Bards and Sages 6th Annual Writing Contest

[bardsandsages]

Each year, we sponsor a writing contest to benefit charity. This year’s competition supports the non-profit organization Kiva.org. (http://www.kiva.org) Kiva.org allows individuals to offer micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing nations. By supporting family-operated businesses in developing nations, Kiva lenders help spread prosperity and hope around the world.

This year’s contest will award over $400 in Kiva Gift Certificates, which can then be used at Kiva.org to issue micro-loans or withdrawn to a Paypal account. Our goal in awarding the prize money in this manner is to encourage people to loan it out before they withdraw it for themselves. The great thing about Kiva.org is that, once a loan is repaid, the money is deposited back to your Kiva account. You can then withdraw it to your Paypal account or loan it again. Our hope is people will decide to lend it first, and once they see the good their money can do, will re-lend it again and again.

This year’s contest will award one grand prize, as well as individual prizes in the poetry, flash fiction, and short story categories. Entrants can enter more than one category. All entries must be speculative in nature (fantasy, horror, science fiction, etc). Winning entries will also be published in the planned speculative anthology Bardic Tales and Sage Advice, Volume II. A $10 reading fee is required to enter the contest, however the reading fee is waived for active Kiva.org lenders. Entrants that wish to join Kiva.org can pre-register for the competition, and once they have issued their first loan have the reading fee waived. Complete details are available on the contest site at www.bardsandsages.com/2009contest (http://www.bardsandsages.com/2009contest).

This year’s contest is co-sponsored by Drivethrufiction.com (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/fiction_jump.php)(a division of Onebookshelf.com) and Ex Machina Press. Drivethrufiction.com offers readers thousands of fantasy, horror, and science fiction titles in digital format without the need for special ebook reader equipment. Ex Machina Press (http://www.exmachinapress.com/) publishes the award-winning Silent Voices journal.

[AXJ]

Very cool. I'm almost certainly in. :) That's a kickass charity, too. I can very much get behind that idea. 8)

[bardsandsages]

Very cool. I'm almost certainly in. :) That's a kickass charity, too. I can very much get behind that idea. 8)

I very much adore Kiva. :lol: It fits with my worldview. There are a lot of charities that do the proverbial "throw money at the problem" that have been working in some of these regions for decades, but little changes. Kiva actually puts the money in the hands of individuals...not as a hand-out, but as a business loan. That does more psychologically to really encourage people to help themselves than anything else.

A certain irony is that I believe Kiva has a loan default rate of less than 3%...far less than Wall Street!

[AXJ]

It's sort of funny, in my MBA classes we had a case study about a company that does basically this same thing, except on a larger scale, funding larger business plans and providing mentoring- in doing so, the companies they helped people start created tens of thousands of jobs across some of the poorest parts of Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, and other poor Latin American countries... and yet, they couldn't get any donations from 'normal' charitable sources and funds in the US and abroad, because they looked down on the whole concept as being 'too capitalist' and because the money didn't go directly to the poorest of the poor. Nevermind that it ultimately put more money in the hands of the poor per dollar donated than any other program tried to date, and those gains were sustainable without any further input. They just didn't like it because it was 'business'. Bleh.

Yeah, these guys will be getting some money from me. :) Nice find.

[AXJ]

BTW, you might want to post a link to this thread in the drawingroom or the writing forum. I doubt it'll get many views down here otherwise. :?

[Null]

What's "flash fiction"?

[Tundra]

Awesome. Good luck with it!

[AXJ]

What's "flash fiction"?

Short stories of less than 100 words.