The Lunch Hour Stories annual VERY Short Story Contest
accepts submissions from October 1 to December 31 of each year. Winners are considered for prizes, as well as for publication as part of an anthology during December of the following year. This anthology constitutes one regular issue of Lunch Hour Stories magazine.
The Rules
Very short stories (and/or narrative prose poems in paragraph form) should be previously unpublished and 500 words or less. That's about it for the rules.
Send as many stories as you wish (via mail or in the body of an e-mail). All stories, regardless of genre or theme (except children's, religious and erotica) will be considered, as long as the author pays the requested $5 reading fee per story or poem.
By Mail:
Send one printed copy of your story or poem, along with complete contact information, a $5 non-refundable reading fee per story or poem, and a letter-sized SASE with adequate postage for list of winners (manuscripts will not be returned) to:
VERY SHORT STORY CONTEST
Lunch Hour Stories
22833 Bothell-Everett Hwy
Ste 110 - PMB 1117
Bothell, WA 98021
By E-Mail:
Electronic submissions will be accepted (for the VERY Short Story Contest only) as long as the story is sent in the body of an email, and not as an attachment. Specify CONTEST ENTRY: LAST NAME in the subject line.
Our email address is
editor@lunchhourbooks.com. If you do NOT receive a confirmation email (our SPAM filter is awesome), please resend your story to
nbayer23@lunchhourbooks.com.
Reading Fees may be paid online at the
Lunch Hour Stories Storefront.
Deadline
Submissions must be postmarked, or sent via e-mail, by
midnight December 31 in order to be eligible for contest prizes.
Submissions
Authors may submit as many stories as they wish, as long as the stories are previously unpublished, and a $5 reading fee per story is included. Simultaneous submissions are okay, too, but please let us know if/when the story is accepted for publication elsewhere.
Notification
Winners will be notified (and a winner's list posted on our website) no later than March 31 following the deadline. Winning stories will be eligible for publication during December of the following calendar year.
Prizes
- First Place: $100, possible publication, and five (5) printed copies of the anthology in which the story appears.
- Second Place: $50, possible publication, and five (5) printed copies of the anthology in which the story appears.
- Third Place: $25, possible publication, and five (5) printed copies of the anthology in which the story appears.
- In addition to the three contest winners, up to nine (9) other stories will appear in the anthology. The author of each story selected for publication will receive five (5) printed copies of the anthology.
Judging
Stories will be judged by the editorial staff of Lunch Hour Stories magazine, with final selections possibly being made by a guest editor or author (name to be announced prior to the closing of the contest). Winning stories will be selected solely on the basis of literary excellence and reader appeal, and not on the reputation of the author and/or their publishing history. Any and all persons associated with Lunch Hour Book Publications, Lunch Hour Stories magazine, the judge(s) and their family members, are ineligible.
ALL CASH PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED; however, the editors reserve the right not to publish any of the entries and/or winning stories if they do not meet the standards necessary for publication. In the event that the anthology itself is not published, all reading fees will be refunded.
Due to the large number of contest entries, the editors are not able to provide personal feedback or critique. Thank you for understanding.
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2007 VERY Short Story Contest (Dec. 31, 2007 Deadline)
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