6-Word Story Contest 2025: Home

The Top 5 Winners of the 2024 6-Word Story Contest were:

Alysha Pontus - I did it! Look dad! Dad?

Abigail Little - Lost myself searching for someone else.

Nathan Dominguez - Love conquered worry, ameliorating our bond.

Prince Mbonyizina - Bob Marley lived Rastafarian life happily.

Doyeon Kim - Alone in America, missing family warmth.

• Length: Each story must consist of exactly six words.
• Number of Entries: Each participant may submit up to three stories.
• Eligibility: Open to all currently enrolled TCC students.
• Content Restrictions: No profanity, offensive, discriminatory, or inappropriate language.
• AI Policy: Stories generated with AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard) will not be accepted.
• Academic Integrity: Plagiarized or previously published work will be disqualified.
• Evaluation Criteria: Entries will be judged on creativity, impact, originality, clarity, grammar, Spelling, punctuation, and adherence to the rules.
• Format: Submissions must be submitted electronically through the official contest link 6-Word Story. 
• Submission Deadline: All entries must be submitted during the week of October 27-31, 2025.

Six words can make a great narrative! This is a creative art form of storytelling that uses only 6 words. 

Follow the steps below: 
 

• Begin with a basic story structure. The story should contain conflict or a teaser with vivid words. It should also contain a verb that gives it action. Finally, a six-word story should have a feeling of resolution.

• The narrative- the key to writing your own six-word story is to take an original idea, filter out most of the words, and leave the most informative ones in to tell a whole story.

• Entice the reader to fill in the blanks. Tease the audience with six words that fill in the blanks with a specific narrative that completes the story.

• Choose your words carefully. Choose words that have a purpose, actions, and meaning.

See the following short stories examples for format:

Thirteenth birthday, I laughed and cried.

I’m dating him; she’s my girlfriend.

Google: how to inflate a liferaft!

He swiped his card and waited.                             

Small coffins line the empty school.  

Mom is schizophrenic. I miss her.          

She was shot! My tragedy began.    

GED then TCC; thriving at TCU!           

• Write your own story. Find inspiration in your own life. Try recalling pivotal moments in your own life that convey your emotions. Do not borrow from other works or use Artificial Intelligence. This is considered plagiarism and will automatically disqualify your entry.

• Submissions will be reviewed during the week of November 3-6. 2025 by our lovely panel judges: Dr. Lufkin, President of South Campus; Dr. Stephen Jones, Vice President of Academic Affairs; Candy Center, Dean of Learning Commons;  Dr. Danielle Staples, Dean of Humanities and Dr. Dantrayl Smith, Director of Student Developmet Services.

• Top 5 winners will be announced and contacted starting November 7, 2025.

What Is a Six-Word Story?

A six-word story is an entire story told in six words. It is a short narrative that can have all of the emotional themes of longer stories—from funny to dramatic, sad to scary. While these quick stories don’t have the classic beginning, middle, and end of a traditional storyline, they have a subject and verb that give the reader a sense of what’s happened and a bit of conflict. From MasterClass

It's a creative art form of storytelling which uses only six words. The contest will run the week of October 27-31, 2025. You must have your submission in by October 31, 2025. 

Prizes will be awarded to the top 5 contestants. Make sure you fill out the entry with accurate information.