2007 FICTION CONTESTS NEWSWe are again accepting contest entries online. More info below.
Please scroll down for some sage advice on similtaneously submitting to a contest and for info on whether or not to include your name on the pages of your contest entry. Also, scroll down for info about our special subscription offer for contest entrants.
Award winning author and all-around nice guy, Stuart Dybek will be the judge for or 2007 Short Fiction Contest. The first prize is $1100.
The 2007
Orchid: A Literary Review
SHORT FICTION CONTEST
1st Prize: $1100 + Publication in Issue #11 (Spring 2008)
Four Finalists: Notation + Possible Publication
2007 Final Judge
Stuart Dybek
Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction: I Sailed With Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. Both I Sailed With Magellan and The Coast of Chicago were New York Times Notable Books, and The Coast of Chicago was a One Book One Chicago selection. Dybek has also published two collections of poetry: Streets in Their Own Ink and Brass Knuckles. His fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, Poetry, Tin House, and many other magazines, and have been widely anthologized, including work in both Best American Fiction and Best American Poetry. Among Dybek's numerous awards are a PEN/Malamud Prize “for distinguished achievement in the short story,” a Lannan Award, a Whiting Writers Award, an Award from the Academy of Arts and Letters, several O.Henry Prizes, and fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Contest Guidelines
Postmark deadline: June 1, 2007 (see below for info on how to enter online). We require a $15 entry fee (check or money order, made out to Orchid: A Literary Review for each story up to 7,000 words; entry fees are non-refundable. The contest is open to international writers but the contest fee must be paid in US dollars only) Your submissions will not be returned; send an SASE for early results (July 15, 2007). The top twenty finalists will receive a copy of Orchid: A Literary Review No. 11 in which the winning entries will be published. Individuals who have worked for Orchid: A Literary Review (past or present) are excluded. Our judge's decisions are final. Special Note #1 People are always asking if their name should appear on the manuscript. We don't care. The contest is blind. The judge does not see the author's name or contact info. It's a question of who does the blinding. We black out or delete all author names and contact info before passing it on the judge. You can choose to put all of that info on a separate sheet but we really don't care. It's up to you. Special Note #2 Our guidelines page shows why simultaneous submissions are generally a good idea and we do accept simultaneous submissions for our contest. However, we have to ask: Why would you want to do that? Contests are somewhat different than regular submissions. Why have your story accepted somewhere for little or no money when you could have had publication and a thousand dollar prize? You kinda, gotta assume that if the story is good enough for publication it's good enough for the prize or publication as a runner-up. Think about it.
Send entries to
Orchid: A Literary Review
Attn: 2007 Short Fiction Contest
P.O. Box 131457
Ann Arbor, MI 48113-1457
2006 GREAT STORIES OF FEW WORDS CONTEST WINNER
We are happy to announce that Amy Hempel has chosen "The Downer" by J. D. Blair as the winner of the $500 first prize for the 2006 Orchid: A Literary Review GREAT STORIES OF FEW WORDS CONTEST CONTEST. Here's what Amy Hempel had to say about the contest winner:
“I chose this story because of the way the author used a single creature to convey, with straightforward language, the cycle of life. There is an austere, respectful, and lonely quality in the description of the lone heifer attended by no one but coyotes and carrion-eating birds. The story is visceral, and has a kind of dignity and weight; the writing fits the subject in its avoidance of sentimentality. The effect is of a timeless moment.”
The nineteen semi-finalists are (listed alphabetically by author's last name):"The World's Shortest Story" by Marcia Aldrich
"The Jar" by John Azrak
"Ecdysis" by Kevin Brown
"Bumps" by Anne E. Campisi
"Window" by Melanie Fallon
"The Egg" by Geoffrey Forsyth
"The Margins" by Nancy Graham
"Burial at Sea" by Irving Greenfield
"Lists" by Stephanie Harrison
"Boyfriend" by Elizabeth R Koch
"Drought" by Diane Lechleitner
"Go to the Beach" by Tao Lin
"Santorini" by Midge Raymond
"Night on Thursday" by Bryna Rene
"Raw" by Mary Specht
"The Stray" by Bob Thurber
"The Manuscript" by Bob Thurber
"On How To Abandon Your Toddler at 7-11" by Cathy Warner
"What I Want" by Joanna H. Wos
Congratulations to this year's contest winner and semi-finalists!
The brand new 2006 Orchid: A Literary Review
GREAT STORIES OF FEW WORDS FICTION CONTEST
(for stories 1000 words or less) is now closed. The contest winner and finalists are listed at the top of this page. We will be announcing info about our 2007 GREAT STORIES OF FEW WORDS FICTION CONTEST in this space shortly.
1st Prize: $500 + Publication in Issue #9 (Spring 2007)
Four Finalists: Notation + Possible Publication
2007 Final Judge
To Be Annnouncedl
Please note we are now accepting contest entries online. You can mail your entry to us as an attachment in .doc or .rtf format. E-mail submissions should be sent to
editorsATorchidlit.orgYou can pay your contest entry fee via PayPal by clicking the "Add to Cart" button below. You can also submit your manuscript via e-mail and just send us your fee via the US Postal Service.
