A few weeks ago I was perusing through Craigslist.com for freelance jobs and I happened upon a job posting to be a judge in a writing competition. I had no interesting in judging but I was interested in the competition so after a few clicks and a little reading I found www.NYCMidnight.com.
Straight from the site:
Mission & History
The mission of NYC Midnight is to discover a new wave of talented filmmakers and storytellers from around the world and provide them with an outlet for their creativity. Each year, NYC Midnight designs intense competitions to challenge the stamina, determination, and originality of these aspiring filmmakers and writers.  Since 2002, thousands of filmmakers and writers from around the world have taken part in NYC Midnight events.  Top films from NYC Midnight have gone on to screen and win awards at festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Cinequest, and Crossroads.
I was immediately interested in the Short Story Competition that was scheduled to start 1/20/12. I wasn’t sure if I was going to join because of the entry fee but I jokingly asked a room of family members if they wanted to sponsor me and my brother said he would pay for half of the entry fee, $25. So I decided, why not?
I signed up and last week I received my heat information. I am in Heat 10 with of 24 other writers. The entire competition has 625 writers participating. Round 1 consists of a short story under 2,500 words. We got one week to write the story using the guidelines given to each heat. Heat 10 received these:
Genre:Â Â Drama
Subject:Â Â Memory loss
Character:Â Â The captain of a ship
I submitted my completed story two days ago. It was definitely a challenge to get it under 2,500 words. I wanted to do my best at developing my characters and also having a story that was dramatic, yet, gave you a good feeling about the characters in the end.
As soon as I get the confirmation email that my story has been officially accepted I will post it here.