The Results Are In!

We're proud to announce the winners and runners-up of the Short Fiction Contest for spring 2019. Congratulations to the following authors!


Juried Winner

  • Catherine Averill with her short story, "Something to Save." Catherine is from Milwaukee, WI and works at Temple University as an academic advisor and adjunct instructor while pursuing graduate study in Geographic Information Systems.

Juried Runners-up

  • Laura Bates with her short story, "The Sunshine State." Laura, from Bel Air, MD, is majoring in Neuroscience at Temple and plans to graduate in 2020.
  • Nicholas Perilli with his short story, "Chimera." Nick, from Philadelphia, PA, is a reference librarian at Temple University's Ambler Campus.

Public Winner

  • Sean Mac Donald with his poem, "There is Change." Sean Mac Donald, from Nutley, NJ, is majoring is Media Studies and Production at Temple and plans to graduate in 2022.

Happy Sad Faces


Who, What, When, and Where?

Over the last several weeks, the Temple editorial team has had the pleasure of reading over 100 submissions for the Short Fiction Contest, eventually narrowing them down to 20 finalists, selected by both the team and the online community. Today, we're very excited to announce the winners and runners-up of this contest - all expressing in a unique and effective way the theme of transformation. We want to thank everyone again for participating, and we will be celebrating selected stories and poems by publishing them in the Short Story Dispensers, to be unveiled Tuesday, April 16th!


The theme of this contest is: transformation



French novelist, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, wrote, “A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.”


Transformation can take all shapes and sizes within our lives, whether it’s an interior transformation or something you can see taking place in the world around you.


What transformation will take place in your story?

abstract faces
Temple Short Story Dispenser



A transformation is happening at Temple University right now. Every day, the plans are more fully realized, another brick is laid, and the new Charles Library is slowly coming to life. This won’t be the only literary renewal on campus this year, however.
Beginning in April 2019, a mysterious machine will find its home at Temple, reeling out short stories, showcasing students’ work, and stirring up a creative writing awakening across campus. What sort of curious machine will emerge and re-enchant students with daily doses of fiction? A Short Story Dispenser, created by French publisher, Short Édition.



Contest Timeline


Submissions open on January 14th at 12:00 a.m. and close on March 8th at 11:59 p.m. The editorial board will select 15 finalists and 5 stories with the highest amount of community votes will be selected as the public finalists.

All 20 finalists will be announced on March 22nd. The final jury will then have two weeks to select one winner and two runners-up, and the public will also be invited to vote on their favorite stories during this time to participate in the selection of a public winner. Final results will be announced in April!


Winners and Prizes


The juried winner will be awarded $250 and each juried runner-up, $100. The public winner will be awarded $125. All winners and other selected works will be published on campus in the Short Story Dispenser. As well, Short Édition will be considering all submissions for international publication in their Dispensers worldwide.

changing seasons tree

To sum up


Submissions
Finalists
Winners
January 14th to March 8th
March 22nd to April 5th
April
  • Submit your short story or poem of maximum 8,000 characters (spaces included)
  • All qualifying submissions will be published on the contest webpage shortly after receipt
  • March 22nd: Annoucement of finalists
  • 15 works selected by the Editorial Team as finalists
  • 5 works selected as finalists based on the highest number of votes from the online community
  • All finalists are set back to zero votes
  • One winner and 2 runners-up selected by the Temple Editorial Team
  • The public winner selected by the online community
  • April 10th: Annoucement of winners

CONTACT US

For any question, contact us at libraries@temple.edu

READ THE STORIES »