Tiferet – 2016 Writing Contest
2016 Writing Contest began on January 1 and ends on June 1. Please read their guidelines at the link at the bottom of this post.
$1,500 will be awarded in prizes:
- $500 for the best poetry submission
- $500 for the best short story (fiction)
- $500 for the best essay or interview (non-fiction)
TIFERET publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and art. They look for high-quality creative work that expresses spiritual experiences and/or promotes tolerance. Their mission is to help raise individual and global consciousness, and they publish writing from a variety of religious and spiritual traditions.
They strongly urge you to read an issue of Tiferet to increase your chance of acceptance. Print issue can be ordered here. An e-version can be obtained here.
Fiction: They interpret the word “spiritual” broadly. First, they seek well-written stories, pure and simple, that engage them in some small pocket of humanity. The first page will tell them if the writer has a command of story, of character drive, of description, of language & syntax & voice. Or not. And they’re fans of imagination in fiction, so let yours emerge in the stories you send them. They’re not necessarily interested in religious-oriented stories, nor are they interested in sermons disguised as stories or as stories with overt religious “messages.” NOTE: They only accept and publish previously unpublished work.
Fiction Judge: Ronna Wineberg
RONNA WINEBERG is the author of On Bittersweet Place, her first novel, and a debut collection, Second Language, which won the New Rivers Press Many Voices Project Literary Competition, and was the runner-up for the 2006 Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction. A second collection of stories, Nine Facts That Can Change Your Life, will be published in 2016 by Serving House Books. Her stories have appeared in American Way, Colorado Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, South Dakota Review and elsewhere, and been broadcast on National Public Radio. She is the recipient of a scholarship in fiction to the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and residencies to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Ragdale Foundation. She has been awarded a fellowship in fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is the founding fiction editor of the Bellevue Literary Review, and lives in New York.
Nonfiction: They like to publish essays and interviews that shed light on personal experiences of grappling with the invisible… or different aspects of spiritual traditions. Their readers like to learn about different cultures and a writer’s unique journey. Clear, concise writing with good concrete visual detail is required. NOTE: They only accept and publish previously unpublished work.
Non-Fiction Judge: Hune Margulies
DR. HUNE MARGULIES is the founder and director of the Martin Buber Institute for Dialogical Ecology. Dr. Margulies received his Ph.D from Columbia University in New York, an M.A. from Fordham University and a second M.A. from Hunter College. Dr. Margulies is a Professor at the State University of New York and a guest scholar at the university of Goa, India Dr. Margulies is a philosopher and a poet and has written extensively on Dialogical philosophy, religion and ethics. Many of Dr. Margulies’ essays can be found at martinbuberinstitute.dialogicalecology.org.
Poetry: Tiferet receives a huge volume of poetry submissions, of which only a small percentage are accepted. They look for the highest quality poems that display mastery of content and craft. Technical proficiency is extremely important, along with clear expression of various aspects of the human spirit. They do not accept poetry that is self-consciously “religious.” They publish poems with striking imagery and strong sonic impression, and they look for engaging voices that do more than simply tell a story or display intellectual cleverness. Emily Dickinson wrote, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” That is what they are looking for. NOTE: They only accept and publish previously unpublished work.
Poetry: Leslie McGrath
LESLIE MCGRATH is a poet and literary interviewer. She is the author of Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage (2009), a poetry collection, and two chapbooks, Toward Anguish (2007) and By the Windpipe (2014). McGrath’s latest book is a satiric novella in verse, Out From the Pleiades (Jaded Ibis, 2014). McGrath’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in Agni, The Awl, The Common, Slate, and The Yale Review. She teaches creative writing and literature at Central Connecticut State University and is series editor of The Tenth Gate, a poetry imprint of The Word Works press.