There are only 8 days left in this year’s Writerwerx University Short Story contest. If you’ve been procrastinating, it’s time to hop to it and get your entries in before it’s too late!
Short Story Submissions from Around the Globe
Going international seemed to be the right move! And we’ll definitely keep this switch from here on out! At this point, we’ve received more entries from outside the US than within the United States. Wild!
But one country seems to love this contest more than the rest, and that’s Canada. A consistent influx of entries from our Northern neighbors has shown an awareness of, and enthusiasm for, this kind of storytelling (as well as this specific contest!) that’s not to be ignored.
How to Enter the Short Story Contest
Entering is easy!
For this contest, there are no topic or theme requirements. That means that a personal essay about learning to ride a bike, an erotic adventure about a twink struggling to make bail, or a how-to article about installing new windows all have an equal chance of taking home a prize. This contest is about gripping readers over the course of a couple of thousand words, regardless of what genre those words fit into.
Submission Guidelines
While there are only a couple of submission limitations, we still get a hefty amount of disqualifications every year. If you simply read and follow the written instructions (should be pretty easy for a writer, right?), you’ll be fine. Don’t hesitate to do a final check that all three of these guidelines are in place before submitting.
Short story contest entries must:
- Be written in English (after all, if we can’t understand the piece, it’ll be hard to enjoy it!).
- Be no more than 2,000 words long (your title does not count toward this total).
- Contain ONLY your story’s title and the story itself—only these two things. No illustrations, photographs, writer contact info, etc. This and going well over the word count are the two most common reasons that entries are disqualified. Whatever word processor you’re using should be able to tell you what your word count is. But, if it doesn’t, you can easily search for word counting sites online, such as WordCounter.net. Just copy and paste your entry text and you’ll get a fast word count for your submission. If you’re just a few words over the limit, here are two tricks you can try.
- Use more contractions. Look for places where you wrote out phrases like “does not,” “she is,” or “should have,” and change them to contractions, as appropriate. For example, “does not” is two words, but “don’t” only counts as one.
- Use fewer filler words. “Had” and “that” are the biggest culprits in the arena. Use CTRL+F to find them and then determine if they need to stay. This would include words like “just,” “really,” and “very.” These words are a common part of our everyday speech, but in writing they can often easily be removed with no damage to the writing. So, instead of “She had told me that he is here,” which is eight words, you could change it to “She told me he’s here,” which is only five words, cutting your word count by three (without making the line less clear).
Once you have an English document that contains only the title and the story, you’re ready to submit!
Step 1: PDF your submission
This can be done in every popular word processor such as Word, Google Docs, or Dropbox with just a few clicks. Click on ‘File,’ ‘Save As,’ and ‘PDF,’ and you’re ready to submit!
Step 2: Complete the form at WinItWrite.com
Go to WinItWrite.com and complete the contact, payment, and author information on the form. Then upload your PDF and pay your entry fee. Done!
NOTE: If you would like to submit more than one story, just click the “Add another story” button at the bottom of the form to repeat the process until you’re finished uploading all of your entry files.
You Don’t Have a Lot of Time
While these steps are all pretty basic, they won’t do you much good if you don’t take them. And taking them won’t do you much good if you wait too late!
