State of the Art: Swancon 2008 has announced an open call for the 2008 National Science Fiction Convention amateur short story competition, proudly sponsored by Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine.

The competition theme is "State of the Art", which may be interpreted by entrants at their discretion. There are two categories: Open, and Under 18s (entry restricted to entrants 17 years or under).

Prizes offered are as follows:
- 1st Prize Open Category: $130 cash, plus a $27 Andromeda Spaceways gift voucher, cooler, key ring and direct access to ASIM's editorial slushpile for potential publication in a future issue!
- 2nd Prize Open Category: $60 cash, plus a free copy of Andromeda Spaceways and a cooler!
- 1st Prize Under 18s: $60 cash, plus a free copy of Andromeda Spaceways and a key ring!

Entries should be e-mailed to shortstorycomp@swancon.com, with the story attached as a standard MS Word document. Include your name and contact details on a cover page, and do not include your name in the header or footer of the short story pages.

CLOSING DATE: Friday 7 March 2008.

Winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony during the convention.

Competition Rules

Entries are restricted to 5000 words or less. The competition is open to amateur writers only, "amateur" being defined for the purposes of this competition as "an individual who has not received monetary income of any size from the sale and/or publication of any fiction" (please note that "monetary income" does not include contributor's copies of published stories). Entrants are restricted to one story per person.

The competition is open to all members of State of the Art: Swancon 2008 without charge. Non-members may enter with the payment of a $10.00 administration fee. The competition is open to Australian citizens and/or residents only. The judges reserve the right to decide against awarding a prize in either or both the General or under 18 years categories if no stories of reasonable quality are received.

State of the Art: Swancon 2008 is not accepting paper manuscripts for this competition.