Spring Thing is an annual competition to highlight works of text adventure games and other literary works, also known as Interactive Fiction.
Adam Cadre, author of several works of Interactive Fiction, including Photopia and Varicella, announced the Spring Thing in 2001, both to promote works that would be longer than those entered into the Interactive Fiction Competition, and to encourage authors to submit works to the general public during other times of the year. It was run in 2002 and 2003, but Cadre did not host it the following year. Greg Boettcher picked up the slack, and hosted the Spring Thing from 2005 until 2013. As of 2022[update], Aaron A. Reed runs the competition and has been doing so since 2014.
As with the better-known Interactive Fiction Competition, works submitted to the Spring Thing must be released as freeware or public domain. Unlike that competition's limit of two hours per work, judges may spend as much time as necessary with an entry in the Spring Thing.