Contest

Contest Announcement

Just in time for the America’s most anticipated day, the IRS Tax Filing Deadline (commemorated this year on April 17), Vestal Review magazine announces the Deficit Reduction contest. The projected US deficit for this year is $1,327 billion. Since Vestal Review is a small literary magazine, the complete deficit elimination would be a too ambitious goal. Therefore, we will establish the top prize of 663.5 billion dollars for this contest. This prize, donated to the US government by the staff of Vestal Review on behalf of the winner, will merely halve the deficit, but you have to start somewhere.

The final judge will be Sarah Palin, selected for her economic policy acumen and her mastery of belle lettres.

The prize monies will be delivered in a specially rented Brink’s truck into the shaking-with-anticipation hands of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue during the joint session of Congress, attended by the President, the staff of Vestal Review, the judge, Lady Gaga and the winner.

All participants will receive a lifetime subscription for Vestal Review. The winning entry, which in the spirit of Vestal Review’s flash fiction nature is limited to 500 words, will be published in print and Web editions of the magazine.

The contest will run from April 17, 2012 until April 1, 2013 and will be open to all residents of the world above the voting age of 18. The decision of the judges will be final.

The usual entry fee to prize ratio for a literary contest is 1:30 or 1:50, but this contest will have an unheard of ratio of 1:1000, which means that the fee is only $663,500,000.

Participants have a better chance of winning than getting struck by lightning.

Fine print for the lawyers:
Relax, have fun and enter the contest