Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers

  • To Think, To Write, To Publish is “a yearlong program, supported by the National Science Foundation, featuring two multi-day workshops in Washington, DC and Tempe, Arizona. Twelve emerging communicators and 12 early-career science and innovation policy scholars will learn about creative/narrative nonfiction storytelling techniques; meet with and learn from creative writing and science journalism professors, museum professionals, and editors of mainstream publications; and collaborate, in scholar-communicator pairs, on narrative essays to appear in a nationally-distributed publication. Each workshop will include a keynote event and sessions led by prominent narrative/creative nonfiction writers, teachers, editors and agents, featuring Lee Gutkind, ‘the godfather behind creative nonfiction’ (Vanity Fair) and the founder and editor of Creative Nonfiction. This is a unique and challenging opportunity open to next generation science and innovation policy scholars and next generation communicators working in any genre(s) and interested in science, technology and the social sciences. All participants will receive an honorarium plus travel expenses to the workshops. To Think, To Write, To Publish will help writers learn much more about the process and importance of research and the vital importance of policy, and scholars learn about how to utilize creative nonfiction storytelling techniques to make science policy more accessible to a general audience.” No application fee. Deadline: June 15, 2012.
  • The Cha Flash Fiction Contest is run Cha: An Asian Literary Journal. “It is for unpublished flash stories in English language on the theme of ‘Misinterpretation.'” You may submit up to two pieces (no longer than 250 words each). There is no entry fee. Deadline: July 15, 2012. Prizes: £50/£30/£20 (payable through Paypal). All three winning pieces will receive first publication in a special section in the fifth anniversary issue of Cha.
  • Freelance opportunity with Columbia Journalism Review (for a Virginia-based writer): “CJR seeks one Virginia-based freelance correspondent for an online media criticism project, The Swing States Project, focused on the 2012 presidential campaign and other campaigns for federal office. The correspondent will critique campaign coverage—local and regional, but also national when it comes to town—with two specific areas of focus. First, he or she will monitor the media for instances of ideological fear-mongering, rhetorical distortion and manipulation, missing context, errors of fact, etc. (Or, alternately, he or she will highlight coverage that excels in pushing back against political misinformation.) Second, the correspondent will explore how the impact of political money in Virginia is covered, in terms of advertising, fund-raising, and the perception of candidates during the campaign, and lobbying and power politics beyond it. Swing States Project correspondents are expected to contribute on average three posts per month, which are featured on the CJR website. Much of the work will involve reading and reacting to/critiquing in-state campaign coverage, with some reporting as well. To see the project’s output to date, visit http://www.cjr.org/swing_states_project/. Correspondents also consult with the editors in New York about how national trends are reflected in their states and occasionally share insights and reporting for stories written in New York, and work with an in-house engagement editor to promote the project through local media (including, possibly, radio/TV appearances) and social media (Twitter proficiency—and following—a plus). Compensation will include an $800 monthly retainer and a per-post fee of $200. This position is grant-funded and continued freelance assignments are contingent on funding renewals.”
  • “The Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, Inc. [Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.] is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to advance the art and craft of writing by encouraging writers and readers at all levels to participate in and enjoy the literary arts. We seek an Executive Director with vision and proven experience in development of not-for-profit organizations and a dedication to the arts and literary pursuits. The ED is responsible for overall management of the Center’s programs, operations, and staff, and for development and fundraising.”
  • And last, but by no means least: The May issue of The Practicing Writer went out to subscribers over the weekend. As usual, the newsletter focuses on poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, and is filled with no-fee competitions and paying litmag calls for submission.