Baen Books and the National Space Society (NSS) are co-sponsoring the fourth annual “Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest.” The winning story will be published on the Baen Books main website (at the standard professional rates), and its author will also receive a specially designed award, free entry into the 2010 International Space Development Conference, a year’s membership in the National Space Society ($45 level) and a prize package containing various Baen Books, Jim Baen’s Universe, and National Space Society merchandise. The writers of the second and third place stories will also get NSS memberships and book/merchandise packages.
Deadline for submissions is 1 April 2010. Stories must be no longer than 8,000 words, and must show the near future (not more than 50 or 60 years) of manned space exploration. The judges, who are Baen Books editors Hank Davis and Jim Minz, along with “a soon-to-be-announced Baen Books author,” want to see “Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, realistic spacecraft, heroics, sacrifice, and adventure.” They explicitly don’t want to see “stories that show technology or space travel as evil or bad, Star Wars type galactic empires, paranormal elements, or UFO abductions.”
The previous grand prize winners, who are not eligible, are Michael Barretta, David Walton, and Mike Wood. The previous second and third place winners—Patrick Lundrigan, Graham Storrs, Darwin Garrison, Charlie Allery, Robert Billing, and Michael A. McPherson—are eligible.
For more details, including the entry address, see this page.