Nepali Story Writing Competition: नेपाली कथा लेखन प्रतियोगिता
Quick answer: Nepali story writing competition entries are open at Writory from September 2026: an original कथा of 100 to 6,000 words in Devanagari Nepali, entered online for $8 from Nepal. Stories are read in Nepali and judged blind against a published five-part rubric; the top prize is $100, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
आफ्नो कथा नेपालीमा लेख्नुहोस् र अनलाइन पठाउनुहोस्. Every story is read in Nepali against the published rubric, entries close on 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
A कथा read in Nepali
Modern Nepali fiction begins with the short story. Guru Prasad Mainali's Naso, first printed in the 1930s, is still the story every Nepali student meets; Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala wrote Doshi Chashma between political careers; Parijat took the Madan Puraskar in 1965 for Shirishko Phool, a decade after that prize was founded. Madhupark has printed new Nepali fiction every month for decades. Most international contests set all of this aside and accept English only. Here a कथा stays in Nepali: read in Nepali by readers who know the language, and scored on 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, Nepali prose is marked as Nepali prose; dialogue in Maithili, Newar or Tharu inside a Nepali story, a Kathmandu register that borrows from English, or a hill idiom kept plain are all read as choices, not corrected. Judging is blind, so names, towns and earlier entries come off before reading. There is no Nepali category and no Nepali prize; every story, in every language, sits in one pool and one scored list.
The deadline in Kathmandu is 12:14 at night, fifteen minutes past
Entries close on 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Local deadline: Kathmandu: 1 December 2026 at 00:14 GMT+5:45. Results and certificates follow on 5 December 2026. The first contest runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 5 December 2026 at 8:00 PM IST. Story rounds run every three months, closing on the last day of February, May, August and November. Results follow on the 5th of the next month. The next round opens on the 1st, before the previous round's results.
The local dates above are calculated for this round, including any daylight-saving change. Wherever you write, allow time to upload, pay and check your confirmed entry in your account. A story finished after the deadline can enter the next three-month round.
Entering and paying from Nepal
The story goes in at /submit-story, typed or pasted in Unicode Devanagari; text set in an older Preeti or Kantipur font must be converted to Unicode first, or the letters arrive broken. Stories run from 100 to 6,000 words in any genre, the writer must be 13 or older, and the work must be original and yours. Entry is $8 for one story, $14 for two and $25 for five, paid in dollars by card or PayPal; the card converts the charge to Nepali rupees at its own rate.
The top prize is $100, paid to eligible winners, subject to payment availability in their country and account, and the winner enters the next round free. Eligible Seasoned Quill writers can also receive a free single-entry reward; available rewards appear at checkout. Whatever the placing, every entrant receives a certificate with a verification link and the full five-part score out of 100. Newspaper and magazine competitions rarely tell a writer why a story was passed over; this contest returns a five-part score. Written feedback with the reasons is an optional add-on. You keep every right to the कथा and may publish it in Madhupark, a campus magazine or your own blog afterwards.
पठाउनुअघि
Writory Academy's Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is in English and requires a module or full-course unlock; its lessons on scene, cause and ending apply to a Nepali story without alteration. 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 Nepali story it is written in Nepali, so the notes are about your sentences rather than a translation of them.
The first Story results are scheduled for 5 December 2026; Story winners have not yet been announced. A कथा that a college magazine returned, or a Dashain special 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 6,000 words by 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive on 5 December 2026: every entrant receives a certificate with their name and a score out of 100. Writers keep all rights. Winners earn free entry to the next round. Enter at https://writoryofficial.com/submit-story.
Common questions
के म कथा नेपालीमा, देवनागरी लिपिमा पठाउन सक्छु?
Yes. Nepali in Devanagari is what this page is for. Type or paste the story in Unicode Devanagari at /submit-story; it is read in Nepali, not through a translation, and scored on the same published five-part rubric as every other entry. Romanised Nepali is accepted too.
How much is the fee, and how do I pay from Nepal?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, paid in dollars by card or PayPal; the card converts the charge to Nepali rupees at its own rate. Winners enter the next round free. There is no separate fee for Nepali and no language-specific surcharge. Eligible account rewards can be selected at checkout.
नजिते पनि प्रमाणपत्र पाइन्छ?
Every entrant does. The certificate 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 5 December 2026. Students file it with college and scholarship applications; working writers quote the score.
Is there a separate prize for the best Nepali story?
No. Every story, in every language, competes in one pool for the same top prize of $100. A Nepali कथा is read in Nepali 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 the story use Maithili, Newar or Nepali-English dialogue?
Yes. Dialogue in Maithili, Newar, Tharu or Bhojpuri inside a Nepali story, or the everyday Kathmandu mixture of Nepali 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.
When do results come out?
On 5 December 2026 for the current round, on a dated public page, with certificates and scores delivered the same day. The first contest runs from 1 September 2026 to 30 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, with results and certificates on 5 December 2026 at 8:00 PM IST. Story rounds run every three months, closing on the last day of February, May, August and November. Results follow on the 5th of the next month. The next round opens on the 1st, before the previous round's results.
More story contest pages
About Writory
Writory (writoryofficial.com) is an international monthly poetry contest founded in 2025 by Shivay Mehra. Poets from 40 countries have entered, readers come from more than 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.