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Contests (Due 8/31/25 at 11:59 pm)
Download contests click here

Showcase Awards (PDF available March 10)

1. Grand Showcase Award - 3 Prizes ($200/$100/$50) 

  • Write a short story about a life-changing event (any genre). Put the genre's name at the top of the entry above the title.

  • Limit 2000 words. 

  • Sponsor: Ozark Creative Writers Board of Directors. 

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2. Oxbow Award in Memory of Dusty & Pat Richards - 3 Prizes  ($200/$100/$50) 

  • Western short story.

  • The west is any location west of the Mississippi River, including Alaska.

  • Limit: 2000 words. 

  • Sponsor: Ozark Creative Writers Board of Directors

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3. Founding Member Award in Memory of Arkansas Poet Laureate Peggy Vining - 1 Prize ($100) 

  • Poem about personal growth any style. 

  • Limit: 24 lines. 

  • Sponsor: Ozark Creative Writers Board of Directors. 

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4. Mike Willis Memorial Award - 1 Prize ($100)

  • A humorous short story about life in the south.

  • Limit: 2000 words. 

  • Sponsor: Chrissy Willis, in memory of her late husband, Mike Willis

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5. Velda Brotherton Memorial Contest - 1 Prize ($100) 

  • Western Short fiction,with a strong female lead character.

  • Limit: 2000 words. 

  • Sponsor: Anthony Wood

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6. Published Newspaper Column/Blog Award -1 Prize ($50) 

  • ​Best opinion essay or column published in a newspaper, online news outlet, or blog for the 12 months preceding August 1, 2025. Columns or blogs may be on any subject or theme, including reviews or humor.​

  • Limit: 2500 words.

  • Sponsor: Max McCoy

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7. Show Me Your Book Cover- 1 Prize ($50). 

  • Your entry should include the following (A single document)

    • Page 1- A JPG or PNG (1 MB max) of the front cover of your book published in 2023, 2024, or 2025.​

    • Page 2- A document (500 word max) with the date of publication, the ISBN, genre of your book, and the back cover description. 

    • Document may take more than one page.

  • Judging will be based on how well the cover portrays the theme of the book.​ Judges will be from the art and design field and unrelated to OCW.

  • Sponsor Ellen Withers

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Grand Conference Awards- 3 Prizes ($50/$30/$20)

 

8. Search for Excellence Award  

  • Nonfiction memoir or essay about someone who has positively influenced your life.

  • Limit: 2500 words. 

  • Sponsor: Leon Combs  

9. Native American Short Story

  • Write a short story featuring a strong Native American character

  • Limit: 1500 word limit

  • Sponsor: Clouse Literary Arts and Theater

​10. A Fish Out of Water Tale​

  • A short story that includes someone or something in unusual surroundings. Examples: A 12-year-old enrolls at Harvard, a wolf finds himself appointed king of a lost colony of highly intelligent rabbits, a car mechanic travels back or forward in time, a New Yorker is stranded at the Midland/Odessa airport, etc. Make it zany or believable but write to entertain.

  • Limit: 1000 words.

  • Sponsor: Micki Fuhrman

11. Point A to Point Z​

  • Write a complete story in 26 sentences. Each complete sentence must begin with a sequential letter of the alphabet from A-Z.

  • The first sentence must begin with the word a or a word beginning with a. The second sentence must begin with a word beginning with the letter b and so on so that the 26th sentence begins with a word beginning with the letter Z.

  • Limit: 500 words.

  • Sponsor: Saturday Book Club

12.  Sleuths' Ink Contest 

  • Short Story, mystery, thriller, crime, in which a crime is committed.

  • Limit: 1500 words

  • Sponsor: Sleuths' Ink, Springfield, Missouri

13. From Dusk To Dawn​

  • Tell a spooky tale of a monster that prowls the night from dusk to dawn.

  • Limit: 2000 words

  • Sponsor: Homegrown Books

 14. Ozark Romance Authors Award 

  • Short Story (Romance)

  • Must contain the following words: solidarity, skinny, pitch, justice.

  • Limit: 750 words

  • Sponsor: Ozark Romance Authors, Springfield, Missouri   

15. Steamy Romance Contest

  • Short story

  • Two people met and fall for each other at a writer's conference.

  • Make it steamy and sweet

  • Limit: 1000-4000 words

  • Sponsor: Delicious Escape Publications                                                                                          

Conference Awards- 3 Prizes ($25/$15/$10)

16.  Flash Fiction in Memory of David Kirkland

  • Must have a beginning, middle, and end.

  • Limit 500 words.

  • Sponsor: Coffee and Critique Writers of O'Fallon, Missouri.

​17. Everything But The Kitchen Sink​

  •  A Short Story, any genre. Please give us your best short fiction

  • Limit: 1500 words

  • Sponsor: Little Red Writing Hood

18. A Scream in the Night​

  • A horror short story

  • Limit: 3000 words

  • Sponsor: Tahlequah Writers

​​19. Historical Romance Contest

  • Historical Romance short story

  • Limit: 3000 words

  • Sponsors: The Deadline Dames (Joy Keeney & Rhonda Harvey)

20. Hometown Nostalgia  Column​

  • Write a nostalgic article about the Ozarks suitable for a newspaper column. The article should have a headline (title). Give your column a name.

  • Limit: 500-1000 words.

  • Sponsor: Lonnie Whitaker

21. Nouveau Holiday

  • Devise a new holiday and tell how and why it should be observed.

  • Be sincere, outrageous, pragmatic, or satirical.

  • Any style of writing or voice

  • Limit: 225 words

  • Sponsor: Marcia Gaye

​22. Quotable Quote Blog

  • Choose a favorite quote and blog about it.

  • Limit: 500 words.

  • Sponsor: Linda Apple

23. Space Journey​

  • Science fiction genre in the style of 50’s Sci-Fi movies.

  • Limit: 2000 words.

  • Sponsor: Tahlequah Writers

24. ​Travel Article

  • Write it as if you were sending it to a reputable magazine. No photos, please. 

  • Limit: 1500 words.

  • Sponsor: Johnny D. Boggs

25. Show Me Mystery

  • A murder mystery of any genre, era, or type

  • Must include a Murder

  • Limit: 1500 words

  • Sponsor: Ellen Withers

26. Things That Go Bump In The Night!​

  • Paranormal short story (No Horror).

  • Limit: 3000 words.

  • Sponsor: Ruth Weeks

27. Best First Paragraph

  • Hook us with your best first paragraph from a novel or short story.

  • Sponsors: Margarite Stever and Bonnie Tesh

28. Rainbolt Children's Book Award​

  • Easy Readers: K-3rd grade

  • Limit: 1000 words.

  • Sponsor: Doris Jean Shaw

29. Middle Grade Fiction for Boys 8-12​

  • Limit 2000 words

  • Sponsor: Renee La Viness

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 On-The-Spot Contest- One Prize $25

  • Open only to those attending the OCW Conference in October

  • Details to be announced at the conference

  • Entries are due by noon on Saturday

  • Must be present at the Awards Banquet Saturday Evening to win

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