Short Story writing contests?

Question

yeah... so I'm doing this project that'll basically either pass me or flunk me. Maybe you've heard of it. It's CIM Capstone. You have to pose a question and answer it.

Mine?:
How can I promote creative writing within my school?

What I need to know:
Are there any GOOD sites out there that focus on Short story writing contests? Or really any kind of writing contest, save for Poetry. So. whatever you all can give, it'd most likely help my research. In case you were wondering, I'm hosting a writing contest for 1,500 High school kids. Yeah. Go figure.

Answer 1

The founder of my writing group has a website that has links to all kinds of writing links. I'm listing that below. He has tons of links for tips, sites to try submitting to etc...Another good bet might be to go to your local library they're a great resource for writing publications like Writer's Digest and check out their latest edition of Writer's Market. This publication along with it's website: www.writersmarket.com has the most current and accurate listings of writing contests out there. They're listed by category/market and give a breakdown of what's expected and if you'll have to pay a fee. If you use the Writer's Market site they have a search option that can categorize what exactly you're looking for in story contests. There is also a website www.glimmertrain.comthat have ongoing contests for their magazines as well.
Some listings I found on Writer's Market's site for contests:
AIM MAGAZINE SHORT STORY CONTEST P.O. Box 390
Milton WA 98354 Phone: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail] Website: www.aimmagazine.org
$100 prize offered to contest winner for best unpublished short story (4,000 words maximum) ?promoting brotherhood among people and cultures.? Deadline August 15
L. RON HUBBARD'S WRITERS OF THE FUTURE CONTEST
P.O. Box 1630 Los Angeles CA 90078 Phone: [phone]
E-Mail: [e-mail]
Website: www.writersofthefuture.com
Offered for unpublished work to find, reward, and publicize new speculative fiction writers so they may more easily attain professonal writing careers. Open to new and amateur writers who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, more than 1 novelette, or more than 3 short stories. Eligible entries are short stories or novelettes (under 17,000 words) of science fiction or fantasy. Guidelines for SASE, online, or via e-mail. No entry fee. Entrants retain all rights to their stories.
INSIGHT WRITING CONTEST
Insight Magazine 55 W. Oak Ridge Dr. Hagerstown MD 21740
Fax: [phone] E-Mail: [e-mail]
Website: www.insightmagazine.org
Annual contest for unpublished writers in the categories of student short story, general short story, and student poetry.
Freelance Facts: Prize: Student Short Story and General Short Story: 1st Prize: $250; 2nd Prize: $200; 3rd Prize: $150. Student Poetry: 1st Prize: $100; 2nd Prize: $75; 3rd Prize: $50.
Deadline: June 1 Eligibility: General category is open to all writers; student categories must be age 22 and younger.
Guidelines: Guidelines for SASE. Entry Fee: None

These are just samples: note: to get full details you need to register/pay to join Writer's Market. I got access through purchsaing the book so I do not know how much it would cost if you're not a member. Also, a lot of online sites for poetry contests are ripoffs of a major sort. Just about every single thing the get they send out a form letter saying you've been awarded all these honors but have to pay a lot of money to get them. The same could hold true for some online story contest sites, check them out thorougly before committing to anything and above all make sure you know what you're agreeing to (ie your copyrights) before submitting anything anywhere.

Answer 2

Here are a few, hope they work for ya :)

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest [read review]
An annual bad writing competition challenging entrants to compose bad opening sentences to imaginary novels. Includes winning submissions from the past.
www.bulwer-lytton.com

L Ron Hubbard's Writers & Illustrators of the Future Contest
Competition aimed at discovering, and eventually publishing, deserving amateur and aspiring writers.
www.writersofthefuture.com

Interactive Fiction Competition
Annual interactive fiction competition hosted by readers of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.int-fiction.
www.ifcomp.org

Trollope Society Short Story Prize
Annual competition run in the spirit of the works of Anthony Trollope.
www.trollopestoryprize.org

Anvil Press International 3-Day Novel Contest
Independent book publisher. Home of sub-terrain magazine and the labour day writing marathon.
www.anvilpress.com

New Century Writer Awards
Writing contest open to all screenwriters, playwrights and writers of short fiction. Sponsored by the Film Fest New Haven.
www.newcenturywriter.org

Fictionline
Nonprofit literary journal, celebrating short fiction by paying writers when stories are accepted.
www.fictionline.com

Pilot Project
Writing competition which will visit five major U.S. cities. Contestants will have the opportunity to pitch TV show ideas to a panel of judges live.
www.pilotproject.tv

World Wide Writers
Publishes a magazine anthology of short stories six times a year, with prizes awarded in each issue, and a grand prize at the end of the year.
www.worldwriters.net

Fountainhead Productions, Inc.
Independent publishing and film production house that holds a national fee-based writing contest for full-length novels.
www.fountainheadpub.com

Answer 3

I got my story already. One day, there was a stinky old intelligent potato and a gullible, overconfident kernel of corn. The potato's name was Potato and the corn's name was Corn. One day, the corn wondered aloud, "Why am I here? Why are these other corns here? Someone help me figure it out?" And then there was a banana named Mr. Banana. "Hey bro, I know how it happened! It is great news, and it is spreading! There is a miracle eggplant named Carlos walking these streets! He turned popcorn back into corn! He gave an eyeless potato eyes! He speaks the word of Marcus, the almighty and powerful creator," preached Mr. Banana. He was genuine about it, but he sounded pretty stupid. Corn was astonished. "…Wut.” Mr. Banana nodded. "If you believe in him, when you are eaten, you will go to heaven! Up in the sky, where happiness is abound!" That pleased Corn. "I love Marcus!" he said, and he became a believer. He wanted to go to heaven. He knew he deserved it. That same day, the potato noticed all the commotion about Carlos the creator and became suspicious. "There are flaws to this theory," he hypothesized. "Who created Marcus and Carlos and the whole existence? Science is real, obviously. I mean the proof is there, we are correct in every assumption about the world. And what is scientific about heaven and Marcus and Carlos?" "OH, I KNOW," he said as a light bulb lit above his face thingy. "Why would we continue existing? Why would there be no end? There is an end to a day, there is an end to a minute, there should be an end to life, too. We probably just stop existing in the end. That’s scientific.” So, Corn became the religion that believed in Marcus and Potato became the religion that believed in no creator or life after death. For millennia, these groups kept their distances. To Corn peoples, Potato peoples were sinners and sick illogical douchebags. And to Potato peoples, Corn peoples were basket cases and had no brains. There came a time when a smart grape named Mr. Bill Grapes had the idea to make a place where Corn and Potatoes and everything else could connect. That place was called the Interwebs, and eventually a little carrot named Mr. Carrotpants made a place called Yahoo Answers. In Yahoo Answers, at first the potatoes and corn did not associate with each other. But one day, Potato's greatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreatgreat... grandson, Joetato got super pissed at the corns preaching their bullsh!t. "Hey Corns," he posted. "Marcus isn't real." And so it began. Billions of Corns and Potatoes fought, in a battle over who was smarter. The Potatoes were all DOUCHEBAGS and the Corns were ANNOYING. As Mr. Carrotpants and Bill Grapes counted their money, these dumba$$es trolled each other endlessly. Eventually there was a glitch in the space time continuum and everyone got eaten for some reason and came back immediately. There was a stunning realization. When they died, Marcus and Carlos came and said a few words about living a good life and stuff. They stayed in heaven for seven days and THEN they stopped existing. After that, everyone got along.

Answer 4

Contest for writers:

http://shallabizness.blogspot.com/2006/02/contests-for-writers.html

Also, magazines and lit. journals host contests all the time. Here's a list of lit mags:

http://shalladeguzman.com/shallaresources.php

Answer 5

here

http://collectedstories.com/files/storyteller/contests.html