“Beach Dreams” is Theme for Contest

Rehoboth Beach Reads Short Story Contest Now Open

Is it a literal dream? A flight of fancy? An aspiration? Something else? Maybe a character is dreaming of the beach; maybe a character is at the beach, dreaming of somewhere else. Perhaps it’s an invented world or a scene from the past. Let your creativity run wild! Just remember to follow the guidelines carefully.

This year’s theme was suggested and chosen by a vote among the Cat & Mouse Press Community (a Facebook group open only to published Cat & Mouse Press authors, illustrators, and contest judges. If you’ve been in a previous Rehoboth Beach Reads anthology and are not already a member, just go to the Cat & Mouse Press Community page and ask to join.)

The format for the contest remains the same. The deadline is July 1 (please don’t wait until the last minute!), stories must be 500-3,500 words, stories must have some connection with both the theme and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the winners will be selected by a panel of six judges. Again, Browseabout Books has generously provided the prize money of $500 for first place, $250 for second, and $100 for third. The top 20-25 stories chosen by the judges will be printed in the book Beach Dreams, which will be published by Cat & Mouse Press by the end of 2019.

The judges for this year are: Tyler Antoine, program librarian at the Rehoboth Beach Public Library; Stephanie Fowler, writer and owner of Salt Water Media, a company that provides products and services to authors; Lois Hoffman, owner of The Happy Self-Publisher, and author of Write a Book, Grow Your Business and The Self-Publishing Roadmap; Laurel Marshfield, professional writer, ghostwriter, developmental editor, and book coach; Mary Pauer, writer, developmental editor, and national contest judge; and Hal Wilson, writer, fiction editor for The Delmarva Review, and host of “Delmarva Today: Writer’s Edition” for Delmarva Public Radio. We greatly appreciate them giving their valuable time to help make Beach Dreams a great book.

Unlike our curated books (Beach Love and the soon-to-be-released Beach Pulp) which contain stories the editors chose, stories for this contest are selected by blind judging. The judges don’t know your age, your writing credentials (or lack thereof), your location, your gender, or anything else about you. Your story stands on its own. They don’t know if you’ve submitted every year or if this is your first time.

Read the contest page carefully–it contains lots of useful information, tips, and instructions.

Best of luck