Contest: On The Premises: The Hat

Deadline: May 3rd, 2024
Prizes: $35 for first place, $25 for second, $15 for third
Theme: 25 to 50 word story about hats, details below!

Premise: For this mini-contest, tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which a hat of some kind matters to the story. We’re going with the fairly traditional definition of “hat” for this one. Scarves, hijabs, earmuffs, wigs, hoods, and other head coverings do not qualify. I’m going to say that even helmets don’t qualify. Caps are okay; they’re an informal hat. The judges will not care if anyone wears the hat in the story, so that’s up to you.

Deadline: Friday, May 3, 2024, 11:59 PM Eastern US time.

Length: Between 25 and 50 words.

Hyphenated Words: Words that are normally hyphenated, but generally considered one word, are considered one word for this contest. Examples: “Twenty-three”, “Jack-o-lantern”, and “Mother-in-law” are each one word. However, stringing a bunch of words together with hyphens for artistic effect will result in each connected word being counted separately. Example: “It was a get-out-of-my-way day.” That hyphenated phrase counts as five words.

Prizes: $35 for first place, $25 for second, $15 for third, all in US dollars. Honorable mentions get published but make no money. If international currency exchange fees are necessary to pay an author, that fee comes out of the mini-contest prize money.

Other Rules: One entry per author. There is no fee for entering this contest.

On The Premises is an on-line fiction magazine founded in 2006 by Tarl Kudrick and Bethany Granger. We publish issues in HTML and PDF formats (and maybe someday, ebook formats).

Stories published in On The Premises are winning entries in short story contests launched every June and December. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise that we supply. Winning stories are published in individual magazine issues each April and October.

We also hold “mini-contests” four times a year, in April, May, October, and November. Winning mini-contest entries are published on our web site’s mini-contest pages.

We have published authors who live on six different continents–all we’re missing is Antartica. (In May 2019, we published a mini-contest winner from South America, so we’ve now got authors from all six of the continents with substantial populations.) All our stories are written in English.

Our Purpose

On The Premises wants to promote newer and/or relatively unknown writers who can write what we feel are creative, compelling stories told in effective, uncluttered, and evocative prose. Our contests have no entry fees. Winners receive cash prizes and publication.

Via: On The Premises Submittable.