Short Story Contest for High Schoolers Boasts Cash Awards

Take out your quills and make sure your inkpots are filled. It's time for the second annual short story writing contest sponsored by the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

This opportunity is being offered to students from across the Washington, D.C., area, including public, private and home-schooled writers in grades 9-12, in the 2011-12 school year.

You must live in Maryland, Virginia or the District. Stories must be no longer than 1,000 words and start with one of the following three lines, which were provided by award-winning mystery writer Brad Parks, author of “Eyes of the Innocent” and “Faces of the Gone:”

• A 7-Eleven parking lot may not seem like the kind of place a miracle could occur, yet that's where Haley Parsons was standing when she became aware she was witnessing one….

• The thing I tell people about starting a riot is this: Make sure you have some idea how you're going to stop it, unless you want to end up like me….

• Lots of people have heard of love at first sight, but this was something else entirely….

Submit your entries as a Microsoft Word document to writingcontest@gaithersburgbookfestival.org by midnight ET on Feb. 24, 2012.
 
Up to 10 stories will be selected as finalists and posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website prior to the festival. The first-, second-, and third-place winners will be announced at the festival and will win $100, $50 and $25 gift certificates courtesy of the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus.

Complete rules and regulations for the contest can be found online.