South African Short Stories from our Youth (SASSY) is an original initiative by New Voices Publishing Services to inspire the youth of South Africa to use their writing skills. Our aim is to give them a platform and help them develop and trust their creative writing talent! Let their voices be heard as they use their imagination and create original short stories for us all to read and enjoy.
The Short Story Writing Competition opens on
23 APRIL 2021 and final submissions on 1 AUGUST 2021.
Submission Instructions
It is free for all students to participate! Give that inner writer a chance!
START WRITING!!!
The SASSY Fest website will be full of hints and tips on writing a short story. When you are finally happy and ready to submit, there is an easy SUBMISSION FORM where you upload your manuscript and a photo (1 per manuscript) you would like to include.
SUBMISSION FORM HERE
Documents accepted: preferred is Word.docx or .pdf
A short story is just that: a made-up tale about characters where something happens (usually bad), and you hope everything will turn out fine in the end. It is a piece of fictional writing, usually between 800 and 5000 words, that contains 6 basic elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, climax, resolution.
But definitions don’t tell you that a short story must grab your reader’s interest from the word go. Nor should you write pages and pages of flowery descriptive writing as you might in a novel. You have, in this case, 800 to 2000 words in which to introduce your characters, define the setting of your story, and embark on some sort of conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist that will keep the reader dying to know how it all ends.
Rules:
Just a few rules. Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before and that it is the original work from the author. That it is not the work or idea of someone else (plagiarism). That the work is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. That if and when the work is accepted for publication, the author agrees to automatic transfer of copyright to the School of the author. The moral right of the author to be identified as the author of the respective work is asserted.
Consent Form is the written permission of the parent or guardian of the author (the student) that they understand the terms of submitting a manuscript of a short story to the South African Short Stories from our Youth Competition held at the school.