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Springtime Writers
If judged entertaining and well-written, publishes short stories or excerpts on-line. No entry fees or royalties.

WritersWeekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest
Ongoing quarterly contests require entrants to submit a short story within 24 hours of the topic's notification. $5 entry fee. Cash prizes total $750 for first, second and third places.

Writer Works
Contest re-opens November 1, 2003 for travel-related fiction and non-fiction.

Fantasist Enterprises
Annual fantasy fiction contest, open to all manner of fantastical stories between 2,000 and 10,000 words, closes November 15, 2004. Winners and runners-up will be printed in an anthology. Cash prizes total $300, plus wordage royalties.

International Annual Fish Short Story Prize
Original, unpublished short stories, less than 5,000 words, on any theme, are sought. Deadline: November 30, each year. Entry fees: $16 for one, $11 each additional. First Prize: $2,500. The best eighteen short-listed stories will be published in an anthology, read by leading literary agents. For 2004, a contest for very short stories of only 250 words, is also offered.

$5000 Literati Short Story Competition
A short story contest for original, unpublished manuscripts of less than 3,000 words, offering significant cash, publication and publishing prizes. Closes September 15, 2004. Entry fee: $10.

Zoetrope: Literary Short Fiction Contest
All entries must be unpublished; no longer than 5,000 words; postmarked by October 1; accompanied by a $15 entry fee per story. 1st Prize: $1,000. 2nd Prize: $500. 3rd Prize: $250.

Word Smitten Flash Fiction Competition
Word Smitten offers a Flash Fiction Contest of 500 words or less. Prize: $150. Contest re-opens: February, 2004. Deadline: May 1.

Carve Magazine Short Story Contest
The Raymond Carver Short Story Award at Carve Magazine is one of the world's premier fiction awards for original, unpublished short stories. Maximum length: 10,000 words. Prize money totals $2,000. All submissions are considered for publication. International entries welcome. Entry fees: $15 (one), $25 (two), $30 (three). Only three entries per author are permitted. Closes: February 1.

Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition
An annual contest for original, unpublished stories up to 3,000 words in length, open to writers who have not yet achieved major market success. Cash prizes total $2,000. Entry fee: $10. Deadline mid-May.