80th Annual Writer S Digest Writing Competition Collection

The editors of Writer’s Digest are pleased to share with you the winning entries in each category of the 80th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition, along with the Grand Prize-winning story, Boy Witch, by John T. Biggs.

A special thanks to our Competition Collection sponsors at Outskirts Press. This exclusive collection contains the Grand-Prize winning short story "House on Fire" by Mary Feuer, the First-Place manuscript in each category, and the names of all 1,001 winners of the 75th Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition.

Writer's DigestShort Short Story Competition This exclusive collection contains the top twenty-five winning entries of the 13th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition, including the First-Place winner, "EXCAVATION" by MARIE BACIGALUPO.

THE MOST TRUSTED GUIDE TO GETTING PUBLISHED The 2012 Writer’s Market details thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, including listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, literary agents, newspapers, playwriting markets, and screenwriting markets. These listings include contact and submission information to help writers get their work published. Look inside and you’ll also find page after page of all-new editorial material devoted to the craft and business of writing. It’s the most information we’ve ever jammed into one edition! You’ll find insightful interviews and articles, guidelines for finding work, honing your craft, and promoting your writing. You’ll also learn how to navigate the social media landscape, negotiate contracts, and protect your work. And as usual, this edition includes the ever popular "How Much Should I Charge?" pay rate chart. You also gain access to: • Lists of professional writing organizations • Sample query letters • A free digital download of Writer's Yearbook featuring the 100 Best Markets: WritersDigest.com/upload/images/WritersDigest-Yearbook-11.pdf Includes an exclusive 60-minute FREE WEBINAR with the staff of Writer’s Digest that will teach you how to begin building your own writing platform today. "What I appreciate most about Writer’s Market is that it’s impossible to pick up the book, flip through it, and put it down 15 minutes later without at least five, new profitable ideas that I can execute immediately. No other book on my shelf that can inspire this many practical, profitable, career-building ideas in this same amount of time." —Christina Katz, author of The Writer’s Workout, Get Known Before the Book Deal and Writer Mama

Are you competitive? Do you believe that your writing stands above that of your peers? If so, then look inside and you'll find all the information you need to enter every major writing competition in the Unitied States. Hundreds of opportunities are listed, with each entry providing information on when and how to submit your work, what it costs (if anything) to participate, what the judges are looking for, when winners are selected, and what prizes are offered. If you believe in your work and think you have what it takes to outshine your peers, this is the refernece for you!

Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition This exclusive collection contains the top twenty-five winning entries of the 12th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Short Story competition, including the First-Place winner, “The Callers” by Nicole Lesperance.

What Kills You Makes You Stronger Clementine is a teenage girl from rural Oklahoma who hears voices. At first, it’s nothing special. Lost dogs and ice cream socials—things on local radio, complete with commercials. But when when she slips into a trance and foretells the beginning of World War III mere hours before the bombs start falling, the locals realize just how special Clem may be. Carl is a government scientist with a secret laboratory. He’s trying to figure out how to save the human race once the war ends and the radiation clears, and Clem’s special gift may be exactly what he needs. First, though, he’ll have to do a few experiments. Nothing painful, he tells her—well, not too painful, anyway. With no interest in becoming Carl’s experimental lab rat, Clem runs, leading the scientist and his cronies on a wild chase through the ruins of the American heartland. She’s almost free when one of her pursuers decides to shoot her rather than allow her to escape. Bullets tear through her chest—a fatal wound—and it looks like things are finished for young Clem, to say nothing of Carl’s grand plans to save the world and gain fame and fortune... until Clem wakes up in Carl’s secret lab a thousand years later. Well, it’s not Clementine, exactly, but she has Clem’s memories and some of her voices. Carl is there, too. In fact, now there are two of him.