'Food & Memory' Short Story Competition
Stretch Your Shelf are teaming up with Coffees For Gaza to host its inaugural Short Story Competition, open to all writers worldwide.
Inspired by our January theme and Tabkha: Recipes from Under the Rubble, a mutual aid publication by Palestinian chef Mona Zahed and 21 illustrators from Coffees For Gaza, published in collaboration with Slingshot Books.
Write a short story up to 1000 on the theme of Food & Memory and submit to shortstory@stretchyourshelf.com by 23 February 2025 (11pm GMT).
Entry fee of AUD $8* will be donated to families supported by Coffees For Gaza. *At time of writing, this is approximately equivalent to USD $5, €4, £5.
Open to all humans aged 16 and over worldwide. All voices and levels of experience are welcome. No AI.
Your story can be fictional, true, funny, uplifting, thought-provoking, experimental, delicious or stomach-churning – we want to hear all interpretations of the theme!
Prizes
1st Prize
3 copies of Tabkha
3 selected illustration prints
2nd Prize
2 copies of Tabkha
2 selected illustration prints
3rd Prize
1 copy of Tabkha
1 selected illustration prints
Winners will be featured on Stretch Your Shelf and Coffees For Gaza social accounts and their stories will be published on the Stretch Your Shelf website and read out on the podcast.
Winners to be announced mid-March 2025.
To learn more about Tabkha and Coffees For Gaza, follow them on Instagram at @tabkhabook or @coffeesforgaza or go to tabkhabook.com
The Judges
Inda Ahmad Zahri is a doctor, author and illustrator and the founder of Stretch Your Shelf. She is also a co-founder and active member of Coffees For Gaza. Born and raised in Malaysia, she has a penchant for rice dishes, sweet desserts and doesn’t mind a bit of spice. Inda’s illustrations are featured alongside 20 other artists in Tabkha.
Özge Sevindik is an author, librarian and literary award judge. She was the first intern at Annabel Barker Agency and continues to work in this vibrant literary environment on a project by project basis. She is the co-founder of The Right Pen Collective and successfully hosted several Virtual Muslim Writers’ Festivals.
Tess Cullity is the publisher at Slingshot Books and publishing consultant on the Tabkha team. She describes Slingshot Books as a tiny radical publishing house for kids and their grown ups, a place to question, dismantle and build things anew. Tess has worked as an editor for a decade, both freelance and in-house, with particular experience in picture books, junior fiction, life writing and personal development.
Elizabeth Pulsford is an author and poet whose perfect day begins with coffee and morning yoga and ends with a ‘good book.’ She is a big fan of her two beautiful daughters, camping and nachos (generally in that order). She is a high school English and Performing Arts teacher living in Meanjin/Brisbane, and spends much of her time correcting students’ pronunciation of the word ‘hyperbole.’
Terms & Conditions
Entries should a short story of maximum 1000 words, written in English, on or inspired by the topic of ‘Food & Memory.’
The competition will begin Monday 3 February 2025 (8am GMT) and close Sunday 23 February 2025 (11pm GMT).
Entrants aged 16 and over from all over the world are eligible. All voices and levels of experience are welcome.
The entry fee of AUD $8 will be donated to the Palestinian families supported by Coffees For Gaza.
Team members of Stretch Your Shelf and Coffees For Gaza and their families are not eligible to enter.
Stories will be read by a panel of up to 4 judges, who are donating their time voluntarily, with the aim of announcing the winners in mid-March 2025.
Please note that while the judges are involved in children’s literature, this competition is not reserved for stories for children, and can be for all ages.
Please submit your entry via email as a Word document or PDF to shortstory@stretchyourshelf.com with the title of your story in the subject line.
The body of the email should list: Name of author, title of entry, word count, contact details and proof of payment (screenshot of receipt, or separately forwarded receipt).
Each page should be numbered with the title in a header. Please do not put your name or details on these pages.
Entries should be in Times New Roman, font size 12, double spaced.
Entries must be the original work of the author and submission acknowledges that the terms and conditions of this competition have been read, understood and agreed on.
AI-generated entries are not allowed.
Entries should not have won any other competition at the time of entry, nor published in any form.
Copyright remains with the author with first publication rights to Stretch Your Shelf.
Failure to abide by the rules will result in an entry being rejected.
The judges reserve the right to not award prizes if none of the entries fulfill all set criteria, and/or do not meet the quality sought by the judging panel.
The judges’ decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
All the best!
Not clear on something? Send your questions to shortstory@stretchyourshelf.com.