Monday, January 21, 2013

Announcing My Second Annual Alliteration Contest

It's that time of year again, folks. We're beating the winter doldrums with a contest by sparking your creativity in new ways. The contest was inspired by an alliteration assignment given to my dad in the 8th Grade. His father helped him with it and I have added to it--a three-generation effort! Are you game? Okay, here's the game in one word: Alliteration. It's a sound mechanism where you keep the same sound going within, say, a sentence. The easiest way to do this is to start most words with the same letter. Like, she sells seashells by the seashore. It gets one's attention but can be annoying when overused. Subtly is best, unless your entering THIS CONTEST! 

A deeper level of alliteration may show up in prose and poetry. A writer may go for similar vowel sounds in the middle of a string of words or complete that rhyme with ending consonants. Used sparingly, a reader is often impressed when the tool is noticed. In this simple sentence: Could you find enough good wood to make a fire?, 'good' and 'wood' get noticed, but they also echoed the sound of 'could'.

THE RULES: (They're really easy!)
1. You must be a follower of my blog to enter. Just click on the Follow This Blog tab on the sidebar and complete.
2. Tell a mini-story using alliteration. Hint: The best stories have a beginning, middle, and end or feel complete. Use any type of alliteration you desire.
3. Words and subject matter should be free from vulgarity and suitable for public reading or they will be disqualified. Entries must be in English.
4. I reserve the right to reprint on this blog any submission I desire, giving credit to the author. The rights to your work remain yours. The work must be the sole effort of the entrant.
5. Entries or questions about the contest should be sent to:
renaemackley@gmail.com 
by Friday noon EST on February 8, 2013. Include your name, e-mail, and a title for your entry.
6. The GRAND PRIZE winner will be my opinion of the submission that most closely represents the inspiration of this contest as shared below. In other words, the longest story with the fewest non-alliteration words. Other submissions that I might love (they inspire, surprise, elicit humor or other emotions) will receive recognition from this blog in future posts and may or may not also receive a prize. I reserve the right to enlist other judges if the volume of submissions becomes more than I can handle.
7. Prizes. The grand prize winner will receive their choice of an Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card of not less than $10. This value and other prizes may be increased depending on the number of entries received and other prizes that could be donated. (I'm still working on that.) 
Winners will be announced beginning Monday February 11, 2013.
8. Have fun with it! That's the name of the game, James.

My 90-something father still quotes this today:
Slim Summerville slowly sauntered seaward. Several sailors suddenly seeing Slim's subconscious surroundings slyly stole Slim's shorts, socks, shoes, shirt.
Suddenly, sleepless songbirds sang silly songs singularly seeking secure streets showing serenity. 




4 comments:

Peggy Eddleman said...

Ha! What a fun contest! I love your father's. I'm impressed that he can a) still quote that and b) say it without getting tongue-tied!

Renae Weight Mackley said...

It made an impression on him all those years. I hope you'll enter, Peggy.

James C Duckett said...

Hmmmm... I'm not the best at writing in alliteration. If I can find the time, I'll try to submit something. :)

Renae Weight Mackley said...

Go for it, James. You might surprise yourself.