One of the first tangible projects in Umeå's venture to become the European Capital of culture 2014 was the establishment of the Umeå Short Story Award. The purpose of the annual short story competition was that Umeå wanted to create a new forum for the Swedish short story and of course at the same time make Umeå's bid for the candidacy known to the rest of Sweden. This competition is now in its third year and Umeå has emerged as the Swedish candidate for the European Capital of Culture 2014. This year's harvest of short stories after the deadline on 1 November 2009 is record-breaking — a total of 1 223 short stories have been submitted!As a further development it has been decided that the annual literature celebration and the awards ceremony of the Umeå Short Story Prize will be combined into a joint literary event on 6-10 April 2010. The event will mature during the years leading up to 2014 when it will burst out into full bloom. The fair for small publishers called "Small is Big" will also become part of the celebration.
