January 1st marked the start of this year’s second short story contest for the Delta Township District Library. Because of its popularity last year, a poetry category was implemented into this year’s contest. Even with the addition of a new category, there have been other additions made to enhance the writing experience.

 The short story contest was created in connection with the library’s short story dispenser, which is a machine that dispenses a random story at the push of a button from a website. Becca Hruscik, the library’s Head of Adult Services said, “while many people enjoy these stories, we wanted to add our own short stories- stories from people in surrounding communities,” This is what brought along some of the changes to the contest this year.

 The year before, the library only opened the contest for people ages 18 years and older. This year, the library added age brackets splitting children, teens, and adults into their own competitions. This was important because the contest now involves everyone and gives all pieces a fair chance to win.

 A panel of judges was formed for the contest to review all submissions. Those judges will choose first, second, and third place winners in all age brackets and both the short story and poetry categories. All winners that are chosen will win a gift card from the library that is appropriate for their age bracket. 

 Although there are limited winners, everyone who submits a piece still gets a prize. Becca Hruscik made sure to explain “…We wanted something for everyone, not just the winners!” With that, the library is publishing all short stories to their Short Story Dispenser, and poetry to their poetry walk located on library grounds.

 March’s reading month is short in retrospect to composing a story, and that’s why the contest is open for some months. The decided deadline for all submissions is March 10th, 2023. Once the contest is over, all pieces will be found in the Short Story Dispenser for locals to enjoy their local authors’ work.