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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#223: Academia

A recent re-watch of Gilmore Girls has had me thinking about academic life — there’s something uniquely compelling in the combination of idolized institutions, tweed, the pursuit of knowledge, and thousands of young people all living in close quarters. I’m not alone: dark academia is an established genre by now.

This week, let’s step into the halls of ivy together — I’ve got academics, libraries, students, and exams in these prompts, so whether your imaginary life in the academy is dark, fantastical, suspenseful, or humorous, I hope you’ll find a prompt that feels right.

This week's prompts

Start your story with a student discovering a hidden room in a university library.

Mystery – 77 stories

Write about two rival academics pursuing the same grant.

Character – 14 stories

Write a story in which a jaded academic makes an unexpected, rash decision.

Angst – 41 stories

Write about a student reporter uncovering a university scandal.

Mystery – 22 stories

Set your story during exam season, when tensions run high and a minor incident sends your protagonist into a panic spiral.

Character – 30 stories

Stories

“The Comtemptuos Competition of Burger vs Pringle” by Ralph Aldrich

Submitted to Contest #223

Two professors who despised one another taught at the quaint but prestigious ivy-covered Brighton University in Cheddar, Scotland- Professors Hamilton Burger and Pennelopy Pringle. Their hatred for one another started the day they were first introduced. When Professor Pringle asked Professor Burger about his studies, she smirked when he replied, “The study of Historical Artifacts and their Effect on History.” Loathing filled his eyes and heart. He vowed never to speak to her again. Professor Burger is a lanky fellow with an ...

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“Dog Day Aftermath: A Mike Dodge Mystery” by Martin Ross

Submitted to Contest #223

A insane amount of this is true, though nobody died…November 10, 1979Indiana State UniversityTerre HauteWhen a poet laureate comes to town, folks just by god gotta know about it.OK, so it was the poet laureate of Illinois, a few miles on the wrong side of the Wabash. But Gwendoline Brooks had been named to Jimmy Carter’s Commission on the National Agenda for the Eighties (get mugged, call a cop; need a little vision for what promised to be a letdown decade, you want somebody who knows their Modernist verse). Besides, this was a universi...

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“Never Let Me Laugh” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #223

“There was another life that I might have had, but I am having this one.”― Kazuo IshiguroMom killed Nicki last week. I heard the news from my younger sister. When something like this happens, I page through Never Let Me Go, my favorite novel, until the right line hits me. I’ve never had no one in my life I can truly rely on, so maybe being an outsider here is simply a continuation of that.I’m describing this to Oliver, my new roommate, because he’s been sobbing in the corner of our dorm room about missing his dog in New Jersey. “At...

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“John's Curiosity” by Fernando Karpinski

Submitted to Contest #223

- “What in the world have I encountered?”, asked the student after taking a wrong turn at the halls of the university library and seeing a mark on the upper left corner of a small wall. This was the first time John was seeing the strange symbol there, so he decided to touch it, just to see what would happen. He was surprised with the result of his interaction with it, and his curiosity: the wall was actually a door, which opened almost without making a sound. John looked around him, and there was no one else to be found. So, he decided to gi...

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“Edition None” by Faith Augustine

Submitted to Contest #223

He stared at ash trickling from the ass of his cigarette, landing like pepper in a dish of salt. Vincent Roul was a nocturnal man, though he rarely slept during the day. Constant bouts of insomnia led to aches and pains in his limbs, causing tension where his hands connected to his wrists. This often sent fear through him, as he needed his fingers to wrap around a pen—he only ever used ink because lead smudged too much under the curse of being left-handed. He was quick to anger, possessed an expansive dictionary of insults, and spent his tim...

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“From a Deep Recess” by David Ader

Submitted to Contest #223

The panic erupted his sleep. It was a fire alarm going off in his head, a realization that he’d left a pot of soup boiling on the stove or the bathtub running, and he’d driven hours from home and had no cell service. It was none of those issues, though. It was worse. Joe Boyle realized he’d failed to drop a course and tomorrow was the final exam. It was his last class in his final semester and how on earth was he still in it, how could he have forgotten? He tried to remember what the professor had taught in those first few ...

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“Mise-en-Scéne” by Elisabeth U

Submitted to Contest #223

He was following her again.Luna wove her way around other students as she made her escape; her black hair and tall stature usually made it difficult to blend in, but the fall weather cast a filter across the halls and dulled their business casual clothes. In the spring and summer, she was like a polarized photograph: whites and blacks against the bright, happy colors of nature. In the fall and winter, she was simply camouflage.Eventually, he spotted her. Luna had no choice but to duck into the large library on the second floor, a place she’s...

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“Summa cum Laude” by Phillip Norman

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #223

The clock on the back wall strikes three, and I’m not entirely sure what side of the day we’re on. I’m wrapping up my last ever final paper in a basement computer lab that I favor for its casino-effect. Down here, I can’t quite tell how long I’ve been up for. The din of outdated monitors echoes inside my skull, filling the little crevices in between all the Big Ideas fighting for my attention. If you listen closely for long enough, you can hear the impending twirl of the clock’s second hand. Every twenty minutes or so, the hulking copy machi...

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“Bombing the Exam” by Rudy Greene

Submitted to Contest #223

Teddy sat in the university auditorium with his study partner, Suman. They were psyched. Two weeks of studying together for this biology exam made them well prepared. They expected perfect scores. After all they were both ace students. Suman’s parents were both revered academics in India who had been educated in Canada at the university of Toronto and Suman was following in their footsteps. He had always been the top of his class in India and since his arrival in Toronto stood first or second in his class. His competition was Teddy. It seeme...

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“Extraordinary Occurrences and Unusual Happenings ” by Andrew Gibbons

Submitted to Contest #223

Content Note: Mention of child murder and a public hanging/execution in the form of a newspaper headline/excerpt.Hyde hiked the strap of his book bag farther up his shoulder and turned the crumpled piece of paper upside down. Only now realizing he had no frame of reference beyond the hurried pointing of a busy librarian during final exams. He was fortunate she had taken the time to do even that, let alone sketch him a map. But Hyde was a polite young man, who waited patiently and could be relied upon to, when necessary, crack a toothy grin o...

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“The Book Stacks” by Shana King

Submitted to Contest #223

Navigating through the bustling university campus, Jade walked briskly toward the library. She paused occasionally, her eyes scanning the signs to confirm she was heading in the right direction. Her steps quickened with a hint of impatience. "In an age where information is a click away, why am I mandated to engage in this ritual?" she mused silently. The contradiction was stark; they were ushered into college with the call to be independent adults, yet graduate school seemed to clutch onto traditionalism with a vice-like grip. As she haste...

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“Truth” by Aureliano Giano

Submitted to Contest #223

Julian blinked awake to the hum of silence, surrounded by the monolithic shelves of the university library. The familiar musty scent of books lingered, yet the absence of the fluorescent lighting cast an unfamiliar pall over the room. Confusion gripped him; it wasn't like the librarians to a forget a student during their nightly rounds.Rising from his scattered notes, Julian's gaze landed on a sliver of amber light seeping from a gap in the wall - an anomaly in the architecture he'd memorized over countless study sessions. Drawn to the light...

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“The Library Card” by Derek Hastings

Submitted to Contest #223

The Library Card Barry Wilder watched as the Librarian scanned his Reader’s Card to gain access to Duke Humphries Library. Years of genealogical research into the Wilder family culminated in this trip to visit the Domesday book and collection and its list of property owners after William the Conqueror became king. All of his research pointed to his family being substantial landowners under King Edward’s reign. Genealogy was his addiction. Barry’s only saving grace was his wife, who supported him even when he lost his job due to the ...

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“My Celebrity Friend” by Kiyana Marie

Submitted to Contest #223

"He's dead!" "Who's dead?!" Vanessa nearly spits out her coffee. "Matthew Perry!" Vanessa looks at me blankly, her right eyebrow raised in confusion. "Chandler from Friends!" I stomp my foot with my hands out to my side in frustration. "Oh, isn't that the guy you were obsessed with?" "Yes! I was fully convinced I would marry him." Vanessa laughs, "Oh geez, that sucks. Well, our break is up; we need to get back to the library." We walk down the red brick path from the on-campus Starbucks back to the library, ...

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“Super Nova” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #223

“This is your assignment, just get it done.” Jennifer, Assistant Editor of the City on The Hill newspaper kept her eyes glued to the computer monitor as she typed. “If I cared about these human interest stories- I would be working at, Santa Cruz Style Magazine, or High Times!” Rosie Bear, newly promoted Investigative Journalist, clenched her fists as her face turned red. “I’m going to be a real reporter, that’s why I’m here.” The stacked books and papers surrounding her in her Boss’ cramped office began closing in, making...

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$250

Prize money

184

Contest entries

84

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 10, 2023 EST

Won by AnneMarie Miles 🏆

Title: Cerulean

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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