The Short Story Contest

For its debut on April 12th ‘Comma,’ the book channel of Tribeca.net, a new media and cultural site on the Web, will host a short story competition open to writers of mainstream (commercial or literary) and genre fiction or pieces of nonfiction. (In that sense short story is a bit of a misnomer; under our definition a slice of life could also be a short story.) There are a few rules (of course), but only a few. New York City has to figure prominently in the story. You don’t have to write about New York; the city can serve as a backdrop or inform the lives and actions of the characters. The story should be approximately 1000 words in length and require no more than three or four minutes to read aloud (this is important). You will have to submit the story in text form first. If your work is accepted you will be asked to submit the story in an audio file. The story should be read by the author (although the author has the option of enlisting a friend to read with.) In addition, you are invited to submit any additional material you wish to complement your story – notes, photos, drawings, video clips, etc. Moreover, you will have the opportunity to have your own web page on the site which you can use to promote your work and career and offer visitors an opportunity to get to know you. You are welcome to use your page as a blog or as a multimedia scrapbook. All applicants whose material is accepted will have the right to have their own web pages on the Tribeca.net site without charge for three months. (Arrangements can be made to extend the length of time after that.) We hope that visitors who are intrigued by your short story will also want to learn more about you and your work.

The winner(s) will not be chosen by a faceless panel of judges. That decision will be up to visitors to Tribeca.net. The story receiving the most votes will win. In the event that the vote is close a runoff will be held for the top five stories. Because our servers will record the IP of each vote applicants won’t be able to vote several times for themselves unless they want to cheat and have a lot of extra computers at their disposal.

We’re offering two types of first prizes – one financial, the other possibly worth more to you in different ways. As far as the money goes, the ‘first’ first prize is $500 – not bad for a short story and the additional publicity that a free web page can bring. The other first prize is the chance to become a producer on the Tribeca.net ‘Comma’ site – in web parlance you’ll be a content provider. Or more simply put, you can run your own show with our editorial guidance. These ‘first’ prizes aren’t mutually exclusive; in fact, winning the cash will also put you at the head of the line for your own show. We’re considering other prizes as well to sweeten the deal which we’ll announce long before the deadline. Speaking of which, we would like all text submissions by March 10th; if we notify you that your work has been accepted for posting you will be given two additional weeks to submit the audio file. (You can post your web page at your leisure but obviously sooner is better as far as your competitive chances are concerned.) We will announce the winner (or the top five) by June 1st.

Specifically, we are soliciting submissions from writers of literary fiction and nonfiction, mystery/suspense, horror, fantasy, satire, autobiography, history and even science fiction so long as New York City has a role to play in your story. We’re unlikely to be receptive to formula romance (or formula anything for that matter) but we won’t rule out any genre if the story is clever, compelling and well written. You don’t have to be previously published, but you do have to be good enough to produce a piece that people want to read – and just as importantly, listen to. If you wish to make a submission or want additional information please contact Leslie Alan Horvitz at leshorvitz@tribeca.net.

That sounds great. I better get planning then!