Each year the University of Georgia Press selects two winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Authors of winning manuscripts receive a cash award of $1,000, and their collections are subsequently published by The Press under a standard book contract. The Press may occasionally select more than two winners.

ELIGIBILITY

1. The competition is open to writers in English, whether published or unpublished.
2. Stories that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included.
3. Stories previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work may not be included.
4. Collections that include long stories or novellas are acceptable. Estimated length of a novella is between 50 and 150 pages. Novels or single novellas will not be considered.

Manuscripts must be submitted between April 1 and May 31 (Postmark should be no later than May 31.)

Link to the award page for further information (via the Poets & Writers, inc. contest calendar)

Elixir Press is sponsoring a chapbook contest open to all fiction writers and poets writing in English. There will be one competition for poetry, fiction, and multi-genre works.

The prize is $1000 plus 25 copies of the chapbook to be published by Elixir Press. All finalists will be considered for publication.

Fiction manuscripts should be 18 to 70 pages in length. Fiction manuscripts may be a collection of short or short-short stories, a long short story, a novel excerpt, or any other form or combination of fiction. Pretty much anything goes for a multi-genre manuscript. Any artwork included must be in black and white.

The entry fee is $20.

The postmark deadline is May 31, 2007.

For the complete guidelines, see the Elixir Press contest page (via the Poets & Writers, inc. contest calendar).

There are three contest deadlines from the New Letters magazine coming up, each with a prize of $1,500 and publication in the magazine.

Entries must be postmarked by May 18 (this Friday).

Awards:
Alexander Patterson Cappon Fiction Prize: $1,500 for the best short story
New Letters Poetry Prize: $1,500 for the best group of three to six poems
Dorothy Churchill Cappon Essay Prize: $1,500 for the best essay

Link to the New Letters website for more information.

The Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize will be judged by Wally Lamb this year. Lamb is the author of She’s Come Undone and Oprah Book Club selection I Know This Much Is True, and served as editor of the best-selling Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, an anthology of stories written by female inmates at Connecticut’s only maximum-security prison for women. The deadline for the Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize is June 1, 2007. The prize awards $1,000.00 and publication. For complete guidelines, click here.

Two honorable mentions also receive prizes of $100 each.  Entry fee is $15.

Via the Poets & Writers, inc. contest calendar

Some excellent short-story-writing advice from recently deceased author Kurt Vonnegut, most of which is applicable to all writing, not just short fiction:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

5. Start as close to the end as possible.

6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

Link (via BoingBoing)

The shortlist for the British National Short Story prize has been announced.  The prize, only in its second year, is the world’s richest short story prize, with £15,000 going to the winner, a prize of £3,000 for the runner-up and £500 going to each of the other finalists.
The five finalists are:

• ‘Slog’s Dad’ by David Almond
• ‘The Morena’ by Jonathan Falla
• ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ by Julian Gough
• ‘How to Get Away with Suicide’ by Jackie Kay
• ‘Weddings and Beheadings’ by Hanif Kureishi

The prize exists to raise the profile of the often-neglected short story in Britain.  The chair of the judges, Mark Lawson, said:

“This prize exists partly because many - perhaps even most - publishers and literary editors still regard the novel as the most important form of story-telling and are suspicious of short stories,” he said. “But this year’s selection makes very clear that there is no connection at all between word-count and the scale of subject matter or characterisation that can be achieved.”

Link to the Yahoo News article

Jo writes:

I’m looking for short stories connected to Italy in some way. You’re story could be based in Italy or have Italian people in it. Use you’re imagination. As long as it has a connection with Italy it’s valid. The genre is up to you but please keep it clean. No swearing, explicit violence etc…

Stories should be between 500 and 1500 words in length and may be used in a future anthology.

Deadline for submissions is 30th April 2007. Please send your submission to jo_bins@yahoo.com with ’short story contest’ in the subject line.

Link (via kate blogs about writing)

Are you a short story enthusiast? The Far Horizons Fiction Contest is looking for unpublished short stories of up to 3500 words for their contest.

The contest fee is $25 USD ($30 CAD) and includes a one-year subscription to the Malahat Review. Entrants should choose one of the three themes listed to the left of the photo on the entry info page, and have their entry postmarked or due (if sent electronically) by May 1st, 2007.

The winner will receive $500 and publication.
Title: Far Horizons Fiction Contest
Award: $500 and publication in print, on the web, and in an electronic newsletter
Deadline: May 1st, 2007
More Details: http://web.uvic.ca/malahat/farhorizonsfiction.htm