The Ventura County Writers Club is sponsoring its 10th annual Short Story Contest with a grand prize of $500, second-place prize of $250 and third-place prize of $125. 

All submitted stories must be original and may not have been previously published in any newspaper, magazine or book, whether or not the author received compensation. Submissions may be in any genre. Entrants may submit as many stories as they like.

Entry fees are $15 per short story for club members and $25 per story for nonmembers. Those who’ve won first place in the last three years are not eligible. No person may win more than one prize. 

Each submitted story must be set in 12-point type, Courier or Times New Roman, and doublespaced on white letter-size paper, with left and right margins of 1¼ inches, and top and bottom margins of 1 inch. Indent the first line of each paragraph and number all pages at top or bottom. 

Stories must be 10 pages or fewer. The story title must appear at the top of each page. The author’s name should appear only on the official entry form, not on any text pages. 

The official entry form can be obtained from the website at www.venturacountywriters.com or by writing to: VCWC, P.O. Box 3373, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359. 

Entries will be judged on plot, character development, intent/focus, reader interest, style/voice, grammar/punctuation and title. 

Entries not following the contest rules will be disqualified. No entries will be returned. 

Submissions must be postmarked no later than Oct. 1. Prizes will be awarded at the club’s general meeting on Jan. 12.  

For more information about the contest or club membership, write to the address above or e-mail Carol Fogel, short story chair and membership chair, at shortstory2009 @aim.com.