Humor Story Contest
(Fall/Winter issue)

Deadline: October 17, 2023
Release: December 15, 2023

2023 Grand Prize Winner

The Invitation by Angela Louise

2023 Honorable Mentions/Contributors

A Shot at Grief by Janet Travers

Airbnb by Sally Cobau

Cut and Dried by Michelle Kraft
Flight of the Wiener Dog by Paul Forster

Happier Endings by Cindy Schimanski
I Have Questions by Joseph J. Ridgway

If You Get the Chance by Mary F. Lee
It’s Good to Be Hip! by John F. Rifenberg
Josh Saw a UFO by Eric R Skinner
My *Not So* Silent Retreat by Joell Dunlap
No Bed of Roses by Robert English
On Being a Sympathetic CIS White Man Trying to Empathize with the Socio-Economic-Gendered-Racial Struggles of PoC, LGBTQ+, and
Non-CIS-White-Male Friends Without Being Either Pandering or Dismissive— by Bobby O’Rourke
The Closet by Casey Clifford Rock
The Essence of Wisdom by Robert H. Miller

The Far District by Greta Holt

The Pineapple Upside Down Cake Incident
by Geoffrey K. Graves

Ulysses of Astoria by George H. Northrup
Waxing Gone Bad by Kate Redmond

Semifinalists

Our Grand Prize winner and Honorable Mentions/Contributors
will be further selected (and contacted directly) from this list.

A Biography of My Sister’s Pug by Erika Duncan
A Near Drowning by Lynne Kaufman
A Preacher’s Kid Expose by Robert B. Robeson
A Royal Flush by Russell Gayer
A Shot at Grief by Janet Travers
Airbnb by Sally Cobau
Barren by Melissa Matury
Breaking and Entering by Colleen Markley
Call Your Mama by Brenda Galloway Conway
Capitalizing on Mental States by Mwihaki Kiiru
Cupid Valentino by Shawn Geegbae
Cut and Dried by Michelle Kraft
Dandelion Birthday by Celia H. Miles
Dear Enid by Jay McKenzie
Fare le Pulizie by Joey Porcelli
Figuring It Out by Mary Kuykendall
Flatus Elatus by Lauren Brown
Flight of the Wiener Dog by Paul Forster
Good Riddance by Sandra Tanner
Good Will by Fritz McDonald
Happier Endings by Cindy Schimanski
Harmony by Stephen Schwandt
How I Learned to Defeat Wily Squirrels and Build
My Self-Esteem by Thomas Kessler
How to Hug a Teenager by CK Steefel
How to Operate Remote Control Fog™ by Sydney Weber
How to Start Again by Ash Adams
I Also Feel Bad About My Neck by Amy Burke
I Am the Devil by Joanne Gram
I Have Questions by Joseph J. Ridgway
I’m Totoro, and This Is My
Self-Acceptance Journey by Kara Panzer
If We Played Two Truths and a Lie by Barb Reynolds
If You Get the Chance by Mary F. Lee
It’s Good to Be Hip! by John F. Rifenberg
Josh Saw a UFO by Eric R Skinner
Keeping Pace by William Harder
Land Shark by Nikita J. Garcias
Laughing Jesus at Swim Class Final by Dominic Belmonte
Literary Commentary by Mary F. Lee
Living It Up After Two Total Knee
Replacements by Susan Strauss
Lolo in Love by Paul Byall
Marco's Polo by Adam Mercadante
McGonagall’s Elephant by Catherine Mainland
Mindful Flossing by T.L. Martin
Mine Could Use a Walk by Eric R Skinner
Muling the Canyon by Patricia Solari
My Great Turtle Adventure by Judy Quan
My *Not So* Silent Retreat by Joell Dunlap
Nirvana by Tess Kelly
No Bed of Roses by Robert English
North Carolina Nostophobia by Joe Pagetta
Nothing Better Than a Cold Can of
Coca-Cola by Sajween Khan
Now Let’s Play—Medical Monopoly by Jane Walster
On Being a Sympathetic CIS White Man Trying to Empathize with the Socio-Economic-Gendered-Racial Struggles of PoC, LGBTQ+, and
Non-CIS-White-Male Friends Without Being Either Pandering or Dismissive— by Bobby O’Rourke
Oscar Night 1998 by Deborah L. Levine
Poetry Slam by Stephen Schwandt
Professor Romeo Meets His First
Lesbian Educator by Richard Stokes
Shampoo by Rocco Carello
Sharks in My Shower by Carolina Quiroga
Shopping for New Breasts by Becky Jones
Sis by Linda Norlander
State of the Fart by Scott Leff
Thank You by Joanne Gram
The 12 Days of Crazy by Sydney Weber
The Closet by Casey Clifford Rock
The Dream by Cami Rumble
The Essence of Wisdom by Robert H. Miller
The Far District by Greta Holt
The Fine Art of Telling Stories by Tim Thornburgh
The Invitation by Angela Louise
The Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Incident by Geoffrey K. Graves
The Split Up by Larry Phillis
The Unreasonable Zebra by John Foley
The Watchcat by Adam Mercadante
Tits and Zits by Charlene Cason
True Love by George W. Reed
Tsundoku by Nigel Woodhead
Turtle Farming by Mark Rhodes
Twilight for Mr. McGillicutty by P.G. Smith
Ulysses of Astoria by George H Northrup
Waxing Gone Bad by Kate Redmond
Wincessful Strateamship: 4 Principles to Achieve Maximistic Growthsomeness Through Innovacist Performanagement by Skip Workman
Winter Haiku by Mary F. Lee
Work Breaks by Sheryl Mebane
Would You Please Do Something Autistic? by Tony Peyser
Young Geniuses by Richard Jespers

Contest Description

Due to our belief that everything would be better if we could laugh a little more, and after trying out a few different themes for this issue, we are dedicating the Fall/Winter issue permanently to Humor.

Entries can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry—as usual, if it tells a story, and makes us laugh, it fits!

Click here to return to the Guidelines page and to enter.

Past Winners

2022

Grand Prize
Wild Turkey by William E. Burleson
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
Battleground by Jennifer Neves
Because I’m Cultured Like That by Ben Terry
Birks and Jerks by Eyal Cohen
Blood Buzz by Nathan Spicer
Career Advice for the Dying by Lisa Haneberg
Escape Artist by Christianna Soumakis
Found in Translation by Margaret Morth
Gender Bunny by J Mase III
Meditation on an Onion by Lollie Butler
Misdiagnosis by Sara Maria Greene
Monkey Pox by Melinda Goodman
My Job Application by Elizabeth Hill
On Shits, And How Often One Should Give Them by Jaiden Collier
Roomba by Ryan Murphy
Self Portrait as a Spermatozoon by Norman Goodwin
Shopping at Sears on a Snowy Day by Lynn Moore Rhodes
Shopping for Rugs on a Snowy Evening by Howard Zaharoff
Talking to Vincent by Ray Chatelin
The Bride and Her Toilette by Jenelle Boucher
The Jersey Slide by Don Carter
The Straight Poop by Steve Reynolds
Transformation by Stephen Schwandt

Get the latest issue here.

Humor Story Contest (Fall/Winter issue)

Humor Story Contest
(Fall/Winter issue)