Rules & Regulations

Each author pledges that their submission is an original work and that they own sole and complete rights to it, and acknowledges that Rotary cannot be held responsible for their  breach of this pledge. 

In submitting their original work, each author grants Rotary the following, free of charge:

- the right to edit, abridge, or excerpt the work for promotional purposes, 

- the right to record a reading of their story, solely for the purpose of posting on this website,

without the involvement of the author.

- and the use of names and/or pictures of the finalists and winners for promotional purposes related to the Short Story Contest.

Works are judged anonymously on the basis of the author’s use of language, originality of subject, and writing style. Submissions are processed by a two-tiered system of readers and judges.  The submissions are first read and graded by a group of volunteer readers. A short list of the top 10 scoring submissions then will be forwarded to a panel of judges, the requisite qualifications for which are professional experience in writing, teaching, critiquing, and/or distribution of literature.

 

The contest is divided into two sections.  For adults (19+), the judges will select 3 winners to receive cash prizes: 1st - $500  2nd - $250  3rd - $100, and two Honourable Mentions.  For the youth category, the judges will select 3 winners to receive cash prizes: 1st - $250 2nd - $100 3rd - $50, and two Honourable Mentions.  Readers and judges are selected by the Anthology Publisher.
All decisions by the readers and the panel are final. Readers’ and judges’ names are confidential until the end of the competition to ensure the judging process remains blind.