Calling all writers! the Abu Dhabi Book Fair and The National Short Story Competition is back!

Last year, our very own Shahd Thani came in 4th place for her story titled “Farewell, My Broken Heart” You can read her story here

The Theme that must be used for the 2014 short story competition tackle a turning point

Some basic rules:

• The entries must have a word count no less than 1,500 words and no more than 2,000
• Any genre is welcome, as long as those conditions are
  met.
• All content submitted must be original and
  unpublished
• Must be written in English
• Target Audience for short story: Adults
• Authors must be 18 years old and above
• Authors cannot be related to anyone working at Abu Dhabi Media or at the Abu Dhabi Book Fair.
• Only one entry per person is allowed.

The deadline to submit the short stories is on the 19th of April 2013 – before

Get writing everyone!

Stories must be emailed to artslife@thenational.ae to be able to enter into the competition. Best to paste your story in the body of the email, too.

The Judging

The first round of entries will be judged by an in-house panel of The National’s Arts&Life editors. Five to 10 shortlisted works will be chosen and forwarded to the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, where the Emirati short-story author Mariam Al Saedi will choose the winner and runners-up. In total, five short stories will be recognised.

The prizes:

• The first-prize author will win an iPad Air and a Montblanc writing instrument.
• The second-place winner will receive an iPad.
• The third, fourth and fifth prizes will each receive an iPad mini.

Winning entrants will receive the prizes during a ceremony at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair’s discussion sofa from noon to 1pm on May 5.

The first-place entry will be published in The National’s Arts&Life section the same day, while all top five entries will be posted on The National’s website.

Good luck everyone!

Follow the Abu Dhabi Book Fair’s Twitter account here

Abu Dhabi Book Fair’s website here

– Untitled Chapters Team

Reference: Get involved with The National’s short-story competition