Chorus of approval for Han Han
By Mei Jia (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-22 08:51
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Online writing contest returns to popular acclaim
The 4th Rongshu Xia Original Internet Literature Contest kicked off on Jan 4, after a gap of nine years, to the same enthusiasm that it triggered in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Established in 1997, www.rongshuxia.com quickly grew into a leading website for online reading and writing and gave birth to such writers as Anne Baby and Ning Caishen, known, respectively, for the novel Farewell Viva and the TV script, My Own Swordsman.
But after 2001, the website ran into financial problems. It has now passed into new hands and they have revived the popular contest.
"We are different from traditional contests. Contributors don't need to appeal to the tastes of magazine editors. We provide a platform, and they find a way to attract online readers," says Zhang Enchao, who manages the Rongshu Xia website.
The contest invites contributions in two categories - long, narrative works of at least 100,000 words, and shorter novellas, essays, poems and prose of less than 100,000 words.
The deadline for submissions is the end of June, with the top prize of 50,000 yuan ($7,300) and the chance to be published.
Zhang says the most prominent feature of the contest is that the prize money is kept separate from the payment for the copyright. "If the winners want to give the copyright of the works to us, we'll pay extra," he says. "We hope this will attract more writers."
By Tuesday, Rongshu Xia had received more than 7,000 works, including some in English, according to Zhang, who says one English-language editor is in charge of these entries.
All submitted works will be put on the website, with frequent updates on the number of hits and editor recommendations. Readers will then be invited to vote and a final list will be sent to a panel of professional judges comprising writers, literary critics, senior editors and publishers.
The contest is aimed at promoting an appreciation of literature and encouraging creative writing.
Literary critic and Peking University professor Chen Xiaoming says there will be a big surge in Internet literature this year.
"The contest will give impetus to its development," he says.