Story Quest Short Story Contest #3

Hi Folks

The annual (now) Story Quest Short Story Contest #3 is now open for speculative fiction submissions and will close on 1 October 2011. The process of organizing the first two was pleasurable, as we received many quality entries, and the winners and other finalists are top examples of quality short story writing. We also enjoy the collaboration with a non-IFWG staff member guest judge - #1 we had Jack Eason, author of Onet's Tale, and in contest #2 we had Daniel Pearlman, noted academic and science fiction writer.

This year we have Mysti Parker as guest judge, author of her debut fantasy novel, A Ranger's Tale. What makes this contest different from the previous two is that we have replaced the (always limited to 2010) manuscript publishing offer with cash prizes. as well as the short listed short stories being published in SQ Magazine #4. We have also asked for a small entry payment (US$5.00 by PayPal), to cover overheads and to ensure that serious entries are only submitted.

You can submit your speculative fiction short story here.

We look forward to receiving quality submissions again this year.

 The IFWG Publishing Team

Story Quest Short Story Contest

For those who have been following this contest, the 3rd (and now annual) Story Quest Short Story Contest will open for submissions on 1 August 2011 and close on 31 October 2011. There are some changes that most of you will know of for this year, but we have one important addition:

1. The important one - we have decided to charge $5.00 per submission (to a maximum of 3). This is not a money making venture (believe me) but it helps defray some of the costs associated with administering the contest - in two ways: firstly, we have been getting a lot of submissions and this means that the revenue generated from the fee will help pay for our editors' time. Secondly, it will discourage frivolous entries and in effect, reduce unnecessary workload.
2. This year we have fully transitioned our contest to Speculative Fiction only. The web site discusses the scope of genre and styles in more detail.
3. This year we changed to an annual competition.
4. This year we have changed the prize to modest cash prizes and publishing in SQ Magazine - for the winner and runners up.

We encourage those of you who are specfic writers to submit to our contest in August. We enjoy reading the entries and helping elevate author profiles.