Results
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​We are excited to announce James Gianetti's "Anastasia" as the winner of our seventh Adrift Short Story Contest! Here's what our guest judge, Dean Bakopoulos, had to say...
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“''Anastasia' lyrically laments parental powerlessness, the special brand of sorrow reserved for the bracing fact that we are fragile and finite no matter how strong and eternal our love for our children feels. It tells a simple, surreal story through the point of view of a parent preparing for the worst amid the slow crush of an inexplicable global emergency, one that threatens not only his daughter, but the power of science itself. With both lyricism and suspense, this story wrestles with the unspeakable, and captures the loneliness of anticipatory grief in a new and profound way."
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We would also like to congratulate runner-ups below, all of whose stories will be published in our 2025 Anthology alongside the winner.
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"The Music of Olena Xiphias" by Anastasios Mihalopoulos
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"Root Wisdom" by Susan Jardaneh
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"Hard Swallow" by Dorothy Nguyen
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Lastly, we want to extend our warmest gratitude to everyone who submitted to the contest, including the twenty-one additional semi-finalists and thirty-eight quarter-finalists. There were hundreds of wonderful short stories sent in, and many of them deserve—and will find—publication; this year's contest was one of our most competitive. We are ecstatic to continue to publish works of literary fiction that forefront language and take narrative, structural, and thematic risks, and the support of our community of readers and submitters is continually cherished and appreciated.
The 2024 Adrift Short Story Contest
Timeline
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Submissions will be open from March 1st 2024 to July 31st 2024.
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Stories are considered by Driftwood editing staff (no outside readers); guest judge reads finalists.
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Throughout the process, readers will be notified if their story is passed on or reaches the finalist pool. This often results in a quicker response than other contests, where writers often have to wait until everything has been decided.
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The winner will be announced in November 2024.
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The winning short story will be published in the 2026 anthology.
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Guidelines
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Fiction only.
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1,000-6,000 word limit.
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A standard, 12-point font is preferred.
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The work must not have been previously published.
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Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but
please withdraw the work if the story has been
accepted elsewhere. -
Submit works written in English only, no translations.
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Please submit your manuscript in a .doc, .docx, or PDF format.
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We read submissions blind, so please do not include your name, email, or any identifying characteristics on the manuscript itself.
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Submission fee is $30.00 USD. Each submitter will receive a free copy of a Driftwood Press fiction title of their choosing in the mail.
Awards
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The winner will receive $500 dollars and 10 copies of the anthology in which the story appears. The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published alongside the story.
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If a runner-up is chosen, their work will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $200, and five copies of the issue in which their work appears.
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Past Contest Winners
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Guest Judge
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Dean Bakopoulos’ first novel, Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon, was a New York Times Notable Book; he co-wrote and co-produced the film adaptation, which debuted at the Los Angeles Film Festival and was a New York Times Critics’ Pick. His second novel, My American Unhappiness, was named one of the year’s best novels by The Chicago Tribune, and his third novel, Summerlong, was an independent bookstore bestseller and is now in development as a television series. The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as NEA fellowships in both fiction (2006) and creative nonfiction (2016), Bakopoulos is writer-in-residence at Grinnell College and also teaches in the Warren Wilson MFA Program and at the University of Iowa. He is also co-writer and executive producer of the television series based on Alissa’s novel, Made for Love, for HBO MAX.
