MICRO AWARD OFFICIAL WEBSITE

 

 

There is no greater challenge to any artist than that of extreme concision. Only an artist with the utmost command of his medium can create a memorable effect with a few brush strokes or a few bars of music or a few lines of verse.

 

Or a few paragraphs of narrative prose. The short short story, known also as flash fiction and micro fiction, attracted past short story masters as diverse as Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Grace Paley, Donald Barthelme and Raymond Carver. Today the short short story enjoys an unprecedented vogue. Almost every magazine or anthology that prints fiction allows submission of short short stories, and dozens of publications specialize in the form. There are even internet chatrooms devoted to discussion of the short short story.

 

But no official literary honor exists for the finest examples of the contemporary short short story. To remedy this situation, the Micro Award has been created. The Micro Award is presented annually to a work of prose fiction not over 1000 words in length, published during the previous calendar year. Authors and editors may submit stories for consideration through September, and the 1st Annual Micro Award shall be presented in December. The titles and authors of the winning story and all non-winning nominees will be posted on our website. In time, I hope to edit a series of anthologies in which Micro Award winners and nominees will be collected.

 

The Micro Award rules are posted below and will be amended as necessary. Please note that submissions must be mailed; we do not wish to cope with the security and logistics issues of email at this time.

 

Robert Laughlin, Micro Award Administrator

 

March 11, 2008

 

 

 

MICRO AWARD COMMITTEE

 

 

(Administrator) Robert Laughlin is a former professional student. Years of writing about dull subjects functioned as literary aversion therapy, and only now is he undertaking a full-time career as a writer of fiction. His short story, “In the Evening Made,” was chosen a Notable Story of 2006 by the judging panel of the storySouth Million Writers Award. He is currently preparing the release of his first novel, Vow of Silence. His personal website is www.robertlaughlin-fictionwriter.com.

 

(Judge) George Keithley was born in Chicago and educated at Duke, Stanford and the University of Iowa. His epic poem, The Donner Party, was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and has been adapted as a play and an opera. He has placed poems and prose writings in The New York Times, Harper’s, Triquarterly, Agni and The Kenyon Review. Mr. Keithley’s literary awards include the Pushcart Prize, the Raymond Carver Short Story Award and the Di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America.

 

(Judge) Clark Brown has written extensively about the American West, as a list of his publishing credits shows—About Chico; California Childhood: Stories and Recollections of the Golden State; Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California’s Great Central Valley; The Interior Country: Stories of the Modern West; Where Coyotes Howl and Wind Blows Free. Mr. Brown has won the Pushcart Prize, was a columnist for The San Francisco Sunday Chronicle from 1988 to 1999, and has judged a number of literary awards in his native California. His most recent book, Down in the Valley, is due soon from Heidelberg Graphics.

 

(Judge) Len Fulton was educated at the University of Wyoming. In 1964, he founded and still operates Dustbooks, a publisher of small press reference works. Dustbooks publications such as the International Directory of Little Magazines and Small Presses and the Small Press Review are recognized industry standards. Mr. Fulton is also a prolific author, best known for his novels The Grassman and Dark Other Adam Dreaming, and his non-fiction book American Odyssey.

 

 

 

MICRO AWARD RULES

 

 

The Micro Award is presented annually to a work of prose fiction written in English, not above 1000 words in length. Poetry, performance scripts, non-fiction, translated fiction and visual art with literary texts are all ineligible.

 

Stories considered for the 1st Annual Micro Award must have been published originally in 2007. Qualifying venues are any form of print or electronic publication designed for public display and subject to a process of editorial selection. Self-published stories are ineligible. An author may submit one of his own stories, and an editor may submit one story from each of his publications. Any story submitted must be as originally published and include a cover letter with contact information and the date and venue of publication.

 

Submissions must be mailed by September 30, 2008, to Micro Award, POB 9110, Chico CA 95927-9110. Submissions must be received by October 31, 2008. To cover administrative costs, authors must include a check or money order to the amount of $2.00 US or the equivalent in major foreign currencies; checks and money orders should be made payable to Micro Award. Editors need not pay a submission fee.

 

Submitted stories shall be distributed equally among at least three judges chosen by the administrator of the Micro Award. Not later than November 30, 2008, each judge shall choose five nominees from the stories he was assigned. The judges shall then read all nominated stories, and each judge shall then read all nominated stories, and each judge shall send a final list of five nominees to the administrator. The story that appears on the most lists shall be declared the winner; in the event of a tie, the administrator shall cast a tie-breaking vote. The authors and editors of the winning story and non-winning nominees shall be notified as soon as possible. On or about December 15, 2008, results shall be posted on the Micro Award Official Website. The author of the winning story shall receive a trophy and $50.00 US.

 

The decision of the Micro Award Committee is final and not subject to appeal. Any violation of the rules by a submitting author or editor is grounds for disqualification. The administrator has authority to appoint and remove judges, amend and interpret rules, and decide any issue not covered in the rules. Stories written by Micro Award Committee members and their families are ineligible, and Committee members may not vote for stories released in publications at which they were then or are currently employed. The Micro Award is a non-profit organization.

 

Questions and comments should be mailed to Micro Award, POB 9110, Chico CA 95927-9110, and addressed to Robert Laughlin, Administrator. The administrator will reply only if SASE is provided.