One of the year’s best short story contests has arrived.

It’s the Nelson Algren Literary Awards, hosted by the Chicago Tribune. The grand prize? $3,500 USD. Plus, five runners’ up prizes of $750. That’s over $7000 in prizes.

There is absolutely no entry free.

Unfortunately, this contest is only open to writers in the United States. (Here are more free writing contests, though some of the deadlines have passed.)

Stories should be 8,000 words or less.

The grand prize is $3,500. Four finalists receive $750. The total prize money is $6,500, down from $10,000 last year, when they offered five runner’s up prizes as well.

Writers are allowed to submit a maximum of 2 entries. There is no submission fee.

The deadline for submission is February 17th, 2020.

The grand-prize winning story will be considered for publication in the Chicago Tribune.

Nelson Algren was a novelist famous for books such as A Walk On the Wild Side, and The Man with the Golden Arm.  According to Wikipedia, Algren portrayed the world of “drunks, pimps, prostitutes, freaks, drug addicts, prize fighters, corrupt politicians, and hoodlums.”

To learn more, and to submit, read their Submittable page.