ENTRIES MUST FOLLOW ALL RULES TO BE ACCEPTED
Contest Entry Form available starting August 6 through September 17, 2025.
Click for the 2025 Nonfiction Short Story Contest Rules as a .pdf file.
ELIGIBLITY
- Contest open to Gold Country Writers members and to non-member residents of El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, or Yuba counties.
- Short story must be nonfiction, unpublished, with word count less than 1,500 words (as shown in Microsoft Word, not including the title)
- No fiction, poetry, essays, opinion pieces, violence, sex, racism, politics, religious doctrine, or AI-generated stories.
- One submission per entrant. Must be 18 or older.
WHEN TO SUBMIT
- Contest opens August 6, 2025, and closes on midnight on September 17, 2025.
FORMAT GUIDELINES
- Times New Roman font, 12-point, with double-spaced lines and 1-inch margins.
- Title centered at top of each page, and page number centered at bottom.
- Author’s name and identifying information must not appear anywhere in the story.
- Story must be a single Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat file.
HOW TO SUBMIT
- Entries will only be accepted through the Gold Country Writers website online entry form available on Aug 6
- Entry fees are $15 for Public and $10 for Gold Country Writers members, payable online using PayPal starting Aug 6.
- If unable to pay online, fee may be paid by check at a Gold Country Writers meeting or mailed to P.O. Box 5991, Auburn, CA 95604.
- Story and entry fee must BOTH be submitted before contest closes. No revisions, no refunds.
FINAL WORD
- Judges will assess scores in accordance with the Judging Rubric Overview.
- You agree that if you should win, your story may be printed in the Gold Country Media family of newspapers, the Gold Country Writers Anthology, and in the Gold Country Writers newsletter (The Dispatch).
- Contest Celebration—where winners’ stories will be read aloud— will be held Saturday, October 4, at Auburn City Hall and will be recorded by ACTV Auburn Community Television.
- Gold Country Writers reserves the right to make the final determination on all rules.
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