Spring Essay Contest: Entry & Submission...

Entry Guidelines:

Entries are due by Friday, June 9, 2006

Please submit an original, previously unpublished, non-fiction essay about a positive public school experience. One entry is permitted per author.
Entries should not exceed 800 words.
All entries must be written in English, and not submitted elsewhere until the winners are announced. Articles should not contain pornography, sexual or racial slurs, offensive language or obscenities.
Only U.S. residents are eligible.
Stories will be judged based on the following criteria:

First person narrative
Quality of writing
Ability to engage the reader
Originality of the author's voice

Gather reserves the one-time publication rights of all entries. Entrants retain reprint rights to their work.

Submission Guidelines: For contest consideration, articles must be submitted in 3 steps

1. Email copy of essay to judges
The first step in the entry process is to send a copy of your essay to the judges via email.

Please email your essay in the body of your email or as a word attachment to: essaycontest@gatherinc.com.
The subject of your email should read Spring Essay Contest.
In your email please add your word count, first name and last name.
We will email all entrants to confirm their submissions. If you have entered the contest and have not received a confirmation notice of your submission by Friday, June 16, 2006, please email essaycontest@gatherinc.com.

2. Register for Gather.com and the SoCalLife group at SoCalLife.gather.com

If you are NOT already a registered member of Gather.com:

Click here to join the contest sponsor group SoCal Life.
Once you have landed on the SoCal Life invitation page, click Join Now.
Fill in all registration information. Asterisks indicate required fields.
When you have finished filling out the registration fields and accepted the terms of service, click Register.
This will confirm you as a member of Gather and the Southern California Public Radio's SoCal Life group on Gather.com, which is sponsoring this essay competition. On SoCalLife.gather.com you can read other submissions and keep up with the latest contest news.
If you have any trouble registering for the site and the SoCal Life group using the link provided, please email essaycontest@gatherinc.com for help.

If you are ALREADY a registered member of Gather.com, follow the instructions below to register for the contest:

If you are already a confirmed, registered member of Gather.com, go to SoCalLife.gather.com.
On the left side of the screen, click on the link + Join this group.
Click the Join button to confirm your membership.

3. Publish Your Contest Entry on Gather.com

Once registered for Gather and the SoCal Life group, entrants must publish their stories on the Gather.com by Friday, June 9, 2006, 11:59 PM ET.
Go to Gather.com and sign in. The member sign in field is on the right side of the homepage.
Click on the green Publish button at the top of the Gather page, select Article from the drop down menu.
In the title field, type in your entry's title.
You can either type directly into the field for the body of your story or simply paste your story from a word document or email.
In the Tags field, add the tag public school essay.If there are additional keywords you want people to be able to use to search for your story, enter those as well separated by commas.
Under Who Can View My Article you will need to select two groups. Firstselect Everyone AND then when prompted to "Publish this article to the selected group(s)" also select SoCal Life.
Click Publish.
Do not publish your piece on Gather.com more than once. The occasional typo will be overlooked, so don't be concerned if you find one in your story later. You can also edit your submission to correct small errors by clicking the Edit My Article link next to your submission.
Now that your article is published on Gather and entered into the essay contest, invite your friends and family to read your submission at SoCalLife.gather.com. To invite your network of friends, family, and colleagues, click on the Connect button at the top of any page on Gather.com and select Invite People from the drop down menu. Enter email addresses into the field and send your invitees a short note telling them about your entry in the Public School Essay Contest.