McSweeney’s Sponsors Two Contests

McSweeney’s is accepting entries for two contests, the the 2nd Annual Columnist Contest and the 2010 Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award.

With the Columnist Contest, the publisher seeks a writer who has “some hot, fresh blood to fill the semi-regular columns that run at the bottom [of their site page].” The editors require a short description of your intended column, a sample of a fully-written column, three future column ideas, and a short author’s bio. The deadline is September 10th.

Since 2003, the fiction award memorializes Amanda Davis, a novelist and short story writer who passed away earlier this year. The award will aid “a young woman writer of 32 years or younger who both embodies Amanda’s personal strengths–warmth, generosity, a passion for community–and who needs some time to finish a book in progress.”

Applicants must submit their work-in-progress project which should be 5,000 to 40,000 words along with a statement detailing their financial situation. The winner will receive $2,500. The deadline is December 1, 2010.

McSweeney’s founder Dave Eggers earned a spot on the shortlist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

Note: The original post misstated the origin year of one contest.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.