Tweet Me A Story Contest on nycmidnight.com | Free Writing Competitions

Click here to check out the winners from the 2011 competition!

▪ It's free to enter. Only one registration per person and participants must be at least 18 years of age.

▪ The competition begins on Thursday, January 13th, 2011 at 7PM EST.

▪ Registered writers are placed in 20 different groups. Each group will receive a word (which can be a noun, verb or adverb) which must be included in their story.

▪ The stories are due on Thursday, January 13th, 2011 by 11:59PM EST and must be no longer than 140 characters with spaces. Each writer may submit up to 3 stories.

▪ Judges choose the top 25 stories in each group and they will be posted here on Tuesday, January 18th, 2011.

▪ Online voting begins and the story in each group with the most audience votes automatically advances to the finals. Judges choose an additional 4 stories in each group to advance to the finals. Thus, 5 stories will advance from each group to the finals making for a total of 100 writers.

▪ The 100 writers in the finals all receive a new word (everyone receives the same word) on Thursday, January 27th, 2011 at 7PM. Each writer may submit up to 3 stories and they are due by 11:59PM EST on Thursday, January 27th, 2011.

▪ The top 25 stories are posted here for online voting a few days later. In addition to online voting, winners are chosen by a panel of esteemed judges.

The Tweet Me A Story Contest is underway!

Click here to check out the participating writers and group assignments. Good luck to everyone participating!

Registration is now closed. There will be plenty more exciting writing competitions in 2011, so make sure to make sure join our mailing list (bottom right) and follow us on facebook and twitter so we can let you know about our next competition!

Click here to check out winners from past Tweet Me A Story contests!

▪ The overall winner chosen by the judges receives US$100.

▪ Top overall winner determined by online voting receives US$100.

▪ Exposure - The top writers will have the option of displaying their twitter page, blog or e-mail address next to their story here on the competition website and in our newsletters, which should get lots of clicks and new followers.

The judges for the Tweet Me A Story contest include:

	Randall Brown is the author of the award-winning flash fiction collection Mad to Live (Flume Press 2008). He teaches at and directs Rosemont College's MFA in Creative Writing Program and holds an MFA from Vermont College. His short and very short fiction has been published and anthologized widely, and his essay "Making Flash Count" appears in The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction: Tips from Editors, Teachers, and Writers in the Field (Rose Metal Press 2009). From 2004-9, he served in numerous roles with the flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly, including Lead Editor. He blogs regularly at FlashFiction.Net.

	Vanessa Gebbie is a Welsh writer, creative writing tutor, and editor. She is author of Words from a Glass Bubble - a collection of award-winning stories - and contributing editor of Short Circuit – a Guide to the Art of the Short Story (both from Salt Publishing, UK). She contributed a chapter to A Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction (Rose Metal Press, USA). Her second short story and flash collection, Storm Warning, will be published in November 2010. She teaches creative writing. For more information, please visit her website: www.vanessagebbie.com

	Patricia La Barbera has an MFA in creative writing and is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Professional Sequence in Editing. She is an editor at Etopia Press and is on the staff of Every Day Fiction. A spokesperson for her local writers association, Keys Writers, Patricia is also the author of a mystery novella, The Celtic Crow Murders. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in various magazines. Originally from New York City, she now lives in the Florida Keys. www.patricialabarbera.com

Q. Who owns the rights to the stories submitted?

A. You, the writer. NYC Midnight reserves the right to publish the story along with the writer's name on nycmidnight.com, but that's it.

Q. Can I participate if I live outside the United States?

A. Yes, you may participate from any country.

Q. Can I participate if I am under 18 years of age?

A. Yes, but you must have a parent or legal guardian send us an e-mail at feedback @ nycmidnight.com giving consent for you to participate in the "Tweet Me A Story" Contest on nycmidnight.com.

Q. Can a writer have more than 1 story chosen to be in the top 25 in each round?

A. Yes, writers may have all 3 stories chosen for the top 25 in their group.

Q. Can we use variations of the assigned word in the story?

A. No, the assigned word must be spelled exactly as it's posted. For example, if the assigned word is fast, than variations of fast such as faster, fasting, fst, fastest will not be accepted.

Q. What are the rules regarding capitalization of the assigned word?

A. It is acceptable to capitalize the assigned word any way you like. For example, if the assigned word is fast, than FAST, FaST, fasT, etc.. will all be acceptable.

Q. Can we use abbreviations in the story?

A. Stories may be written any way you like (i.e. poetry, abbreviations, excessive punctuation, etc...), as long as the assigned word is included in it's entirety.

Didn't find the answer you were looking for? Please contact us or ask away in our Q&A forum.

The mission of NYC Midnight is to inspire creative minds. Each year, we design intense competitions to challenge the stamina, determination, and originality of aspiring filmmakers and writers. Since our inception in 2002, we have provided our winning filmmakers and writers with over $250,000 in cash and prizes to help them take their next big step in the industry. For updates on our competitions, make sure join our mailing list (bottom right) and follow us on facebook and twitter.

The cute bird illustrations were created by Pasquale D'Silva.

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