William Van Dyke Short Story Prize

Ruminate  Magazine - William Van Dyke Short Story Prize
We are invite you to enter the William Van Dyke Short Story Prize, and we are thrilled to announce that Larry Woiwode is serving as our finalist judge.

As with all our submissions, we highly recommend reading a copy of the magazine to better understand what we are looking for. The 2014 winning story “Legacy” by Lori Vos appears in Issue 31: Always we begin again. The 2013 Short Story Prize winning story “Saturdays He Drove the Ford Pickup” by David Brendan Hopes appears in Issue 27: Glimpses. The 2012 Short Story Prize winning story “Stories My Mother Told Me” by Nahal Suzanne Jamir appears in Ruminate’s Issue 23: The Stories We Tell.
Guidelines:
The submission deadline for the short story contest is midnight, October 27th, 2014.
The entry fee is $20 (includes a free copy of the Spring 2015 Issue).
You may submit one story per contest entry fee and it must be 5500 words or less. There is no limit on the number of entries per person.
$1500 will be awarded to the winner and publication in the Spring 2015 Issue. $200 will be awarded to the runner-up story and publication in the Spring 2015 Issue.
A blind reading of all entries will be conducted by a panel of Ruminate readers, who will select 12 short stories as finalists.
Close friends and students (current & former) of the finalist judge are not eligible to compete. Nor are close friends or family of the Ruminate staff.
Winners will be announced in the Spring Issue, March 2015.
We will be notifying all entrants of submission status in mid-January, 2015.
Please remove your name, bio, and any contact info from the file that you submit.
We are sometimes asked if Ruminate is seeking or only accepts “Christian” or “spiritual” stories. The answer to that question is no. We are simply looking for good stories, and there are no restrictions on the subject matter or content for submissions. The best way to understand the work we publish is to read a past issue.






Please Note: Ruminate adheres to the following Contest Code of Ethics, as adopted by the Council of Literary Presses and Magazines, of which Ruminateis a proud member: “CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believes that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines — defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.”