007 Members' Choice Finalist,
Asian-American Writers (http://www.aaww.org)
Fiction