FOGG (Friends of Geek Girls) Marianne and Judy have a “new” review site included in their already huge romance review site. It’s Aurora and to get the word out about the site, they’re hosting a very cool (and easy to enter) contest: 

We’re having an Aurora Reviews Awareness Promotion – win an Aurora Reviews tote bag and a $25 Amazon/BN.com GC!!

Did you know that The Long and the Short of it now does reviews for Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction?  Did you know we interview a new published author every week?  Did you know we’re actively seeking short (1000 word) juvenile fiction short stories?   

We don’t want you to miss another review or interview or author chat, so we’re holding a contest from now through July 31, 2010 to raise awareness of this new site.  What’s the prize?

A huge Aurora Reviews canvas tote bag “stuffed” with your choice of either a $25 Amazon or BN.com gift certificate!

It’s easy to enter!  Get on entry for each of the following:

• Follow our reviews blog – http://aurorareviews.blogspot.com/
• Follow our interviews/story blog – http://aurorareviewsarchives.blogspot.com/
• Join Aurora Reviews Yahoo group & post a message – http://tinyurl.com/36hupob
• Like us on Facebook -  http://tinyurl.com/yj644or
• Tweet the contest info (and send us the link).
• Blog about the contest and send us the link.

How much easier can we make this for you?

Drawing will be held on August 1, 2010 and the winner notified via email (so make sure you have an email account associated with your entries!).

Questions?  Email us at lasreviews AT gmail DOT com

Marianne and Judy

http://www.longandshortreviews.com

So … what are you waiting for? A little something for everyone. Looking for something to read? Check out the reviews. Looking to break into print? I know they’re looking for story submissions.

First, thanks to everyone who entered our book birthday zombie/cheerleader giveaway! (Wow, that’s a mouthful–hopefully not an undead mouthful.) Thanks for taking the time to enter and spread the word on Twitter and Facebook. We appreciate it.

So, we compiled all the entries and with a little help from Random.org, now have our two winners. Congratulations to:

Brianna Miller

Susan Pettrone

Brianna and Susan, we’ll be contacting you via email very soon, but if you don’t hear from us, drop us a line at geekgirlx2 @ gmail.com.

But wait, there’s more. Still in need for some great summer reading? The fabulous and funny Rhonda Stapleton is giving away all three books in the Stupid Cupid trilogy. All you have to do is get creative and provide the best “sprained wrist” story she can tell her co-workers (you’ll see what I mean when you visit her blog).

To celebrate the one year anniversary of The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading being in the wild–and still available in many bookstores–we’re teaming up with Stacey Jay to bring you two awesome prize packs.

Zombie Cheerleader prize pack #1:

A tote bag with original artwork inspired by MY SO CALLED DEATH
A signed copy of MY SO CALLED DEATH
A signed copy of THE GEEK GIRL’S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING
One zombie emergency T-shirt (just in case)

Zombie Cheerleader prize pack #2:

A tote bag with original artwork inspired by UNDEAD MUCH?
A signed copy of UNDEAD MUCH?
A signed copy of The GEEK GIRL’S GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING
One zombie emergency T-shirt (just in case)

The T-shirt:

Fashionable and instructional

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

Leave a comment on this blog post, letting us know: zombies: cool or creepy?

Want an extra entry (or three)?

Post a link to the contest on your blog, Twitter or Facebook account and send us the link (geekgirlx2 @ gmail.com). We’ll give you an extra entry for each location.

Contest runs from May 8, 2010 to May 31, 2010. That’s nearly a whole month to get your entries in, so spread the word for some zombie cheerleader swag.

And since this is our one year anniversary, and as a thank you to our readers worldwide, the contest is open to readers everywhere.

Good luck and thank you!

So last night, about 5:45, I’d been home about five minutes or so. Here’s what was going on:

• I was on the computer, trying to order pizza* online, while fielding “suggestions” from the kids.
• The dog was leaping about, wanting to go outside.
• The cat wanted her food.
• Other noisy things.

The phone rang. My son picked it up without answering it. He said, “Mom, this Birmingham number’s been calling all day long.”

He thought it might be one of our relatives from down south trying out a new cell phone. Why he thought this and didn’t answer the phone is one of those mysteries forever locked in the mind of a thirteen-year-old boy.

So. I’m not sure what to expect when I answer the phone. It turns out to be the contest coordinator from the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest. And yeah, I wondered: Why is she calling me? They already announced the finalists.

Turns out, this is why:

Yeah, Geek Girl won the young adult category. I know. I can barely believe it either. But what a great way to start out a long weekend.

* We went with half pepperoni, half sausage and mushroom and some cheesy bread.

Another one of those contests with a very specific demographic, but hey, if you’re in St. Louis and in high school, you should totally go for it.

River Styx presents The Founders Award Original Poetry Contest for St. Louis Area High School Students

Winner will receive $150 and the opportunity to participate in a public reading at River Styx’s Annual Literary Feast and Fundraiser on May 3 at Duff’s in the Central West End.

Submissions should be mailed to:

River Styx Founders Award
3547 Olive Street, Suite 107
St. Louis MO 63103

Deadline to receive submissions is April 23, 2010.

Entrants may include up to five original poems on separate pieces of paper. Poems should be titled and should not include the student’s name on the poem itself. On a separate cover sheet, please include student poet’s name and title(s) of submissions, the poet’s age, grade, school, address, phone number, and e-mail.

Winners will be announced in the last week of April.

As always, see the website for all the submission details. Read the fine print and good luck!

So … yeah, as my son would say. We got the word that The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading is a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest, in the young adult category.

Since I put my home phone (and not my cell) on the contest entry form, the coordinator emailed me to tell us the news. This is maybe just as well, since for a few moments, I forgot how to type. On the phone, I would’ve been all: Dude, no way! (And really, I don’t think you’re supposed to refer to contest coordinators as dude.)

So, when I sent Darcy the news, I asked her for a squee. She saw my squee and raised me a woot.

Anyway, we’re stoked here at Geek Girl central, and check out the other YA finalists:

• Betraying Season by Marissa Doyle
• The ABC’s of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro
• Spring Breakup by Stephanie Hale
• Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills

That’s some fine, fine company to be in. Plus, I first met Tricia when we both were finalists for the Golden Heart waaaay back in 2003. It’s neat that both our debut YA novels are finalists together now.

(Oh, and to my horror, I’ve just done the 2010 – 2003 math. Oy. Apropos to yesterday’s post with Jasper Fforde.)

Cool contest with a very cool judge. Deadline April 30th, so you have plenty of time to pull something together.

Hunger Mountain Prize for Young Writers

The Hunger Mountain Prize for Young Writers is an annual contest for high school students. A chance for your fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction to be read by Hunger Mountain editors and guest judges!

Three first place winners receives $250 and publication!
Three runners-up receive $100 each.

There will be a first place winner and runner up in each category: fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry.

Any high school student with a piece of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction may enter.

The 2010 judge is M.T. Anderson, National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; Burger Wuss; and Feed.

The postmark deadline is April 30.

See the website for all the details on entering the contest.

After firing up the coffee pot this morning, we fired up the random number generator to select our winner for the signed copy of Shani Petroff’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly Dress.

Congratulations to:

Kate!

You’re our winner! We’ll be contacting you via email, but if you don’t hear from us soon, drop us a note at: geekgirlx2 @ gmail.com.

Stay tuned, everyone. The Debs 2010 blog tour is just beginning. We’ll have more Debs and more book giveaways in the coming weeks.

Another one of those contests that has some specific requirements, but hey, all you 11th grade poets should totally go for it.

Good luck!

Leonard Milberg ’53 Secondary School Poetry Prize

The Program in Creative Writing is pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Leonard Milberg ’53 Secondary School Poetry Prize.

Eligibility is limited to students in the eleventh grade during the 2009-10 academic year.

Applicants may submit up to three poems with name, address, email address, telephone number and name of high school on each poem. The jury will consist of members of the Princeton University Creative Writing faculty.

Submissions must be postmarked by March 29, 2010.

First Prize: $500
Second Prize: $250
Third Prize: $100

See the website for complete details and mailing address.

Hey, we’re kicking off the Debs 2010 blog tour with Shani Petroffand her fantabulous second book in her BEDEVILED series, BEDEVILED: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY DRESS.

* * * Contest Alert * * *

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a signed copy of Shani’s book!

About the book:

Angel Garrett knows two things for sure. The first is that she inherited her devil-dad’s powers. The second is that she wreaks havoc whenever she tries to use them. Especially when she’s trying to impress her crush, Cole.

Angel’s only solution is to stay as far away as possible from him until she learns how to harness this new gift. But how do you avoid someone and get him to ask you to the school dance at the same time?

About Shani:

Shani Petroff is a writer living in New York City. In addition to tween and teen books, Shani writes for news programs and several other venues. When she’s not locked in her apartment typing away, she spends a whole lot of time on books, boys, TV, daydreaming, and shopping online. She has no devil lineage as far as she knows.

And now … the interview:

1. The future has arrived and geeks finally rule the world. You’ve been called before a council to establish your geek cred. What will you tell them?

I’ve definitely had 1 or 2 or 300 geeky moments. I look back at some of my hairdos and outfits from when I was younger and cringe.

2. The Geek Girls are always armed with Nerds and Smarties at public appearances. What type of candy best represents your book?

Since the devil is involved in my book… I would have to say fireballs and red hots definitely make the list!

3. It’s mash up time at cheerleading tryouts! What two songs would your main character combine to create the perfect dance performance?

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know – Selena Gomez and You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift. The songs definitely fit my characters train of thought in The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Dress!

Thanks, Shani!

Win a signed copy!

Now, if you’d like to get in on some red hot reading fun, simply leave a comment on this entry between now and midnight, March 6th. We’ll draw a winner bright and early on March 7th. Open to U.S., Canada, and Europe.