Six Word Wonder Contest 2020 – the Incredible Shortlist

Today, I’m excited to announce the shortlist for the Six Word Wonder Contest 2020.

We had a wonderful response to the contest, with over 1000 entries from budding writers from every corner of the globe. The power of your words flattened me.

What is the Six Word Wonder Contest 2020?

To celebrate the launch of Six Word Wonder by Doug Weller, we launched a contest to find the best Six Word Wonder of 2020.

The purpose of the contest was to discover fresh new Six Word Wonders.

Contest entry was free. The prize for the top Six Word Wonder is $50 cash, plus publishing in the follow-up book, Six Word Story. Six Word Story is out on 18th February on Amazon.

The rules of the Six Word Wonder Contest 2020 was simple:

Write a Six Word Wonder, in English.

All entries were judged anonomously.

What is a Six Word Wonder?

Six Word Wonders are stories, poems, jokes, memoirs and riddles written in only six words.

To see some examples of Six Word Wonders here.

Reflections on the Contest from the judge

The response was phenomenal. We had more than 1000 entries! We saw stories of darkness and light, of humour and genuine seriousness. Exactly what you would expect from a six word wonder. It is incredible to discover how much variety and creativty can be packed into so few words. Well done to everybody how took part.

Before sharing the winner, a few observations from the judging.

There were a vast variety of stories, memoirs and jokes, ranging across genres from romance, to horror, to humour, to philosophy and poetry.

As you can imagine, it was a huge challenge to whittle down so many entries to reach a shortlist. But, there were some stories that really stood out from the crowd.

The best examples shared a few things in common:

• Drew a definite emotional response
• Featured beauty, suspense or surprise
• Included strong verbs and interesting nouns
• Took the reader on a journey, even if they needed to fill in the blanks
• Used only six words!

Thank you to all who entered.

And for those keen to create more six word stories, there will be a Six Word Story 2021 contest to enter, launching in conjunction with the new book, Six Word Story.

Full Shortlist – Six Word Wonder Contest 2020

(In Alphabetical Order)

Alvaro De Araujo

Andrew Maust

Art Carey

Chris Tattersall

Christy Hudson

Colin Parfitt

Daryl Scroggins

Donna Kennedy

Erin Boyd

Gavin Croghan

George Stamps

Héctor Muiños Olivas

Izan Pumas

Jackie Fallis

Jenny Lynch

Lisa Lacey Liscoumb

LJ Jamandre

Maggie Lu

Meghna Chatterjee

Olivia Dey

Sharyn Grimes

Stefan Harich

Tracy Davidson

Vaibhav Hassija

Vivian Imperiale

Congratulations to every writer shortlisted. I’m excited to confirm that a Six Word Wonder from each of the shortlisted entries will be included in the follow-up book. The final winner will be announced on 18th February 2021 in conjunction with the launch of Six Word Story by Doug Weller.