With guest judge Ann Patchett

The winning submission selected by Ann Patchett will be read as part of the Selected Shorts performance at Symphony Space on May 20, 2009. The story will be recorded for possible later broadcast as part of the public radio series. The winner will receive $1000.

Story requirements

·Submit a single short story that contains a surprise.
·Your story must have a title.
·Your story must be no more than three double-spaced typed pages in length (we recommend 12pt., Times New Roman font.)
·Your name and contact information must appear on the first page. Include page numbers.
·One entry per person.

Deadline
All submissions must be received by March 6, 2009. Online submissions must be received by 5 pm EST. Mailed submissions must arrive at the address below no later than March 6.

Entrance Fee
A fee of $10 should be included with your manuscript. If submitted online, fees must be paid with a credit card. Postal mail submissions should include a check made out to “Symphony Space.”

Where to submit your story
Online entries can be submitted at www.symphonyspace.org/writing_contest.

Mail to:
CONTEST, Selected Shorts
Symphony Space
2537 Broadway
New York, NY 10025

Please do not send duplicate copies (email or postal mail is sufficient). We cannot allow revisions to your story once we have received it. Due to the high volume of submissions and our small staff, we will not be able to notify you when we receive your story. The winner will be selected by Ann Patchett and notified by the end of April. As soon as the winner is selected, his or her name will be posted to this page.

Note
Contestants who submit by email or provide their email address will be added to the Selected Shorts email list. Contestants who submit entries by postal mail will be added to the Selected Shorts mailing list.

The Prize
$1000 and two tickets to the May 20th closing night of Selected Shorts series at Symphony Space, when the prizewinning story will be read.

About this year’s guest judge
Ann Patchett’s most recent novel is Run and her newest book is What Now? She is the author of The Patron Saint of Liars, which was named a New York Times Notable Book for 1992. She is also the author of Taft, which received the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for the best work of fiction in 1994; The Magicians Assistant, which earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship; and Bel Canto, winner of both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in 2002. She was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 2004, Patchett published Truth & Beauty, a memoir of her friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy, winner of the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize.