When to Crow/Essay Contest

Writer’s Thought for the Week: Part of the key to success is in getting past the fear and submitting- and to continue going back to that fire, even when you get burned.  ~ Robin Devereaux-Nelson

THINGS TO CLUCK OR CROW ABOUT

A friend of mine raises chickens in her backyard. Occasionally she gives me some surplus eggs. In the last half-dozen, each egg was a different pastel color - the prettiest natural eggs I’ve ever seen. When I soft-boiled some, I noticed the yolks were larger than those in store-bought eggs.

Last Saturday, I bought brown eggs from a local farm’s booth at my town’s new farmer’s market. They cost noticeably more than those at the supermarket. For a comparison test, I hard-boiled one farm egg along with a store-bought one. The farm egg had a larger, better-textured yolk and a fresher flavor.

Some people debate whether eggs from small farm and yard-raised chickens are really healthier, but I can see and taste a difference. Add the fact that I’m supporting a local business, and I have multiple reasons to buy those eggs over the supermarket ones.

The eggs reminded me that when pitching to an editor, it’s important to say why you’re the one to write the piece. What experience do you have to write that article? If you don’t have personal experience, have you lined up some experts to interview on the topic? If you’re pitching humor, fiction or nonfiction, does your personality come through in your query? Has your fiction been published before or do people follow your blog or Twitter posts?

Hens usually announce when they lay an egg. I'm told roosters crow whenever they feel like it. Pitching is not the time to be shy about what you have to offer. Check out samples from Writers Conference.  Scroll the article to see the samples.

WILLIAM HAZLITT ESSAY PRIZE
Deadline: August 1, 2013

No entry fee – one entry per author

Award value £15,000; five runners-up will each receive £1000.

Looking for the best essay in the English language, between 2,000 and 8,000 words, published or unpublished, on any subject. If already published, the essay must have appeared for the first time in periodical (print or online) but not book form, between 1 January 2012 and 31 July 2013. Copyright remains with the authors but Notting Hill Editions reserves the right to publish or reprint the winning entries in a dedicated collection. Authors of any nationality are eligible.