Fall Writing Contest

This fall, Short Fiction Break is partnering with The Write Practice to host a writing contest in which everyone gets published.

FALL 2020 WRITING CONTEST

This fall, we invited all writers to write a new story inspired by the theme of our contest; workshop it in The Write Practice Pro, our partner writing community; and submit it for publication here at Short Fiction Break. We believe good stories are meant to be shared, and so all writers who participate may be published if they choose.

The theme of this contest was Boundless. When your characters are limitless, what will they do?

WINNERS OF THE SUMMER WRITING CONTEST

We received hundreds of excellent submissions. After much deliberation, our judges selected the following winning stories:

Grand Prize:
Haywire by Tze Chua

Runners Up:
Sunlight and Snake Oil by Jessica Opalinski
Life With No LENS by Jennifer Palmer
Come Apart by Sarah Gribble*

Honorable Mentions:
A Choice to Change by Ashlyn Ohm
The Bridge by April Russell
Times Infinity by Mark Shields
The Talisman by Laura Taylor
All There Is by Lisa Walton

*Sarah Gribble on the Write Practice team entered this story under a pseudonym and placed in the contest! She’s not eligible for a prize, but we’re excited to celebrate her story.

SHORTLISTED STORIES

There were so many good stories in this contest, the judges were hard-pressed to narrow their selections to just a handful of winners. While the following stories didn’t win a prize, the judges noted them as some of their favorites.

Desert Stars by W K Babb
A Lot To Chew On by David Beye
Everly by Rebekah A. Fernandez
A Picture of You by Sandy George
The League of NSSSP by mark heyer
Hate by S.E. Laughter
Coming Home by Jones Rose Moynihan
Laminura by Michelle Murray
Experimental Treatment by J. H. O’Rourke
Superposition by Shannon Sacoman
From This Point On by Madeline Slovenz
Candy House by E.C. Sullivan

READERS’ CHOICE AWARD

As the judges sifted through the entries, we invited you to vote for your favorite story to win the Readers’ Choice Award.

The winner of the Readers’ Choice Award is Unbound by Rashmi P. Menon. Congratulations, Rashmi!

JUDGES

At Short Fiction Break, we believe there are two groups of stars in every writing contest. The first group is obvious: all the writers who enter their stories, who bravely offer their writing for critique, judging, and publication.

The second group is less obvious, but equally important: the contest judges, working hard behind the scenes to read every story and select a handful of the very best.

This contest was judged by a panel of two judges, an author and editor team.

The Editor: Renee Decker is a Story Grid Certified Editor who got her start in storytelling thrilling her family with renditions of “The Three Little Pigs” and “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” and has not stopped loving stories since. Her goal is to help every writer transfer the story in their head to the one they want to tell on paper. In college, as a teaching assistant in the Writing Center at Transylvania University and then later in law school, Renee realized how much she loves teaching others to develop their own skills. She found Story Grid in 2015 and recognized what a great set of tools it provides writers to make their stories the best version of themselves. Now she helps writers of all levels master those techniques to write their best story yet.

Find out more about Renee’s editing services here.

The Author: Carole Wolfe started telling stories in the third grade and hasn’t stopped since. While she no longer illustrates her stories with crayon, Carole still uses her words to help readers escape the daily hiccups of life. When Carole isn’t writing, she is a stay-at-home mom to three busy kiddos, a traveling husband and a dog that thinks she is a cat. Carole enjoys running at a leisurely pace, crocheting baby blankets for others and drinking wine when she can find the time. She and her family live in Texas.

Explore Carole Wolfe’s writing, including My Best Mistake, the first book in the My Best women’s fiction series, on her website, where you can download a free short story.

Find out more about the panel and the judging process here.