Story zone
Are you the next Hemingway? Or a new incarnation of Alice Munro? Is the tap-tap-tap of the keyboard the cadence of your days? Does your tortured prose desperately need an outlet before the pressure drives you insane?

Settle down. The Hook Fiction Contest is here.

There's only one catch, which we hope won't discourage you: we're asking all hopefuls to pay a $5 per story entrance fee, with all proceeds going to the winners. It's a safe bet to gamble with your talent. The first-place winner will receive a beefy check for $600. Two or three runners-up will also be published later in the year and will receive $125 each. In addition, Meridian, a UVA literary magazine, is chipping in a year's free subscription to the winner and runners-up.

But, wait, there's more!

The winner and runners-up will also be officially saluted at this year's Virginia Festival of the Book in late March. The hotshots there (besides you, of course) will include Marie Arana, David Baldacci, and Elizabeth Benedict.

Special celebrity judge: James Pierce.

The Lowdown
Deadline: Friday, March 1. We don't care about postmarks; the manuscript must be in our office by 5pm that day, or we won't read it.

All manuscripts must be typed in 12 pt or larger font, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. (No sunset-scene paper please.)

We're looking for short stories of 3,500 words or fewer that have not been published either in print or electronically.

By entering, you give The Hook permission to use your name, story, and even your smiling face in our pages.

We get may over 100 submissions, so, in keeping with our name, make sure your story "hooks" us in the first page.

You retain all rights to re-publish your story in other publications (hmm--how about Harper's?) after it has run in The Hook.

Anyone is eligible: professionals, students, professional students, homemakers, dentists, flaneurs, snake-charmers, etc.

There is a limit of two (2) manuscripts per author.

Please check your manuscript for errors; we won't accept hand-corrected copies.

If you need acknowledgement that your story has been received, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard. If you are addicted to your Underwood #5 typewriter, then suppress your Luddite tendencies and visit the copy machine. You won't get your submission back.

Don't forget to enclose your entry fee of $5 for one story or $10 for two stories.

Show, don't tell. Give us the truth. Good luck.

No emailed entries!

Mail your entry to

Fiction Contest
The Hook
100 Second Street, NW
Charlottesville, VA 22902

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