I Really Want a Billfolder to Win This Short Story Contest

Photo by Angelina Litvin on Unsplash.

The Economic Security Project just announced a new writing contest, and it’s like it was written for Team Billfold:

People are turning to the idea of a basic income both to fight against poverty and joblessness, and to provide a springboard to opportunity, with all the potential societal benefits that would come with it. While academics, politicians, and journalists debate the specifics of policy, we need to reach beyond bar graphs. Into the Black is a short story contest that asks you, the writer, to use your imagination to reach beyond the data.

They’re looking for stories of up to 5,000 words that deal with how society might change if we had basic income. You can’t write a story that begins “The day they announced basic income, all the rents went up by 50 percent,” because the stories must follow two rules:

Unconditional Funds — no one should be able to tell a recipient how to spend the money

Basic Needs — the money should be enough to cover one’s basic needs

Short list winners will receive $1,000 each, and the grand prize winner will receive $1,000 per month for 12 months—a metaphor for basic income, even though it probably won’t be enough to cover your basic needs.

Who’s going to enter?