The Fountain 2013 Essay Contest

Essay Contest

What’s Your Motto?

The Fountain 2013 Essay Contest

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, The Fountain welcomed 2013 with a new motto: On Life, Knowledge and Belief.

Having spent over two decades exploring life and its many meanings, we’ve come to believe that knowledge and belief are the two most important tools for life’s journey.

We believe these three words summarize what we want to embody in our magazine. Life is existence, with all its dimensions and veils. Knowledge is the human effort to remove these veils to reveal the truth beyond them. And belief is what gives truth its meaning and relevance to our being.

So, what’s you motto in life? What was it before, and what is it now? If you were to choose three words to sum up your motto, what would they be? In an essay outlining your philosophy on life, share with us your thoughts and insights.

• Contest open to all writers worldwide
• Essay word count must be between 1,500 and 2,500 words
• Essays must be submitted through the essay contest page at www.fountainmagazine.com/essaycontest
• Cash prizes:

1st Place - $1,500
2nd Place - $750
3rd Place - $300
Two Honorable Mentions - $200 each





Essay submission deadline		For more information:
September 15, 2013 www.fountainmagazine.com/essaycontest  What’s Your Motto? The Fountain 2013 Essay Contest What’s you motto in life? What was it before, and what is it now? If you were to choose three words to sum up your motto, what would they be? In an essay outlining your philosophy on life, share with us your thoughts and insights. Frequently Asked Questions • Theme • References • Word count • Style • Publishing • Number of entry • Disqualification • Evaluation • Submission • Deadline • Winners • Eligibility • Previous contests THEME What qualifies as a “motto”? A motto could be anything. So, feel free to choose any combination of words that you feel your heart rests more comfortably on. Certainly, the more concise the wording is, the more acceptable a motto is; however what is more important is authenticity and uniqueness of the motto, and how elaborately you put it into words so that others are inspired from it. REFERENCES Do we have to include references, bibliography, notes, etc. as in an academic journal? The Fountain is not a journal. Thus, we do not expect a full scale reference list for all the information you provide. But, we encourage contributors to provide at least a reasonable number of references (not more than four or five) especially for the arguments borrowed from other sources, as it would make your work more reliable. If the kind of information you provide needs citation, please provide it; but essays with lengthy references are not preferred. Some reference and recommendations for further reading may help readers who are interested in the essay. "Accuracy of data" is expected in essays in which information provided needs sourcing. An essay based on personal experience does not require citation, and it is equally acceptable. WORD COUNT Does the word count limit include the bibliography or just the essay itself? The Fountain is not a full-scale academic journal, so we expect authors to keep references to a maximum of four or five. Notes can be more. References and notes do not make a big change in word count which is advised to be between 1,500 and 2,500. A range is always necessary to be able to have an objective measure in terms of size. STYLE What kind of writing style do you expect? Can we use informal phrases? Is this essay supposed to be a personal opinion piece, or more of a scholarly supported article? In writing style, we mainly seek consistency. We prefer the Chicago Manual of Style, but if you are more familiar with another style, that is also acceptable. Some informal usage can be OK in a certain essay, but not in another. It is basically the author’s call. Would an essay in the short story genre qualify for the contest? Although we do not think fiction is the ideal medium for this contest, we will consider a story if your motto is skillfully woven through its structure, and if it upholds The Fountain’s values and principles. PUBLISHING Are you going to publish submitted essays anywhere? We might publish submissions in The Fountain, both the print and web editions, even if the essays did not win any prize. By submitting your essay to this contest, you agree that you give permission to The Fountain to publish it in any medium. NUMBER OF ENTRY Can I submit more than one essay? No. One entry per person. DISQUALIFICATION What makes an essay disqualified? Offensive and devotional essays—particularly essays that emphasize superiority of a specific worldview or derogating a specific worldview—will not be considered for the Grand Prize. We define as "devotional" those essays that "propagate" a certain spiritual order, a religious denomination, a spiritual leader, or a political activist, etc. in a way that subordinates all other faiths and traditions. Such submissions will be disqualified. EVALUATION Who will determine the winners? Can you explain more specifically what you are looking for in a winner? The winners will be determined by our board who will decide according to the literary effectiveness of the essay in reflecting the philosophy behind the motto, richness in content, and authenticity. All submitted essays will be evaluated using the following criteria. Relevance to the contest theme (40 points) Innovation & creativity (30 points) Writing style and structure (30 points) SUBMISSION How am I going to submit my essay? Go to the “submit your entry” link on the right. After filling out the form, attach your document and send it. DEADLINE When is the last day for submissions? September 15. WINNERS When will the winners be announced? November 1. ELIGIBILITY Who is eligible to participate in this contest? There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry. The contest is open to all who want to share his or her ideas with us. PREVIOUS CONTESTS I was wondering if you had run this contest before and had examples of previous works that had been selected as a winner. We have run essay a few contests before. You may check out www.last72.com for the theme and winners of one of such contests.