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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 Lost Chamber of Knowledge: Unveiling Secrets in the University Library” by Ryan Middleton

Submitted to Contest #223

In the heart of the sprawling university campus, the library stood as a monument to knowledge, its massive stone walls exuding an air of wisdom accumulated over centuries. For Andrew, a diligent history major with a hunger for adventure, this place was not just a center of learning but an uncharted territory brimming with the potential for discovery. Over the years, Andrew had spent countless hours within the library's grand halls, poring over dusty tomes, crumbling manuscripts, and hidden treasures. He felt an inexplicable connection to t...

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“Burning the Midnight Oil” by Jorge Soto

Submitted to Contest #223

“Smack” The book was folded closed without marking the page. Another was grabbed and opened. The volumes on the table were stacked like a pile of fresh pancakes. People always picture scholars sitting there in a dim library with a stack of books, and although it’s almost exactly what the reality looks like for those pursuing law, the method of how these books became stacked differs entirely from what one might expect. The 25 year old graduate stufent named Anthony, couldn’t seem to find the exact case and year of a certain trial he was meani...

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“Room with a View” by Terri Tryp

Submitted to Contest #223

A Room With a View by Tryp Vaughntain Studying hard can have its downfalls. They never tell you that all that studying, working late into the night on assignments for class and barely sleeping or eating can take a toll on a young person’s mind and body. They only tell you that you must study and work hard of you want to succeed in life. There are some of us that don’t make it that far. One person is Sarah. She had worked so hard to get into Harvard all her life. High school seemed like a breeze for her, but she had no social life cause all ...

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“In Hell” by Stefan Gonzalevski

Submitted to Contest #223

In Hell "I have a hard time believing this. That sounds insane." Adrian stroked his thin, utmost fashionable moustache and sat deeper in the armchair. In front of him, on a chair, Damian leaned forward. "I don't make this up." He looked at Chris, seated on the arm of the armchair, then at Caroline, on the sofa, and back to Adrian. Around them, the wooden walls of the student common room seemed to listen. The fire was hesitantly cracking, not to miss a word. "And you could go inside?" Damian straightened up. "It was impossible at...

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“The Lost Manuscript of Edinburgh” by Danielle Lesin

Submitted to Contest #223

I ventured along the cobblestone pathways of Edinburgh, where fresh ivy cascaded down the walls of these centuries-old fortresses. I marveled at all that I could see and smell as I trod closer to the University of Edinburgh, each step awakening a deeper sensation of awe. I expected to enter with some trepidation, overwhelmed by the vast storehouse of knowledge that had been beyond me; instead, I found solace in this place, an oasis from our busy contemporary world. As a student of Celtic Studies, I was invited into those historic chambers an...

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“Parachutes” by Carina Caccia

Submitted to Contest #223

His sister’s hand-me-downs hung from his small frame like… a curtain? The halls were quiet, save for a distant cough, the turn of a page, and the click clack of a keyboard. Nora dried her hands on her trousers, and re-entered the warm embrace of the library, its warm lights, and green carpeting. She sat down at her laptop and scanned the room, the hunched shoulders, the black, brown and blonde heads lowered over books. And there on the red couch lay Chloe, eyes closed and legs outstretched, balancing her laptop like breakfast in bed. She wa...

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“What Goes on in the Mind of a Bird?” by Helen Augustyn

Submitted to Contest #223

What goes on in the mind of a bird? Liberty Coates surely knows. After twenty years of research on the spotted Oriole, she has written countless papers on her extensive studies. The conclusion: birds do not have the emotional intelligence to think thoughts. On May 19th, 1987, two months after Liberty Coates’ less than successful paper The Spotted Oriole: My Life’s Devotion was published, her lifelong rival Bruce Davidson published his groundbreaking neuroscience study, claiming that birds are one of the most intelligent creatures o...

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“ A Theory Newly Proved” by Chloe Robinson

Submitted to Contest #223

For sixteen years, I have been pursuing the true substance of life. But now, with hardly two years under his belt, that welp has supposedly overtaken me. He, in his pressed robes and combed hair, took to the halls like his mere steps would transmute the stone to gold. Has the boy not learned his history? Has he not taken note of all the parables he was plastered with? It takes an old master to make miracles, and a young fool to undo them all! Does anyone heed these oft-repeated words? The whole faculty has abandoned the teachings of common...

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“A Sadly Common Scandal” by Scott Allen

Submitted to Contest #223

It was a crisp fall afternoon at Chalmer University. He was at his favorite bookstore/ coffee shop and was sitting at one of the tables that hugged the expansive wall of windows at the front of the store. Expertly drawn cartoons of books and famous literary characters filled the majority of the glass. Through a gap between Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter, he watched as multicolored leaves swooped and swirled through the air. A young woman crossed his field of view, and the wind was strong enough to make her long inky black hair flick behind...

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“Integrity, accountability and transparency” by Antoine T. Chevalier

Submitted to Contest #223

In the heart of a bustling university town, nestled among century-old oak trees and grandiose architecture, stands the Prestige University. For years, its hallowed halls were revered for fostering academic excellence and nurturing the brightest minds. However, the quiet facade of this revered institution would soon be shattered by a scandal that would shake its own foundations. The crisp autumn wind blows across campus, where student life moves at a frenetic pace. However, beneath the veneer of academic excellence, a scandal still covered ...

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“Mighty Pen” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #223

Moving down the student union cafeteria queue, Kermit couldn’t help but notice her. They slid their trays mechanically along the stainless-steel counter. Slide. Stop. Repeat. He watched her careful choices and precise manner of organizing food on the tray, so nothing touched. Being a journalism major, spotting telling details was his mind-set. When he accidentally bumped his tray into hers, she shot him a warning look. Her mane of tight blond curls took a moment to settle. He couldn’t place her despite her distinctive look. Kermit apologize...

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“Toasted” by Andrea Gonzalez

Submitted to Contest #223

Everyone knows that in order to have a successful finals week, one must follow a strict and disciplined routine. First I woke up at 8am, no snoozed alarms, this was essential. The snooze button was for the weak. Then I wiped off the layer of dust that had accumulated overnight on my beloved photo of Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. As a fellow Latina and woman of the Law, Sonia was my Superwoman. After that, I ate an everything bagel with low fat, Philadelphia cream cheese. I’d made so many bagels in the...

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“Quivira” by Elijah Rose

Submitted to Contest #223

Often the information is out there, finding it simply means asking the right questions and taking the time to look. ` The question James was asking was about pre-Indian settlement of his hometown of Quivira. Indeed, what he had previously found was this region appears to have been completely blank before 1850 when the Indians came from the west. Popular records available on the internet put American settlement at 1857 but they were wrong as James saw graves dating as early as 1840. All children, a James assumed these were the kids of early s...

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“Bright room, Dark room” by CD H

Submitted to Contest #223

A 17-year-old girl randomly twisted the handle of a faucet in the public toilet. She did it several times but the water did not come out. Instead, the wall next to her split open, and a dim, hidden staircase leading to an unknown room showed up. She was too annoyed to notice the split wall and put her hands on the waist. She then twisted the handle harder until it popped out. Finally noticing the wall, her jaws fell open. Her body paused, and she stared at it until the water rushed out from the faucet. She thought:'Lucy Ruth, my dear se...

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“The Tome” by Edd Baker

Submitted to Contest #223

CW: Some drug related humor, sprinkled swearing and brief disturbing imagery. Between an old, tattered hardcover of Dostoevsky‘s Crime and Punishment, and a paperback of Captain Underpants. That's where Steven said he had stashed the shroom chocolate bar. When Jeremiah had asked Steven earlier that day why he hid it in the university library of all possible places, he responded that it just made sense at the time. Jeremiah was forced to go retrieve the goods himself, Steven currently under house arrest after he came home a few...

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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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