The Rules: Compose a short story entirely of dialogue. You may use as many characters as you want. Your entry must be under 2000 words. Your entry does not have to follow standard rules for writing dialogue. Your entry cannot use any narration (this includes tag lines such as he said, she said, etc.). These are the only rules. Manipulate them however you see fit. Check out past winners and read our tips for writing good dialogue before submitting your entry.
The Winner: The winning entry will be the story that most effectively uses dialogue to deliver a powerful and engaging story as determined by our panel of judges.
2018 Prize Structure:1st Prize: $300 minimum + $3 for every entry over 50
2nd Prize: $100 minimum + $1 for every entry over 50
3rd Prize: $50 minimum + $1 for every two entries over 50
4th Prize: $30 minimum + $1 for every 4 entries over 50
5th Prize: $20 minimum + $1 for every 4 entries over 50
All prizes will be paid in USD via PayPal within 30 days of the announcement of winners.
Judges: All finalists will be chosen by the Staff of Bartleby Snopes. Five finalists will be submitted to the final round of voting. The order of winners will be determined by the staff of Bartleby Snopes and our two guest judges. All decisions regarding contest winners are final. Meet our guest judges below.
About Our Guest Judges:
Nancy Stohlman is the author of many books, including the forthcoming Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities (Oct 2018), The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories, The Monster Opera, and Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, which was a finalist for a 2011 Colorado Book Award. She is the creator and curator of The Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series, the creator of FlashNano in November, and the co-founder of Flash Fiction Retreats. Her work has been published in over 100 journals and anthologies including the Norton anthology New Micro: Very Short Stories and had been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Denver and teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder. Find out more about her at www.nancystohlman.com
Caleb Echterling's New Year's resolution is to write more stories in the 4th person, as soon as he figures out how to break the 5th wall into the 6th dimension. His work has appeared in Jersey Devil Press and Twisted Sister Lit Mag, among others. He tweets funny fiction using the highly original handle @CalebEchterling. You can find more of his writing at www.calebechterling.com
About Our Guest Judges:
Nancy Stohlman is the author of many books, including the forthcoming Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities (Oct 2018), The Vixen Scream and Other Bible Stories, The Monster Opera, and Fast Forward: The Mix Tape, which was a finalist for a 2011 Colorado Book Award. She is the creator and curator of The Fbomb Flash Fiction Reading Series, the creator of FlashNano in November, and the co-founder of Flash Fiction Retreats. Her work has been published in over 100 journals and anthologies including the Norton anthology New Micro: Very Short Stories and had been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in Denver and teaches at the University of Colorado Boulder. Find out more about her at www.nancystohlman.com
Caleb Echterling's New Year's resolution is to write more stories in the 4th person, as soon as he figures out how to break the 5th wall into the 6th dimension. His work has appeared in Jersey Devil Press and Twisted Sister Lit Mag, among others. He tweets funny fiction using the highly original handle @CalebEchterling. You can find more of his writing at www.calebechterling.com
How Entry Fees Are Used: The entry fees are used to fund the prize money and pay for contest advertisements/maintenance. Approximately $1 from each entry pays for required processing fees. Other than this processing fee, all entry fees are used directly for the purpose of the contest or to fund the magazine.
Deadline: Contest entries must be submitted by 9/15/18. If your first submission is rejected, you will receive a private link to submit again. Resubmissions are due by 9/30/18.
Response/Notification: Our contest runs with a rolling rejection process. We will always keep our five favorite stories. You will be notified immediately if your story falls out of the top 5, and you will have the opportunity to resubmit. There is no extra cost for subsequent submissions, but you may only submit one story at a time.
Rights: All rights revert back to the author after publication.
Submission Guidelines: All entries should be submitted using our Submittable page. Your name, contact information, and word count should appear in a brief cover letter. The title of your document should be the same as the title of your story. All submissions are read blind. Please do not send a bio or include any contact information in your document.
No simultaneous submissions or previously published stories are allowed. If your story is discovered to be simultaneously submitted or previously published, you will become ineligible from competition in the contest and your entry fee will be forfeited.
Eligibility: This contest is open to anyone who agrees to the terms and conditions of the contest. By submitting to the contest, you confirm that you agree to all of the guidelines stated here and on Submittable. Past participants and winners are encouraged to submit. However, any past or present Bartleby Snopes staff members are not eligible. This restriction does not include past guest judges of the contest.
What we do with your information: When you submit to the contest, your contact information is stored by Submittable. We do not use your contact information for any purposes other than notifying you about the status of your submission. We do not add you to an email list or preserve your contact information anywhere other than Submittable.
Bartleby Snopes reserves the right to cancel the contest and refund all entry fees. We've successfully held this contest 8 out of 8 times and do not intend to cancel for any reason, but we have to put this here for legal reasons.
