"Whispers" Short Fiction Contest

It usually happens in the night.

The wind turns from the south. The winter constellations descend to skate along the horizon.

Warm rains come.

If you feel it like I do, you know it's time to awake from dark, cold dreams. Spring is coming, my friends. Let's celebrate! Welcome to the "Whispers" Short Fiction Contest.

This contest is the 8th in what has become a wonderfully fun series. Clarity of Night contest wins have been reported in agent query letters, served as inspiration for a novel placed with a major publisher, and provided a springboard for bigger success.

Using the photograph above for inspiration, compose a short fiction piece of no more than 250 words in any genre or style. Send your entry to me by email at jevanswriter at yahoo dot com before 11:00 p.m., Wednesday, February 27th (Eastern Time, United States). I'd prefer attachments formatted in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect (please see the format request below), but if you have something more exotic, you can paste the text into the body of an email. Each entry will be posted and indexed.

To make things interesting, I'm offering the following prizes (not to mention bragging rights):

• 1st Place: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Whispers" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
  
• 2nd Place: $20 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 3rd Place: $15 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 4th Place: $10 Amazon gift certificate
  
• 5th Place: $5 Amazon gift certificate
  
• Readers' Choice Award: $15 Amazon Gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Whispers" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)

But this is about more than prizes. I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to meet and interact with your fellow writers. Our different perspectives, styles, and skills shine when we all start at the same place. It's a great opportunity to learn from each other.

Rules:

1. 250 words maximum.
   
2. Titles are optional, but encouraged. Titles do not count toward your word count.
   
3. One entry per person.
   
4. Any genre or style is welcome. If you choose to submit poetry, you must have narrative movement within the poem if you wish to compete with the prose pieces for the prizes.
   
5. The copyright remains with you, the author; however, you grant me worldwide first electronic publishing rights to post your entry on this blog indefinitely.
   
6. Judging will be conducted by me, Jason Evans. For an explanation of judging and helpful hints, see A Note on Judging. You can also read the winning entries from past contests.
   
7. Please provide a name for your byline. If you have a website or a blog, I'd be happy to link your site to your byline. If you don't have a website or blog, feel free to include a short bio. A bio does not count towards your word count.
   
8. At the close of the contest, I will give the date and time for the announcement of winners.
   
9. After the winners are announced, I will post what I liked most about each entry in the comments.
   
10. The Readers' Choice Award is awarded by vote of the contest participants. The entry with the highest number of votes wins. The rules for this portion of the contest will be posted after the entry period closes.
    
11. Public critiques in comments are encouraged, but must remain respectful. I reserve the right to delete comments and ban participants who do not abide by the collegial spirit of Clarity of Night contests.
    
12. For prior contests and their results, see the links on the sidebar.

Format Request:
These are not rules, and I will not reject an entry which does not conform, but if you follow them, my work in running the contest is much less. For that, I will be eternally grateful!

1. Single space lines, and double space paragraph breaks.
   
2. No tabs or indents on the first line.
   
3. If you have italics in your text, please code it for html by putting a begin italics code < i > where it starts and an end italics code < /i > where it ends.
   
4. Although it's rarely used, handle bold < b >< /b > and underline < u >< /u > the same way.
   
5. Write your title at the top of the document left justified in title case (first letters capitalized). On the next line write your byline left justified (example, by Jason Evans). Add two blank lines, then begin your story.

Welcome to this latest contest! The entry period is now open.

[For the contest underway, click HERE.]