Birmingham Public Library Hosts Six-Word Food Story Contest August 4-September 30, 2017

Urban legend has it that Ernest Hemingway wrote a six-word short story
on a bet. The story has since been debunked, but many have challenged
themselves to write a six-word story as effective as this one.

Ever since legend recorded that Ernest Hemingway won a bet by writing his famous story, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn,” writers have been challenging themselves to squeeze as much emotion and impact as possible into six words. As part of our annual celebration of food, drink, and literature the Birmingham Public Library is having a six-word story contest. In only six words, tell us about your adventures with food using the form below, Twitter, Instagram, or e-mail.

The contest will run from Friday, August 4, 2017, until Friday, September 30, 2017. Stories must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. on September 30 in order to be eligible. Four winners will be selected. Stories will be judged on creativity and originality.

Here are the rules and eligibility:

Submission Form

Eligibility

• Must be an Alabama resident
• To enter the competition, contestants must be 18 or over
• Birmingham Public Library staff and immediate family members are ineligible

Rules

• All submissions must be in English
• Stories must be exactly six words long
• Stories submitted via Twitter or Instagram must be tagged with #edrw6wordstory to be eligible
• Stories may be submitted via e-mail as well. E-mail your story to bpledrw@gmail.com

Prizes

• Each winner will receive a copy of Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith
• Judging will be completed the week of Eat Drink Read Write and the winners will be announced on Friday, October 6, 2017