As previously advised, The Tom Howard Short Story, Essay & Prose Contest is now open for entries. Despite distractions like elections and money crises, this is a good time to submit your entry. In fact, we would welcome entries dealing with such topics, particularly if you made them personal: "How I Weathered the Financial Storm!"; "Why I Chose to Vote (Or Not To Vote) For a Certain Party or Candidate!"
This year, the prize pool for this prose contest has been increased to $5,350 (including a First Prize of $2,000), while a slight increase in the entry fee to $15 will apply for each short story or essay up to 5,000 words in length.
You'll find full details at http://shortstorycontest.0catch.com
An alternative site (in which you will also find the full results for the last contest) is
http://www.geocities.com/rastar330/prose.htm
Although it's certainly not the only way to enter the winners' circle, I recommend taking a look at some of the entries that have won prizes in previous contests. This will give you some idea of the types and varieties of stories and prose pieces that have won prizes in the past. There are are, however, two fields the judges would like to encourage: Humorous and comic stories and essays are very much appreciated; and we would very much like to see more genre entries such as mystery and detective stories, science fiction, romance, etc. A science fiction story won a big cash prize in a recent contest, but we actually receive very few such entries.
WATCHING TIME, our latest short story and essay anthology, has finally been reprinted and is again on sale at Amazon. The price is $12.95, which is good value for a 207-page trade paperback. The 14 prize-winners include four Firsts, three Seconds, and two Thirds!
WATCHING TIME: Anthology of Prizewinning Essays & Short Stories
Whatever happens, keep on writing on. The more you write, the more you'll succeed!
John
