Bonus Post! Theme Short Story Contest

This month I wrote a blog post on writing theme, and I really enjoyed researching and practicing the topic! Theme is such an important part of storytelling, and I would argue that it’s what gives our stories substance, life, and most importantly, impact.

So now, I’m introducing the Theme Short Story Contest! If you’ve been hoping to receive feedback on your writing from a published author (who truly cares about helping young writers grow!) and potentially have your story published on a blog, then I’d encourage you to share your story with me! Every submission will receive feedback from me* and my favorite piece that I feel best demonstrates theme will be featured in my next Bonus Post!

If you’re interested and want to learn more, you can find the details below, and if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments. I can’t wait to read everyone’s submissions!

- The contest’s subject is on writing theme in stories, which you can learn more about in my recent blog post, From Idea to Impact: Building Theme in Your World. Submissions should demonstrate a knowledge of writing impactful, inspiring themes.

- Submissions should have a minimum length of 500 words, and cannot exceed 5,000 words. This should give y’all some room to work in an outstanding theme!

- Submissions can be written in any genre except horror/paranormal, and content/maturity level cannot exceed PG13 (think middle-grade to lower YA range) Poetry is allowed, but it must tell a story!

- Submissions should be sent to me via Google Docs. Please format your submissions in an easily readable font (e.g. Times New Roman or EB Garamond) with the size being 11-12 pt. Images are not allowed. Please include your first name and story title somewhere in your submission (in the header, preferably)

- Please submit only one story per writer! If your story includes a section of poetry, that is allowed, but sending one story and one poem that are separate is not allowed.

- The deadline for submission is March 25, 2026. Any stories submitted after that date will not have a chance of getting feedback or being featured.

- The winner will have their story featured in my next Bonus Post in late March, as well as receiving a shout-out in my March newsletter. All other submissions will receive feedback from me!*

To submit, please email me a Google Docs link at emma@emmagmckee.com and ensure that “Theme Short Story Contest” is somewhere in the subject line. If you know someone who you think would like to participate, I would appreciate sending them a link to this post and sharing with them about my newsletter, where they can get news of future contests!

Happy writing!

Emma G. McKee

*This is, of course, dependent on how many submissions I receive. I only have so much time to read and review them, so if I receive more than I can feasibly give feedback on, I will prioritize them in order of submission. So the faster you submit, the higher chance it will receive feedback, although I do truly hope to be able to get to everyone!

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