Electronic Literature Organization Announces $10,000 Awards Competition

Posted on November 10, 2000

The Electronic Literature Organization, a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote and facilitate the writing, reading, and publishing of literature designed for the electronic media, will award two $10,000 prizes for electronic fiction and poetry in the first annual Electronic Literature Awards competition sponsored by ZDNet.

Larry McCaffery, author of Storming the Reality Studio: A Casebook of Cyberpunk and Postmodern Science Fiction, and of After Yesterday's Crash: The Avant Pop Anthology, will judge the Fiction competition. Heather McHugh, Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and author of Hinge & Sign and The Father of the Predicaments, will judge the Poetry competition.

"We are grateful to ZDNet for their visionary sponsorship of the Electronic Literature Awards," said Scott Rettberg, executive director of the Electronic Literature Organization. "These prizes will not only reward the pioneers who are already creating innovative literature in the electronic media, but will also help to inspire writers and artists who are only beginning to explore the amazing creative opportunities this field offers."

The judges of the competition will select the Grand Prize winner in each category from a short list of 10 works in each category nominated by a committee of electronic literature experts from the ELO's Literary Advisory Board, a group of 40 leading writers, critics, and publishers.

The Electronic Literature Awards are open to all. Authors may submit their own work to the competition. Entries will be judged for innovative use of electronic techniques and enhancements, literary quality, and quality and accessibility of interface design. Authors may make multiple submissions, though a $15 application will be charged for each work. Collections will be accepted if they are intended to be read holistically as a single work.

The Electronic Literature Organization will open submissions on December 1st, 2000, and close submissions February 15, 2001. Authors will be able to enter their works online or through the mail via a PDF form. The short list will be announced to the media in March 2001, and the Grand Prize winners will be announced at a ceremony later in the Spring.