10^th Annual Writers Contest

Guidelines:

• Entries must be received between November 1 and December 31, 2009.


• Writers may submit multiple entries in either and/or both category.


• Each entry must be submitted in triplicate with a cover letter stapled to each of the three copies.


• The cover letter should show the author’s name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, if any; the title of the article; the word count; and the category entered (1 or 2).


• Endnotes need not be included in the word count. Entries may be either single or double spaced, and subjects need not relate to California or the United States.


• Winners will be notified individually by May 1, 2010, and a listing of winning entries will be posted on the SCGSWebsite at that same time. The winners’ names will also be printed in the summer issue of The Searcher, the quarterly journal of SCGS.


• The judges will use four criteria in evaluating the entries:
  1) overall interest and impact,
  2) accuracy and carefulness with facts,
  3) “voice” and language, and
  4) writing mechanics (clarity, grammar).


• Certificates will be issued for first, second, and third place, honorable mention, and finalist at the discretion of the judges. All decisions are final. All research used in the articles must be supported by endnote citations. For guidelines on citation style, see “Evidence, Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian,” by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Genealogical Pub. Co.), or “The Chicago Manual of Style,” by University of Chicago Press Staff.


• Entrants grant SCGS the one-time right to publish their articles in the SCGS journal The Searcher; and/or to feature the article on the SCGSWebsite; and/or to publish their article in an anthology of winning entries. Previously published articles should include permission to reprint from the prior publisher.

2009 Writers Contest FAQ's