Gaithersburg Book Festival Launches Short Story Contest

From Gaithersburg Book Festival: For the second year in a row, the Gaithersburg Book Festival is giving high school students the freedom to explore their writing creativity, with no opening lines or artwork to serve as inspiration, for its short story contest. The festival is also giving winners more money. Prizes for first- and second-place winners will increase to $250 and $100, respectively, for the 2018 contest. Third-place and fan favorite prizes remain $50 and $25, respectively.

“Last year’s decision to remove all limits and constraints on topic paid off,” said Jud Ashman, festival chair and Mayor of the City of Gaithersburg. “The breadth of submissions and quality of work was impressive.”

To participate in the short story contest, students must be enrolled in grades 9-12 at a public or private school, or be in a homeschool program, for the 2017-18 school year. Additionally, entrants must reside in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.

Stories cannot exceed 1,000 words and must be submitted electronically via web form at https://fs30.formsite.com/GBurgMD/shortstorycontest/index.html by midnight ET on Thursday, February 22, 2018.

Up to 12 stories will be selected as finalists and posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website prior to the Book Festival. The first-, second- and third-place winners and the fan favorite will be announced at the Festival on Saturday, May 19, 2018.

Prizes are provided courtesy of the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus.

Complete rules and regulations can be found online at http://gaithersburgbookfestival.org/gbf-programs/short-story-contest/.

Image Via Pixabay