View Match-Ups

Prize Information

Any stories selected for inclusion in the open bracket will be awarded $5.00 for the purchase of online publication rights. The overall winner of the open bracket, based on the online votes cast, will also receive a personal check for $50.00 within two weeks of the close of the tournament. The winner of the Invited Bracket will receive a $50.00 prize as well.

Moreover, the competition organizers will work to find a publisher for an anthology of the invited bracket and may include stories with strong showings from the open bracket.

Submission Guidelines

The following guidelines are for the Open Bracket. The Invited Bracket is, you guessed it, by invitation only.

Though the invited competition is designed for graduate student writers, the open competition is truly open -- anyone can submit a story. Just indicate in the submission which school, university, institution, country, etc., you would like your writing to represent. While we do have regions in our bracket, you can submit stories even if your region appears to be full. As they do in the basketball version of March Madness, we will fill slots with non-regional teams (e.g., UCLA might end up in the East Region) so that the best set of competitors is included in the field.

To be considered for the prizes, submissions must adhere to the prompt instructions (here and here). Submission is free.

There is no specific word count required for a submission, though preference will be given to stories in the range of 1000 - 6000 words.

Please doublespace and use 12 point font.

You may also include a short biographical sketch and optional photo for the author page should your story appear in the bracket.

Send stories to ottensam@att.net. Include your contact information in the email and in the attached document. You may also send hard copies to

Short Story Sweet Sixteen

212 Highland Ave, Apt 221

East Lansing, MI  48823.

Submissions must be original, unpublished fiction (don't just revise an existing story and work in the prompts), but you are free to anthologize the story in the future.

The deadline for the 2009 Short Story Sweet Sixteen open competition has been pushed back from March 31, 2009 to April 14, 2009. (You have plenty of time -- remember, Chekhov recommended writing a short story in one sitting.)