ALLen Reads Community Anthology

The Allen Anthology committee is collecting submissions for our second community anthology entitled Planting Seeds…In Your Garden and Your Community.  Communities of today are more diverse than ever, like a cottage garden.  Like neighbors of old might share their cuttings, seeds and bulbs, we can share our stories of friendship, acceptance, change, heart-touching moments and even gardening.  Our goal is to capture the spirit of Allen in its diversity, uniqueness and commonalities.  In discovering our diversity, we hope to discover how much we have in common.  Please submit your stories electronically to allenreadseditors@gmail.com by April 1, 2009 .  For details and guidelines log onto http://allenfriends.com/ALLenReads.htm.   

Entry Guidelines:

· In the spirit of Seedfolks, The Gardener, and Wanda’s Roses, all entries must portray themes of Friendship, Acceptance, Change, Heart-touching Moments or Gardening.

· Submissions may be made by residents of Allen, Lucas and Fairview and those who work in those communities as well.

· Each entry must be submitted electronically as an attachment with the following font and margin requirements:

· Cover sheet with a title of the submission, author’s name, address and contact information (Please include work place if not a resident)

· Single space; 14 font Times New Roman with Left Margin of 1.5”.  All other margins will be 1”.

· Please limit entries to 2000 words or less.

· Parents and teachers may assist children with editing and typing.

· The ALLen Anthology committee reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity, style, or format to enhance clarity.

· The ALLen Anthology is not a paying market.  No monetary compensation is given for any submissions.

· Every attempt will be made to include as many stories as possible.  In the event that there are an overwhelming number of submissions, a committee will select the best stories to be included in the anthology.

· Title suggestions for the entire anthology may also be submitted.

· Please submit all entries to allenreadseditors@gmail.com by April 1^st.

There will be a cover art contest as well.  Winning artist will be presented with a special award by illustrator David Small during his visit in April.  All cover art entries will need to be submitted as follows:

· Entries must be related to the story themes for the Planting Seeds Anthology.

· Drawings must be black-line (black and white line drawings) only.

· Art work must be original.

· Entries must be submitted on 8 ˝” x 11” paper in portrait (vertical) layout.

· Please submit all cover art entries to the Allen Public Library Information Desk by March 15^st,, 2009.