A Writing Competition Australians Can Enter Every Month
Quick answer: Yes, Australians can enter Writory's writing competition: a monthly short story round open worldwide, 100 to 2,000 words in any genre, $8 a story. Judging is blind against a published rubric, every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100 across all five criteria, and writers keep all rights. Deadline is the 25th; results land by the 30th.
Submit a story of 100 to 2,000 words by the 25th of the month. Judging is blind against a published rubric, every entrant gets back a certificate and a score out of 100 with all five marks shown, and you keep every right to your work.
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.
- Theme & Resonance (10 points): What the story leaves behind after the last line.
How it works
Submit an original story of 100 to 2,000 words by the 25th of the month, 11:59 PM IST. Every story is judged blind against the rubric above, and results arrive by the 30th: 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
What time is the deadline in Australia?
Entries close on the 25th at 11:59 PM IST. That is 4:29 AM on the 26th in Sydney and Melbourne, an hour later once daylight saving starts, so the working rule is simple: submit by your own midnight on the 25th and you are in.
What does it cost from Australia?
$8 for one story, which is roughly $12 AUD. Two stories cost $14 and five cost $25, and every one of them is judged and scored individually.
Is there any way to enter free?
Only by earning it. Each monthly winner enters the next round free, and entering three months in a row earns the Seasoned Quill badge, which carries a free entry. Those are the only two routes; there is no open free entry.
Can I use a pen name?
Judging is blind either way, so a pen name changes nothing for the judges; they never see any name at all. Just tell us the name you want on the certificate, because that is the name the verification link confirms.
How do I know this competition is legitimate?
Check before you pay: the winners pages on writoryofficial.com are dated month by month and go back more than a year, entrants have come from over 50 countries, and the rubric your story will be marked against is published in full. A contest that shows its records is easy to verify.
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 theme. 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.