A Microfiction Contest That Marks the Turn, Not the Mileage
Quick answer: Writory's microfiction contest is the short end of its monthly short story contest: original stories of 100 to 3,000 words in any language, judged blind against a published five-part rubric that scores structure as shape rather than plot volume. 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.
Stories from 100 words compete in Writory's monthly 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.
What counts as microfiction here
Definitions of microfiction vary by magazine: some cap it at 300 words, some at 250, a few insist on under 100. Writory does not run a separate microfiction category, so none of those caps apply. The contest takes original stories of 100 to 3,000 words in one field, and anything from 100 to a few hundred words is read as the very short form it is. The floor is the only hard number. A 100-word piece is in; a 90-word piece is not.
That single field is a deliberate choice. A dedicated microfiction prize tends to reward the genre's tics: the clever last-line reversal, the unnamed narrator, the present tense, the withheld noun. Read alongside stories at the cap, a micro piece has to work as a story first, and the rubric is built to notice when it does. A 200-word entry that lands its turn is scored on the landing; one that only gestures at a story is scored as a gesture, however polished the sentences.
How the five marks fall on 200 words
Storytelling & Structure (25) is scored on whether the piece sets up, turns and lands, however little happens on the way. Character & Emotional Impact (25) asks whether there is a person on the page we want something for, which in microfiction is usually established by one chosen detail and one withheld one. Together those two dimensions carry half the score, and they are where micro entries tend to separate from each other.
Language & Craft (20) is the mark that favours the form outright, because a story with no room for a wasted sentence usually has none. Originality & Voice (20) rewards a fresh angle on a familiar situation rather than a strange premise. Impact & Resonance (10) is the line the judge is still carrying an hour later. The full rubric is published at /short-story-judging-criteria.
Craft notes for the very short story
Let the title do work; in a 150-word story it is close to a tenth of your space and most entrants waste it. Imply the backstory in a single object rather than telling it. Put the turn late, then cut everything after the turn that explains it. Avoid the reversal that exists only to be a reversal: a last line that changes the meaning of the first line scores, a last line that merely surprises does not. Read the piece aloud twice; microfiction lives or dies on rhythm.
The tradition is short but deep. Augusto Monterroso's "El dinosaurio" is seven words. Kafka's "A Little Fable" is one paragraph and a complete tragedy. Lydia Davis and Yasunari Kawabata, in his "Palm-of-the-Hand Stories", built careers at this length. Fredric Brown's two-sentence opening to "Knock" is still quoted as the shortest horror story that works. The famous six-word story about baby shoes is pinned on Hemingway without any evidence, which is worth knowing before you cite it. The Story Craft course has a lesson on the form at /academy/story-craft/flash-fiction.
Entering, and what every entrant gets
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 since microfiction is written in sets the five-story option suits it. Every entry is scored separately. 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 a piece scored here can still go to any of the magazines that publish the form.
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 there a separate microfiction category or word cap?
No. The contest accepts stories of 100 to 3,000 words in a single field, so there is no upper cap that defines microfiction here and no separate shortlist for it. Very short pieces are read on their own terms within the same round, and the only hard limit that touches them is the 100-word floor.
How much does it cost to enter microfiction?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. The fee does not change with length. Because each piece receives its own five-part scorecard, entering several very short pieces in one round tells you which of your instincts score and which do not.
What does the certificate and score record?
Every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, broken into the five published marks: Storytelling & Structure, Character & Emotional Impact, Language & Craft, Originality & Voice, Impact & Resonance. The certificate documents a blind-judged result rather than attendance.
Does a very short entry get a lower ceiling than a long one?
No. The same 100 points are available at 120 words as at 3,000, and structure is scored as shape rather than as the quantity of plot. Judging is blind, so the panel does not know the writer or the word count until the story is open in front of them.
Can I enter microfiction in a language other than English?
Yes. Stories in any language are accepted and each is read in its own language, all in one pool. A very short story in Urdu, Filipino or Portuguese is scored on the same five dimensions as one in English, and the certificate is the same.
My piece is a prose poem. Is it microfiction or poetry?
If a person wants something and the piece turns on it, enter it as a story. If it works by image and sound rather than event, Writory's poetry contest is the better home and has its own rubric. Judges read what they are given as a story, so a prose poem entered here will be scored on structure and character it may not have.
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.