Showcase your talent!

Once again, the Gaithersburg Book Festival is hosting a short story writing contest for high school students from across the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. (More info here.)

The contest is open to high school students (public, private or homeschooled, grades 9-12, in the 2011-12 school year) who live in Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia. Stories must be no longer than 1,000 words and start with one of the following three lines, which were provided by Nero and Shamus award-winning mystery writer Brad Parks, author of “Eyes of the Innocent” and “Faces of the Gone:”

• A 7-Eleven parking lot may not seem like the kind of place a miracle could occur, yet that’s where Haley Parsons was standing when she became aware she was witnessing one…
• The thing I tell people about starting a riot is this: Make sure you have some idea how you’re going to stop it, unless you want to end up like me…
• Lots of people have heard of love at first sight, but this was something else entirely…

Stories must be submitted as a Word document by midnight ET on February 24, 2012, to writingcontest@gaithersburgbookfestival.org.

Up to 10 stories will be selected as fi­nalists and posted on the Gaithersburg Book Festival website prior to the Book Festival. The first-, second-, and third-place winners will be announced at the festival and will be awarded $100, $50 and $25 gift certificates, respectively, courtesy of the Johns Hopkins Montgomery County Campus.

More info here.