A Fantasy Short Story Contest for the Story, Not the Map
Quick answer: Writory's fantasy short story contest accepts original fantasy of 100 to 3,000 words, judged blind against a published five-part rubric that marks a fantasy story on the human choice its magic forces, not the size of its world. Entry is $8, the deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
Fantasy of 100 to 3,000 words enters Writory's short story contest for $8, with a deadline of 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100.
How the rubric reads fantasy
The panel reads a fantasy story as fantasy. Storytelling & Structure (25) asks whether the story's shape pays off its opening, and in fantasy that shape almost always runs through the rule of the magic: what it costs, and who pays. A story that establishes one rule and then makes a person choose against it has a structure; a story that tours a world does not, however good the world. Blind judging means the panel never knows whether the entry came from a lifelong fantasist or a first-timer.
Originality & Voice (20) is not a novelty prize. A dragon, a curse and a door in a hill are all available to you; the mark goes to the angle and the telling, so a familiar fairy-tale frame told in a voice nobody else has is exactly what it rewards. Character & Emotional Impact (25) is scored the same way as in any other genre: do we want something for this person, and does the story make us feel what it costs them. Execution outscores invention every time.
Worldbuilding at 3,000 words
Three thousand words is not enough for a map, a history and a pantheon, and the entrants who try to fit them lose Language & Craft marks to exposition. Choose one strange thing and follow it honestly. Start inside the world with the door already open, not with a prologue that explains the door. Let the reader learn the rules the way the character does, by bumping into them. Names should be pronounceable on first sight; if the judge has to stop, you have spent a mark.
The fantastic element must press on an ordinary human wish. Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" has almost no plot and one terrible rule, and it is still assigned in classrooms decades on. J. R. R. Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle" is a story about a painter and a tree that is also about death. The magic in both is a lens, not the subject.
Craft notes, and the shelf to reread
Decide the cost of the magic before the first line, and make the ending answer the question the magic asked. Keep the point of view close; wonder is felt through a person, not described from above. Cut every sentence that exists to prove the world is real; one exact detail does that work better than a paragraph. End on the choice, not on the coronation. If your story is a self-contained piece from a longer project, give it its own arc, because judges see only what is on the page.
Lord Dunsany's "The Sword of Welleran" shows how much a short fantasy can carry in its sentences alone. Angela Carter's "The Bloody Chamber" retells Bluebeard and is entirely her own. Jorge Luis Borges's "The Library of Babel" builds an impossible place in a few pages and never leaves the narrator's head. Oscar Wilde's "The Selfish Giant" is a fairy tale of under 2,000 words that still makes adults cry. The free Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft covers structure and point of view for exactly this length.
Fee, deadline and what every entrant receives
The first contest runs from 1 September to 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 30 November 2026. From December the contest is monthly: entries close on the 25th, results on the 30th, and the next round opens the moment they land. Entry is $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, and each story receives its own scorecard. The top story of the round takes $100 and free entry to the next round. Every entrant receives a certificate and all five marks out of 100, and writers keep all rights, so nothing about entering stops you selling the same story or expanding it into the novel it might be.
The published rubric, 100 points
- Storytelling & Structure (25 points): Does every scene cause the next, and does the ending pay off the opening?
- Character & Emotional Impact (25 points): Do we want something with your character, and does the story make us feel it?
- Language & Craft (20 points): Clean, deliberate prose: rhythm, precision, and nothing wasted.
- Originality & Voice (20 points): The angle only you could write, told in a voice that sounds like nobody else.
- Impact & Resonance (10 points): What the story leaves behind after the last line.
How it works
Submit an original story of 100 to 3,000 words by 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive on 30 November 2026: every entrant receives a certificate with their name and a score out of 100. Writers keep all rights. Monthly winners earn free entry to the next round. Enter at https://writoryofficial.com/submit-story.
Common questions
Is fantasy eligible on the same terms as realist fiction?
Yes. Any genre enters the same round and is judged blind against the same five-part rubric, which has no clause favouring realism. Secondary-world fantasy, fairy-tale retellings, urban fantasy and magical realism are all read as what they are. The only rules are 100 to 3,000 words, original work, age 13 and over.
What does it cost to enter a fantasy story?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, paid online at /submit-story before 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Each story is scored on its own, so entering a retold fairy tale alongside an invented-world piece shows you which mode your prose handles better.
What does the certificate and score tell a fantasy writer?
Every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, split into the five published marks. Fantasy entries most often show a gap between Originality & Voice and Character & Emotional Impact: a high first mark and a low second means the world arrived and the person did not.
Can I enter a chapter or a self-contained piece from my fantasy novel?
Yes, if it reads as a whole at 3,000 words or fewer. Judges see only the pages in front of them, so choose a stretch with its own opening, escalation and landing. A chapter that exists to set up the next one will score as a fragment, because on its own that is what it is.
Is there a word limit, and how much worldbuilding fits in it?
Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words. At that length one rule of magic, one setting and one choice is the realistic budget; exposition beyond that costs Language & Craft marks. Le Guin's Omelas is under 3,000 words and builds an entire city by describing a single festival and a single room.
Can I write fantasy in my own language?
Yes. Stories in any language are accepted and read in their own language, in one pool. Fantasy in Hindi, Arabic, Filipino or Spanish draws on traditions older than the English genre, and a story rooted in one of them is judged on the same five dimensions as any other entry.
More story contest pages
About Writory
Writory (writoryofficial.com) is an international monthly poetry contest founded in 2025 by Shivay Mehra. Poets from 31 countries have entered, readers come from over 150 countries, and every submitted poem is judged and scored out of 100 across five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and impact and resonance. Every entrant receives a certificate; winners receive cash prizes and are published by name. Entries close on the 25th of each month and results are announced on the 30th. Writory is listed by Duotrope, Poetry Kit, Christopher Fielden's competition list and Creative Writing NZ, among other organisations. Past results are public at past winners and the leaderboard.