Humor Story Contest
(Fall/Winter issue)
Deadline: October 17, 2025
Release (updated): December 21, 2025
2025 Grand Prize Winner
Whitewater Bonding by Steve Holland
2025 Honorable Mentions/Contributors
A Swim in Far Rockaway by Karen Z. Steel
An Alpine Idol by Eva Kappel
Animal Husbandry by Aili Whalen
Cat People by Dar Thomas
Diva Pariah by Shauna Hicks
Early Man by Richard D Key
Fistfight with a Deer by Becky Jensen
Great Expectations by David Margolis
Hell’s Belles by Meredith Meyer
It’s a Hard Life by Jordan Shields
Joan’s Stone on Loan by Alyssa Buchthal
How to Become a Curmudgeon in 17 Easy Steps (And
Still Get Invited to Dinner) by Brad G. Philbrick
My Sprung Zipper by Geoffrey K. Graves
Report on Tennyson’s Ulysses Attempting a Second Voyage by Martin Settle
The Insides Looked Different by Onie Grosshans
The Second Wife by Liz Kelner Pozen
Trouble at the Supermarket by Albert Howard Carter III
Whiskey by Allan M. Heller
2025 Semifinalists
A British Receptionist in America by Beverly Fisher
A Husband's Perspective by Allison Winshel
A Stoat by Any Other Name by Anne B. Hollyday
A Swim in Far Rockaway by Karen Z. Steel
Accounting for Friends by Carol J. Luther
An Alpine Idol by Eva Kappel
An Unexpected Question by Beverly Fisher
Animal Husbandry by Aili Whalen
Another Wizard Duel by Aza Smith
Baby Teeth by Liz Kelner Pozen
Batteries by John F. Rifenberg
Beware the Homophone by Nicole C. Livengood
Can't Argue with Elves by Aza Smith
Car Talk by Laura E. Garrard
Cat People by Dar Thomas
Cause and Effect by David Sosnowski
Diva Pariah by Shauna Hicks
Early Man by Richard D Key
Fistfight with a Deer by Becky Jensen
Fortune cookie by Joanne Gram
Great Expectations by David Margolis
Green Philosopher Goes Grocery Shopping
by Jenna Liang
Hell’s Belles by Meredith Meyer
Hot Stuff by Penny Gardin Lewis
How to Become a Curmudgeon in 17 Easy Steps (And Still Get Invited to Dinner) by Brad G. Philbrick
I’m Too Sexy by Em Dupre
In Search of E.G. Noble by Leane Cornwell
It’s a Hard Life by Jordan Shields
Joan’s Stone on Loan by Alyssa Buchthal
Knotting the Pearls by Mark Rubin
Loving Loudell by Ruth Beaumont Cook
Motivated by Marsha Porter
My Sprung Zipper by Geoffrey K. Graves
My White Friend Nikki by Abbey Landry
Neon Night by Christopher Carrington
Never Underestimate Pixie Dust by Eric R. Skinner
Report on Tennyson’s Ulysses Attempting a Second Voyage by Martin Settle
Suffer the Children by Marcia Calhoun Forecki
The Cleaning Crew by Molly Devane
The Day I Avoided Headlining the Evening News
by Elizabeth Barry
The Forgotten Hero by Gaia Levine
The Insides Looked Different by Onie Grosshans
The K-cup Konspiracy by John F. Rifenberg
The Money Tree and the ATM by John F. Rifenberg
The Parrot by Douglas Halpert
The Second Wife by Liz Kelner Pozen
The Twenty-Seventh Life of Byron by Alice McVeigh
Trouble at the Supermarket by Albert Howard Carter III
Whiskey by Allan M. Heller
Whitewater Bonding by Steve Holland
Contest Description
We're looking for stories that lighten the mood. Ideally they keep us laughing to ourselves for days or weeks after reading them so that people wonder what we're up to.
Entries can be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry—as usual, if it tells a story, and makes us laugh, it fits!
Click here to return to the Guidelines page and to enter.
Past Winners
2024
Grand Prize
Couches by Mark Hersh
Contributors/Honorable Mentions
A Caffeinated Nocturne by Madeleine Snow
A Piece of My Mind by Carol Gremli
A Tense Interaction with Vlad the Impaler by Jesse Severson
Abstinence, Only… by Laurie Rosenwald
Airing Grievances by John Foley
Ghostman by Meg Rayford
I Know You’ve Got a Fella by Donald Wildman
Marlboros and Roses by Chris Turner-Neal
No Stunt Doubles or Herbivores Were Harmed in the Filming of This Program: A Comprehensive Warning
for Sensitive Audience Members by Howard Zaharoff
Postscript from the Orgy by Bill Glose
The Art of Poetry by R.H. Miller
The Chicken by Gabriella Ramalho
The Extra by James Christy Jr.
The Gypsy Pixies by Martin McGuire
The Weekend Poet’s Mal de Debarquement
by Laura Schulkind
2023
Grand Prize Winner
The Invitation by Angela Louise
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
A Shot at Grief by Janet Travers
Airbnb by Sally Cobau
Cut and Dried by Michelle Kraft
Flight of the Wiener Dog by Paul Forster
Happier Endings by Cindy Schimanski
I Have Questions by Joseph J. Ridgway
If You Get the Chance by Mary F. Lee
It’s Good to Be Hip! by John F. Rifenberg
Josh Saw a UFO by Eric R Skinner
My *Not So* Silent Retreat by Joell Dunlap
No Bed of Roses by Robert English
On Being a Sympathetic CIS White Man Trying to Empathize with the Socio-Economic-Gendered-Racial Struggles of PoC, LGBTQ+, and
Non-CIS-White-Male Friends Without Being Either Pandering or Dismissive— by Bobby O’Rourke
The Closet by Casey Clifford Rock
The Essence of Wisdom by Robert H. Miller
The Far District by Greta Holt
The Pineapple Upside Down Cake Incident by Geoffrey K. Graves
Ulysses of Astoria by George H. Northrup
Waxing Gone Bad by Kate Redmond
2022
Grand Prize
Wild Turkey by William E. Burleson
Honorable Mentions/Contributors
Battleground by Jennifer Neves
Because I’m Cultured Like That by Ben Terry
Birks and Jerks by Eyal Cohen
Blood Buzz by Nathan Spicer
Career Advice for the Dying by Lisa Haneberg
Escape Artist by Christianna Soumakis
Found in Translation by Margaret Morth
Gender Bunny by J Mase III
Meditation on an Onion by Lollie Butler
Misdiagnosis by Sara Maria Greene
Monkey Pox by Melinda Goodman
My Job Application by Elizabeth Hill
On Shits, And How Often One Should Give Them by Jaiden Collier
Roomba by Ryan Murphy
Self Portrait as a Spermatozoon by Norman Goodwin
Shopping at Sears on a Snowy Day by Lynn Moore Rhodes
Shopping for Rugs on a Snowy Evening by Howard Zaharoff
Talking to Vincent by Ray Chatelin
The Bride and Her Toilette by Jenelle Boucher
The Jersey Slide by Don Carter
The Straight Poop by Steve Reynolds
Transformation by Stephen Schwandt
Stories let us accept each other's differences.
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