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This Time Next Year: A Short Story Contest

This time next year a short story contest

This Time Next Year—A Short Story Contest

The winners for the 2025 contest were:

 
  • 1st place: Dianne Siasoco, "Awe Stuck" (headshot incoming by Thursday)
  • 2nd place: Amy Cerniglia, "Inheritance" (headshot attached, green background)
  • 3rd place: Adam Beilgard, "A Year's Worth" (headshot attached)
 
Honorable Mentions (in order): 
 
  • Cole Bates Norum, "People Will Stay Here"
  • Simon Sharp, "PROJECT MERCY"
  • Jamie Seitz, "This Time Next Year"
  • Risa Dotson Eicke, "Corner Turns"
  • Willow Hohmeister, "We are still here"
 
Thank you to everyone who participated - it was a big hit! Plans are forming for next year's short story contest.

The Des Moines Public Library is partnering with Little Village magazine to create a short story competition! The contest, titled "This Time Next Year," asks writers to create a story that encompasses predictions about the year ahead. The winning story will receive a $200 prize and be featured in the January edition of Little Village.

Submissions are due by October 31, 2025 at 12 PM.  

Rules and Submission Guidelines

  • The contest is open to anyone residing in Iowa who is 18 years of age or older 

  • Submissions need to follow the theme of Predictions for the Year Ahead

  • Stories must be a maximum of 2,000 words and must be new, self-contained short stories

  • Generative AI usage is prohibited

  • Writers will be judged on technical writing skill, story development, and character development 

  • Submissions will be accepted beginning September 2 at 5 AM

  • The submission form will close on October 31 at 12 PM

  • The submissions will need to be formatted in a .docx file


About our judges

Sophia Hanson: Editor, Havic Publishing; author of Water’s Break (2024) 

Carol Hunter: Former executive editor, Des Moines Register; current Des Moines Public Library Board of Trustees member. 

Carol Roh Spaulding: Author of Waiting for Mr. Kim and Other Stories (2023); 2024 Iowa Author Award recipient; professor of English at Drake University 

Chuy Renteria: Arts & Culture Editor, Little Village; author of We Heard It When We Were Young (2021).