Round 5 of the Florida Weekly Writing Challenge Begins

For Round 5 of the 2024 Writing Challenge, writers will be asked to choose one of two photographs provided as a starting point for a short story of no more than 750 words. The deadline for submissions for Round 5 is Tuesday, July 16 at 11:59 p.m. Round 5 is the final round of the 2024 Writing Challenge.

Florida Weekly’s 14th Annual Writing Challenge launches its fifth round this week, offering a new set of photo prompts selected by our editors to inspire readers to write short stories. For Round 5, you have until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16 to email us your original story using only one of the two photographs shown here as a starting point. You may submit only one story per two-week round.

Here are the rules for submitting entries to the 2024 Writing Challenge:

Please write your first and last name, email address, phone number, and city/state of residence at the top of your story.

Next, write a title at the top of your masterpiece.

The maximum number of words you can submit is 750, which includes your contact information and title (there is no minimum word count). And no poetry, please.

Run your story through spell check.

Important: When writing the subject line of your email, you must start with the code WC24 (no spaces between letters and numbers) so that the challenge moderator will detect that this is an entry for the 2024 Writing Challenge; then add the round you’re participating in (such as “Round 2”) and write a simple description of the photo prompt you’re responding to (such as “man with dog,” etc.). This simple description of the photo will likely be different from the title you give your story. Here’s an example of what a subject line might look like using this format: WC24 Round 2 man with dog.

Copy and paste the full text of your post into the body of your email, and double-check that the full text has been copied before sending. (You must send your story as plain text in the body of the email; do not send attachments.) Also, do not incorporate any images into your post.

The Writing Challenge email address is [email protected] (and yes, be sure to include the hyphen between tichy and smith in the email address).

The challenge moderator will send you a personal email confirming that your entry has been received. Please allow up to a week for this confirmation. Remember to check your spam folder if you do not see the confirmation email after a week.

Once you have submitted an entry for a round, you will not be able to submit a revised version, so please follow all instructions carefully.

Submissions by postal mail will not be considered.

Have questions? Email [email protected] with “WC24 Question” in the subject line.

Wrapping up the 2024 Writing Challenge

Round 5 is the final round of the 2024 Writing Challenge. The 2024 Writing Challenge winner and three honorable mentions will be notified in late July, and the first-place winner will receive tuition to an online Gotham Writers Workshop. Honorable mentions will receive Amazon gift cards.

We will publish the top four stories sometime in August (winning writers will be interviewed for an article accompanying the publication of their stories). The finalists, typically those chosen in fifth through tenth place, will be published as space permits in the following weeks.

So, please read the rules carefully again, study the photo prompts for round 5, and then get creative. Remember: the deadline for this round is Tuesday, July 16 at 11:59 p.m.