[KVASS]

Has anyone else submitted stories to either of these contests, the Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest, or the Louise Laffin Contest (run out of New Genre magazine)? The former advertised that results would be in by July, but the website still currently states, "Entries are now closed. The judges are beginning their work and entrants will be notified of the results in due course." Probably the response times are just really long, but has anyone entered either of these and heard back?

[linuxjim]

I never heard anything from them, either. But I was able to determine that I did NOT win.

http://sfscope.com/2007/07/heinlein-centennial-writing-co.html

lists the winners and honorable mentions. Since my name is not there I am forced to conclude I didn't win. Oh, well. It would have been nice if they had sent out some "Sorry" notices, or even posted a CLEAR indication of a date when you could assume no news is bad news. I really dislike markets (including contests) that DO NOT SEND REJECTION NOTICES, a lot of times I won't submit to those (but with one-offs like contests it's sometimes hard to tell).

[StephenDCovey]

I, too, submitted a story last May, and haven't heard anything.

This contest, however, is different from the one mentioned in the last comment, as that contest was from a year earlier and had a much smaller prize.

I'd love to learn anything about the Heinlein Centenial Short Story Contest, including how many stories were submitted, and when judging might be complete.

I guess that if we don't hear anything by the publication date mentioned in the rules it means that we didn't win and can submit the story elsewhere.
"Rights of first publication for entered stories and the right to use contestant's name and image for publicity purposes shall be granted to The Heinlein Society for duration of one year following the contest, i.e., until July 7, 2009"

[KVASS]

Thanks, guys. Well, I feel somewhat stupid now for not figuring it out myself, but you're right, they should make it more explicit on their website, and a friggin one-liner email doesn't seem like too much to ask.

[StephenDCovey]

The Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest website published this TINY update:

3/31/2009 -- Judging continues, and the prize fund is fully funded and will be paid out at the end of the contest. Thank you for your patience.

It's not MUCH news, but it's something!

[KVASS]

Wow, so I guess they are still judging. Interesting. It's weird then how they say that "Rights of first publication for entered stories and the right to use contestant's name and image for publicity purposes shall be granted to The Heinlein Society for duration of one year following the contest, i.e., until July 7, 2009". That's only three months away now and nothing has been published.

[StephenDCovey]

I agree. They haven't given us much to go on. I originally thought they'd announce winners by 07-Jul-08 and have first publication rights for the year following that.

Now? They do have time to announce results AND give us contracts for the publication of our stories by 07-Jul-09, but no way will anything actually get published by then.

I can be hopeful - perhaps they thought they had a year (until 01-Jun-09) to announce results, then another 5 weeks to line up the anthology. If they do an anthology.

[KVASS]

Yes, that's what I thought as well. They're definitely disorganized. By their mention in this latest update that the "prize fund is fully funded", it seems as though they didn't have the funding for sure until now, and maybe that's why they've delayed informing the winners.

This is the first year I've known about the contest, so I don't know how it's been in the past, but shouldn't they be accepting submissions for the 2009 contest soon?

[StephenDCovey]

Sorry, but the Heinlein Centennial Short Story Contest is a one-time event, as far as I can tell.

The previous year's contest was different, and associated with the actual centennial celebration.

Of course, if the anthology is a big success, they'll find excuses for more contests. But don't hold your breath - at best, it will take a long time (a year, perhaps) to judge the success of the anthology.

[Jennifer P]

I have a story in on this too...and those results are a different contest.

I agree that they seem a little bit out of it, although I may not even re-submit the story I sent anywhere else anyway, I haven't decided yet.