3K for an erotic story?

Wow, it’s for real — I blinked the disbelief from my weary erotica editing eyes and checked it out. The Sinclair Institute’s Better Sex Erotic Fiction Contest is really truly offering a $3000 grand prize for the erotic story they think is the best submission for their next collection. They’re not being stingy with the runner-up prizes, either: 13 weekly winners will get $100 (or two Euros, heh) and one “hot new voice” will get $200 (that’s what I pay each selection for Best Women’s Erotica; it’s the high end of the erotica pay scale). The word count for submissions is 3,000, making the finalist get a dollar a word, their deadline is November 1st, and other than their submission rules I’m really not sure what their selection criteria for content is (other than unpublished work). I mean I’m guessing that reading former winners will give you an idea, but when I put out a call for submissions I usually give writers a good idea what I want… Still, it’s great to see money going to erotica writers, and I *love* anything that encourages new voices. I’ve published dozens of first-time writers over the past 7 years and it brings me a lot of happiness — especially when a handful of them have gone on to be well-known and very accomplished writers. I’m looking forward to February already.