Very Short Fiction Award

Guidelines for the Very Short Fiction Award category:

We are interested in reading your original, unpublished very short stories!

We don't publish stories for children, I'm sorry.
It's fine to submit more than one story or to submit the same story to different categories.
When we accept a story for publication, we are purchasing first-publication rights. (After we've published it, you can include it in your own collection.)

To make a submission: Please send your work via our new online submission procedure. It's easy, will save you postage and paper, and is much easier on the environment. Just click the yellow Submissions button above to get started!

Dates:
The category will be open to submissions for one full month, from the first day through
midnight (Pacific time) of the last day of the month. Results will be posted at www.glimmertrain.org.

February. Results will be posted on April 30.
August. Results will be posted on October 31.

Reading fee:

$15 per story.

Prizes:

1st place wins $1,200, publication in Glimmer Train Stories, and 20 copies of that issue.
2nd-place: $500
3rd-place:$300

Other considerations:

Open to all writers.
Stories not to exceed 3,000 words.(No minimum, though it's rare for a piece under 500 words to read as a full story.)

We look forward to reading your work!

Fearless is an interesting word, for in fact, in being fearless you are not without fear, rather you are withstanding fear. You are moving forward in spite of it. Writing a very short story requires a degree of fearlessness, and I think reading one does also. I have deep respect for the very short story for many reasons, perhaps most profoundly for its fearlessness.
--Meredith Pignon