The contest is sponsored by Cheerios. It's called Spoonful of Stories. http://www.spoonfulsofstoriescontest.com/registration_form/

It's for children's stories. You must be an unpublished author and the story must be no longer than 500 words. It doesn't cost anything to enter.

Last year's winner got $5000 and is having her book published by Simon and Schuster.

The contest closes July 15, which should give you plenty of time for 500 words.

WARNING on the contest rules:
"By submitting your story, you accept all contest rules and agree to be bound by the decisions of the judges, which will be final. You also agree that if you are a Grand Prize or First Runner-Up Winner, your story becomes the sole property of General Mills, and General Mills reserves the right to edit, adapt, copyright, publish, transfer and use all or a part of your entry without further compensation."

It sounds like they wouldn't even have to put your name on it if they didn't want to, because you're selling every ounce of the copyright.

The following seemed a little weird too, though probably not as bad as the first blurb:

"Except where prohibited by law, each winner will be required to sign a release giving General Mills, the book publisher and their respective advertising and promotion agencies full rights to use the winner’s name, likeness, image and voice for Contest related advertising and publicity, including such usage on the Internet."

It sounds like they could use your likeness/voice/name in any way they want without consulting you: I would at least like to be in the loop for something like that.

quote:

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You are not eligible if:

You have authored a work of fiction that has been published or is about to be published in exchange for payment.

Blah, blah...

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Not bad pay for one story, even if they do keep all the rights. I don't think I've ever seen work-for-hire come close to that kind of money.

I'd happily part with 500 words forever, if it netted me $5K

I can always write more words. I can't always score $5K for such a tiny amount.

I've purchased Cheerios and found story booklets inside the boxes. The authors' names were on the bylines.

Anyone looking for story inspiration, here's a link to Topher's Breakfast Cereal Character Guide. An archive of advertising motifs for all the brand-name cereals is accessible below the statistics.