Enter a Short Story Competition which will win you Recognition and Publishing Credits - Guaranteed. Entry is free, and the first prize is $500.

Hundreds of short story writers have found a voice, a readership and inspiration through Edit Red's unique Writer's Choice Award for Short Stories competition.

Winner of the 2006 Editor's Choice  Award for Short Stories: Potting Soil by Teri Davis Rouvelas
Potting Soil' displays a masterful control of voice. The narrator herself, through a series of caustic asides and rueful comments, draws us into the slightly magical world she inhabits, where nothing is fully understood, yet everything is explained away in good faith. The prose is full of jaunty rhythms and idiosyncrasies that are carefully harnessed to paint a detailed portrait of the main character. This is a technically ambitious story that is pulled off with panache. You won't find a more complete work of short fiction anywhere.

Here's how it works:

Each month, the Choice Award winner chooses the following month's winner. This means that as soon as you enter the site you can instantly target a successful short story writer (the previous month's winner) by joining their reader list just as they are looking out for the next month's winner. Already you will be getting your short stories read and critiqued by the elite of the Edit Red Community.

At the end of 2007, all the winning short stories will be collected in a hard copy volume. This means the winners get published in a book that you can sell from the pages of your own profile. If you have developed an active reader list, you'll make sales.

And as if that were not enough already, these 12 short stories are entered into the Editor's Choice Award for a first prize that stands at $500 for 2007. When viewed altogether, this means you'll get published, win cash prizes and get on the fast-track to promoting your work with one single competition entry.

All you have to do to enter is join the Edit Red Writing Community. And that's FREE.

The Writer's Choice for Short Stories is unique. It will not only motivate you to produce the the best short stories you can, it will help you hone the very skills you need to improve, promote and publish your work.

Here's what some of 2006's winners have to say:
writing community Digby Beaumont: 

On Edit Red I’ve got to know other writers whose short stories I admire and whose views on writing I value. Their advice and support has inspired me and helped me to develop my craft, as has reading and commenting on their work. And, of course, writing has become a less isolated activity. The feedback I’ve received on Edit Red has definitely helped to make my short stories more publishable. In the year since I joined the site, I've had eleven stories published, both online and in print, all of which I first workshopped here.

writing community Meleina Backhaus:  

EditRed is an excellent motivator for any aspiring writer. This site is dedicated to a quality of workmanship that I rarely find anywhere else; and has a community full of caring, intelligent and creative people. The opportunites for friendships, valuable critiuqes and credible publication opportunites is unrivaled. EditRed has helped me grow as a writer. I love this place; and I'm positive others will too.

writing community Shaun Jeffrey: 

An online community committed to providing valuable advice to writers at all levels, I think of Edit Red as my virtual guiding hand, and it’s my first port of call when I want a critique of my work to improve my prose. With the members help, I keep selling stories to markets around the world, which is proof enough to me that it works. Whether it’s friendship or help I’m after, at Edit Red I know I’m only a click away from people who share my passion.

So you are left with a choice. Write your short stories in isolation, or join an active community of short story writers where you will get read, get recognition and get the opportunity to take part in regular competitions for cash prizes and even get published.

Mmm, it's a tough one.