The Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest, sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope, will award $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay, and the top 12 entries will be published online. For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. Submit published or unpublished work. Fee: $25 per entry. See past winning entries and learn more.

Mina Manchester is a Scandinavian-American writer chasing the sun in Los Angeles. An editorial assistant at new independent publisher Great Place Books, she holds an MFA from the Sewanee School of Letters. Her work has been featured in Electric Literature, The Evergreen Review, Columbia Journal, The Normal School, Inscape, HuffPost, and elsewhere. She's been a Finalist for The Masters Review Short Story Award, the Pinch Literary Award, the Annie Dillard Award in Creative Nonfiction, the Rick DeMarinis Short Story Award, honored by New Millennium Writings, and nominated for the UCLA James Kirkwood Prize. A former editor-at-large for Five South and assistant editor for Narrative Magazine, her workshop experience includes The Kenyon Review Writing Workshop, The Writer's Hotel, and Narrative's Art of the Story.