Tiny Stories

Once, at a party, the writer Ernest Hemingway had a bet that he could write a story in just six words. He won the bet: “For Sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.” Since then many writers have had fun trying to fit a lot of meaning into just a few words.

Modern technology has led to a particular boom in this kind of tiny fiction. In the early days of text messaging, a Japanese literary genre of SMS-length stories emerged. Then, with Twitter, writers started to try to create Tweet-length stories, sometimes called “Twitterature” (originally 180 characters, now 240 characters).

For this year’s Bridge competition, we’d like you to try your hands at tiny stories of your own. The upper limit for each story is 500 characters, including spaces, but under that limit you can be as short as you like. Each of you can enter up to three stories, but you can only win a maximum of one prize. Stories will be judged 60% for creativity and 40% for English.

How to Enter
•    Send your story (or stories) by email and put the text directly in the body of your e-mail (don’t send it as an attachment). The address to use is competition@bridge-online.cz, with the subject Tiny Stories. (If you use a different subject or none, we may not include your entry in the competition).
•    Don’t forget to include your full name, the name and address of your school and the full name of your English teacher.
•    The deadline is January 31st 2020. The competition is open only to Bridge subscribers.

Prizes
Five winners will each get Alza vouchers worth 2,000 crowns.

The teacher of every winner will get a voucher for the Bridge e-bookshop.

The winners will be announced in the May-June 2020 issue of Bridge. By taking part in the competition, you agree to have your story printed in the magazine with your name and the name of your school.