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This is an archive of our past Short Story Contests as well as Chat Session Logs of guest speakers to the group, some quite famous, all very informative.  This section is however still under construction.  

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CONTEST ARCHIVE
 
 

These are the highest placing entries for each Writing to Publish Contest that we were able to obtain permission to post.  Some, are not 1st place entries, because of permission conflicts.
 
Some entries will only be available on the Members side of the site, depending on the author's request...
 
Note: There were some formatting errors when posting the stories so if a story is missing quotation marks or apostrophes, you can assume it is the software and not our author's fault.
 

For the 1st contest, the theme was S:  Silence.  That was the general subject, and any genre entry was accepted.

Contest One Neondust's Entry

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The 4th contest, however, was switched to C,  Cows. 

Contest Four Matthew Strebe's Entry

Contest Four Donna's Entry

Contest Four Ben's Entry

Contest Four Daan Stebe's Entry

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The 5th contest changed again, switching to a Harold theme.  In that one, each entry had to include the sentence When Harold awoke, he realized he was still asleep. 

Contest Five Donna's Entry

Contest Five Ben's Entry

Contest Five Matt Strebe's Entry

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The 6th contest, we all wrote a "publishable" children's story, thinking of a 10 year old audience.

Contest Six Ben's Entry

Contest Six Donna's Entry

Judy Place Third

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The 7th one had a "Trip" theme, as in vacation or journey; some entries focused on an "inner" journey instead.

Contest Seven Dub's Entry

Contest Seven Donna's Entry

Contest Seven Matt Strebe's Entry

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For the 8th contest we had a new idea, a dual theme:
Ethnic Robots. The general flavor was about ethnic people living in America. However, the story also had to include a robot.

Sister of 7 Placed First

Contest Eight Dub's Entry

Contest Eight Sarah's Entry

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The 9th contest's theme reflected its Holiday Season timing: "Exploding Helicopters for the Holidays." We'd finally made our collective nod to The Guy Thing.

Contest Nine Tiffany's Entry

Lisa Placed Second

Contest Nine Donna's Entry

 

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For the 10th contest we went over the top in silliness, with a triple theme: "The Rabbit Fight." It had stories about a writer. The writer was involved in a sudden conflict. This conflict involved a rabbit.

Contest Ten Donna's Entry

Contest Ten Cara's Entry

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The 11th contest's theme was: "The Las Vegas Wish." It had a triple theme, although the third was a "negative" stipulation. A wish is granted. The wish somehow involves Las Vegas. However, it could not  be for monetary gain.  Ironically, that Contest had some substantial Prizes offered by the Writer's Club Inc., with values from $40 to $500! (A "one time only" thing, sorry to say.)

Contest Eleven Tiffany's Entry

Contest Eleven Donna's Entry

Jenny Place Forth

Contest Eleven Sarah's Entry

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The 12th theme was "Scary Children's Lessons," done in conjunction with Yard Dog Press. We departed from our usual standards and wrote according to their specifications. We wrote and voted, ourselves, then sent all of the stories along to Yard Dog, which accepted several. They wanted a 5000 word story, so only a few people wrote Entries that time.  You can read these tales in the anthology Stories That Won't Make Your Parents Hurl, edited by Selina Rosen, ©2000 from Yard Dog Press.

Tiffany Placed First

Donna Placed Second

Contest Twelve Sarah's Entry

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The 13th theme was "The Decade Dream." This was a nod to Y2K, and was meant to introduce some names for the new "00" decade. The stories featured a dream, and in that dream, a name for the new decade. [Editor's note: it seems that, for the time being, "the two thousands" has become a common term.]

Contest Thirteen Connie's Entry

Contest Thirteen Shirley's Entry

Contest Thirteen Carol's Entry

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The 14th contest was: "Rejection After Death." This was a combination of the two best theme suggestions the members had offered, "life after death" and "worst rejection lines." These stories had to contain a deceased person (or persons), and the person(s) must experience rejection.  Our online sponsors, iUniverse.com, offered company-supplied prizes to the top three vote getters. {Again, a one-time thing.] Also, the winning story was later accepted for publication in a small, literary quarterly.

Contest Fourteen Steel's Entry

Contest Fourteen Donna's Entry

 

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 The 15th Contest was: "The Guilty God." Its positive theme was, a deity grants someone a favor. The "negative" was, "god" did not refer the all-creator God of JudeoChristian/Muslim scripture, but instead to some mythological demigod from the world's older traditions. The "guilt" then resulted from that favor. 

Contest Fifteen Kathi's Entry

Contest Fifteen Steel's Entry

Dale Place Fourth

Contest Fifteen Shirley's Entry

 

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Our 16th Contest was: "The Exceptional Homecoming." The protagonist arrives home, after time and great changes. With some personal sacrifice, they bring a special blessing.

Host WPLC Lyric Place First

Contest Sixteen Barry's Entry

Contest Sixteen Ben's Entry 

Contest Sixteen Donna's Entry

Contest Sixteen Carols Entry

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Our 17th Contest featured: "The Lighter Theme." The stories were of the comedic or "easy reading" genre. The entries had to contain two types of object, a cigarette lighter--but not any smoking or smokers--and balloon(s), but not a birthday.

Contest Seventeen Steel's Entry

 Contest Seventeen Barry's Entry

Contest Seventeen Donna's Entry

Lyric Placed Fourth

Contest Seventeen Cyndia's Entry

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 The theme of the 18th Contest was: "The Short Surprise." For just that once, the story had a maximum of only 750 words. It had to have a surprise ending.

Contest Eighteen Cyndia's Entry

Contest Eighteen Tiffany's Entry

Roy Place Third

Contest Eighteen Kathi's Entry

Contest Eighteen Barry's Entry

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The 19th Contest was about: "The Cold Challenge." The stories featured a person who is mentally and/or physically disabled. That person faced a challenge, set in a cold place. For most that became wintertime, but for some, a mechanical freezer. 

Lyric Place First

Don Place Second

Roy Placed Third

Contest Nineteen Kathi's Entry

Contest Nineteen Barry's Entry

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 The 20th Contest was themed: "The Cell Call." In this one, an idealistic doctor receives a cellular phone call. It would change his/her life -- but was not about a medical issue.

Contest Twenty Barry's Entry

Contest Twenty Joe's Entry

Contest Twenty Kathi's Entry

Gabby Finished Fourth

Roy Finished Fifth

 

 

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The 21st Contest  theme being The Easy Theme, with the particular sentence included:  He turned to the golden monkey and said I have to say, that was an easy theme. 

Contest Twenty-One Tiffany's Entry

Contest Twenty-One Donna's Entry

Contest Twenty-One Adam's Entry

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Writing to Publish has new contests twice a year, and themes suggestions are always welcome.