Spring Writing Contest

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

SPRING 2021 WRITING CONTEST

This spring, 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.

The theme of this contest was Life vs. a Fate Worse Than Death. Turned into a werewolf. Narrowly escaping being eaten alive by piranhas. Doomed to a long life wracked with guilt. Whatever the “fate worse than death” in your story is, there’s no question that the stakes are high.

WINNERS OF THE SPRING WRITING CONTEST

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

Grand Prize:
At a Loss For Words by Jennifer Palmer

Runners Up (alphabetized by author):
From this Day Forward by Pablo Cervera
Stricken by J. D. Edwin

Honorable Mentions (alphabetized by author):
Erlkönig by Kathrin Auzinger-Hotzel
Fortunatus Fall by Palmer Hawkins
The Price of Silence by Kacy Hogg
Even Hell Has Angels by C. W. Murphy
Plane Sailing by Elizabeth Nettleton

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.

The Last Goodbye by Meg Bracco
La Fuente by Robert Burns
Breathe by Brandon Caudle
In The Lake by Jessica Deen
A Heart of Stone by Laura DeGuelle
Marked for Death by Katrina Dy
Being Death by Jackson Fuller
Shadows of War by M. Withrow Hirth
To See or not to See by Alan Kennamer
The Prom by Chris LaRoche
The Lone Planitia by Gary G. Little
Losing Rooms by M MacKinnon
The Wolf and the Darkness by Rock Martin
Death is my Companion by Jahee Meiler
The Pianist and The Opus by Kerr Pelto
Caveat Emptor by Glenn Ravan
The Prodigal Grandson: An Omega Virus short story by Jake A. Strife
The Only Way Out by Jana Tolentino
Ad Astra by Johnathan Vega
A Wonderful Life by William Wilberforce

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 The Foolishness of Kekoa by Neku Onoja. Congratulations, Neku!

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: Even as a young child, Rebekah Olson was always conjuring up stories and filling them with colorful characters, sharing them with anyone and everyone who would listen. Since then, she’s progressed quite a bit to formulating longer and more complex stories and sharing them with much larger audiences. As a professional storyteller, she’s adept at using her imaginative thinking and creative flair to bring her stories to life in engaging and entertaining ways. She also offers her storytelling insight to other writers as a Story Grid certified developmental editor.

Find out more about Rebekah’s editing services here.

The Author: Ruthanne Reid has led a convention panel on world-building, taught courses on plot and character development, and was the keynote speaker for the Write Practice 2021 Spring Retreat. Author of two series with five books and fifty short stories, Ruthanne has lived in her head since childhood, when she wrote her first story about a pony princess and a genocidal snake-kingdom and used up her mom’s red typewriter ribbon in the process. When she isn’t reading, writing, or reading about writing, Ruthanne enjoys old cartoons with her husband and two cats, and dreams of living on an island beach far, far away.

P.S. Red is still her favorite color.

Explore Ruthanne’s writing, including The Sundered, the first book in the Hope for Humanity series, on her website, where you can read many of her short stories for free.

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