the Sunday Telegraph had a comp called Mini-Sagas in 1982, repeated later in the 80s, and had a more rigorous limit of 50 words.
"He ran happily through the maze, keeping the red signs on the right and the white signs on the left. At the end he stopped and waited till the blue light came on. Then he pressed the lever down. The trap door opened and a perfectly conditioned psychologist handed the rat a piece of cheese."
(The rule was obviously not rigorously monitored.)