Rochester Spoken Word is excited to announce our first-ever…

Short Story Contest!

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

Here’s your chance to show us your writing chops and possibly end up with some money in your pocket, a copy of your story published in a short-story collection, an audience to read your story aloud to, or maybe all three! All you need to do is send us your 2020-word or less short story before midnight January 31, 2020.  Our panel of judges will read all the entries and pick the winners.

This year’s prizes will be:

• First Prize: $150
• Second Prize: $100
• Third Prize: $50
• The top twenty (or more) submissions will be published in a collection of this year’s top entries. All authors whose work is published in the collection will receive a free copy.
• The authors of the top eight entries will be invited to read their work aloud at our Speak Easy spoken word event on Sunday, April 19, 2020, at Solera Wine Bar.

What are you waiting for? Get writing!

Some of what you need to know:

• Stories must be submitted via the online form below no later than midnight (EDT) on January 31, 2020.
• Stories must be no more than 2020 words, excluding title.
• Stories must be original and authored by the submitter.
• Submitters must be at least 16 years of age on or before April 19, 2020.
• Previously published stories are not eligible for submission.
• Stories which have previously won awards are not eligible for submission.
• You need to read the full list of rules before submitting.

Thank you all for submitting! We’ll contact winners on or around 3/15/2020. For those of you who missed out, there’s always the 2021 contest!