Short Édition Launches Annual Inter-University Writing Contest

The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries is excited to participate in the Short Édition Long Story Short Award, its first annual inter-university writing contest.

Short Édition is a French publishing house who UTA Libraries partners with in hosting a Short Story Dispenser on the second floor of Central Library. This Dispenser provides short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry to the public, free of charge.

“We are proud to partner with Short Édition and can’t wait to see what our students submit to the Long Story Short Award,” said Rebecca Bichel, dean of UTA Libraries. “Mavericks are innovative and creative, and we are confident that they will excel in this inaugural contest.”

From Oct. 5 to Nov. 19, students from all participating universities can submit a short story, poem, and/or piece of creative nonfiction of 7,500 characters or less to the Long Story Short Award. 90 finalists—30 in each category, half juried and half voted by the public—will be announced on Dec. 3. Another voting/judging period will take place from Dec. 3-17. Juried and Public Winners as well as two runners-up (in each category) will be announced on Dec. 17.

The two winners in each category will be awarded $500 each. The Juried and Public first runners-up will be awarded $250 each. The Juried and Public second runners-up will be awarded $125 each. All winners and other selected works will be published across participating campuses in their Short Story Dispensers. In addition, Short Édition will be considering all submissions for international publication in their 300+ Dispensers worldwide.

Victoria LaBarre was shocked when she won the Juried Prize in UTA’s Short Édition Writing Contest in 2019.

“I didn’t think I would win at all,” LaBarre told UTA Libraries in January 2020. “I'm an Electrical engineer, and some of the other competitors were English majors and I thought their stories were much more interesting and adventurous. I double checked three times and refreshed the page multiple times before I finally believed it.”

Chasidah Fried, the Public Prize winner for the same contest, had never entered a writing competition before, and felt exhilarated by the award.

“I wanted to try my hand at writing in a competition because several of my [former] professors…appreciated my essays,” Fried said in January. “Because I do not engage much in social media, I credit the Art Professor that I had in the Fall of 2018 at Navarro College sharing my work on her social media websites with the public win.”

LaBarre recommends writing from experience—and that, from there, you can build your story.

“I think that because I wrote about something more personal, it was easier to put emotion and humor into my story,” LaBarre said. “I would definitely suggest writing about something that you've done or lived through and just tweak it into a fantasy.”

Fried suggests writing from the heart—and that, from there, readers will come.

“Readership is like marriage—there is a pot for every lid,” Fried said. “Whatever you do will be good enough and as you grow, your readers may actually help you.”

UTA students interested in submitting can read more about the contest on the Short Édition website.