Founded in 1986 by Jerome Stern, then director of Florida State University's creative writing program, the World's Best Short-Short Story Contest was conceived as a celebration of micro fiction—originally limited to 250 words, with a crate of oranges and a check awarded to the winner. Though Stern died in 1996 and the guidelines and prize have evolved, the contest endures in his memory, each year entrusted to a modern master of the short-short form. The 2026 iteration is judged by Amina Gautier, author of four award-winning collections, including The Best That You Can Do (2024), which received the Soft Skull-Kimbilio Publishing Prize, three International Latino Book Awards, the Midwest MLA Award, a Florida Book Award Silver Medal, and a Silver Medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Her presence signals a commitment to work that is both compressed and resonant, attentive to voice, place, and the emotional weight a few hundred words can bear. The contest welcomes up to three short-short stories per submission, each no more than 500 words. There is a $16 entry fee. Personal identification information must not appear within the submissions themselves, ensuring that the judging process remains focused on the prose. While the prize package is not specified in the provided materials, the contest's history and the stature of its judge suggest that recognition here carries meaningful literary capital. The Southeast Review, as the host organization, situates this opportunity within a broader tradition of university-affiliated literary magazines that champion formal innovation and narrative precision. For the practicing writer, this is an invitation to work at the edge of concision—where every sentence must justify its existence. The short-short is not merely a truncated story but a distinct form with its own demands: immediacy, implication, and a refusal of the superfluous. Gautier's own fiction is known for its psychological acuity and its attention to the lives of characters often overlooked; writers submitting to this contest would do well to consider how much can be suggested in a small space, and how little can be said without loss.