Imagine if you were the next writer published in over 500 Short Story Dispensers worldwide. Starting on September 29th you could be!
What is it?
The Long Story Short Award is an annual writing competition organized by Short Édition, featuring participation from over 20 universities globally this year. Temple University Libraries is proud to join in, and we eagerly await your submissions. Read on to discover more about the contest, application process, submission guidelines, and the selection criteria for winners.
Stay Tuned for Updates!
Mark your calendars for September 29th when we will unveil the theme on our website!
Contest Duration
The Contest opens on September 29th at 09:00 a.m. EST and close on November 2nd at 11:59 p.m. EST.
All submitted works will be published on the contest webpage on November 3rd. The public will be invited to participate in the selection of the public winner by voting for their favorite story from November 3rd through November 23rd. During this time, the editorial team will select one jury’s winner and one jury’s coup de cœur (jury’s favorite). The winners will be announced on December 3rd!
General Submission Conditions
No purchase is required to submit or to win the Contest. All the Submissions will be reviewed by the Organizer’s editorial team to ensure they comply with the Contest Official Rules. Each submission can be disqualified if it does not comply with the Contest Official Rules. Each submission must be new, unpublished, original and written by the submitting Author and shall be written in English.
The submission process is entirely electronic via the contest website. No paper manuscripts will be accepted. The submission form is copy/paste format.
Specific Submission Conditions
Submissions must not exceed 7,500 characters (including spaces).
Submissions must be only short stories. We do not accept poetry.
One submission per Author
Author Eligibility
All Authors must create their author account online and submit their Submission using a valid university email address, for example Charles.Library@temple.edu.
Authors shall choose their own username while creating their author account — this username will therefore be associated with their Submission when published on the Contest website — and shall also provide their full name and contact information to the Organizer via their online account profile. The Organizer must be able to easily get in touch with each Author for any reason.
After Submission, each Author will be emailed a confirmation of receipt. Authors will receive an email if there is a change in status of their Submission.
Publication
All submitted works will be published on the contest webpage on November 3, 2025.
Winners
Once the works are published on the Contest website, the Online Community will have two weeks to vote for their favorite story. Members of the Online Community can vote for as many stories as they wish, but only vote once for each story. Members of the Online Community can comment on as many stories as they wish.
The Organizer’s editorial team will select amongst the submissions one winner and one Coup de cœur. There will also be an Online Community winner (hereinafter referred to as “Public Winner”), which will be the story who receives the most Online Community votes.
The Prizes
- For the Jury’s Winner: a monetary prize of $550 USD
- For the Jury’s Coup de cœur: a monetary prize $400 USD
- For the Public Winner: a monetary prize of $550 USD
Monetary prizes will be paid to the recipients via Paypal or a wire-transfer by the Organizer. Jury Winner, Public Winner and Coup de cœur are each solely responsible for any applicable taxes on their prize money.
The universities of the public and jury-chosen winners will be awarded free Short Story Discs and eco-friendly paper rolls.
Voting Conditions
The offering of incentives or any other counterpart in exchange for votes or comments is strictly prohibited. The use of bots and/or robotic submissions is prohibited. The Organizer has the right to delete any vote, at any time, where it suspects that such vote violated at least one of the previously mentioned Contest Official Rules, without any liability towards the member of the Online Community or the Author.
Members of the Online Community can vote for as many Qualifying Submissions as they wish, but only vote once for each Qualifying Submission. Members of the Online Community may comment on as many Qualifying Submissions as they wish.
Check back in with us in late September
The theme will be posted on our website on September 29th, be sure to check back in with us then to find out how you can become the next writer published in over 500 Short Story Dispensers worldwide.