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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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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