HarperCollins, FanLib Launch Online Writing Contest

HarperCollins and social media company FanLib have teamed up to launch an online writing contest that dangles a chance to publish one's work as an e-book.

The contest, Harper Teen FanLit: Your Words. Everybody's Story, gives teens and young adults an outlet for their creative juices. Participants are asked to create a short, three-page chapter based on a mission or story line posted on the HarperTeenFanLit.com Web site. Consumers can vote on their favorite chapters on the site. A panel of judges featuring novelist Meg Cabot and Harper teen authors will also review submissions. At the end of each week, the chapters with the highest votes will be added to the developing manuscript until the short story is finished.

Consumers with winning contributions will be featured on the site, as well as on MySpace.com/harperteen site. HarperCollins will award one grand-prize editorial pick with a chance to have a three- to five-minute Webisode of their chapter produced by Fox Television Studios. A second winner, who gathers the most popular votes, gets a trip to New York City to meet publishing executives, lunch with a HarperCollins author and cash in a $500 Alloy.com shopping spree. One randomly chosen third winner gets a $5,000 scholarship and a $100 Alloy.com shopping spree.

Teens who enter the contest also have the chance to win weekly prizes. In addition to having their chapter included in the e-book, weekly winners will receive signed copies of Harper Teen author-panelists' novels and $100 shopping sprees at Alloy.com and Sephora.com.

"The contest is an ideal way to launch the new HarperTeen imprint," said Susan Katz, president and publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, in a statement. "HarperTeen understands that today's Internet savvy teen consumes information in a different way, and our FanLit contest provides an interactive forum and network to create original content with fellow book lovers and their favorite authors."

The contest is open to consumers 13 to 21 and runs through Dec. 15. Online materials support. HarperCollins and FanLib handle in-house.

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