SlideShare has just announced a contest inviting entrants to tell a story in 30 slides or fewer.

Last year, the site held a more general contest, and I analyzed the winners for their storytelling capacity. I’m tickled that this year the storytelling theme is built in. I see more and more about the importance of storytelling in presentations — from such gurus as Nancy Duarte and Joyce Hostyn. That this year’s contest focuses on telling a story is a strong endorsement of storytelling in presentations. Of course, many would argue that to truly employ storytelling in a presentation would involve no slides at all. Noting the popularity of the storytelling tag on SlideShare SlideShare has joined with Fuze Meeting to hold a contest in which stories “can be about anything. A story about you, your travels, or something you love. Just tell it with words and pictures and in 30 slides.”

Everyone who enters the contest gets a free Fuze Meeting account ($270 value), and prizes include a grand prize $5,000 and four category prizes: iPhone + $100 iTunes card, the categories being Best Design, Best Story Telling Ability, Most Popular, and Best Use of Multimedia.

Contest details here.