News

The submission period has closed for This is Writing’s short story contest. Carolyn and I are part of the judging panel. We’re excited! There were 42 entries that came in from colleges and universities all over the world. The picture above is the actual stack of entries that we’re going to work through over the next 30 days.

Daunting?

Yes.

But we’re up for the challenge! Winners of the contest will be announced September 16, 2017.

There are some nice cash prizes for the winners of the contest.

1st – $400

2nd – $200

3rd – $100

6 runner ups – $50

All winners of the contest will also be published in a short story compilation that This is Writing is putting together. I’m amazed at the level of participation put forward and can’t wait to dive into these stories over the next month.

Stories came in from students studying at:

• Carleton University
• College of the Sequoias
• Curtin University
• Flinders University
• Manchester Metropolitan University
• Massey University
• Monash University
• Rutgers University
• Ryerson University
• San Diego State University
• University of Technology Sydney
• University of Texas El Paso
• University of Toronto
• Wilkes University

Pretty awesome huh? We’re going to reach out to some of our favorite writers from the contest after the winners have been announced and try to get them on the show to do a session with us. Stay tuned and keep creating!

~ Lucas

Endless Beautiful’s community creativity event sponsored by NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley is quickly approaching! The fine folks over at the Valley Breeze included an article promoting the event in this week’s paper! The full article can be found here.

Here’s a little about the Valley Breeze:

The Valley Breeze is a free weekly newspaper that reaches more families in northern Rhode Island than any other paper – by far. It is locally owned, and independently audited by the Circulation Verification Council of St. Louis, Missouri, which gave the paper it’s Gold Standard Award for excellence 5 straight years!

The Endless Beautiful event will take place Saturday, August 12 from 4 – 6 pm at 40 S. Main Street in Woonsocket. More info for the event can be found here.

Endless Beautiful was recently featured on the front page of the Woonsocket Call! The article can be found on The Call’s page here.

Here’s a little about The Call from their website:

The Call began when Samuel E. Hudson and Andrew J. McConnell founded The Evening Call Publishing Company. The first edition of The Evening Call hit the streets on the afternoon of May 31, 1892. Every copy that rolled off the press was sold. The lead editorial stated that the newspaper’s birth was “not by way of experiment, not in the spirit of adventure, but in the fullest confidence that the people of Woonsocket will support a paper devoted to their local and business interests.”

Today, The Call proudly serves the Blackstone Valley of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including the Rhode Island towns of Woonsocket, North Smithfield, Cumberland, Lincoln, Burrillville and Glocester. In Massachusetts, we serve the towns of Blackstone, Millville, Bellingham, Uxbridge, and Franklin.

All are Welcome at Creativity Workshop Sponsored by NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley

WOONSOCKET, RI: This August 12, 2017, Endless Beautiful will host a free community creativity event at 40 South Main Street in Woonsocket from 4-6pm. Endless Beautiful is a creativity workshop and podcast hosted by Lucas Pralle and Carolyn Decker that engages the imagination and creative spirit through audio-inspired writing. The event is open to all ages and levels of artistic experience. In fact, people of all trades and walks of life are asked to attend and try this new method of fun and easy creative expression!

During the workshop, participants simultaneously listen and write, using a series of audio clips as inspiration. The session’s audio clips range from birdsong to festival drums, waterfalls to fireworks! After the audio session, participants share their creations with the group, getting feedback from Pralle and Decker and audience members. Aspects of the workshop are archived in the Endless Beautiful podcast, released weekly on endlessbeautiful.com.

Pralle and Decker founded Endless Beautiful in Rhode Island in July 2016. What started as a passion project for the two writers has grown into a prominent voice for creative and community arts around the state.

“Something magical happens at these workshops when we listen, write, and share,” says Decker, a poet. “The sounds of the audio session open up the flow of creativity from that headspace out onto the paper. Whether it’s a memory or a wholly new concept, the result is always a surprise.”

Pralle, fiction writer and audio producer adds, “My favorite thing about these workshops is when someone comes in saying, ‘I’m not a creative person,’ and then comes up with a totally unexpected but authentic piece of writing.”

The August 12th event is sponsored by a creative placemaking grant from NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley. NeighborWorks awards these grants to “bring residents, artists, and businesses together for arts and culture projects that help transform the district into a vibrant center of economic prosperity.” The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) has also recently recognized Endless Beautiful with a grant to continue holding community workshops like the upcoming event in Woonsocket.

In addition to the workshop August 12th, archived episodes of the Endless Beautiful podcast are available to try at home or on mobile via endlessbeautiful.com, as well as other digital media outlets like Apple Podcasts, Player FM, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. Player FM, a leading global podcast platform, ranked the Endless Beautiful podcast under its featured content as a “top creativity podcast of 2017.”

This NeighborWorks event will celebrate the hidden creative talents of Woonsocket and the surrounding community. Admission is free.

Send Your Short Stories to This is Writing and Win Some Money!

Our friends over at This is Writing have a short story contest currently running until the 16th of August.

It’s free to enter and the cash prizes are:

1st Prize: $400

2nd Prize: $200

3rd Prize: $100

$50 for six runner ups

Not too bad, eh?

Carolyn and I are on the panel of judges for the contest. Good luck! Included below are some further details from the contest.

• Submit a 2000 – 5000 word fiction short story
• Please include a title. This will not count towards your word count.
• Entries must be submitted online by midnight Eastern Time 16th August 2017.
• Only online entries will be accepted.
• Entry is free. Limit one entry per person.
• Entry must be original and unpublished.
• Entries will be judged on originality, creativity, quality, spelling, and grammar.
• When submitting your entry you must include your student number, university and course title.
• All entries will be published in a short story collection. By submitting your work you are agreeing to have your work published if selected as one of the winners.

• All applicants must be currently enrolled full-time in an accredited UK, US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand Tertiary Education Institution.
• The scholarship is open to Undergraduate, Masters, Doctorate or Post-Graduate students studying Creative Writing, Literature or equivalent degree.
• Application Period: 16th June 2017 to 16th August 2017. The winners will be announced 16th September 2017.

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How To Enter

Only electronic submissions will be considered. Email your manuscript file to scholarships@thisiswriting.com

Please include the required materials as the initial pages of your manuscript file. Submissions should follow these formatting guidelines: twelve-point font, double-spaced text, numbered pages. Note that we only accept PDF or Word files (.doc and .docx).

Required details: Full Name, University, Course Name, Student ID, Story Title.

These details will be used to confirm current enrollment in a creative writing course in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand or Canada.

Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) Awards Grant to Endless Beautiful

Endless Beautiful was awarded a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts to conduct a community workshop in Rhode Island! RISCA is a major contributor to the vibrant art scene that exists in Rhode Island.

Here’s their mission:

Established in 1967, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) is charged by the state legislature to stimulate public interest and participation in the arts and to serve as the liaison to the state arts community. As set forth in the General Laws of Rhode Island, it is the responsibility of the Arts Council to:

• • Stimulate the growth of the state’s arts and the public’s participation in them
  • Survey and assess the needs of the arts state-wide, and to make recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly
  • Provide educational opportunities in the arts
  • Actively support and encourage the expansion of the state’s cultural resources
  • Promote and protect freedom of artistic expression

We haven’t decided on a location for our workshop yet, but we will release details as soon as that is established. Don’t forget that we have a community workshop sponsored by NeighborWorks BRV coming up in Woonsocket, RI on August 12, 2017 from 4 – 6 pm! Tickets are available here.

Lucas Pralle 7/31/17

Player FM, a leading podcast curation and delivery platform has featured Endless Beautiful as a top creativity podcast! As of the writing of this article, the Player FM app has over a million downloads on Google Play and is one of the top podcast apps in the world. Endless Beautiful is now on Player FM’s “Best Creativity Podcasts” page and is a featured podcast in the category!

Here’s a bit more about Player FM

Simplicity at its best! Player FM is a 100% free app, which gives you access to over 300,000 shows, right at your fingertips. Never again miss new episodes from your favorite shows with this perfect and worry-free app.

Each day, hundreds of episodes are being made, and new shows are being born. From daily news, politics, science, education, fitness, entertainment, music and tons of other shows, Player FM has something for you. Don’t be left out.

And for the entire development team, good user-experience is always a top priority. That is why we continue adding features that we believe should improve the overall experience of our users.

Also, here’s what the experts have to say about the app:
Android Central: “Just looks amazing … packed with useful features … tell it what you’re interested in and watch it work its magic”
LifeHacker: “Guides you to smart, interesting podcasts”
Tested: “Right from the start, I found the experience of using Player FM enjoyable”
All About Android: Winner, app arena http://goo.gl/wXjkIW
GigaOm: “Makes podcasts look cool again”

7/30/17 – Lucas Pralle