SCN congratulates the following winners of our Judy Alter Online Writing Competition!

1st Place: Lynda Smith Hoggan for What the Stars See 

2nd Place: Maria O'Rourke for The Time I Ran Away from a Monastery 

3rd Place: Pat Bean for Starting Over: Lemonade from Lemons

Thanks to the entrants, judges, and coordinator Linda Hoye for making this contest such a success.

 

Story Circle Network friend and supporter, Judy Alter, who passed away on July 13, 2024, was a prolific writer and blogger. (You can check out her blog here: https://judys-stew.blogspot.com/)

In her honour, our Judy Alter Online Writing Competition will be open for submissions between January 1, and February 22, 2025. Your post on a blog (yours or another), or on Substack, Medium, or other online writing platform published between March 1, 2024 and February 22, 2025 is eligible for entry.

2025 Topic: STARTING OVER  Watch this page for the 2026 contest.

Open only to members of Story Circle Network. To join us, go here. 

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“Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

― L.M. Montgomery

 

“If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down, but the staying down.”

― Mary Pickford

 

"Rock bottom is the end of what wasn’t true enough. Begin again and build something truer.” 

– Glennon Doyle

 

The post should be fresh and original, rich in detail, polished and carefully proofread, relevant to women’s lives, and responsive to the topic. 

A quote relevant to the topic (one shown above or one of your choosing) must be included in the post as an epigraph and the post must grow out of the quote.

Prizes of $100, $75, and $50 will be awarded to the top three entries. The first-place post will be published in the Story Circle Journal and all winning blogs will be featured on SCN’s website.

Open for submissions from January 1 to February 22, 2025.

The competition is open only to members. Time to renew? Go to https://www.storycircle.org/registration/.

Awards

One prize of $100, one prize of $75, and one prize of $50. The first-place post will be published in the Story Circle Journal and links to all winning blogs will be featured on SCN's website. Upon the judges' recommendation, other entries may be published in later issues of the Journal and in other SCN print or online publications. An award may be withheld if, in the opinion of the judges, no entry achieves the expected standard. The judges' decision is final.

Rules

• You must be a dues-paying member of Story Circle Network to enter. (To join, use our online membership form.)
• The $25 entry fee can be paid online or by check.
• One entry per member.
• To be eligible, your entry must be unpublished (other than on your blog or other writing platform, of course). We define a "published" piece as one that has been reviewed and accepted by an editor, either for a print or an online publication. 
• Your post on a blog (yours or another), on Substack, Medium, or an other online writing platform is eligible for entry if it was published between the dates indicated.
• A quote relevant to the topic (one shown above or another of your choosing) must be included in the post as an epigraph and the post must grow out of the quote.
• Each entry must be titled, and no longer than 750 words. 
• Story Circle Network does not provide a platform for targeted political or religious argument, and such entries are not eligible.
• Story Circle Network does not accept work created (in whole or in part) using Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated text. Submissions found to be crafted using computer-generated text of any kind will be disqualified.
• Winners' posts must be available for publication in the Journal. 
• You must submit your entry to us electronically by using our online form [see below] and include a link to your blog.
• By submitting your blog post, you are giving Story Circle the right to publish it in the Journal, in its other print publications, and on its website. However, authors retain copyright.
• Prize winners in our writing competitions are ineligible to enter the same competition in the year following a win. You are, however, invited to serve as a jury member that year.

Criteria and Judging

The post you submit should be fresh and original, rich in detail, polished and carefully proofread, relevant to women’s lives, and responsive to the topic. Your blog should have a clear overall theme, be attractive, engaging, and consistently updated. See the 2024 winning posts below for examples.

2024 1^st place: Sharon Charde, Moving On

2024 2^nd place: Janice Airhart, Eating Crow

2024 3^rd place: Terry Repak, Starting a New Year With Beginner's Mind

 

Notification

Winners will be notified when the judging is concluded.

How to Enter

Contest entries should be made via the form below. (Available only while contest is open, only when logged in. To join, go here.)