1st Prize Winner

$1,500

Derek Elkins

for his story, Life Unworthy of Life.

Born and raised in Independence, Missouri, home of Harry Truman and the crossroads to two religious sects: Latter Day Saints, now the Community of Christ, and the school of Unity, Derek Elkins learned early on what it meant to defend your faith.  Straight out of the chute of becoming an active Christian, he was placed in a team at work that included the local president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance, a practicing Wiccan, and several others who for one reason or another had concerns with Christianity.  Spurred on by their requests for answers, Derek learned not to ignore or run away from their attacks on Christianity, but to seek answers from some of the greatest minds of the faith.

Derek currently still lives near Kansas City, Missouri with his wife, Wendi, and their five children, who range in age from seventeen to two.  When he’s not writing novels, he writes screenplays, stage plays or just plays video games.

2nd Prize Winner

$1,000

Chris Morrow

for his story, The Devil’s Choir.

Chris Morrow’s short stories and novelettes have earned him a reputation as an up and coming horror author. His debut novel, The Devil’s Choir, retains his unique style – a style that keeps readers sleeping with the lights on – but also incorporates elements of the traditional mystery/thriller and it does it all with an overriding Christian worldview. While working with an ebook publisher Chris has had several stories published as stand alone titles. His fiction has appeared in numerous print and online magazines. He is a graduate of Missouri Southern University having earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration. He lives with his wife and two children in a small town in southwest Missouri. He owns and operates a small business and does some part time work as a sports writer for friends who own the county newspaper where he cut his teeth writing everything from city council meetings to human interest stories while in college. On any given day he might be found coaching youth sports, playing piano in a rock ‘n’ roll band or at an area church, or lamenting the fact that he grew up a Kansas City Royals fan (and remains one) when he could have just as easily grown up a Saint Louis Cardinals fan.

A Paypal account is not required to send your payment electronically as Paypal can process your credit card. Electronic payment is preferred but not required.  If you wish to pay by credit card, you can return to the regular submission process now.

Or, you can mail your payment to:

ACM
424 S. Main St.
Holmen, WI 54636

Please do not send your story or poem to us in the mail.

Instead,  if you are mailing your entry fee you need to send an email to Anthony Horvath at director@athanatosministries.org letting us know so we can watch for it.  When we receive it, we will send you the form you will use to upload your story at that time.  IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE US WITH CONTACT INFORMATION, ESPECIALLY AN EMAIL ADDRESS, WE CANNOT–OBVIOUSLY–PROCESS YOUR ENTRY.

Again, DO NOT send your actual document to us.  We DO NOT accept submissions unless they come to us digitally.  We will accept your payment by mail, but not your entry.

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Submit your personal details and upload your story or poem using the form below.

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User Sign Up Page

You will receive more information about how to actually access the workshop in the couple of days before the workshop begins.

In order to complete your registration, please submit your payment using the button below.  After that, the third and final step requires that you sign up for a user account at the academy interface where we host the course.  We will manually add you to the course after that- do not pay again!

$49.00

Enrollment deadline: May 25th, 2012.

Cost for the intensive four week course: $49.95.

Participants will receive a FREE copy of the ACM 2011 Short Story Winner’s Anthology!

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Scroll down for details about our workshop. Submit this form to register for the workshop and then be sure to submit your payment on the page you are forwarded to. (Just need to pay? Click here)

Cost for the intensive four week course: $49.95.

Workshop is held online through the Athanatos Online Apologetics Academy.

To further ACM’s mission to encourage and support Christian authors in their quest to promote Christianity through the written word, contest judge Debbie Thompson leads quarterly online writing workshops with Christian authors in mind.

Debbie Thompson is a book reviewer for Northwestern Publishing House and Christian Book Club leader. A graduate with a BA from Concordia College, Ann Arbor she is the mother of two home school graduates. She is a judge for ACM’s writing contest and a volunteer staffer and a Writing and Homeschool Coach. Email her: debbie@athanatosministries.org

Other workshops Debbie has led in the past: Writing/Logic connection, The Reader’s Journal Approach to Writing and Thinking, Writing with Young Children

Topics to be covered in this workshop:

• Implicit and Explicit Christian themes
• Characteristics of the Short Story
• Good Beginnings
• Good Endings
• The plot
• Editing and review
• Discussion of this year’s winners
• Building your ability to write
• Analysis of ACM Christian Writing Contest’s winners.

ACM reserves the right to cancel an event if it deems necessary (ie, a minimum participation threshold is not reached) and will refund the workshop fee if this happens. To date, however, this has not happened.

To register for a workshop, please begin by using the form above. You will be forwarded to the payment page. Then, a few days before the course begins you will receive further instruction on how to attend the course.

Recommendations from past students:

I have only good things to say about this course. I have been inspired, energized and taught by all the exercises and interactions. It was a GREAT value for the money! I’m thrilled to pieces that I signed up. The fee made it accessible to me. I’m not sure I would have signed up if it had been more expensive, which is often a problem for many people. But I got so much more than my money’s worth! I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say that this course has changed my life for the better!

At first, when I read the outline for the class, I wasn’t sure why each of the lessons had been selected. But as I did the lessons, their importance became obvious to me. I also appreciated the book recommendations and the poetry and quotes that Debbie worked into the lessons. The course was fluid enough and the instructor kind and learned enough, that the course was tailored to the students’ needs as she got to know us.

I generally spent the better part of one day a week doing the lessons. I’m not sure if that’s because I relished them so much, I’m just particularly slow, or if there really was that much material involved. But I certainly didn’t object to the time commitment. I can see how someone working a fulltime job outside the home might have difficulty with that amount of material though.

I’m going to miss participating in this course very much. I hope that we can stay in touch. It will mean a great deal to me!

Lynn B., Escondido,CA

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I signed up for an online writing workshop, and wasn’t sure if I was going to get the back-and-forth that comes naturally in the classroom setting. This workshop by far surpassed every expectation I had! I enjoyed getting to know the instructor and participants while in the chat room, and the topics covered seemed to be just what I needed at any given time.

I was a little overwhelmed at first with all the assignments, but later realized this was the kind of experience that could be taken at whatever pace was chosen by the participant. Juggling a full-time job along with participating in the workshop proved to be entirely doable, and I never felt like I was failing to get things done, even when I didn’t finish an assignment before the due date.

It was great having someone look at something I had written, and give an honest opinion of both the writing style, as well as thee theology behind it. If I had the opportunity to take this class again, I would definitely take it!

Andy B., Hutchinson, KS

The Athanatos short story writing workshop clarified my beliefs about Christian fiction. First, we Christians have something important to say to a confused and wandering culture. Second, fiction provides a medium that can get the message past the defenses of the resisting heart. Third, the body of Christ should give serious attention to the craft of fiction in order to do a more effective job. The workshop provided inspiring examples, good instruction and supportive discussion. The proof of the pudding: I’ve written two short stories since I participated earlier this year.

David S., Deep Gap, NC.

That said, certain parameters and boundaries are expected.  ‘Mere Christianity’ does not mean ‘Free for All.’

• We expect all entrants to this contest to believe and accept the following:
• God exists, and is Triune in nature.
• Jesus is God incarnate.
• Salvation is not something we can gain by our own works.
• The set of documents of the Christian Scriptures commonly known as the Old and New Testaments provide all that is definitive and necessary for the Christian faith.
• The Nicene and  The Apostle’s Creeds are true expressions of the Christian faith.  (The other ‘ecumenical’ creed, the Athanasian creed, explicitly details the doctrine of the Trinity, which was already mentioned above).

It is our expectation that every person entering the contest will believe the forgoing and will endeavor to further the Christian faith as understood and transmitted for nearly two thousand years.  When you enter the contest, you will be asked if you agree to this minimal statement of faith.

On this page we have posted both the second round entrants and the third round semi-finalists.   We began with about 50 entries and out of these chose those for further consideration.  Out of that second round, we chose our third round authors.  ACM will be spending the next few months working with our semi-finalists to put their story in its best possible form.

They will then submit their story to ACM’s Executive Director, Anthony Horvath, who will make the final decision on who will earn the first and second prizes… and possibly extend offers to publish.  (Last year’s grand prize winner was in fact extended such an offer!)

If you submitted a story this year and your name is NOT on the forthcoming lists, you can e-mail Debbie Thompson directly at debbie@athanatosministries.org to request your feedback. Note: we will NOT send you your feedback without your explicit request for it. Please be patient with her, as there may be many requests coming in within a very short time period.

In no particular order…

(Third Round) Semi-Finalists:

• Varney, Conviction
• Kelly, Servants of the King
• Heinze, A Season’s End
• Elkins, Life Unworthy of Life
• Morrow, The Devil’s Choir
• Noe, Out of Darkness
• Eller, The Chair

(Second Round)

• Davis, Pieces
• Eller, The Chair
• Elkins, Life Unworthy of Life
• Fergussen, Flies in a Window
• Froese, This side of Russia
• Heinze, A Season’s End
• Kelly, Servants of the King
• Morrow, The Devil’s Choir
• Noe, Out of Darkness
• Ursey, Book of Souls
• Varney, Conviction