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Grove announces its Second Annual Spoof Article Contest

By Anna-Lise Santella

A Grove spoof article
A Grove spoof article
It may be the middle of winter, but April Fool’s Day is only two months away, and that means it’s time to start planning your entry for the Second Annual Grove Music Spoof Article Contest!

Spoof articles have been part of Grove’s history for several decades—it seems that our authors have always had an inclination toward humor. You can read about the history of spoof articles in Grove. Last year’s contest brought us many outstanding entries, the top four of which were published on the OUPblog. Keith Clifton’s winning entry on spurious soprano, Stella Del Marinar, may also be found on its own special page at Grove Music Online.

If you think you have what it takes to fool the Grove editors, here are the rules:

Submission Guidelines:

  • Articles must be no longer than 300 words, including any bibliography or works lists you might choose to include. There is no minimum length. Entries that do not adhere to the length limit will be folded, spindled, and rejected.
  • Articles will be judged by a mix of staff and outside judges including Grove Music’s Editor in Chief Deane Root, Editor Anna-Lise Santella, and a guest to be named later.
  • Judges will consider the following criteria:
    • Does the article adhere to Grove style?
    • Is it entertaining?
    • Could it pass for a genuine Grove article (maybe if you forgot your glasses and you were squinting at it)?
  • Submissions must be sent by email sent to editor[at]grovemusic.com as follows:
    • Subject must read “Grove Music fake article contest-[title]” (e.g., Grove Music fake article contest-Ear flute).
    • Body of the email must include the title of the article and your full name and contact information (street address, email, phone)
    • The article must be included in an attached document. It must not include your name. This is to facilitate blind judging. Use your article’s title as the document name (if your article includes punctuation that can’t be in a document title, replace the punctuation with a space). You may send as many as three articles, but please send each submission separately. No more than three entries will be accepted from a single author.


All submissions must be received by midnight on 28 February 2014. Manuscripts received after that time will not be considered.

  • The winning article(s) will be announced on 1 April 2014 on the OUPblog.
  • The winner will receive $100 in OUP books and a year’s subscription to Grove Music Online. The winning entry will be published on the OUPblog and also at Oxford Music Online where they will appear NOT as part of the dictionary, but alongside the historic spoof articles on a special page.
  • Fine print: We reserve the right not to award a prize if we feel the submissions do not meet our criteria. All submissions become the property of Oxford University Press. Additional terms may apply.

Anna-Lise Santella is the Editor of Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. Her article, “Modeling Music: Early Organizational Structures of American Women’s Orchestras” was recently published in American Orchestras in the Nineteenth Century, edited by John Spitzer (U. Chicago, 2012) and you can also read her recent article on the American women’s orchestra movement on University Press Scholarship Online. When she’s not reading Grove articles or writing about women’s orchestras, you can find her on twitter as @annalisep.

Oxford Music Online is the gateway offering users the ability to access and cross-search multiple music reference resources in one location. With Grove Music Online as its cornerstone, Oxford Music Online also contains The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music.

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