Arizona Mystery Writers
Two Story Contests
One for Adults, One for Youth
Blind Judging, Written Feedback, Cash Prizes
Every year the Arizona Mystery Writers offers two story-writing contests. The adult contest is for anyone eighteen or older. The youth contest is judged by the same standards, but is for people under eighteen.
The story contest is a great way to improve your writing skills. The judges read every story and they don’t know who wrote them. Your name does not appear on your story, so whether you’re a famous writer or a beginning scribbler, you get the same thoughtful consideration as everybody else.
Whether you win a prize or not, every story gets written comments from the judges. That is something you don’t see in most other contests. Many people say they enter the Arizona Mystery Writers contest just to get the feedback.
But you could win a prize: First, Second, or Third. A prize brings a cash award, recognition, and posting of your story on our website for a year. Winning is really good for you self-esteem.
What kind of story should you write? Short. The best stories are often the shortest ones, not the long ones. See the contest requirements for exact details, but the maximum length we accept is about ten pages, double-spaced, or about 2500 words.
Naturally, since we’re the Arizona Mystery Writers, we want a mystery story, but we’re flexible about the boundaries of that category, and we also accept thrillers and suspense stories.
A mystery is where a crime is presented right up front then the rest of the story is about discovering who did it, or maybe how it was done, or maybe why. A common example is a murder where an investigator must find out who did it (or whodunnit, as mystery writers often say).
In a thriller, something is terribly wrong, but the characters in the story don’t know exactly what the trouble is. The story is mainly about identifying the problem then fixing it. An example would be a character who discovers that someone is trying to kill her, but she doesn’t know who or why and must find out before it’s too late.
In a suspense story, something terrible is going to happen and everybody knows what it is, but nothing can be done about it. The clock is ticking and we’re all gonna die! The main characters in the story figure out how to save the day.
It doesn’t matter if your story’s characters are in outer space, riding horses, or living underground. Costumes and settings don’t matter as long as the story is a mystery, thriller, or suspense tale as described.
The main quality of a prize-winning story in our contests is that the story problem (murder, threat, crisis, etc.) is investigated with real-world, evidence-based problem-solving that leads to a logical, believable resolution. The story is like a puzzle that gets solved. An unexpected or particularly satisfying ending is a bonus.
Check the rules and requirements for the contest you’re interested in and start sketching your story now so you can meet the deadline. It’s really a lot of fun, and it’s good for you. If you don’t win a prize, you still get good feedback, and you can keep trying every year until you do win.
We look forward to reading your story!
