Kannada Short Story Competition: ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಥಾ ಸ್ಪರ್ಧೆ
Quick answer: Kannada short story competition entries are open at Writory from September 2026: an original ಕಥೆ of 100 to 3,000 words in Kannada script, entered online for ₹199. Every story is read in Kannada and judged blind against a published five-part rubric; the top prize is ₹5,000, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
Write the ಕಥೆ in Kannada and enter it online. Every story is read in Kannada against the published rubric, the fee is paid in rupees, entries close on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
The ಸಣ್ಣ ಕಥೆ, read as Kannada
Kannada gave the modern Indian short story one of its founders. Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, remembered as Sanna Kathegala Janaka, published his first collection in 1920 and took the Jnanpith in 1983; after him came Kuvempu, Poornachandra Tejaswi, Vaidehi and Devanuru Mahadeva, and the language now holds eight Jnanpith awards, a count only Hindi exceeds. A contest that asks a Kannada writer to submit in English wastes all of that. Here the story stays in Kannada, is read in Kannada by readers who know the language's registers, and is scored against the same published rubric as every other entry.
The rubric has five parts: Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10. Under Language & Craft, Kannada prose is marked as Kannada prose, so a line that lands in Mysuru Kannada, Dharwad Kannada or the coastal mix of Kannada and Tulu earns its marks on its own terms. Judging is blind: names, towns and earlier entries are removed before reading. There is no Kannada category and no Kannada prize; every story, in every language, sits in one pool and one scored list.
One deadline on Bengaluru time
Entries close on 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Indian Standard Time is the clock on the wall in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi and Mangaluru, so a writer in Karnataka has nothing to convert; 11:59 at night means 11:59 at night. Results and certificates follow on 30 November 2026, published on a dated page anyone can open and check against a certificate. 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.
Kannada writers abroad have a small sum to do. On 25 November, 11:59 PM IST is 10:29 AM in the Bay Area and 1:29 PM in New Jersey, 6:29 PM in London, 10:29 PM in Dubai and 2:29 AM on the 26th in Singapore. From December, when the round is monthly and American clocks have settled into standard time, those same figures hold until spring, when the American and British ones move an hour later. Submit a day early as a habit; a story that misses a deadline is simply the first entry into the next round.
Entering and paying from Karnataka
The story goes in at /submit-story, typed or pasted in Unicode Kannada. A file prepared in Nudi or Baraha with a legacy font must be converted to Unicode first, or the text arrives as broken glyphs; both tools include a converter for exactly this. Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words in any genre, the writer must be 13 or older, and the work must be original and your own. Entry is ₹199 for one story, ₹349 for two and ₹699 for five, paid in rupees by UPI, card or netbanking, with no foreign card anywhere in the process.
The top prize is ₹5,000, paid in rupees, and the winner enters the next round free. That is the only route to free entry; there is no open free round. Whatever the placing, every entrant receives a certificate with a verification link and the full five-part score, which is more than the Deepavali special issues of Sudha, Mayura or Prajavani return to the hundreds of writers whose stories they do not print. You keep every right to the story and may publish it anywhere afterwards.
Before you send the ಕಥೆ
Writory Academy's Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is free and in English; its lessons on scene, cause and ending transfer to a Kannada story without loss. Read the rubric once, then read your own story asking the five questions the judges will ask. Optional written feedback on an entry is available, and for a Kannada story it is written in Kannada, so the notes discuss your sentences rather than a translation of them.
The first story contest results arrive on 30 November 2026, so there is no Kannada winner to name yet. The sister poetry contest on the same platform has published winners from India, the United States, Ireland, Kenya and Slovenia on dated pages, and the story contest keeps its record the same way. A story a college magazine returned, or a Deepavali issue never answered, will be read here in full and scored in writing.
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
Can I submit the story in Kannada script?
Yes. Kannada in Kannada script is what this page exists for. Type or paste the story in Unicode Kannada at /submit-story. Romanised Kannada is accepted too, but a story in its own script reads as it was written, and both are scored on the same published rubric.
What is the fee for Kannada writers in India?
₹199 for one story, ₹349 for two, ₹699 for five, paid in rupees by UPI, card or netbanking. Winners enter the next round free. There is no separate fee for Kannada and no discount; every language pays the same and is read on the same terms.
Do I receive a certificate if I do not place?
Every entrant receives one. It carries your name, the contest round and a verification link on writoryofficial.com, and it arrives with your five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026. Students file it with college applications; working writers quote the score, because a number says more than the word participated.
Is there a separate prize for the best Kannada story?
No. Every story, in every language, competes in one pool for the same top prize of ₹5,000. A Kannada ಕಥೆ is read in Kannada and marked on the same rubric as an English or Hindi entry, so it competes in the same field rather than in a side category.
Can I write in a regional Kannada or mix in English?
Yes. Dharwad Kannada, Mysuru Kannada, the coastal idiom, or the ordinary Bengaluru mixture of Kannada and English are all legitimate choices for fiction. Language & Craft asks whether the choice is deliberate and consistently handled, not whether it matches a textbook or a newsreader.
When do results come out?
On 30 November 2026 for the first round, on a dated public page, with certificates and scores delivered the same day. 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.
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.