2021 Tiferet Writing Contest
$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)
One prize winner and two honorable mentions will be awarded in each category. Please read our normal submission guidelines for help in determining what kind of writing we seek.
A $20 fee is required for each entry. Entries are defined as follows:
- Poetry: You may submit up to six poems. (Poems should be submitted in one document with each poem on a separate page and each page/poem titled.)
- Fiction: You may submit work up to 3,000 words or 12 double spaced pages.
- Non-Fiction: You may submit an essay or an interview up to 3,000 words or 12 double spaced pages.
All submissions must be made electronically.
Specify the genre and pay your appropriate entry fee for each entry. Winners will be announced Fall of 2021. Only the winning entries will be published in a subsequent issue of TIFERET.
2021 JUDGES
Poetry
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD is a poet, writer, retreat guide, and expressive arts facilitator living on the wild edges of Ireland where she runs Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global community. She is the author of 16 books on contemplative practice and creative expression including two books of poems from Paraclete Press, Dreaming of Stones and The Wisdom of Wild Grace. More at: https://abbeyofthearts.com/about/about-christine/
Non-Fiction
Laraine Herring is a tenured professor of creative writing and psychology at Yavapai College. Her most recent book, The Grief Forest: a book about what we don’t talk about (White River), is an illustrated guide through complicated grief. Her forthcoming speculative memoir, A Constellation of Ghosts: A Speculative Memoir with Ravens (Regal House), will be released on October 19, and is available for preorder now. She is the author of a trilogy of writing books from Shambhala: Writing Begins with the Breath; The Writing Warrior; and On Being Stuck: Tapping into the Creative Power of Writer’s Block. Laraine is the founder of an online zine, Hags on Fire, which focuses on women writing about perimenopause, menopause, and aging.
Fiction
Murzban F. Shroff is a Mumbai-based writer. He has published his fiction with over 65 literary journals in the U.S. and UK. His stories have appeared in journals such as The Gettysburg Review, The Minnesota Review, The Saturday Evening Post, Chicago Tribune, and World Literature Today. Shroff is the winner of the John Gilgun Fiction Award and has received six Pushcart Prize nominations. His short story collection, Breathless in Bombay, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and rated by the Guardian as among the ten best Mumbai books. His novel, Waiting for Jonathan Koshy, was a finalist for the Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize, and will have a U.S. release in Spring/Summer 2022. His third book, Fasttrack Fiction, is a collection of literary shorts for the digital reader. Shroff’s fourth book, Third Eye Rising, was published in 2021 and received high praise from five renowned American authors.