You know, that post title doesn’t quite capture what I mean.

That is to say, this is not exactly a contest for Jewish children. It is a contest for writers who might have a nifty work of unpublished fiction with universal appeal of Jewish content.

Now, I imagine that many of the writers competing for the the Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award may, in fact, be Jewish. But that’s certainly not a prerequisite for this contest sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries.  In fact, the manuscript should have appeal for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers, ages 8 to 11. So, anybody might have the perfect manuscript.

Or maybe you have a brilliant idea, and you just haven’t quite put pen to paper-or fingers to keyboard. So aren’t you glad I’m spreading the word now? Because you still have a few months before the deadline.

Check out the guidelines and information here. Deadline’s December 15, 2010. And the prize award is $1,000. I think that’s pretty clear, no matter how you write it.

I may have mentioned the return of the Pockets Fiction Contest before. If so, I’m mentioning it again. And if not, then whee! You still have a couple of weeks to send in your lovely story!

Pockets Magazine has been accepting submissions since March, but your story must be postmarked by August 15th to be eligible for this year’s contest. And please keep within the word count guidelines, because if you don’t, your lovely manuscript will be gone with the wind.

There are a few other guidelines you’ll want to check, so scoot over here for the details before you send anything. I haven’t had much luck with Pockets, either the contest or in regular submissions, but somebody’s gotta win, right?

Might as well be me. (But good luck to you, too!)