For years now The Age newspaper in Melbourne has run its Annual Short Story Competition. This year’s competition closes today. While it’s too late, I realised last night that this is a missed opportunity by The Age and their retail network of newsagents. Instead of giving away DVDs, CDs and drink coasters to drive sales, I reckon they would have been better off involving newsagents in the Short Story Awards and building the community connect at the heart of the awards. While harder work and of less broad appeal, an in-store promotional campaign built around the Awards says plenty about the newspaper and its community connect.