The Graveyard Shift

Archive for the ‘Contests’ Category

The Writers’ Police Academy is pleased to announce the opening of the Golden Donut short story contest. The rules are simple. Write a story about the photograph above using exactly 200 words, including the title (each story must include an original title). All stories must be polished and complete, meaning they must have a beginning, middle, and a twisted ending that would make our keynote speaker proud. Again, all stories must be exactly 200 words. Not 201 or 199!

The contest winner will receive the prestigious Golden Donut Award (sponsored by the High Point North Carolina Public Library). All entries will be screened by a panel of authors who will select their ten favorite stories and then forward their picks to our mystery judge (identity will be revealed at the academy banquet). The masked decider will present the winning story title to the appropriate Writers’ Police Academy staff member. The winner’s name will be announced at the WPA banquet. The contest is open to everyone, not just attendees of the academy, and the winner need not be present to win.

Submission Guidelines:

Submission Deadline: September 10, 2010

- Any entry not meeting the exact 200 word requirement will be disqualified.

- Hyphenated words, for the purpose of this contest, will be counted as two words.

- Be sure to include your name, address, email address, telephone number(s), and title of your story on a cover letter that’s separate from your story page. DO NOT include your name anywhere on the story page or it will not be read by the judges.

There is a $10 entry fee. Checks or money orders MUST BE made payable to “Writers’ Police Academy” and must accompany the submission in order for your submission to be considered.

- Send all entries to:

Writers’ Police Academy

P.O. Box 60091

Savannah, Ga. 31420

att. Short Story

- There is no limit on the number of entries by any author. But each individual entry must be accompanied by its own $10 entry fee. ( One entry = $10. Four entries = $40, etc.)

- Any entry not meeting the exact 200 word requirement will be disqualified.

- By submitting an entry to this contest authors agree to allow The Graveyard Shift/Lee Lofland/the Writers’ Police Academy, and affiliates to publish the story as a part of The Graveyard Shift blog and/or as advertisement for the Writers’ Police Academy.

*All rights to all work/short story shall remain the property of the author. The Writers’ Police Academy reserves the right to exclude or delete any entry without cause, reason, or explanation.

-No refunds. Proceeds go to the Writers’ Police Academy fund to benefit the GTCC criminal justice foundation.

Photo by Sunday Kaminski

Sunday Kaminski’s mysterious work has been featured in publications such as the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

So there you have it. Now get busy and take us on a journey down that winding road in the photo. Will anyone make it back? Who knows. That’s up to you.

Good luck!

*It may take a few hours before these details and guidelines show up on the WPA website, but we’re working on it and hope to have it there by the end of the day.

The question of where to conceal emergency lights on unmarked police cars was the topic of discussion on a popular writer’s discussion group this week. So, I thought it might be helpful to show some of the lights used in those situations. Thanks to Wally and crew over at crimescenewriter for the idea.

Visor lights are often used by detectives in their unmarked cars. These lights can be either built into the actual visor, or as an attachment as shown in the photos above and below.

Fog lights, such as the ones pictured above, appear white or clear when not activated. However, when the switch is flipped they display their true purpose. Red and/or blue lights are easily concealed in side mirrors as well. When not in use they appear as normal turn signal lenses.

Deck and grille lights come in many shapes, sizes, and configurations. You often see these mounted to the deck inside the rear window.

Dual windshield LED light plugs into a cigarette lighter and come with a shroud for the times when the light is not in use.

Yep, the old standby beacon is still out there!

And I thought the few blue lights I had hidden in my car were distracting…

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Notice!

Details for the Writers’ Police Academy short story contest will be posted on this site tomorrow, 8-12-10.