⏳ Weekly Writing Contest | December 1: One Great Paragraph
Submit your entry by Friday December 6, 5pm GMT / 12pm ET / 9am PT
Welcome to the Weekly Writers' Hour Contest!
This week's challenge invites you to craft a single paragraph that captures the essence of an idea or moment with clarity, creativity, and purpose.
*NEW* This week, our friends at Scrivener are adding their writing software to the first place winning prize bundle. Read more below.
Prompt: One Great Paragraph
Write one great paragraph in the genre of your choosing that stands alone as a compelling piece of storytelling.
Whether it's a vivid description, a tightly wound argument, or a moment of introspection, focus on crafting something impactful, concise, and memorable.
Unpublished pieces of 500 words or less in any genre are eligible for this contest.
Submissions are due by Friday, December 6th at 5pm GMT / 12pm ET / 9am PT
Keep reading for more information on prizes and FAQs – plus an introduction to this week’s guest judge,
.Happy writing!
The Writers’ Hour Magazine Team
Meet Our Guest Judge :
Over the last 4 years, Michael Dean been obsessed with reading, writing, and editing essays. Before that he was an architect and a virtual reality specialist. Now he's developing Essay Architecture through an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship grant, and leading the Editor program at Write of Passage.
A Note from Michael:
Whatever genre you write in, if it’s made of prose, it’s made of paragraphs. E.B. White said the paragraph is “the unit of composition.” The idea that each paragraph contains a unique thought is an ancient one. Before there were spaces on the page (between paragraphs, and even between words), there were symbols in the margins to let the reader know when the writer was shifting to a new idea. I like the idea of scoping this week’s contest to a paragraph for two reasons. 1) It’s a small scope, and I hope it might trigger a daily practice where you record your ideas and thoughts as paragraphs (I recommend writing a few and submitting your favorite), and 2) It will get you to think more analytically about the atomic unit that makes up all of your writing. My project, Essay Architecture, has caused me to think extensively about what a paragraph is. I think it's probably futile to map out "types" of paragraphs, but I do think there's a fundamental similarity between each one: a beginning, an end, and a path between them. This is almost too obvious to state, but I think there is a subtle art to each of these 3 patterns. Here's a brief note on how I think about each:
Frame: How can the opening sentence serve as a hook? The opening of a paragraph is more than a factual summary of the information contained in it; it's often a concise statement with an embedded mystery. Orient us, while leaving something unresolved.
Fabric: How can you build a compelling chain of sentences? If your paragraph is a single idea or scene, you can “rotate” around it to show different facets of it. As you move through ideas, consider how synonyms, transition words, and sentence forms can be used to create forward momentum.
Finale: How can the closing sentence have subtextual power? Some writers end paragraphs on a punchline, and others end with an emotional punch. It can be an epic run-on or a short quip. But in either case, a paragraph closes with power when there is an unsaid implication. It rings bigger than the words in the sentence. It gives the reader something to see, hear, feel, and reflect on in the white space before the next one.
For reference, here are three paragraph examples.
How to Submit:
Submissions should be made through our online submission platform, Submittable, and formatted as a Word Doc.
For more details, please read the full Contest Guidelines.
The winning entries will receive:
First Prize:
$100 USD (£75 GBP)
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
3-months of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£79 value)
*NEW* Scrivener Writing Software (£55 value)
Commemorative Writers’ Hour trophy mug
Second Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
1-month of London Writers’ Salon Silver Membership (£29 value)
Third Prize:
Publication in Writers’ Hour Magazine
FAQs:
What genres can I write in?
All genres - fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc - are welcome.Is there a word limit?
Your piece must be 500 words or less. Pieces that exceed this will not be considered. There is no minimum word limit.Do I need to submit in a specific format?
Please follow the instructions outlined in the Contest Guidelines.When is the deadline to submit?
Submissions are due by Friday, December 6 at 5pm GMT / 12pm ET / 9am PT. Submissions received outside this window will not be considered.When will the winner be announced?
The winner will be contacted via Submittable, and the winning entry will be published in Writers’ Hour Magazine by Saturday, December 21st.Can I submit a piece I’ve already published?
Only previously unpublished pieces are eligible for this contest. (Published means anything that has already been made publicly available in print or online.)Is there a fee to submit?
No, there is no fee to submit. However you must be subscribed to Writers’ Hour Magazine in order for your submission to be considered.
Congratulations to winners of Prompt Folk Legend!
We are thrilled to share contest results for the week of November 10. Writers were tasked with writing a folk legend explaining a natural phenomenon. Special thanks once again to our guest judge,
.First Place: The Temple Bell of Benaras by Aditi Dasgupta
Second Place: The Name of the Pond by Luke Griffin
Third Place: The Blue Folk of Troublesome Creek by CD Collins
Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to everyone who participated. It’s a pleasure to share these pieces with you, and we can’t wait to see what you create in the next contest!
PS - Write with us
Come work on your submission at Writers' Hour—our daily silent writing sprints—where writers from around the world come together to work on their projects. It’s the perfect environment to focus, share space with other writers, and make progress on your contest entry.
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