Gashora Girls Academy Scholarship Opportunity for the 2025–2026 School Year

 

Writers of short fiction may now enter the 2025 Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. The competition has a 44-year history of literary excellence. Lorian Hemingway and her small judging panel are dedicated to enthusiastically supporting the efforts and talent of writers of short fiction whose voices have yet to be heard. Our previous competition (2024) received over 600 entries from the United States and throughout the world. Reports Lorian, "I find that each year there is an ever-broadening sense of humanity in your stories that shines a light on those who are often forgotten: the disabled, the stigmatized, the marginalized among us whose voices need to be heard more strongly." Prizes and Publication

The first-place winner will receive $1,500 and publication of his or her winning story on our competition website. The second- and third-place winners will receive $500 each. Honorable mentions will also be awarded to entrants whose work demonstrates promise.

Eligibility Requirements

Stories must be original, unpublished fiction in English, typed and double-spaced, and may not exceed 3,500 words in length. There are no theme or genre restrictions. Copyright remains the property of the author. The competition is open to all U.S. and international writers whose fiction has not appeared in a nationally distributed publication with a circulation of 5,000 or more. Writers who have been published by an online magazine or who have self-published will be considered on an individual basis.

Submission Requirements

Submissions must be submitted online. Please visit our online submissions page for complete instructions. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each must be accompanied by a separate entry fee and separate cover sheet. We do accept simultaneous submissions. However, the writer must notify us if a story is accepted for publication or wins an award or places in any way in another competition (i.e. receives an Honorable Mention, is a semi-finalist, etc.) prior to announcement of our Winners and Honorable Mentions. No entry confirmation will be given unless requested. The author’s name should not appear on the story. Entries are judged anonymously. Each story must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet—which should be the first page of the story document—with the writer’s name, complete mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, the title of the piece, and the word count. Manuscripts will not be returned.

Deadlines and Entry Fees

The entry fee is $15 for each story submitted by September 1, 2025. The late entry fee for stories submitted from September 2 through September 15 is $20. Entries submitted online after September 15, 2025 will not be accepted for our 2025 competition. Writers may submit for the 2026 competition beginning September 16, 2025. Entry fees may be paid with PayPal. You do not need a PayPal account to use this feature.

Announcement of Winners and Honorable Mentions Winners of our 2025 competition will be posted in January 2026 on our website. Only the first-place entrant will be notified personally. Questions? Please review the complete guidelines or email shortstorykeywest@hushmail.com.