The Gaithersburg Book Festival has launched its fifth annual short story contest for Washington, D.C., area high school students. To participate in the short story contest, individuals must be enrolled in grades 9-12 at a public or private school, or in a homeschool program, for the 2014-15 school year, and reside in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia. Stories must be no longer than 1,000 words and must be inspired by one of the three photographs posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website.
Stories must be submitted as a Word document to writingcontest@gaithersburgbookfestival.org by midnight ET on Feb. 20, 2015.
Up to 12 stories will be selected as finalists and posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website prior to the Book Festival. The first-, second- and third-place winners will be announced at the Festival on Saturday, May 16, 2015, and will be awarded $100, $50 and $25 gift certificates, respectively, courtesy of the Johns Hopkins University Montgomery County Campus. The three photographs, plus complete rules and regulations for the contest, can be found online at http://gaithersburgbookfestival.org/gbf-programs/short-story-contest/.