Reedsy Contest Novels & Stories

Large sheets of design paper were spread across a worktable in the design department of Ashford Corporation. Camelia took a deep breath, inhaling the familiar scent of paper, pencils, and black coffee that she had long missed. In the corner of the room's digital bulletin board, an electronic flyer flashed brightly, displaying a large headline: International Grand Design Competition 2026. "This competition..." Camelia murmured, her hazel eyes instantly shining with ambition. "Are you interested in registering, Camelia?" asked the head of the design department, who happened to be passing by and stopped beside her desk.

The artworks inside were unique in design, exquisite, and full of vitality, followed by a recruitment notice posted by the door. I couldn't help pushing open the glass door and walking in. The sea breeze caused the wind chimes to jingle, prompting the man behind the desk to lift his head. He looked at me with his almond-shaped eyes from under gold wire-rimmed glasses. I took out my laptop and asked, "Hello. May I ask if you're still hiring? I'm a designer, and these are some of my works." The man—Leo Tyrrell—smiled and nodded. "These works… Did you participate in the International Pioneer Design Competition two years ago? And this series is called 'Rebirth', isn't it?" he asked in a gentle,

He gestured for me to stand up which I did and took the floor. "Good morning everyone, it is a delight for me to announce that the designing team is putting finishing touches to the Triple A project. It might turn out to be ready much more earlier than we planned.' The board gave a round of applause and I let myself savor it for a just some few seconds before continuing. "As for the fact if its fit for a contest," I paused in deep thought before finally realizing what I was to say, x" I think there should be available themes for the contest."

If they hadn't swapped fates as children, she would be the one who was now subdued, graceful and radiant! Soon the designers were all seated in their places. The moderator came out and after all the procedures, he started to announce the theme of the contest. “The theme of our design contest is ‘Time’.” The theme of our design competition was "Time". Once the theme was announced, the one hundred designers were assigned to their respective workstations. There were a hundred studios here. Randomly drawn and distributed to the designers who came to compete. The studio that Aurora got was number 9. Isobel, on the other hand, was number 38.

Zoey chose one from the sketches designed by each designer, "These are very good and can be used in the first and second rounds of the competition, so we can easily advance to the third-round finals. Let's use my sketch for the finals. Does anyone have any objections?" The designers naturally agreed and appreciated it. Zoey designed a total of thirty sketches, seven in the first round, seven in the second round, and the remaining sixteen were used in the third round of the competition. The quantity is fixed, if someone else's is used, it means that Zoey's fourteen drafts are no longer needed. No matter which one of the fourteen drafts was taken out, it far surpassed the drafts of others.

I am very excited for the contest. Thank you again for all the support. Cassandra Kim

​ “Have you seen some of the entrants? So many of them are the biggest names in architecture.” ​ “Sure, but these people want the freshest and best new designers. That’s you.” ​ “I don’t think so,” Audrey felt defeated. ​ “Oh no? Why don’t you check the contest website?” ​ “What do you mean?” Audrey was apprehensive at Tracy’s words. The qualifying designers were featured on the website. “Don’t play with me.” ​ “Go look.” ​ Audrey went on the website with shaking hands. When the page loaded, she screamed in delight, and shock.

But now, it wasn't a problem for me. Using Nancy's computer, I got all the cutaway views, design sketches, and some detailed drawings of my previous works among the documents in my drive and submitted my work. After Nancy finished her sign-up, we would wait for the organizer of the competition to review us. The conditions for signing up for the competition this time probably were too high. That afternoon, Nancy and I both received, saying that we had finished signing up for the competition. However, as for the specific topic of the competition, it could only be revealed after the organizer no longer accepted the signing-up.

I had my work hanging on the walls of my room whereas the other were kept safely in a box This year and just like any other year, the participating students were asked to gather in the library in order to collect their respective themes and models. It worked out this way; After a week after registration for the contest, the jury will randomly pick up a theme and a volunteering model for each participant. No one could change or alter their themes and model eventually. They'd just allow us a deadline before submitting our final works. And after evaluation the first three winners would receive a dollar price. In all; there would be the aquarelle, oil and pencil portrait techniques.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. We typed in the website and the submission page for the competition filled the screen. I filled in my information first. Name. Age. Contact details. A headshot. Then I uploaded the digital images of my design. The dress appeared on the screen . Seeing it there made it feel suddenly real. Across the desk, Isabella was doing the same on her laptop. I glanced up briefly. “You ready?” I asked. She nodded slowly. “As I’ll ever be.” For a moment, the room went quiet except for the faint tapping of our keyboards.