Announcing A Call For Submissions For The Michael Rubin Book Award

SUBMIT YOUR PROSE MANUSCRIPTS BY APRIL 15, 2010

The San Francisco State University Book Series annually publishes the fiction or poetry of students enrolled at SFSU whose work shows exceptional accomplishment and promise. The 2010 Michael Rubin Poetry Book will be selected through an open competition by an independent judge. Funding for the SFSU Book Series is provided by the students of SFSU through the Instructionally Related Activities Fund. The competition judge for 2010 is widely acclaimed writer Terese Svoboda.

DETAILS OF THE AWARD:

• The winning manuscript will be published by Fourteen Hills Press and the SFSU Creative Writing Department.
• In 2010, the award goes to a prose manuscript. In 2011, poetry. 500 copies will be printed of the winning prose manuscript or 300 copies of the winning poetry manuscript are printed.
• The author will receive 50 complimentary copies one month after the release of the book. The author will also have the opportunity to purchase additional copies of the book at a considerable discount.
• Fourteen Hills Press will layout the book and decide on a cover design in cooperation with the author of the manuscript.
• Fourteen Hills Press will organize a release party in San Francisco scheduled immediately before the release of the book.
• The book will be distributed through Small Press Distribution (spdbooks.org) and through the consignment efforts of the Fourteen Hills Press staff.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION:

1. You must be currently enrolled as a student at San Francisco State University.
2. You must submit your manuscript of prose (or poetry depending on the year) on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.
3. Your manuscript must be at least 45 pages in length and no more than 175 pages in length.
4. The first page of your manuscript must be a cover letter. The cover letter must include your name, the title of your manuscript, your phone number, mailing address, email, and SFSU student ID number.
5. You must include a table of contents if there are multiple works within your manuscript.
6. You must include a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope). If you want your manuscript back, make sure there's enough postage on it. If you don't include enough postage on it, we reserve the right to dispose of your manuscript. If you don't want your manuscript back, include a standard letter-sized SASE.
7. Your submission materials should be sealed in an envelope. The envelope should be labelled "Michael Rubin Book Award Submission - Date".
8. No revisions to the manuscript will be accepted after submission.
9. Individual works may have been previously published in magazines or journals, but the entire manuscript must be unpublished. Manuscripts that have been previously self-published are ineligible.
10. You must have no prior relationship to the judge. This year’s judge is Terese Svoboda.

Learn more about past winners at our blog post about the history of the Michael Rubin Book Award.

And stay tuned for more updates about the Michael Rubin Book Award as we get closer to the submission deadline, which, again, is April 15. Every SFSU student currently enrolled is eligible. We hope to receive a lot of great submissions this year.


- Daniel Lichtenberg, Fourteen Hills Editing Manager