The MyBrownBaby Beautiful Mind Writing Contest :: January '10 Edition

In my quest to provide a forum for and celebrate great writing, I kicked off The MyBrownBaby Beautiful Mind Writing Contest—a writing challenge in which I invite MyBrownBaby readers to write an essay/post inspired by a topic of my choosing. This month, I’m kicking off the second contest with the topic, “Something New.”

My guest judge is the absolutely ah-mazing Akila of Execumama; she’s an incredible writer who not only shares her beautiful mind on her inspiring blog, but also authored Execumama: A Pocket Guide For the Twenty-something Mommy on the Move, a tome that helps young moms figure out how to balance—and have—it all. If anybody knows how to make that happen, it’s Akilah. Most of all, I’m so proud to call Akilah, a mom of the fabulous Marley and Sage, my in-real-life friend. She rocks, and I know she’ll rep the judging lovely.



The winner of this month’s Beautiful Mind Writing Contest gets lots of nifty gifts, including a “MyBrownBaby Beautiful Minds Contest Winner” button, the winning essay featured here on MyBrownBaby, and a custom-made Inspirational Leather Cuff from jeweler Michelle Verbeeck. I won one of these in a contest over at Feminist Review (a really cool blog with some great writing—check it out HERE); my cuff, which Michelle is creating as you read this, features the last line from my favorite poem, Nikki Giovanni’s Ego Tripping: “I mean… I… can fly like a bird in the sky…” I can’t wait for mine, and I know the lucky (and talented!) winner of this month’s contest will love her/his, too.

Here's how to get in on the action:

1. Write a post on this month's theme, "Something New," then email your post's permalink to me at MyBrownBabyBeautifulMind at gmail.com. (The permalink is the URL of the individual post—not the URL of your blog; to find it, click on the post title or time stamp and copy the URL in the address field. I’ll accept entries through Thursday, January 21. If you miss that deadline, I will still publish your link with the list of entries, but it will not be judged. Submissions that fail to meet the topic or that contain objectionable content will be disqualified. Please look for a confirmation email from me saying I received your entry.



2. Publish a link to this MyBrownBaby contest page in your entry post—as a courtesy and to let your blog readers know about the contest. Who knows—maybe they’ll want to join in on the fun!



3. Check back here on Tuesday, January 26th, when I will post a complete list of the entries along with the MyBrownBaby Beautiful Mind Winner and three Honorable Mentions.



4. As a “thank you!” I will list all entries along with the first two sentences of each post to give MyBrownBaby readers an idea of what you’ve written. (Please note: To assure you that the judge picks the winner solely on the writing, I will show her only the text of your post—no blog name, no pictures, nothing that might identify you to the judge.) In addition to the featured prize, the winner will get an “I’m A MyBrownBaby Beautiful Mind” button to post on her/his site.

Happy writing!