The Little Tokyo Historical Society (LTHS) seeks fictional short stories for its sixth annual Imagine Little Tokyo short story contest in the categories of English language, Japanese language and youth (18 and younger). The deadline is January 31, 2019.
The purpose of the contest is to raise awareness of Little Tokyo through a creative story that takes place in Little Tokyo. The story has to be fictional and set in a current, past or future Little Tokyo in the City of Los Angeles, California. The short story committee will be specifically looking for stories that capture the spirit and sense of Little Tokyo. Each category winner will be awarded $500 in cash with their short story being published in The Rafu Shimpo and Discover Nikkei website. A public award ceremony and dramatic readings of the winning stories are also being planned for spring 2019.
“This contest is unique in that there are categories in both the English and Japanese languages,” said Naomi Hirahara, committee chair. “And winners of our youth category have gone on to apply their creative skills in their college education.”
          For more information and guidelines, refer to the Little Tokyo Historical Society website, http://www.littletokyohs.org. If you would like to financially contribute to the contest, e-mail imaginelittletokyo@gmail.com