Tag: Contest

3rd Wednesday’s Annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest

Published on by Editorial Staff

The 2025 George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest will open for entries on May 15 and close on August 15, 2025.

The editors of Third Wednesday are pleased to honor the memory of George Dila, friend of Third Wednesday and the editor who originally brought fiction to 3W. We are proud to have called him friend and colleague. To this end, we proudly announce the Annual George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest.

The entry fee of $6 per story is payable via credit card or by Pay Pal through Submittable at the time of your submission. You may enter multiple stories but include only one story per entry.

From May 15th to August 15th, 2025 we will accept entries of previously unpublished fiction under one thousand words in length (including title). Three winning stories will receive cash prizes of $100 each and a print copy of the contest issue due to be published in September of 2025.

This Year’s Judge

Colleen Alles is a writer, former librarian & teacher, and Michigan girl for life. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from Michigan State University (2005) and her MLIS from Wayne State University (2015). Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Red Cedar Review, Tar River Poetry, The Write Michigan Anthology, The Michigan Poet, and other places. Her fiction has been longlisted for The Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas in 2023 (Regal House Publishing). Colleen is co-editor for fiction with Barren Magazine and is currently pursuing her MFA at Spalding University. Her house is chaotic with young children and a hound, so don’t be shocked to encounter poems about chaotic houses, small children, or hounds.

Circe at the Laundromat / Michelle Holland

Published on by Editorial Staff

Michelle submitted one of 3 winning poems in 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest. Here is what contest judge, Marilyn Taylor had to say: “A memorable take on the goddess Circe, who has been brought back to life in the unlovely confines of the Pinch Penny Laundromat. In a single stanza, the poet/observer takes note of some strong similarities between herself and this mythological bringer of magic potions and heavenly bedding, along with the firm (if questionable) conviction that “men are pigs.” Cleverly appropriated from the original legend, this poem is a delight.”

Portrait Gallery: The Class of 2024 / Joel Savishinsky

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Joel’s poem is one of three winning poems from 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest. Contest judge, Marilyn L. Taylor said: “Here the concept of human mortality is explored in vivid, human terms, using the poet’s own recollections of friends, acquaintances, and miscellaneous others who may have pre-deceased him, but who somehow do not die. Against the background of his “private necropolis”, the speaker comes to a breathtaking — and genuinely disturbing — conclusion. Extremely well conceived and well expressed.”

Landscape with Knife and Crows / Ceridwen Hall

Published on by Editorial Staff

Of this winning poem from 3rd Wednesday’s annual poetry contest, Judge Marilyn L. Taylor said:
“This very visual, beautifully written short poem could be read as a crash course in what scholars call “philosophical biology.” Any attempt to paraphrase it would do it zero justice, but my takeaway is that the poem suggests– (in only nine lines, crisscrossed with stark aviary imagery)– the difficulty of existing simultaneously as an organism and a mathematical concept. I find it an exceedingly thought-provoking meditation on the nature of reality.”