ConFluence 1997
Filk Contest
Announcing the First Annual ConFluence Filksongwriting Contest!
Yes, we are indeed expanding the scope of ConFluence's (un)conventional competitions! In the tradition of our short-story-writing contest, we are also starting a contest for filksongwriting (filksong, songwriting...it might not have been one word before, but it is now). The theme is "Anachronism": People, places, things, events, or ideas ("...you know they're nouns...A noun's a special kind of word...") that are conspicuously misplaced in time. Astronauts in medieval England, for example, or English longbowmen on the space shuttle. Or computer programmers who run around on their spare weekends and hack each other with rattan swords...but you get the idea. (The judges will be the final arbiters of whether any given entry is, or is not, on theme.)
Entries will be judged at some point during the weekend of ConFluence '97. All of you songwriters are encouraged to come to the con and perform your entries, or, failing that, to get some patsy--er, proxy--to come and perform it for you. (Don't worry--your song will be judged according to how well it's written, not how well it's performed.) Sorry, but we'll only have one microphone for the contest.
If you really want to, you can instead record your entry on a regular analog cassette tape and send it to ConFluence Filk Contest, 1633 Railroad St., Rear Apt., Heidelberg, PA 15106-4026 (all entries must be received by Thursday, August 7, 1997, and must be accompanied by a SASE if you want them back). However, please realize that your tape will be at the mercy of the Snail Mail Cabal, the ConFluence Filkmeister's dubious filing system and memory, and whatever sound system (read "boom box") we choose to play it on.
As to what you could win, well, we realize that penguins are cute and small drums are useful, but wouldn't you rather have cold hard moolah? Third place gets $5; second place gets $10; and first place gets E. L.'s Dishonorary Tunesmithing Prize of $25.
Miscellaneous rules:
- The song as a whole must be (at least relatively) new--never performed or recorded prior to 1997.
- The music doesn't necessarily have to be new, but songs with original music will be judged much more favorably than those without. In other words, if you want to do "When the Couples Bundle on Mars" to the tune of "When You Wish Upon a Star," it had better be daggone honkin' good.
- We're not too fussy about song length, but at the ten-minute mark we will either be joyously singing along or the Dorsai will be escorting you to the Carson St. on-ramp to have you run over by a grader.
- The ConFluence '97 ConComm, their families, and the nest-egg mites that live in their sock drawers are not eligible to compete.
Rules and other trivial stuff are subject to change without notice--keep an eye on this spot.
Thanks go to the anonymous FilkOntario attendee who indirectly suggested this year's topic, as well as to the semi-anonymous patron of the arts who put up the first-prize money.
--Randy Hoffman, Media Programming Coordinator for ConFluence '97, 6/12/97
This page maintained by Greg Armstrong.