I read Victoria Strauss's blog, and it appears the Field Report people are forthcoming and helpful on the main points Victoria questioned. They have resolved her concerns, and as I trust Victoria a good deal, that speaks volumes. She did mention a few other things--if you win over $100,000, you sign away exclusive rights to your piece for 14 years. With lesser winnings, the time period is shorter. Other people can apparently make anthologies that include your piece during the period of rights transfer, and these are sold (horrors! or maybe not). So the careful writer will want to READ THE CONTRACT if you have the next GWTW in your hands. But this does not appear to be a con job, not at all. They hope to expand it to novels and other types of writing if this project succeeds. They may be over-optimistic, but as a writer I have to be almost wholly supportive of people throwing money at us in good will.
p.s. And remember, folks, I am about as cynical as they come with regard to writer-ripoffs. This isn't one. They may be looking for a $15 million novel to pay for their prize money, but when you balance that against really pretty substantial prize money up front for several ink-stained wretches that probably find getting published at all a huge obstacle, well, it's a tradeoff.
