Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award Deadline: April 30, 2014 Prizes:

1st place wins $1,500 and, of course, publication in Glimmer Train Stories. 2nd place wins $500, or, if published, $700. 3rd place wins $300 or, if published, $700.

If I listen to the world, it pours prompts, it gushes prompts. It takes discipline to pay attention and watch.—Stefanie Freele

Other considerations:
	Entries should not exceed 3,000 words, but any shorter lengths are welcome. (Writing Guidelines)
	Winners and finalists will be officially announced in the July 1 bulletin, and contacted directly the previous week.
	Reading fee is $15 per story. Please, no more than three submissions per category.
	Simultaneous submissions are okay. Please notify immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Upcoming deadline:
• Very Short Fiction. 1st: $1,500, and publication in Issue 94. Deadline: 4/30.
  
• Winners and finalists will be announced in the July 1 bulletin, and contacted directly the previous week. Second- and 3rd-places win, respectively, $500 and $300, or, if published, $700.
• Any story—up to 3,000 words—that has not previously been accepted for print publication is welcome!
• Please no more than three submissions per contest. As always, simultaneous submissions are okay; please just notify us immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
• Writing Guidelines
• If I listen to the world, it pours prompts, it gushes prompts. It takes discipline to pay attention and watch. It takes self-control to be quiet and write about it later.—Stefanie Freele

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Glimmer Train's Family Matters Contest Deadline: March 31, 2014 Prizes:

1st place wins $1,500 and, of course, publication in Glimmer Train Stories. 2nd place wins $500, or, if published, $700. 3rd place wins $300, or, if published, $700.

It's our job as writers to find the moment of crisis in a story—that moment when a character's normal life has been jolted in some profound way. We need to let the reader share in this moment.—Patrick Hicks

Other considerations:
	Stories about families of all configurations are welcome! (Writing Guidelines)
	Most submissions run 1,500 to 6,000 words, but up to 12,000-word stories are fine.
	Reading fee is $15 per story. Please, no more than 3 submissions per category.
	Winners and finalists will be officially announced in the June 1 bulletin, and contacted directly by the previous week.
	As always, simultaneous submissions are okay. Please notify immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.
	Stories accepted for publication are presented in a highly regarded print publication where literary short fiction persists in the real world and beyond the next post.

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers Deadline: February 28, 2014 Prizes:

1st place wins $1,500 and, of course, publication in Glimmer Train Stories. 2nd place wins $500, or, if published, $700. 3rd place wins $300 or, if published, $700.

I begin with an image. Or a voice. Characters come alive. A world comes alive. I never have my themes preplanned when I first set out.—Benjamin Percy

Other considerations:
	Open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in any print publication with a circulation over 5,000. (Writing Guidelines)
	Reading fee is $15 per story. Please, no more than 3 submissions per category.
	Winners and finalists will be officially announced in the May 1 bulletin, and contacted directly the previous week.
	Simultaneous submissions are okay. Please notify immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.

We look forward to reading your work! Glimmer Train has been discovering, publishing, and paying emerging writers since 1990. One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, New Stories from the Midwest, The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories Every story published in Glimmer Train is unsolicited. And every year, we pay out over $50,000 to fiction writers.

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Upcoming deadline:
• Short Story Award for New Writers.
  1st Place: $1,500 and publication in Issue 93. Deadline: February 28.
  
• Open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000.
• Most submissions run 1,500 to 6,000 words, but can be up to 12,000 words. Writing Guidelines.
• Winners and finalists will be announced in the May bulletin, and contacted directly by April 27th. 2nd/3rd place winners will receive $500/$300, respectively, or, if chosen for publication, $700.
• We've all been there: a moment when something of such import happens that the space life allows for it seems too small.—Josh Weil

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Upcoming deadline:

• Fiction Open. First place: $2,500, and publication. Deadline: 9/30
• Second- and 3rd-place winners receive $1,000/$600 (or if chosen for publication, $700).
• Open to ALL writers. First place has gone to beginners with no previous publications and to accomplished, established writers. All are welcome.
• Word count range: 2,000 - 20,000. (Yes, a 2,000-word piece can compete against a 20,000-word piece—it's the story that counts.)
• Winners and finalists will be announced in the December 1st bulletin, and contacted directly by November 25.

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers Deadline: August 31, 2013

Prizes: 1st place wins $1,500 and, of course, publication in Glimmer Train Stories. 2nd place wins $500, or, if chosen for publication, $700. 3rd place wins $300 or, if published, $700.

Glimmer Train Short Story Competition

Dear Mary, Gretchen and Bob in photo booth, 1928 Upcoming deadline: Short Story Award for New Writers 1st place wins $1,500 and publication. Deadline: February 28. Open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in any print publication with a circulation over 5,000. Writing Guidelines Winners and finalists will be announced in the May 1 bulletin, and contacted directly one week earlier. We are eager to read your stories! Slush Pile

Essays in this bulletin:
	Aria Beth Sloss: I cried when I got to the last page. Not because I was disappointed or impressed, but because I had no idea I'd written such a sad story. Nor did I realize I'd written something so full of longing. (more)
	Steve Adams: Edith Wharton and Truman Capote wrote in bed. Virginia Woolf wrote standing in a room of her own. Philip Roth writes standing, but in a studio physically separated from his living quarters. (more)
	Christopher Marnach: Our 21st Century apocalypses have all proven false, every one of them the product of charlatans, believed and awaited by sad people with a relish they never brought to living. So it is with our perpetually impending End of the Literary World. (more)
	Susan Jackson Rogers: Each time, I have to remember: Start small. Why doesn't "starting small" feel like real writing? Really, there isn't any other way to start. One small word and then another and then a whole sentence, and then another. (more)

Results of the November Short Story Award for New Writers Winners and finalists have been notified, the Top 25 list is posted, and here are the Honorable Mentions. This was a great batch of stories—our thanks to all of you for letting us read your work! 1st place: Christopher Marnach for "Death Week at the Funeral Card Company" 2nd place: Joseph Chavez for "Stowaways" 3rd place: Elise Winn for "After Ida"

Feel free to forward this bulletin to your writer friends. As you know, the bulletin is free and meant to inform and to promote writers. (We never share your info.) People can sign up for bulletins themselves here. Missed a bulletin? They're all archived here.

Looking forward,
Sisters and Editors

Glimmer Train has been discovering and publishing emerging writers since 1990. One of the most respected short-story journals in print, Glimmer Train is represented in recent editions of the Pushcart Prize, New Stories from the Midwest, O. Henry, New Stories from the South, Best of the West, and Best American Short Stories anthologies. Every story published in Glimmer Train is unsolicited. And every year, we pay out over $50,000 to fiction writers.