ANNOUNCING THE 2005 GATHER SHORT FICTION COMPETITION

We are now accepting entries to the first Gather short fiction competition. The winning story will be reviewed by Houghton Mifflin's in-house editor for "The Best American Short Stories®" series and will be featured on Gather.com and VoidMagazine.com.  The winner also will receive a cash prize, a selection of best-selling titles from Houghton Mifflin (including the "Best American®" 2005 series), and a subscription to the Believer literary magazine.

All contest entries will be published on Gather.com, and you can invite your friends and families to read your submissions. Submissions are due by January 15th, 2006. There is no contest entry fee.

Judging the competition are best-selling author David Vann, Chris Steib, the founder and editor in chief of VoidMagazine.com, and the Gather editorial team.

Guest Judges
David Vann's (www.davidvann.com, davidvann.gather.com) new sailing memoir, A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea, is now a national bestseller and has been featured on NPR, FOX-TV, and other national media.  His short stories have been published in the Atlantic Monthly and other magazines and have won numerous prizes and awards. Vann has taught more than fifty courses in all genres of creative writing for Stanford and Cornell and currently teaches Travel and Adventure Writing online for AllLearn.org, a consortium of Oxford, Stanford, and Yale. David lives in New Zealand and is publishing short stories from his upcoming collection, Legend of a Suicide, on Gather.com.

Chris Steib (www.voidmagazine.com, voidmagazine.gather.com) is the founder and editor in chief of VoidMagazine.com, an online literary endeavor dedicated to serving the needs of the ever-evolving literary community. The magazine seeks to showcase the work of talented writers and serve as a free resource to contemporary reader and writers. Steib is now posting book reviews, editorials, and exclusive VoidMagazine.com content on the Gather site.

See rules and submission guidelines at fictioncontest.gather.com

About Houghton Mifflin
Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Company is one of the leading educational publishers in the United States, with over $1 billion in sales. Houghton Mifflin publishes textbooks, instructional technology, assessments, and other educational materials for elementary and secondary schools and colleges. The company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers, including twenty-seven Pulitzer Prize winners, nine National Book Award winners, ten recipients of Caldecott Medals, and ten recipients of Newbery Medals. With its origins dating back to 1832, Houghton Mifflin today combines its tradition of excellence with a commitment to innovation. The company's Web site can be found at houghtonmifflinbooks.com.

 
About Void Magazine
Void Magazine is a division of Void Media, LLC (The Void), a New York-based media company dedicated to the proliferation of the arts through education, entertainment, and publishing. Through these mediums, The Void seeks to introduce the world to talented, creative voices through mediums such as Void Magazine The Void is primarily based in the New York City metro area, but also has operations in Philadelphia, Boston, and Los Angeles, and boasts a global list of contributors and readers.