ALTERNATE FLORIDA
Entries accepted Jan. 1 – May 31, 2024
Tampa Bay high school students are invited to submit original, unpublished short stories on the theme of “Alternate Florida.”
Alternate history (n): A genre of fiction in which the author speculates on how the course of history might have been altered if a particular historical event had had a different outcome.
2024 contest themes:
- What if...Spanish expeditions led by Pánfilo de Narváez, Hernando De Soto and others had led to peaceful settlement in La Florida among the Timucua, Apalachee and Calusa instead of conflict and conquest?
- What if...instead of remaining loyal to England in 1776, Florida joined its fellow 13 English colonies in declaring independence?
- What if...Osceola had not died in captivity in 1838 in St. Augustine?
- What if...the Everglades had not been drained and developed, and panthers were as common as alligators?
- What if...the four Nazi agents who landed on Ponte Vedra Beach on June 16, 1942 had not been captured by the FBI?
Entries will be judged by a panel of experts including:
- Dell, Aurora and Sidewise Award-winning author and editor Eric Choi
- Author, editor and founder of the Sidewise Award for Alternate History Steven H Silver
- Sidewise Award-winning author, editor and professor Dr. Rick Wilber
MEET THIS YEAR'S JUDGES
CONTEST RULES
- Contest is open to all students over the age of 13 in grades 9 to 12 in public, private and home schools in Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties.
- Stories must be previously unpublished and unsold.
- There is no fee to enter.
- Entrants may submit an unlimited number of stories.
- Stories must be submitted in MS Word (doc or docx) or Portable Document Format (pdf) format.
- Stories should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words.
- Stories should be typed in 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins and numbered pages.
- The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript.
- All entries must be received by May 31, 2024, 11:59 PM EST. Entrants are strongly encouraged to submit in advance of the deadline in case of technical difficulties.
- View the complete official rules.
- View the contest flyer
