Short Story Competition 2008

Women Writing the West & She’s Out West Magazine

Women Writing the West and She’s Out West magazine are celebrating short stories by collaborating on a competition. Please read the following guidelines carefully before submitting your work.

For more information about the magazine, see She’s Out West.

For more information about Women Writing the West’s prestigious awards for published books, see WILLA Awards.

Short Story Competition Rules

1. Only WWW members are eligible to enter. (To join Women Writing the West, see our Membership Application.)

2. Each member may enter one story. The story must not have been published in any form, print or electronic.

3. The short story must feature a female protagonist, and be set in the American West. For the purposes of this competition, that is defined as anywhere west of the Mississippi River. The story may be set in the past, present, or future.

4. No WWW member will serve as a screener or judge. The contest coordinator will choose three preliminary screeners. These may be librarians, creative writing instructors, or non-member authors who have published short stories to their credit. The rubrics used to evaluate WILLA fiction submissions will be provided to these screeners to help them evaluate the short story submissions. The screeners will choose the top ten stories.

5. The top ten stories, as determined by the preliminary screeners, will be forwarded to the editors of She’s Out West. The editors will choose the winning story and two finalists. These three stories will be published in She’s Out West. Winners and finalists will also receive certificates.

6. Entry fee is $10.

7. The winners will be announced at the 2008 WWW conference. The authors of the top three stories will be notified prior to the conference, but will not be told their placement.

8. The story must be no more than 5,000 words. Stories featuring both juvenile and adult protagonists will be considered, but there will not be separate categories.

9. Each manuscript must be typed, double-spaced, in standard 12-point type. Each page must include the title of the story as a header. All pages must be numbered with both an individual page number and the total number of pages (ex., Sarah’s Journey, page 1/10, Sarah’s Journey, page 2/10.)

10. The author’s name may not appear anywhere on the manuscript itself. Each entry should include a cover page that includes the author’s name, address, telephone number, and email (if available); the story title; the word count.

11. Entries should be mailed to: Sheila Foard, PO Box 69, Van Buren, MO 63965. All entries must be postmarked no later than June 1, 2008.

12. Entries will be recycled after judging. Entrants must keep a copy of their story.

13. No critiques will be provided.

14. Any entry that does not adhere to these rules will be disqualified.