“My territory as a writer is exploring the unknown.”
The 2023 winners will be announced in late March.
The 2023 contest is closed.
Thank you for all the great submissions!
“Just for one moment, I keep my eyes closed, trying to hold on to the last faint tendrils of the dream I was just having, but they slip away from my grasping hands like silk.”
7th Grade Honorable Mention
“Along the course of my life, I was repeatedly told that the mere scratch of ink on a parcel of paper was a sin. …
Unfortunately, the need to rebel against authority was a crippling disposition of mine. My fingers itched for the release of my thoughts onto paper.”
11th Grade Prize Winner
“Writers…live in a sort of twilight between the world they belong to and the world they create.”
British novelist and screenwriter
“Being swept away by a story [is] not such a bad thing.”
in Little Bookshop of Murder (Crooked Lane Press, 2020)
“When you write, you write by the seat of your pants.”
There’s an apprenticeship to be served in becoming a writer at least as much as an apprenticeship to be served in becoming a doctor.
You have to learn your craft so well that you’re not even conscious of it when you write.
THE 2022 CONTEST RESULTS ARE IN!
Congratulations to all the young authors who told their stories and were brave enough to share them with us. From more than 1200 entries, we selected 26 stories to publish in Bluefire 2022. Here are the $1000 for 1000 Words Creative Writing Contest Results for 2022.
$1000 GRAND PRIZE WINNERS
Ivy Chen, 11th Grade, from Naperville, IL, for the story Where Dust Consumes.
Claire Guo, 8th Grade, from San Jose, CA, for the story Gunpowder and Smoke.
$100 Prize Grade Level Winners
Jenny Hu, 12th Grade, from Cincinnati, OH, for the story Diet Mountain Dew.
Claire Li, 10th Grade, from Bellevue, WA, for the story Christmastime at Court.
Aravah Chaiken, 9th Grade, from New York City, NY, for the story A Wave Good-Bye.
Leah Tropper, 7th Grade, from Dallas, TX, for the story The Seven Chairs.
Eliya Wee, 6th Grade, from Menlo Park, CA, for the story Mo Chuisle; My Pulse.
Honorable Mention Winners
Richard Zhu, 12th Grade, from Highland Park, NJ, for the story The Angel’s Interrogation.
Callum Yeaman, 12th Grade, from San Francisco, CA, for the story The Little White Pill.
Mmachi Ezigbo, 11th Grade, from Daleville, VA, for the story Bring May Flowers.
Madhalasa Iyer, 11th Grade, from Plano, TX, for the story The Pallu.
Elani Spencer, 11th Grade, from Rochester, NY, for the story There is War in My Country.
Ashley Xu, 11th Grade, from Brookline, MA, for the story Three Body Problem.
Claire Buchanan, 10th Grade, from Bethesda, MD, for the story Movie of Memories.
Alyssa Wong, 10th Grade, from Hillsborough, CA, for the story The Crypt-Keeper.
Grace Liu, 9th Grade, from Ann Arbor, MI, for the story Pixie Girl Omophagia.
Michelle Chen, 9th Grade, from Boston, MA, for the story Watch as Everything Shatters.
Alaina Wallen, 8th Grade, from Harrisburg, PA, for the story Dear Doug (P.S. I want the kids back).
Chelsea Guo, 8th Grade, from San Jose, CA, for the story Hide-and-Seek.
Emily Yen, 7th Grade, from Houston, TX, for the story Just Like Magic.
Ada Forester, 7th Grade, from Portland, OR, for the story No Happily Ever After.
Christiana Hewines, 7th Grade, from Macomb, MI, for the story The Footsteps of Thousands.
Audrey Culler, 7th Grade, from Chattanooga, TN, for the story The Presentation.
Simon Bhuiyan, 6th Grade, from Canton, MI, for the story The Observation.
Mayowa Adegunle, 6th Grade, from Indianapolis, IN, for the story The Story of a Soulless Painter.
Hailey Chang, 6th Grade, from Irvine, CA, for the story Trains.