Whatever of the Year
For this week’s prompt, write a story or a scene that involves someone or a group of people—or even something, given that personal computers were once awarded the title—doing something so historically or culturally significant that they could be named Person of the Year. Your honoree(s) could be entirely fictional, or an actual figure or group who has been awarded the title in the past.
[Can you impress us in 1500 words or less? Enter the Short Short Story Competition today! Deadline January 15, 2018]
Today (Dec. 26) in 1982—upon the release of its January 1983 issue—TIME magazine dubbed the personal computer the "Machine of the Year." TIME's Person of the Year tradition began in 1927 with Charles Lindbergh for completing the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic earlier that year. Until 1999, the Person of the Year was usually specifically called "Man of the Year" or "Woman of the Year," though 2017 isn't the first year in which a group of people was chosen, and in one other case it wasn't a person at all ("The Endangered Earth" as the 1988 Planet of the Year).
The Prompt: Write a story or a scene that involves someone or a group of people—or even something, given that personal computers were once awarded the title—doing something so historically or culturally significant that they could be named Person of the Year. Your honoree(s) could be entirely fictional, or an actual figure or group who has been awarded the title in the past. The full list of past winners can be found here.
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Jess Zafarris is the Executive Director of Marketing & Communications for Gotham Ghostwriters and the former Digital Content Director for Writer’s Digest. Her eight years of experience in digital and print content direction include such roles as editor-in-chief of HOW Design magazine and online content director of HOW and PRINT magazine, as well as writing for the Denver Business Journal, ABC News, and the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She spends much of her spare time researching curious word histories and writing about them at UselessEtymology.com. Follow her at @jesszafarris or @uselessety on Twitter.
