Winter Tales

Contests

House and trees in winter, digital art

Winter Tales

Tell a winter story in short descriptive or narrative poetry or prose. Selected pieces will be presented by Vermont Stage performers at the annual Winter Tales production in Burlington in December 2025! Due March 28, 2025

[Art credit: "Snowy Day" by Vivien Sorce, YWP Archive]


While we're surrounded by heaps of snow, Vermont Stage is inviting YWP writers to write about winter – real winter! – and join a lineup of professional storytellers for this festive event. What Vermont Stage is looking for:

  • Original, imaginative, thought-provoking descriptive or narrative poetry or prose
  • Short and tightly written pieces that can be read in 2-3 minutes (do a test run at home)
  • A focus on winter – it can be your setting, theme, even a character in the story. Think of the magic, beauty, and complexity of the season. Avoid seasonal clichés (no hot chocolate or mistletoe, please).

Submissions are due by March 28. Vermont Stage will contact the selected writers in the fall and send out invitations to the show. Watch the YWP site for details along the way! Have fun with it!

Submissions

  • Snowy Nostalgia

    The snow fell in a layer thin enough for my footprints to reveal the concrete beneath each step. It lifted in waves when the wind skimmed the ground, like tall grass in an open field.

  • Forgotten

    I sighed as I set my car in park and opened the doors. I sat on the edge of my car seat for a while pondering what my life had become. But I had no other choice. Time for another day of work.

  • Lost In The Woods

    As I sped down the mountain, the wind sliced across my face like a dagger. It hooted at me as if to warn me of the danger ahead. If I had known what was to happen that day; I would have listened to the wind.

  • Winter awareness

    Winter so cold

    It reminds me of the world

    The snow falls 

    Snow covering the walls

    The flakes look so calm

    As they fall on your palm

    As cool as they look

    I think I'd rather read a book

  • Bitter

    Staring out the window at the glittering snow

    Simply reflecting on long long ago

    Watching kids play through shiny tears

    Like looking back at my childhood years

     

  • Witness

    The icy Penobscot wind cut through me like a blade as I stared at the crow, now just a crumpled shadow in the snow. My dad’s shot had silenced its call, and it lay there, broken and defeated, a symbol of my own helplessness.

  • Miami

    Miami. I need a flight to Miami. I couldn't stand the cold anymore. It was the beginning of January, the home of freezing temperatures and perpetually gray skies.

  • Winter

    Winter: 

     

    As frosty winds whisper, wrapping us in fear,

    In winter's grasp, we gather near.

    Underneath the snow-cloaked rooftops

    We find warmth in each other.