Professional and aspiring writers have opportunities for recognition, publication and financial awards from competitions produced by the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park.
Hemingway Foundation Executive Director Keith Strom explained that the organization has two missions: “First, to preserve, educate, and explore the creative achievements through the various influences found in Ernest Hemingway’s life and works; second, to support writers and artists of all backgrounds.”
The competitions conducted by that organization fulfill that second mission.
Two of the competitions are open only to students from School Districts District 200 Oak Park-River Forest, District 201 Berwyn-Cicero/Morton, District 208 Riverside-Brookfield, District 209 Proviso Township and District 401 Elmwood Park.
The Hemingway Foundation Student Scholarship is open only to juniors from those districts who have a grade point average of at least 2.5. Applicants are required to write a 300-600-word essay based on a given prompt. The top three finalists have their work included in the annual “Hemingway Shorts” literary journal. In addition, the first-place award winner receives a $1,500 college scholarship.
Submissions are accepted from Feb. 15 to March 15.
Strom reported that the anthology publication series, “Hemingway Shorts” is in its 11th year and “contributes significantly to our mission.”
High school seniors from those districts, that have a grade point average of at least 2.5, are eligible to compete in the Allan O. Baldwin Memorial Student Scholarship competition.
That contest was started in 2020 and is dedicated in memory of the former Hemingway Foundation Chairman and Treasurer. It also requires a 300-600-word essay on a given prompt.
Submissions are accepted from Feb. 15-March 15.
Writers of all levels and from anywhere can enter a Short Story Contest for possible inclusion in the “Hemingway Shorts” literary journal. Each year, one overall winner receives $1,000 in addition to being included in the journal. Ten finalists also have their work published in the journal. Works must be 2,000 words or less.
Submissions to the Short Story Contest are open through April 3.
Megan Baxter, who lives in New Hampshire, was the 2025 “Hemingway Shorts” winner. She said that she entered the competition for the first time because, “I had made a transition last year from publishing primarily personal essays and nonfiction to fiction, so I was on the lookout for fiction competitions.”
Her winning essay, “The Pool,” was about “two teenage girls in a rural town who are going out to find a location to shoot a student film, that’s a rumored place in their community,” Baxter said. “It’s a lot about memory and girlhood and friendship and the way that stories develop in rural places.”
Baxter is particularly proud to have been honored by the Hemingway Foundation.
“It’s always such a wonderful thing to have a piece published, especially to have your name associated with such an incredible writer. It was a real honor.”
In addition to being an author of three books, Baxter teaches creative writing to young people through an online program for Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.
Jenna-Marie Warnecke, who lives in New York City, was one of ten finalists in the 2024 “Hemingway Shorts” competition.
Her piece is called “The Creation of Art.” “It’s a fictionalized imagining of the first person to ever create a piece of art,” Warnecke explained. “It explores how it feels to be an artist and how human it is.”
Warnecke said she entered the competition because, “When I saw that the Hemingway Foundation was having this contest, I immediately thought of this story because Hemingway was a huge influence on me when I first started writing. Reading Hemingway taught me the power of sparse language and how to be really effective by saying less.”
Being included in that publication “was a dream,” Warnecke concluded, “because of how much Hemingway had influenced me.”
Writers are also encouraged to submit works for consideration in the Foundation’s “A Moveable Read Blog Series.”
“The recognition of these authors and their works is one of the most satisfying aspects of my role at the foundation,” Strom said.
More information about the contests is at hemingwaybirthplace.com/programs-events.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
