Bayboro Fiction Contest

The Society for the Advancement of Poynter Library

Announces

The Twenty Second Annual Bayboro Fiction Contest

University of South Florida St. Petersburg students are invited to submit original short stories for The Society for Advancement of Poynter Library’s annual fiction contest, now in its twenty second year.

WHAT IS A SHORT STORY:

The traditional short story is a fictional narrative in which a character or characters are changed or learn from the plot crisis and resolution. In her book, A Guide to Narrative Craft, Janet Burroway writes, "A short story strives for a single emotional impact, imparts a single understanding, though both impact and understanding may be complex. The virtue of a short story is its density. If it is tight, sharp, economic, well knit and charged then it is a good short story." For outstanding examples of the short story format, see: A and P by John Updike, The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor, and A Worn Path by Eudora Welty.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

Any University of South Florida St. Petersburg student registered part or full-time for spring semester, 2008.

DEADLINE:   

Entries must be received in by 5:00 PM on March 19, 2008, to be eligible for judging. 

PRIZES:

First Prize: $250.

Second Prize: $150.

Third Prize: $50.

 

FORMAT:

Please submit two copies of one previously unpublished short story of 2000 words or fewer. Entries should be double- spaced on one side of 8x11-inch paper. Please include the title of your story and the page number on each page of the manuscript. All manuscripts will be considered anonymously, so do not include your name on the manuscript itself. To complete the submission process, attach a completed application form and mail or hand deliver your completed packet to the address on the application . TAKE CARE TO RETAIN A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL because copies will not be returned. Winning stories will be published on the Poynter Library web site and may appear in the Society's newsletter. Prize winners will be required to submit an Microsoft Word electronic copy for publication.

If suitable entries are not received, the Society for the Advancement of USF Poynter Library reserves the right to not award a prize or prizes. For further information, please call Kathy Arsenault, Dean, Poynter Library, at 727-873-4400.