Help us imagine
“Life as a Georgia Tech student in the year 2050”
by submitting an original work of fiction.
The best, original works of 1,000 words or fewer in any literary genre will win cash prizes and will be featured online here and on the What’s the Buzz podcast.
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO Midnight, Friday, October 14th!
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Entry Period: 21 September 2016 thru 14 October 2016. Multiple entries allowed. Original, unpublished works only.
SUBMIT YOUR STORY HERE!
Story Context:
Higher education is changing fast. Technological advances have made it possible to run courses taken by 100,000 people or more (i.e. MOOCs), or to put lectures online so students can engage in active learning in flipped classrooms. Many colleges are providing more experiential learning opportunities for students, including service learning courses, learning and living communities, study and work abroad opportunities, co-ops and internships. Degree requirements are becoming more flexible, and more student-directed or even student-owned courses and educational experiences are being created on campuses, including opportunities to innovate in maker spaces, hack-a-thons, and capstone design competitions, as well as to be members of vertically integrated projects (VIPs) which are undergraduate labs that are largely supervised by 3rd and 4th year students working with 1st and 2nd year students to solve a problem or question posed by their faculty mentor. Today at Georgia Tech, it is even possible for students to do an internship over the summer in their own company (i.e., Create-X).
Given this rapid rate of change in higher education, it seems clear that undergraduate education will be radically different in 2050 than it is today. What will it be like to be a student at Georgia Tech in 2050? Or, if you could wave a magic wand and make education the way you’d love it to be now, what would it be like?
Contest Details
Prizes to be awarded (if at least 10 entries are received):
$120 First Prize
$80 Second Prize
$50 Third Prize
Honorable Mentions and Finalists will also be identified and published on Dr. Le Doux’s whiteboard.
There is no limit to the total number of entries allowed from each contestant, but each work must be original and unpublished. Individuals may receive only one cash prize. However, multiple entries by the same author may be selected as finalists and published online.
Original Works Only: Entries must be unpublished, and must not have been chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest. Works that have appeared on an author’s website or blog, and/or on social media sites, are considered published.
Submissions will close at midnight EST on Friday, 14 October, 2016. You can only submit your story electronically here. No Simultaneous Submissions, please.
Submissions Must Be “Blind”: This contest will be judged blind. Please do not include your name, or any identifying information, in your story: not on any page; nor in the headers or footers; nor in the filename itself. Contact info and bios should be entered in the boxes provided on the online submission form, not in your story.
No Cover Letters: If you have specific questions about the contest that are not addressed in these guidelines, please contact Dr. Le Doux at joe.ledoux@bme.gatech.edu.
Word Count: No more than 1,000 words per piece, including a mandatory title which is at least one word in length, and any footnotes from the author.
Formatting: 11- or 12-point, easy-to-read font such as Verdana. Entries may be double- or single-spaced.
Winners will be notified by email just before results are announced officially, which will be in the first week of November 2016. All decisions made by the judges are final.
Restrictions:
- No political screeds and/or religious rants
- No gratuitous violence
- No gratuitous obscenities; judicious usage is acceptable.
- No pornography, literary erotica or works containing sexual themes.
- Do not include any real people in your story. This is fiction after all, and 34 years from now, no less!
Tip #1: In considering the works for prizes, we will look for a unique voice, fresh language, and the skilled use of metaphor and irony. We will look for compelling narratives or moving accounts of the future that thread the line between the personal and the universal.
Tip #2: Check out this NY Times piece for some good advice on writing flash fiction.