Welcome to our first 150 Word Story Contest!
The Visual Narrative MFA program is all about helping writers and visual artists hone their crafts. We’ll only be happy when everyone who wants to tell their story in their own words and pictures can do so! Yeah, we’re ambitious that way…
So what’s the contest all about? The rules are pretty simple.
Submit a 150 word story, with an accompanying visual element of your own creation. The visual can be an illustration, photo, video or animation. You heard us right. A 150 WORD story. That may not seem like a lot, but it forces you to hone in on the beginning, middle and end like a — well, like a writer looking for a simile.
And the prize? We’re honored to have our own faculty member, Edward Hemingway on board to review and critique the winner’s non-contest writing, up to 50 pages. Edward is the writer and illustrator of the beautiful children’s books, Bad Apple and Bump in the Night. Future work includes sequels to Bad Apple and the fantastic Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers. His illustration work can also be seen in Tiny Pie, released in May 2013. Edward and the contest winner will meet to discuss the winner’s work in-person.
The deadline is October 11th, so it’s time to get to work!
We look forward to getting your submission! Send it to benzackheim[at]gmail[dot]com. If you need some inspiration for your 150 word story, head over to Ben’s website.
Rules and stuff:
- All updates or FAQs will be posted to this page.
- The winner can meet with Edward in New York City on a date to be scheduled with the winner, likely in December 2013. If the winner can’t get to the New York area, he/she will meet with Edward over Skype or Google Hangouts at a convenient time for the winner and Edward.
- The winning story and writer will be chosen by a panel of Visual Narrative faculty on October 21st, 2013. The winner will be informed via the email address they use to send in the submission.
- To ensure the story looks great for our judges, all work must be submitted in pdf format. However, if your submission includes video and/or animation, you can deliver the final product in the file format of your choice, as long as it can be played on either QuickTime or Windows Media Player.
- You can submit as many stories as you’d like!
- You cannot use other people’s visual work in your submission. The judges will have an eye open for original stories that include the writer’s own visual contribution.
- The story remains your work, in its entirety. We do reserve the right to publish your story, with full credit including a link of your choosing, on our blog and/or one of our social media accounts. We want to let everyone know we admire your talent.
- Send all submissions to benzackheim[at]gmail[dot]com