Bards and Sages Publishing announces the launch of its 7th annual charity speculative fiction writing competition. Each year, the publisher selects a different charity to support with its efforts. This year’s competition benefits Doctors Without Borders, an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid around the world. The grand prize winner will win an Amazon Kindle ereader.

The competition will accept submissions of original, unpublished horror, fantasy, and science fiction stories of up to 20,000 words beginning April 1, 2010. The deadline for entries is October 31, 2010. The grand-prize winner will receive an Amazon Kindle electronic reading device, pre-loaded with almost $100 worth of speculative fiction offerings from our participating sponsors, and cash prizes will also be awarded. Winning entries will also be published in an upcoming anthology.

This year’s competition has a unique structure. In lieu of reading fees, entrants are asked to make a direct donation to Doctors Without Borders using the special dedicated portal at http://www.firstgiving.com/bardsandsages. A single donation of $20 or more allows entrants to enter as many qualified stories as they wish in the competition. Non-entrant donations can also be made through this portal, and if donations exceed $5,000, Bards and Sages Publishing will release the winner’s anthology in ebook format for free download.

Complete details of the competition, include full submission guidelines and a list of sponsors’ books that are included in the grand prize, can be found at www.bardsandsages.com/2010contest. It is strongly encouraged that potential entrants read the guidelines completely before submitting a story for the competition. Sponsors for this year’s contest include many popular independent authors, including William Campbell, David Derrico, Kevis Hendrickson, Valerie J. Long, C.S. Marks, Frances Pawley, and David Niall Wilson.

About Doctors Without Borders: Doctors Without Borders Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries. A private, nonprofit organization, Doctors Without Borders was founded in 1971 as the first non-governmental organization to both provide emergency medical assistance and bear witness publicly to the plight of people it assists. Doctors Without Borders is not a sponsor of this competition. Please direct all inquiries regarding the competition directly to Bards and Sages Publishing.

About Bards and Sages Publishing: Established in 2002, Bards and Sages Publishing publishes speculative fiction and roleplaying games. We are proud of the fact that almost a third of our authors and artists got their first paying publication credit with us. At a time when many speculative publications have stopped paying writers and/or gone strictly online, we have recommitted ourselves to supporting authors with our Bards and Sages Quarterly, a speculative journal sold in both print and electronic format. Now in its second year, the journal features a wide variety of both new and established voices in the speculative field to bring readers an exciting new collection of tales every three months. More information on the company can be found at www.bardsandsages.com.