Sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope. 33rd year. Submit stories and essays. Both published and unpublished work accepted.

For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction.

Final judge: Mina Manchester, assisted by Sarah Halper.

All themes accepted. No restriction on age of author. All countries eligible except Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, or Belarus (due to US government restrictions).

We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives.