Anthology guidelines and rules (What the judges are looking for)

Theme: There is no specific theme for this anthology, but we encourage members to explore genre literature, such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal, romance, mystery etc.

Eligibility: Only financial members of TW Inc (at the time of submission) will be eligible to submit writing for consideration.

All submissions must be in an unlocked, editable Word document format (docx)All submissions must be in an unlocked, editable Word document format (docx). 
Locked, Read Only or PDF files will not be accepted.

Word count: Prose  –  A STRICT MAXIMUM  of 3000 words. (Please put word count under title)

Poetry – maximum 1000 words.

No. of submissions: Maximum of three submissions per person.

Entry Deadline: Submissions accepted from now until 31 December 2019.

Entry fee: Early bird entries (up to 31 October 2019) will be free of charge.

After 31 October 2019 each submission will incur a $5 fee.

Payment (if required) can be paid online at the TW Inc website: 

https://www.tropicalwriters.com.au/

or in person at monthly meetings.

Submission process: Entries are to be in an MS Word compatible format (.docx, .doc, .rtf) and submitted as email attachments to:

secretary@tropicalwriters.com.au

Please include a title in the body of the work, but no information about the author.

Put the following in the subject line of the email:

Submission 2019/20 TW Anthology

Include the title, genre, and word count in the body of the email, together with the following personal information:

Name

Telephone/mobile number

Email address

Additional Notes: 

Formatting for Anthology submission.

Send as a Word document (not pdf or any other file type).
Typeface should be Times New Roman 12pt, single spaced.
Language should be English Australia. The Macquarie Australian Dictionary is the standard reference.
On the first line, put the title of your story.
Skip a line and then begin text of the short story.
Use a 5-space indent (1.27) to signal a new paragraph.
Use double inverted commas for dialogue. For example:

“We can swim,” he said. “You always liked swimming. You’re so good at it.”

“No, I’m not good,” she said. “I’m not good at it at all.”

Set your word processor to do “smart quotes” that is:
“word” rather than ‘word’

Use an en dash for hyphens, as in “state-of-the-art”; use unspaced em dash for dashes, as in “Nettie—her chin held high—walked out into the storm.”
Ensure Show/Hide (Ctrl+*) is activated in order to ensure paragraph marks and that there are no extra spaces.
Red, blue, or dotted lines underneath words in the text indicate there is an issue you need to resolve before submitting. 

 You will be notified by 31 January 2020 about whether your work will be included in the 2019/20 anthology.

If your work is selected, you will be asked to sign a consent form. 
If your work is selected, you may be asked to undertake further editing.

What the judges are looking for