For The Love of the Craft Content
Deadline: September 18, 2020Top Prize: $5,000 grand prize.
Entry Fees: No entry fee
Late Submission Period Available?: no
Website: The Root
This new contest, For The Love Of The Craft, is connected to the launch of HBO's new Lovecraft County series. The Root is asking short story writers to pick a decade or an important moment in Black American history, and weave a tale of the monsters that litter that time.
Stories need to be original short fiction of 750 words or less and combine Black American history with monsters. No fanfiction. The Root says, "As long as the story is fictional, we want to experience through your writing the collision of the historic and monstrous. Whether this be the monsters of oppression, the monsters of folklore, or some new beast, we're open to everything ... and, much like in Lovecraft Country, we’re curious to see how these ideas and genres combine to show us something new."
Finalist stories will be judged by an editor from The Root as well as Jonathan Kidd and Sonya Winton-Odammten, co-executive producers and writers on Lovecraft Country.
The winning writer will have their story published in a branded feature running on The Root in mid-October, in addition to receiving a $5,000 prize and a writing mentorship from HBO's Kidd and Winton.
Submission is through The Root's Submitabble page.