THE 2012 CONTEST HAS NOW CLOSED. We will be posting the winning stories here over the next few days.

2012 Contest Winners

$500 1st Prize Winner: Lee Kvern for "In Search of Lucinda"

$100 2nd Prize Winner: Evan Guilford-Blake for "Some Kind of Love"

Third prize was a tie we could not break, even with much discussion, so we have chosen two winners:

$100 3rd Prize Winner: Carolyn Pledge Amaral for "The Root of the Matter"

$100 3rd Prize Winner: Joan Sonnenburg for "My Brother's Keeper"

Please check back in the new year for the 2013 contest.

My partner, Robert Hilles, and I began dating in February 1997. Since then, nearly every Sunday for fifteen years, he called his mother and spoke to her on the telephone. I can count on one hand the number of times he missed making that call.

In the early years of our relationship, Hazel Hilles was in her sixties. She had already lost Robert's father, and she lived in an independent living complex in Winnipeg, Canada. On our visits, her eyes sparkled and the smile seldom left her face. She saved chairs for us at her table in the residents' dining hall and pulled employees and other residents forward to meet Robert. My son, she'd say. He writes books.

Never was a mother more loving or supportive. She instilled in Robert a passion for poetry, and a desire to write. Without her influence, he says, he may never have become an author.

On January 20th, 2012, Hazel Hilles passed away to the great sadness of her surviving children and their families.

Robert and I have sponsored this short story contest in her memory. We look forwrd to reading your submissions.

Rules and Prize Details

Prizes:

• 1st $500
• 2nd $100
• 3rd $100

Deadline: All entries must be received on or before September 18th, 2012

Length: No minimum. Maximum 5000 words

Entry Fee: CAN $6

Contest Judges: Robert Hilles and Pearl Luke.

Contest Rules

1. Entrants must be 18 years of age or older, but there are no geographical restrictions. The contest is open to anyone writing in English.
2. The maximum length of submissions is 5,000 words. Stories can be in any genre and address any theme.
3. Authors may enter multiple stories, but entry fees apply to each story submitted.
4. Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please contact us immediately to withdraw your work should you learn that it is a finalist or winner in another competition.
5. Entries will not be returned and no corrections may be made after submission to the creative writing contest.
6. All entries must be previously unpublished.
7. Entries must be the original work of the entrant. Any entries found to have been plagiarized will be disqualified.
8. Authors retain all copyright to their work. However, Be-a-Better-Writer.com will have first publication rights to the winning stories, which will be published in Page 47 online anthology.
9. Winners will be contacted by October 30, 2012. Results will also be posted on the contest website and sent by newsletter to registered members. Only winning contestants will be notified individually. The judge's decision is final and neither the judge nor the editor of www.be-a-better-writer.com will enter into a discussion about the decision.
10. Entries that fail to comply with the entry rules and requirements will be disqualified.

To Enter

First select your payment option from the drop down menu below and then click on the Pay Now button. On the payment page, you have the option to pay by PayPal or credit/debit card. Upon payment, your browser will return you to this page, and you will receive an email receipt from PayPal. Please keep this receipt. Story submissions with no corresponding fee payment will be discarded.

Now submit your story to: admin@be-a-better-writer.com as an email attachment in either Word or PDF format. Please provide your full name and the title of the story in the body of the email. The submissions will be judged blindly, so please do NOT put your name or email address on the manuscript. The manuscript should be titled and numbered on every page, but your name MUST BE DELETED to facilitate fair judging.

Your entry fee will be matched to your story. Stories with no corresponding administrative fee will be discarded.

Good luck!

For a list of other creative writing contests, CLICK HERE.