A Historical Fiction Short Story Contest That Scores the Story, Not the Research
Quick answer: A historical fiction short story contest with a published rubric: Writory accepts stories of 100 to 3,000 words in any period, judged blind on Storytelling & Structure, Character & Emotional Impact, Language & Craft, Originality & Voice and Impact & Resonance. 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.
Writory's short story contest takes historical fiction of 100 to 3,000 words in any language, judged blind against a published rubric. 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.
How the rubric reads a historical story
The five marks are the same for a story set in 1857 Lucknow as for one set last Tuesday: Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10. Nothing in the rubric rewards the period itself. A judge reading blind is not marking how much you know about the Siege of Leningrad; they are marking whether the woman queuing for bread wants something we can feel, and whether the ending pays off the queue. Research is the floor, not the score.
Originality & Voice is the mark most often misread by historical writers. It is scored on angle, not on obscurity. A story set in Tudor England, the most crowded shelf in the genre, can take the full 20 if its viewpoint is one nobody has used, while a story set in a period no one else has touched scores nothing for the novelty of the setting alone. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (2009) is the proof at novel length: the material was four centuries old and the angle was Cromwell's.
Craft notes for period fiction at 100 to 3,000 words
Choose the private hinge inside the public event. A short story cannot hold a battle, but it can hold the hour before a soldier's letter is opened. Andrea Barrett's "Ship Fever" (1996), about the typhus quarantine at Grosse Isle in 1847, follows one doctor through a season; Jim Shepard's collection Like You'd Understand, Anyway (2007) takes a single participant in each historical episode and stays with them. Both writers keep the great event at the edge of the frame and the person in the centre.
Let research show as texture, not as lecture. One correct detail about how a 1920s telephone exchange worked carries more conviction than a paragraph explaining it, and Language & Craft, worth 20 points, marks exposition dumps down. Write period voice by rhythm and vocabulary, not by pastiche: avoid both modern idiom and the "forsooth" register. Check anachronisms twice, because a judge who catches one stops trusting the rest. And never let a character know the future; the woman in 1913 does not sense a war coming unless someone in 1913 could have.
Decide what the reader must know and put it in action. If the story depends on the reader knowing that Partition came in August 1947, let a character pack a trunk rather than a narrator explain a treaty. Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage (1895) about a war that ended before he was born, and the book contains almost no dates; the reader learns the Civil War through one frightened private, and that is the model for 3,000 words.
Any period, any language, one pool
Historical fiction is often written in the language of the place it describes, and Writory reads stories in any language in that language, in a single pool with everything else in the round. A story in Bengali about the 1943 famine competes on the same five marks as a story in English about the Dust Bowl. Writers must be 13 or over, the work must be original, and the length is 100 to 3,000 words. 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 and $25 for five, each judged separately. Every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, with the five marks shown separately. The top story takes $100 and free entry to the next round, and writers keep all rights. Optional written feedback is available at entry, and the full criteria are published at /short-story-judging-criteria.
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 historical fiction eligible for the Writory short story contest?
Yes. The contest accepts original stories of 100 to 3,000 words in any genre, and historical fiction is read as historical fiction: judges score the story on the five published marks and treat period accuracy as a baseline rather than a bonus. Any era and any country are open.
How much does it cost to enter?
$8 for one story, $14 for two and $25 for five. Each story receives its own scorecard. Free entry is earned by the winner of a round, who enters the next one at no charge; it is not open to everyone.
What do I receive if my story does not place?
A certificate and a score out of 100, split into Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20 and Impact & Resonance 10. For historical work the split is useful: it shows whether the period detail cost you on language or the story cost you on structure.
Is 3,000 words enough for historical fiction?
It is the cap and it is enough for one hinge: a decision, a letter, an hour before or after the famous event. Stories that try to cover a campaign in 3,000 words usually read as summary and lose structure marks. Anything from 100 to 3,000 is eligible; pick the moment, not the era.
Can I write about real historical people?
Yes, provided the story is your own original work. Fiction about public historical figures is a long tradition, from Tolstoy's Napoleon to Mantel's Cromwell. The judged question is the same as for an invented character: do we want something with this person, and does the ending pay off.
How much research is enough?
Enough that no detail a knowledgeable reader would catch is wrong, and no more than the story uses. Judges mark down exposition, not accuracy, so research you cannot fit into action should stay in your notes. Two well-placed correct details carry more conviction than twenty explained ones.
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.