Into the Void Fiction Prize

The 2019 Into the Void Fiction Prize has now ended and we are thrilled to reveal the winners and shortlisted writers.

Of the great many submitted this year there were stories about life and death, lust and romance and how sex pushes us together and pulls us apart, love, loss, grief, revenge, regret, redemption—the whole spectrum of human experience. While it was difficult beyond words to choose just three winners from this breathtaking array, in the end three stories shined through as being particularly original, creative and expertly woven tales that each employ simple language that is vivid and graceful without being overwrought, and each share a common core of truth and sincerity and a willingness to wade into the deep end and bring us along with them.

But the entire shortlist and more stories not included are fantastic short stories each deserving of a prize and in an ideal world this would be the case.

Congratulations to the winners and shortlisted writers and thanks so much to everyone who sent stories our way.

Look out for the winning stories in Issue #16 of Into the Void which publishes in print and online January 25.

WINNERS

1st Place: Off Meds by Brendan Stephens

Brendan Stephens is a writer and musician from Maryland. He is in the Creative Writing and Literature PhD program at the University of Houston where he serves as the Digital Fiction Editor for Gulf Coast. His work has appeared in EpochSoutheast ReviewNotre Dame Review, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of an Inprint Donald Barthelme prize and was the 2nd Place winner of the 2018 Into the Void Fiction Prize for his story “A Lifetime.”

2nd Place: Zoloft by Kevin Rippin

Kevin Rippin lives in Greensboro, NC. He teaches writing at NC A&T University, and his full-length poetry book, Amber Drive, was published last year by Main St. Rag Press.

3rd Place: Sublimation by Alec Hutchinson

Alec Hutchinson is the author of two novels: The Bell and The Last Resort (the latter published under the pseudonym of Josh Caverton) and a collection of short stories, Asynchronous Ferox. Originally from Auckland, New Zealand, he currently lives in South London where he works as a teacher.

SHORTLIST

Angels Camp and Mountain Ranch by Lisa Michelle
Bikhari by Kailash Srinivasan
Crossover Performance by Daniel Nathan Horn
Desire Path by Tony Cartlidge
Easy by Dominic Blewett
Evacuation Plans by Josh Stewart
Gods, Titans and Junk by Dean Gessie
Homeless Camping Jump by Annie Dawid
Iris with Mermaids by Deborah Johnstone
Knuckle Ridge by Mexico Michaels
Moonlight Sonata by Dianne Scott
Sabbatical by Linda Shapiro
The Man Who Dances with Dolls by William Torphy
The One Book by Gregg Williard
Three Days with a Nice Jewish Boy Before His Murder by Tracy Haught
Violent Candy by Thomas Gresham

 

Prizes

1st Place: $1000 + publication on the website and in print Issue 15 of Into the Void
2nd Place: $200 + publication on the website and in print Issue 15 of Into the Void
3rd Place: $100 + publication on the website and in print Issue 15 of Into the Void

Timeline

August 1st: Submissions open
November 1st: Submissions close
December 1st: Shortlist announced
December 14th: Winners announced

Rules

  • Stories must be a maximum of 5,000 words. The word count will be strongly enforced: a story of more than 10 words over 5,000 is invalid and will be rejected without refund.
  • Stories must be unpublished in all formats including personal websites and blogs.
  • Stories must contain no identifying information in the document or in the title of the document or in the ‘Title’ section within Submittable as submissions are read blind in keeping with Into the Void’s ethos of fairness and equality. The blindness policy will be strongly enforced: a submission that includes identifying information will be rejected without refund.
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed but submissions must be withdrawn immediately when accepted elsewhere and will not be refunded.
  • This contest is open to writers based anywhere in the world.

Fee

Each entry of a single short story costs $12 Canadian. There is no limit to entries per person. The money received from entries will go toward the prize money and anything extra will be used to cover the many costs of running Into the Void. None of the money received will go to any of the editors or other staff of Into the Void. Each entry comes with a free one-year online subscription to Into the Void worth $9.99.

Judge

Philip Elliott is an award-winning author, freelance editor, and founder and editor-in-chief of award-winning literary journal and small press publisher Into the Void. Philip was a National Juror of the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and a winner of the 2018 Big Pond Rumours Chapbook Prize. His writing has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. A music and film obsessive, Philip lives in Toronto with his wife and their spoiled pug.

 

Philip is the author of satirical L.A. noir Nobody Move.

Winner Indie Author Project Ontario Award

“Elliott has a real feel for comedic noir in the Elmore Leonard vein, and his debut novel screams cult classic.” Booklist

“A multifaceted series opener by a promising new voice in hard-boiled crime fiction. Fans of Elmore Leonard and Jim Thompson will find much to savor”Kirkus Reviews

“a new spin on the genre” —San Francisco Book Review

“makes reading fun again” —US Review of Books

“like Tarantino on the page…rushes at you from page one.” —Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Poughkeepsie Shuffle

Last Year’s Winners

Last Year’s Shortlisted Stories

  • Alae Angelorum by Rachel McHale
  • Billable Hours by Stephanie Mark
  • Call in the Night by Seth Freeman
  • Good Will by N.L.
  • Guest by Brian Randall
  • Late Late Late by Dominic Martin
  • Replacement Child Thomas Gresham
  • Sirens by S.G. Fromm
  • The Full House by Kaylie Saidin
  • Through the Cracks by Jemiscoe Chambers-Black
  • What You Know and What You Don’t by Jason Marc Harris
  • You and Me and the Devil Makes Three by Salvatore Sodano

Submit

Submit one short story of up to 5,000 words per entry at the button below. In submitting to the competition you are giving Into the Void First World Publication Rights should your story be a winner. All rights revert back to the author immediately following publication.

**N.B. All entries are read blind. Do not include any identifying information anywhere in the document or in the document name or in the ‘Title’ section in Submittable.**
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