Contest Details

May 2023 Short Story Competition: New Call.

Opening date: Monday 8th May 2023.

Closing date: Wednesday 14th 2023.

Following our successful short story competition last month, Yours2Read is now running another!

The prize money has been increased: the top prize will be $150, and the second and third $100 each. As previously, winners will be determined by the number of downloads. This is a ‘rough and ready’ method but will do for now, until we move the process to a panel of judges later this summer.

Winning a prize is a good boost for an aspiring author’s confidence, but we’re now looking beyond this. We’re looking for new authors with whom we can work in producing full length fiction which can be published. Authors of entries which are well-written, imaginative, and have the potential to be developed, will be contacted with ideas for future collaboration. For an author who is committed to producing high quality, grammatically accurate work, we are willing to consider modest short term financial support during the writing process.

Themes for this competition round.

In previous competitions it was for authors to decide the theme of their stories. We now need to move to specific themes around which entries are to be written. It’s up to you which theme you choose, but please only choose one. The themes are:

The safari in which the hunter becomes the hunted.

Training for, travelling to, and winning the London Marathon.

A day in a life on the streets of Nairobi.

As in all previous competitions, authors retain full copyright in their work: it will not be copied, altered, or distributed to third parties.

As soon as a story is posted, downloading can begin and prizes will be determined on this basis. But if a good piece of work comes in, we will immediately contact the author to discuss future possibilities: we will not wait until the close of the competition.

Entry requirements.

1. The story must be grammatically accurate with full use of paragraphs, commas, and full stops. Please use Times New Roman, font size 14, 1.5 spacing, justified on both sides.

2. There must be a front-page picture or photo which illustrates a central theme in the story (don’t include a photo of the author). The picture can be uploaded via an author’s dashboard. Do not provide personal information other than your name or pen name.

3. The word limit is 2000 words and should not be less than 1500.

4. In submitting a story you give legal assurance that it is your own work (you own the copyright) and has not been copied from another source.

Good luck!

The Yours2Read Team.