A Short Story Competition Open to Hong Kong Writers Every Month, in English or Chinese
Quick answer: Short story competition entries from Hong Kong are welcome at Writory every month, in English or Chinese. 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, Chinese or any other language. The deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, which is 2:29 AM the next morning in Hong Kong, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
Hong Kong's two literatures, and where a monthly contest fits
Hong Kong writes in two languages and has done for a long time. Xi Xi, who won the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in 2019, and Liu Yichang, whose Tête-bêche gave Wong Kar-wai the shape of In the Mood for Love, are the Chinese-language names; Xu Xi and the poets and story writers around Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, founded in the city in 2007, are the English-language ones. The Hong Kong International Literary Festival has brought both together each autumn since 2001, and the Hong Kong Book Fair each July is among the largest in Asia.
The Leisure and Cultural Services Department's Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature honour published books every two years, and PEN Hong Kong, relaunched in 2016, looks after writers in both languages. What the city lacks is a regular deadline that answers every entrant. Writory's contest closes every month, reads every story blind against a published rubric, and sends every entrant a certificate and a score out of 100 on 30 November 2026, in whichever language the story was written.
Entering in Chinese or English: the terms
A story in Chinese is read in Chinese, in traditional or simplified characters, and written Cantonese is read as itself; nothing is translated, and every story is scored against the same five-part rubric in one pool. Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words, in any genre, entered online at /submit-story by anyone aged 13 or over. For a Chinese-language story the limit is counted in words as the form reports them. 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 Cha, to a local magazine or to a publisher afterwards.
The deadline is 2:29 AM in Hong Kong
The round closes at 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Indian Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of Greenwich; Hong Kong Time is eight hours ahead, with no daylight saving, so the gap is two and a half hours. The deadline is 2:29 AM in Hong Kong, in the small hours of the 26th by the local calendar, and that conversion holds in every month of the year.
Nobody should be uploading at half past two in the morning. Treat midnight on the 25th, Hong Kong time, as your cutoff and you have two and a half hours in hand. A story filed at 8 AM on the 26th, before work, has missed the round and rolls into the next one, so the evening of the 25th is the sensible time.
Paying in US dollars from Hong Kong, 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. Octopus and the local wallets do not reach a foreign merchant, so use a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or PayPal. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged near 7.8 to the US dollar, so a single entry is roughly HK$62, one of the few places where we can say so with confidence.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal, which works with Hong Kong bank accounts. 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 in Hong Kong enter?
Yes, whatever your nationality or residency status, on the same terms as every other entrant. There is no Hong Kong or Asian category and no quota. Judging is blind, so the panel sees no name, district or nationality, and every story is read in its own language in one pool against the same published rubric.
What does entry cost in Hong Kong dollars?
Entry is charged in US dollars: $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five. With the Hong Kong dollar pegged near 7.8, a single entry is roughly HK$62 before any bank fee. 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 Hong Kong?
25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST is 2:29 AM the following morning in Hong Kong, on the 26th by the local calendar. Hong Kong does not observe daylight saving, so that conversion holds in every month. Treat midnight on the 25th as your cutoff. Results follow on 30 November 2026.
Can I write in Chinese, including written Cantonese?
Yes. A story in Chinese, in traditional or simplified characters, is read in Chinese and scored on the same five-part rubric as every English entry in the same pool. Written Cantonese is read as itself, not as an error. Language & Craft is marked on precision and rhythm within the language you chose.
Can I pay with Octopus, Alipay HK or FPS?
No. Those work only with Hong Kong merchants. Pay with a Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card, or through PayPal, at /submit-story. The charge is in US dollars and, given the peg, your bank's conversion to Hong Kong dollars is close to fixed.
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.