A Long Winter's Night Contest

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 Full details 

From dark until dawn can be a long, long way, especially through the dreary nights of winter. Tell us the story of a long winter’s night, true or made up, but make it short: fifty words or less.

Here are some examples, to get your gears turning. But feel very free to make this your own.

The city’s a lush, alive with spirit-soaked somebodies spilling onto the beveled boulevard, before the cold hits. Within hours, the winds shuttle stray snippets of stories and laughter away, into taxis and subways, until all that’s left is me. A nobody, under a streetlamp, lulled to sleep by the hush.

Samantha Dunne

Brutal darkness, unforgiving cold, be damned. I just want to run. Yet, I lay curled up in bed wearing a sweater, much to my disdain. My adorable, puppy-dog-eye pleas to be let out, ignored. So, I cling to dreams of bounding through the snow, just to feel alive.

Jen Curinga

She begins at the beginning: "1872, at No. 7, Saville Row." Around midnight she's entering the port of Yokohama, then Omaha. By dawn, she's almost breathless as Phileas races through London. She turns the last page while the sun creeps up. Insomnia! Quite the adventure.  

Stuart Pennebaker

The Details: 

  • Entries must be submitted online by 11:59 pm Eastern Time, February 28, 2026
  • Entry is free 
  • Limit one entry per person
  • Entry must consist of no more than 50 words
  • Entry must be original and unpublished; AI generated entries are not permitted
  • Entries will be judged on originality, quality, spelling, and grammar
  • Gotham will post the winning entry at writingclasses.com/contests
  • The winner will be notified by the end of March
  • Winner receives a free Gotham class of their choosing, excluding any premium classes (Zoetrope Fiction, Business Writing, Level III)
 

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