During the summer of 2015 we introduced our Flash Fiction contest series, and we’re thrilled to be bringing it back in 2016! (And you can read all of our winners from 2015 here.)

What is it? This is a collaboration between photography and writing. We’ll supply a compelling image from our photography archive, and invite writers to respond by writing short fiction inspired by the photo of up to 500 words. Each image will stay up for one week—the top three entries we feel best represent the photo in question will be published on the Midwestern Gothic website.

We will be doing this throughout the summer—which nets out to three rounds of images (three submission periods). The winning entries of each round will be published immediately following the round. Round 1 starts on Friday 6/24, when the first prompt will be posted via blog and social media. The due date for the first round will be Saturday 7/2 (before midnight EST).

A full list of guidelines, as well the contest schedule, can be found here (the main contest page). Winners will be posted (and linked to) on this page as well (at the end of each round).

We hope you’ll think about submitting, and we look forward to reading your work!