A Short Story Competition Open to Writers in France Every Month, in English or French
Quick answer: Short story competition entries from France are welcome at Writory every month, in English or French. Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 3,000 words in any genre. Judging is blind against a published rubric, every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, and writers keep all rights.
Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 3,000 words in English, French or any other language. The deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, evening in Paris, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
The nouvelle in France, and the English-language writers beside it
France gave the short story one of its masters. Maupassant wrote around three hundred nouvelles, and the Académie Goncourt, which has awarded its main prize every November since 1903, also gives a Goncourt de la nouvelle for a story collection each year. The Festival du Livre de Paris fills the Grand Palais each spring, Étonnants Voyageurs draws writers to Saint-Malo at Whitsun, and Annie Ernaux's Nobel Prize in 2022 confirmed how much of French literary life happens at short length and close to the bone.
English-language writers in France have their own map: Shakespeare and Company on the rue de la Bûcherie, the memory of The Paris Review being founded in the city in 1953, and a scattering of workshops and reading nights in Paris, Lyon and the south. What neither map includes is a monthly deadline that returns a score to every entrant. Writory's contest closes every month and sends a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 to everyone who enters, on 30 November 2026.
Entering in French or English: the terms
A story in French is read in French, not translated, and scored against the same five-part rubric as an English entry in the same pool. Breton, Occitan, Arabic, Wolof or any other language written in France is read the same way. Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words, in any genre, entered online at /submit-story by anyone aged 13 or over. Your name is removed before the panel reads.
The rubric is public: Storytelling & Structure 25, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10. The top prize each round is $100, the winner enters the next round free, and free entry is otherwise earned, never open. You keep all rights, and nothing is published without your permission, so a story entered here can still go to a French revue or a concours de nouvelles afterwards.
The deadline in Paris time, and in Réunion and Guadeloupe
The round closes at 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Indian Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich; metropolitan France is on Central European Time, one hour ahead, from late October to late March. So the 25 November deadline is 7:29 PM in Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Lille. During summer time the same deadline is 8:29 PM. The round closes in the evening, on the 25th itself.
Overseas France runs on other clocks. In Réunion, four hours ahead of Greenwich all year, the deadline is 10:29 PM on the 25th. In Guadeloupe and Martinique, four hours behind, it is 2:29 PM on the 25th, so the story should be in before a late lunch. A file uploaded at midnight Paris time has missed the round by four and a half hours and rolls into the next one.
Paying in US dollars from France, and how the prize is paid
Writory is based in India and charges entrants outside India in US dollars: $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. Pay by card or PayPal at /submit-story. A Carte Bancaire co-badged with Visa or Mastercard, which most French cards are, works as an international card; your bank converts at the day's rate, roughly €7 for a single entry at the time of writing. We do not print a euro price because the rate would make it wrong within weeks.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal, which works with French bank accounts and pays out in euro. Written feedback on a story is an optional extra at entry, priced separately; the certificate and score come with every entry. The Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is free, in English, and takes an evening. 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.
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 writers living in France enter?
Yes, whatever your citizenship, from metropolitan France or any overseas department, on the same terms as every other entrant. There is no French category and no quota. Judging is blind, so the panel sees no name, city or nationality, and every story is read in its own language in one pool.
What does entry cost in euro?
Entry is charged in US dollars: $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. Your card or PayPal account converts at the day's rate, roughly €7 for a single entry at the time of writing. Winning a round makes the next entry free, and entering three rounds in a row earns a free entry.
What does every entrant receive?
A certificate in your name and a score out of 100 across the five rubric parts, delivered on 30 November 2026, the same day the winners are announced. You are not told your rank or the size of the field; the score describes how your own story was read against the rubric.
What time is the deadline in France?
25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST is 7:29 PM in Paris during Central European Time, which covers the late-November deadline, and 8:29 PM during summer time. In Réunion it is 10:29 PM, in Guadeloupe and Martinique 2:29 PM. IST means Indian Standard Time. Results and certificates follow on 30 November 2026.
Can I write in French?
Yes. A story in French is read in French, not translated, and scored on the same five-part rubric as every English entry in the same pool. Language & Craft is marked on precision and rhythm within the language you chose. Québécois, Belgian, Swiss and African French are all read as correct.
Is this a concours de nouvelles in the French sense?
Close to it, with two differences. Entries are not limited to French, and every entrant receives a score rather than only the winners hearing back. The word limit is 100 to 3,000 words, any genre, and entering does not publish your story, so it remains free for any French prize or revue afterwards.
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.