Mundelein Arts Commission announces short story contest

The Mundelein Arts Commission has announced its 2020 short story contest for adults 18 and older. Fittingly, this year's theme is "Isolation," with prizes of $50, $30, and $20 for first, second and third-place winners.

All winning stories and honorable mentions will be published in the anthology "Mundelein Writes: Isolation." Anyone who lives or works in Lake County is eligible to enter.

"Please note that this is a fiction contest," MAC Chair Joyce Lee said, adding that nonfiction pieces, including essays, memoirs, biographies, opinion, histories, or journalism pieces will be disqualified.

Writers also are asked not to submit nonfiction stories about personal experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, though they may use the pandemic as a basis for their fiction.

Entrants must fill out an entry form and submit it with their entry by email to jlee@email.mundelein.org. Copies of the rule sheet and entry form are available at the Arts Commission's page at the Mundelein village website, www.mundelein.org.

Entrants are encouraged to read and follow the rules. The deadline for stories is Oct. 16, and late entries will not be accepted. All entries must be sent in an email, attached as a Word doc. Do not submit Google docs; PDFs are acceptable, but discouraged, for editing purposes prior to publication.

Stories will be judged on the elements of fiction, including plot, conflict, character, point of view, setting, theme, language, narrative devices (dialogue, foreshadowing, irony, suspense), tone/voice, conventions (spelling, punctuation), and structure/organization.

The judge for this year's contest will be the Arts Commission Chair Joyce Becker Lee, who holds an MA and MFA in Creative Writing from Northwestern University, and whose fiction and features have been published extensively both online and in print in the U.S. and Canada.

Forms can be found at the MAC website, www.mundelein.org/MAC. Questions may be addressed to jlee@email.mundelein.org.