And the judge of WMRA's short, short fiction contest is . . .

Scott Simon

Whoopee!!!!!   

Author, world traveler, raconteur, reporter, comedian, and, oh yes, host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Scott Simon has agreed to pick the winners of WMRA's short, short story contest. This means that the man who's written 5 books, himself, and hosts what The Washington Post calls “the most literate, witty, moving, and just plain interesting news show on any dial,” is looking forward to reading your short, short story.

That is, if you write one and send it to WMRA before the contest deadline, which is 5 p.m. September 24th.

WMRA's happy relationship with Scott Simon goes back to 2001, when we hosted a reading of his first memoir, Home and Away, at the Charlottesville's Barnes & Noble. Surprise, surprise, the building was crammed, Scott was charmingly pleased by the size of the crowd, a great time was had by all. Plus, he brought along his almost-new wife Caroline Richard. 

Since then, Simon has written four more books; Pretty Birds: A Novel,  Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball (2007), Windy City: A Novel of Politics, (2008), and the just-published Baby, We Were Meant for Each Other: In Praise of Adoption. 


So, this man isn't just a pretty face on your radio dial; this man can write!


I know that I'd already blogged about WMRA's short-short contest, and we've already gotten some entries. But I haven't blogged about who's going to judge the contest. And that, to me, is worth another post.

Contest rules:

• 600 words or fewer
• entirely the author's original work
• never-before published in any form (including personal blogs and website)
• deadline is 5 p.m., Friday, September 24th

What you win:

• Writers of the four stories judged best will win fame -- you'll read your story at the end of an October edition of Virginia Insight.
• Writer of the story judged best by Scott Simon will win fame and lunch -- with the WMRA on-air person of your choice.

Please e-mail submissions to me, Martha Woodroof. And feel free to e-mail me with any questions you might have.  I'm here to help, to encourage, and, if you need it, to give you a great, big, enthusiastic push to get crackin'! 

My, my, don't we have a good time here in WMRA Land!