A Short Story Competition Open to Writers in Germany Every Month, in English or German
Quick answer: Short story competition entries from Germany are welcome at Writory every month, in English or German. 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, German or any other language. The deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, evening in Berlin, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
The German-language scene, and the English-language one beside it
German has its own word for the form. The Kurzgeschichte came of age after 1945 with Wolfgang Borchert and Heinrich Böll, and it still has a stage: the Ingeborg-Bachmann-Preis in Klagenfurt, where writers read unpublished prose aloud on live television each June, is the most watched prose competition in the language. Judith Hermann's Sommerhaus, später made a career from stories in 1998, and Jenny Erpenbeck's International Booker in 2024 for Kairos, with Michael Hofmann's translation, reminded English readers how much German fiction they were missing.
Alongside that runs an English-language scene, concentrated in Berlin: SAND has published English writing from the city since 2009, the Literarisches Colloquium on the Wannsee hosts writers from everywhere, and the internationales literaturfestival berlin each September fills halls in both languages. What neither scene offers is a monthly deadline with a score returned to every entrant. Writory's contest does, on 30 November 2026, in whichever language you wrote.
Entering in German or English: the terms
A story in German is read in German, not translated, and scored against the same five-part rubric as an English entry in the same pool. The same is true of Turkish, Polish, Arabic, Russian or any other language written in Germany. 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, so a story entered here can still go to a German literary magazine, to the open mike competition or to a publisher afterwards.
The deadline in Berlin time
The round closes at 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Indian Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich; Germany is on Central European Time, one hour ahead, from late October to late March. So the 25 November deadline is 7:29 PM in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt. During Central European Summer Time the same deadline is 8:29 PM. Either way the round closes in the evening, on the 25th itself.
That leaves the working day clear. A story uploaded at midnight Berlin time on the 25th has missed the round by four and a half hours and rolls into the next one, so treat seven in the evening as the honest cutoff in winter and eight in summer, and confirm the entry shows in your account. 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.
Paying in US dollars from Germany, 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 plain girocard will not work with a foreign merchant, so use a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or PayPal, which more German online shoppers use than any other method. Your bank converts at the day's rate, roughly €7 for a single entry at the time of writing.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal, which works with German 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. It runs from premise to final line in short lessons, each tied to one part of the rubric.
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 Germany enter?
Yes, whatever your citizenship, on the same terms as every other entrant. There is no German 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 against the same published rubric.
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 Germany?
25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST is 7:29 PM in Berlin during Central European Time, which covers the late-November deadline, and 8:29 PM during summer time. IST means Indian Standard Time. Results and certificates follow on 30 November 2026.
Can I write in German?
Yes. A story in German is read in German, 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. Swiss and Austrian German are read as correct, and so is any dialect you write in deliberately.
My girocard was declined. What now?
Girocard alone does not work for payments to merchants outside Germany. Use a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or pay through PayPal at /submit-story, which most German banks link to without trouble. The charge is in US dollars and your bank converts it to euro at the day's rate.
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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.