What do you get for your contest entry fee?

Nothing--at least over at Kirkus.

In case you were wondering about the outcome of the prestigious (?) Virginia Kirkus Literary Award (which was supposed to have been announced by now) you will read this from the Kirkus website:

"The Virginia Kirkus Literary Award has closed for 2005. Thank you to all the participants. We will be announcing the winner in the next couple weeks, as our editors are still sifting through submissions. We apologize for the delay, but the winner will be announced soon. Please check back in late February for details on the 2006 contest."

Yeah, but . . . you already cashed the checks, right? Not to mention it's March, dudes.

As for our Needle Awards, we're running on schedule and it didn't cost you a penny (other than the cash you had to lay out to get published in the first place--ahem.) And I would argue that the Needles are being judged by a more prestigious and influential group (not to mention by more individuals.) On the other hand, I'm not offering a book deal for the winner.

I guess you get what you pay for after all.