1. Each entrant may submit as many as two stories to the Carleton English Department. The stories need not have been written especially for the competition, but must not have been previously published off-campus.

2. Each manuscript is limited to 10,000 words.

3. Each submission should have a separate title page or cover sheet that includes the title of the story, the author's name, and the author's campus and home addresses. When printed, the title page must be able to be removed so the story can be judged anonymously.

4. The title of the story (but not the author's name) must also appear on the first page of the text of the story itself (page 1). 

5. The stories should be submitted electronically as Microsoft Word documents* to the English Department's Administrative Assistant, Carolyn Soule.  Please send them as email attachments to csoule@carleton.edu.  Contestants will be notified about whether or not their stories have been chosen to be sent to the ACM Office in Chicago for further competition.

6. The Carleton English Department is authorized to select as many as four stories to send to the ACM office in Chicago; a small committee of faculty drawn from colleges throughout the consortium will then select the semi-finalists. The winner will be chosen by a professional writer. Past judges have included such writers as Saul Bellow, Joyce Carol Oates, John Updike, Anne Tyler and Maya Angelou.