"Tastes of Hope and Sorrow" by James Goldberg
Mormon Lit Blitz
the world's premier contest for Mormon microliterature
The Holiday
Lit Blitz
Dec 2-14, 2024
Past Contest Finalists
13th Annual Lit Blitz (2024)
“Building an Ark” by Merrijane Rice
“His Mother Knew It” by Sarah Chow
“Abrahamic Sacrifice” by Annaliese Lemmon
"Bundling Up” by Lara Niedermeyer
“Tres Microcuentos Mormones" / "Three Mormon Microstories" by Mario Montani
“Laban's Funeral” by Chris Bissett
"Things Which Are Not of Worth” by Jeanine Bee
“Happy Enough” by Amanda Erdmann
“Marriage” by Michael Hicks
“Parable of the 10 Virgins” by Michelle Graabek
“Collapse” by Greg Brooks
“El Don” / "The Gift" by R. de la Lanza
12th Annual Lit Blitz (2023)
“Nexus of Everything” by Merrijane Rice
“Refried Dreams” by Cristie Cowles Charles
“Second Coming” by Michael Hicks
“This Time and This Season” by Chanel Earl
“The Pear Tree” by Stan Absher
“A Young Mother’s Sacrament” by Emily Harris Adams
“Earthworm Lore” by Stan Absher
“Creature from the Back Lagoon” by Lee Allred
“Antelife” by Dan Mabee
“The Cost” by Liz Busby
“Future Genealogists” by Madison Beckstrand
“Nine Sunsets” by Chanel Earl
Around the World in Mormon Lit (2023)
“A Espera” (The Waiting) by Suzana Mcauchar
"Os Cinco Anjos do Éden" (The Five Angels of Eden) by Claudio Antão Ribeiro de Oliveira
“Auxese” (An Exercise in Hyperbole) by Ana Claudia de Souza de Oliveira
“Além da Visão” (Beyond the Vision) by Edgar Farinon
“Conversion Story” by Inari Porka
“Muling Pagkabuhay” (He is Risen) by Maria Evelyn Quilla Soleta
“Calma dominical” (Sunday Calm) by Débora Loiza
"Romance de Abinadí" (Ballad of Abinadi) by Mario R. Montani
“De amor y de piedras” (Of Love and Stones) by Maximiliano Martínez
“Galletas de avena” (Oatmeal Cookies) by Ana Ruth Enriques
"おじいさんのもの" (Grandpa's Member) by Tokuzawa Aiko
“Thy Name Shall No More Be” by Whitney Hemsath
11th Annual Lit Blitz (2022)
“Tower of Babel” by Darlene Young
“Chickens without End” by Julia Jeffrey
“2 Coats” by Jared Forsyth
“Through a Glass” by Alixa Brobbey
“Blood in the Garden” by Whitney Hemsath
“Cristo en el huerto de Getsemaní” by Gabriel González Núñez
“Grafted Branches” by Jeanine Bee
“The Fourth Ward Filibuster” by Kevin Klein
“Every Member a Missionary” by Selina Forsyth
“O Caixão de Nhô Jon Anton” by César Augusto Medina Fortes
“O Homem e a Terra” by Siviano Stalon Fortes
“Leah at the Edges” by Merrijane Rice
Saints, Spells, and Spaceships (Speculative Fiction Contest, 2021)
“What Have You Against Being Baptized” by W. O. Hemsath
“The Gift of Undoing” by Katherine Cowley
“The Apocalypse of Kemet III” by Hillary Stirling
“Ministering Blood Brother” by Terrance V. McArthur
“Remote Control Mama” by Becca Birkin
“There Is No Release” by Jonathan Olfert
“Aboard the Nursery Barge” by Sarah Chow
“Gleaners” by James Goldberg
“The 37th Ward Relief Society Leftovers Exchange” by Liz Busby
“The Other Commander” by W. O. Hemsath
“Hie to Kolob” by Emily Harris Adams
“The Gift to Be Healed” by Annaliese Lemmon
10th Annual Lit Blitz (2021)
“116 Pages” by Merrijane Rice
“Unfit Mother of the Year” by Susan Law Corpany
“Final Exam” by Jared Forsyth
“Reformed Egyptian” by Lee Allred
“Oh, a Dove” by Aiko Tokuzawa
“We Must Overcome” by Jonathon Penny
“The Lord’s Multiform Prayer” by Gabriel González Núñez
“Not of Necessity” by Jeanine Bee
“Golden Plate Controversy Erupts with ‘Mormon Storm’” by Devin Galloway
“Weight of Souls” by Selina Forsyth
“Sacrament in Solitude” by Marianne Hales Harding
“Perspective” by Jonathon Penny
Palabras de Mormon (Spanish language contest
co-sponsored with the Cofradía de Letras Mormonas, 2020)
Obra Ganadora: En lo profundo del corazón — Moramay Alva
Grand Prize: "In the Depths of the Heart" by Moramay Alva
Primer accésit: Abedul — Jonatan I. Walton
First Runner-up: "Birch" by Jonatan I. Walton
Segundo accésit: Recuerdo de la lluvia que no recuerdo — Santiago Vázquez
Second Runner-up: "The memory of that rain I do not remember" by Santiago Vázquez
9th Annual Lit Blitz (2020)
“Resurrection by Easter 2020” by Selina Forsyth
“Perfection is a Fullness” by Jeanine Bee
“Orpheus Sings to Mary and Martha” by Emily Harris Adams
“Family Tree” by Merrijane Rice
“Three Generations of Sonder” by Chanel Earl
“Airplanes that Crashed: A Book of Mormon Coloring Book” by Jared Forsyth
“Final Report” by Mattathias Westwood
“Portal Friends” by Annaliese Lemmon
“Part Heaven” by Madison Beckstrand
“O Nosso Cão Stromberg” (“Our Dog Stromberg“) by César Augusto Medina Fortes
“In the Locker Room at the Temple” by Darlene Young
“Brother and Sister” by Scott Hales
8th Annual Lit Blitz (2019)
“Paradisiacal Glory” by Katherine Cowley
“Before the Healing” by Merrijane Rice
“How Do We Make Sense of What Will Be When We Hold Remnants of What Once Was?” by Steven Peck
“Separation” by Mark Penny
“Un dios en quien confiar” (in Spanish and in English translation) by Gabriel González Núñez
“The Casting Out of Spirits” by Jeanine Bee
“The Seven Deadly Housewarmers” by Emily Harris Adams
“The Investigator” by Jeanine Bee
“The Hills of Heaven” by Scott Hales
“As minhas férias na ilha de Santo Antão” (in Portuguese and in English translation) by César Augusto Medina Fortes
“Remnant” by Sarah Dunster
“Low Tide” by Merrijane Rice
Around the World Contest (2019)
Spanish finalists:
“Documentary Appendix 1” (“Anexo documental I”) by Gabriel González Núñez
“TIME a particle” (“TIEMPO una partícula”) by Citlalli H. Xochitiotzin
“The Wall of Time” (“La Muralla del Tiempo”) by Camila Andrea Fernández
Portuguese finalists:
“A Sunday at Laginha” (“Um Domingo na Laginha”) by César Augusto Medina Fortes
“The Secret Friend” (“O Amigo Secreto”) by Amanda Araújo de Castro
“Two Missions” (“Duas Missões”) by Andreza Castro
English finalists:
“Tatau” by Lehua Parker
“Victor” by David Hurtado
Estonian finalist:
“The Journey” and “Lucifer’s Monologue” (“LÄHEME RÄNDAMA” and “LUTSIFERI MONOLOOG”) by Aivar Lembit
Tagalog finalist:
“Shaken” by Jhasmin De Castro (read in English; read in Tagalog)
Japanese finalists:
“The Creation Workshop” (創造教室) by Mitsushige Takaki (高木光茂)
“The Sound of Water” (「 水音」) by Aiko Tokuzawa (徳沢愛子)
7th Annual Lit Blitz (2018)
“Three Dogs in the Afterlife” by Luisa Perkins
“Scrubbing Jesus’ Toilets” by Lehua Parker
“A Perfect Voice” by Katherine Cowley
“New Rhythm” by Tanya Hanamaikai
“Counsel” by Faith Kershisnik
“After the Fast” by Wm Morris
“Beneath the Visiting Moon” by Lee Allred
“Still Clean” by Sherry Work
“Proof That Sister Greeley Is a Witch (Even Though Mormons Don’t Believe in Witches)” by Wm Morris
“The Last Swing” by Sheldon Lawrence
“Joseph and Emma Grow Old Together” by Eric Jepson
“Missionary Weekly Report for 28 March-3 April, Mumbai 1st Branch” by Mattathias Westwood
6th Annual Lit Blitz (2017)
“Celestial Accounting” by Katherine Cowley
“Sonata in Three Movements” by Jeanine Bee
“Germination” by Sarah Dunster
“Pride” by Hillary Stirling
“Spurious Revelations” by Niklas Hietala
“On the Death of a Child” by Merrijane Rice
“Worthy World” Tanya Hanamaikai
“There Wrestled a Man in Parowan” by Wm Morris
“Valley 176th Ward” by Eliza Porter
“Walking Among the Legend People” by Marianne Hales Harding
“Daughters of Ishmael” by Annaliese Lemmon
“Forty Years” by Jeanna Mason Stay
5th Annual Lit Blitz (2016)
“Foolish and Wise” by Lisa Barker
“Fresh Courage Take” by Bradeigh Godfrey
“Leaving Egypt” by Tyler Chadwick
“Requiem for Those People Who Lived Briefly in Your Ward” by Rose Green
“The Gift of Tongues“ by Annaliese Lemmon
“Golden Contact” by Lee Allred
“The Back Row” by Kelli Swofford Nielsen
“Rumors of Wars” by Zachary Lunn
4th Annual Lit Blitz (2015)
“Angry Sunbeam” by Eric Jepson
“Best Wedding Advice Ever” by Heather Young
“Three Meditations on Fatherhood” by Tyler Chadwick
“Child Star” by Scott Hales
“Faded Garden” by Emily Harris Adams
“The Five Year Journal” by Katherine Cowley
“Disability, Death, or Other Circumstance” by Annaliese Lemmon
“The Joys of Onsite Apartment Building Management” by William Morris
“Echo of Boy” by Darlene Young
“Decorating Someone Else’s Service” by Lehua Parker
“Should Have Prayed for a Canoe” by Julia Jeffery
“Mother” by Merrijane Rice
Meeting of the Myths (mixed mythology, 2014)
“Spring Hill” by Luisa Perkins
“A Voice Not Crying in the Wilderness” by Jonathon Penny
“The Trail” by Stephen Carter
“Where Nothing Lives But Crosses” by Lee Allred
“Harmony’s Victory” by Hillary Stirling
“Eyelight” by Mark Penny
“Daughter of a Boto” by Katherine Cowley
3rd Annual Lit Blitz (2014)
“20/20” by Lindsay Denton
“The Primary Temple Trip” by Laura Hilton Craner
“In Remembrance” by Merrijane Rice
“Curelom Riders” by Annaliese Lemmon
“Slippery” by Stephen Carter
“In a Nutshell” by Doug Staker
“And Through the Woods” by Jennifer Eichelberger
“Thick and Thin” by Vilo Westwood
“Platinum Tears” by Marianne Hales Harding
“Sugar Free” by Emily Debenham
“Living Scriptures” by Scott Hales
“Yahweh: Prologue to the Temple” by Jonathon Penny
2nd Annual Lit Blitz (2013)
"Actionable Intelligence" by Jonathon Penny
"Regimen" by Scott Hales
"Celestial Terms" by Sarah Dunster
"The Accidental Jaywalker" by Ben Crowder
"Dumb Idols" by Hillary Stirling
"Sister" by Merrijane Rice
"Kayden Abernathy's Journal Page 35-37, Partially Recovered from the House Fire 6/21/2013" by Steven Peck
"Natural Coloring" by Marianne Hales Harding
"Birthright" by Emily Harris Adams
"In Which Eve Names Everything Else" by Katherine Cowley
"When I Rise" by Kimberly Hartvigsen
Four Centuries of Mormon Stories (2012)
19th Century:
"Little Karl" by Melissa Leilani Larson
"Ruby's Gift" by Emily Debenham
"Numbers" by Melody Burris
20th Century:
"Maurine Whipple, Age Sixteen, Takes a Train North" by Theric Jepson
"When the Bishop Started Killing Dogs" by Steven Peck
"Something Practical" by Melody Burris
21st Century:
"The ReActivator" by Wm Morris
"Oaxaca" by Anneke Garcia
"The Defection of Baby Mixo" by Mark Penny
22nd Century:
"Release" by Wm Morris
"Avek, Who Is Distributed" by Steven Peck
"Waiting" by Katherine Cowley
1st Annual Lit Blitz (2012)
“In Bulk” by Marilyn Nielson
“The Elder Who Wouldn’t Stop” by Wm Morris
“No Substitute for Chocolate” by Jeanna Mason Stay
“Second Coming,” by Emily Harris Adams
“The Road Not Taken” by Sandra Tayler
“Stillborn” by Merrijane Rice
“Oil of Gladness” by Kathryn Soper
“The Shoe App” by Emily Debenham
“Cada Regalo Perfecto” by Deja Earley
“The Gloaming” by Kerry Spencer
“Babel” by Jonathon Penny
“The Hearts of the Fathers” by Jeanine Bee
“Red Rock” by Marianne Hales Harding
Submission Guidelines
These guidelines apply generally to all of our contests. Please also check the specific guidelines for the contest you are submitting to, especially for themed contests as they may have slightly different word count limits and content requirements. Contest specific guidelines can generally be found at on the news post for the contest.
Rules
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The Mormon Lit Blitz is a contest for stories, essays, and poems about Latter-day Saints’ lives, beliefs, and interests. Some past winners talk about Latter-day Saints characters, scriptures, or history. Others explore themes like family, choices, or death in ways that might interest Latter-day Saint readers. The best way to figure out if your piece is a fit for the contest is to read previous finalists online and in our anthologies.
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Submitted works may be in any genre so long as they are under 1,000 words and designed to resonate in some way with a Latter-day Saint audience.
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Submissions may be written in any language. If they wish, writers may submit their own translations of their story into English, or permit our volunteer judges and translators to evaluate and translate their story.
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Previously published material and simultaneous submissions are acceptable.
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Up to three submissions are allowed per author.
Formatting
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No use of author name on the document itself
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Preferably a Word document or PDF
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Spacing and font: preferred Garamond or Times, 12pt, 1.5-inch spacing, but anything reasonably readable will be accepted
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Include the story title in the file name
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Send up to three entries to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com, with files attached. Include the author’s contact info in the body of the email BUT NOT in the attached stories.
Rights
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By submitting, authors give us the nonexclusive right to publish their work online, as part of an audio podcast, and in a future print anthology. Authors will receive a free copy of the anthology in which their work appears.
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We accept previously published material.
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Authors remain free to republish their work in their own collections or anywhere else they choose.
How to submit
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Send up to three entries to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com, with files attached. Include the author’s contact info in the body of the email BUT NOT in the attached stories.