EIL Announces First Annual Fiction Contest
Escape Into Life is excited to announce its First Annual Fiction Contest, judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler. The contest features $500 in cash prizes and a cornucopia of goodies for its finalists. In short, this is one you’ll want to enter. 
In addition to cash, five finalists will receive works by Escape Into Life artists and have their stories nominated for at least one nationally recognized award in 2012 (Best American, O’Henry, Pushcart, StorySouth, or Sundress). All finalists will have their stories published in upcoming issues of Escape Into Life. If that’s not enough, we’re throwing in some super-cool EIL t-shirts and our eternal gratitude. That’s a pretty good deal.
The winning story will receive $250. Second place will take $100, and the remaining finalists will receive $50 each.
The deadline for entering is January 7th 2012, and there is a $5 entry fee per story. While there is no minimum word count, the maximum is 10,000. We welcome submissions of flash fiction and creative nonfiction, but the entry fee remains $5 per story and all contest entries will be judged and published as fictional works. Stories must be previously unpublished.
All entries must be received via our online submissions manager, which is powered by Submishmash.
EIL staff and their family members are ineligible.
Hi,
I’m considering entering your First Annual Fiction Contest. I have a collection of short stories being published by Atticus Books in February, 2012. Would a previously unpublished story from that upcoming collection be eligible for submission?
Thanks,
Matt Mullins
Thank you Matt,
“Previously unpublished” means that the work has not appeared in any print or online publication that is accessible to the public at any time. This includes personal publications that are accessible to the public (blogs, personal websites, etc.).
We look forward to reading your work and congratulations on your up-coming publication!
When will winners be announced?
We will announce the results of the contest on or before February 29, 2012. Everyone who entered the contest will be sent an email prior to the contest finalists being made public.
Thank you for everyone whom participated! 🙂
I am very anxious to find out the results of the contest, on this 1st of March. Have the winners been announced yet?
EIL fiction finalists will be announced Friday March 2nd at AWP 2012 in Chicago.
Thank you all who participated!
The finalists were announced–when will we know the winners?
We will be announcing winners by the end of this week. Thank you! 🙂