WHAT IS AMBITION?

SO, in order to win a wad of cash (£1000 actually) from Harper's Bazaar, I have to write a short story about Ambition by April 11th, the same day I am handing in my entries for the Vogue Young Talent Contest for Young Writers.

I decided to look up the word Ambition, as a starting point, to see what pops up in my head. Dictionary.com says:

am·bi·tion /æmˈbɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[am-bish-uhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1.
an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment: Too much ambition caused him to be disliked by his colleagues.
2.
the object, state, or result desired or sought after: The crown was his ambition.
3.
desire for work or activity; energy: I awoke feeling tired and utterly lacking in ambition. –verb (used with object)
4.
to seek after earnestly; aspire to.

I also decided to do some research on the competition and I'll be damned what came up on google. SOMEONE HAILING FROM MY UNIVERSITY WON THE 2006 PRIZE! AND I knew her. She's a very well known erotic writer in London, Debra Mehta, and she did a reading at our University's first major literary event last year (where I sadly won Best Dressed. Whatever happened to winning something for writing? But actually there were no prizes for writing anyways so no biggie.) Anyways, I guess the topic changes every year because I don't see how erotica can be classed ambition.

WHO THE FUCK CAN SAY ANYTHING GOOD ON AMBITION BESIDES CHEERLEADERS?! You guys have to help me. Give me some ideas, some sparks, some starting points. I really need this money*cough* I mean, this recognition. Okay jokes aside, I think daily readers of my blog know I would kill to make it as a successful writer. It's not really about money for me, or else my parents would've forced me to study medicine like I had originally planned. But you gotta admit, winning this competition and that money is a GREAT place to start. One of my favourite authors Zadie Smith won this (if you haven't read White Teeth and On Beauty yet, GET ON IT!). I actually wrote about Zadie Smith in my admittance essay for my University.Anyway, this website is really good for any and everything short and reader worthy (short stories). They've got upcoming competitions and lists of magazines that publish stories etc. You can also download some short stories here for reading pleasure.