Writing Competitions in Uganda: A Monthly Short Story Contest Open From Kampala to Gulu
Quick answer: Writing competitions in Uganda mostly close once a year; Writory's short story contest closes every month. 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, Luganda, Runyankore, Acholi or any other language. The deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, 9:29 PM in Kampala, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
Uganda's short story record, and where a monthly contest fits
Ugandan short fiction has won the big Commonwealth and African prizes more often than its size would predict. Monica Arac de Nyeko took the Caine Prize in 2007 for Jambula Tree. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize outright in 2014 with Let's Tell This Story Properly, before Kintu made her name as a novelist. Doreen Baingana's Tropical Fish won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for a first book in Africa in 2006. Behind several of those names stands FEMRITE, the Uganda Women Writers' Association, publishing and running workshops from Kampala since 1995.
Writivism, also run from Kampala from 2013, showed how much appetite there was for a story prize with a festival attached. Still, a Ugandan writer with a finished story today has few places to send it and fewer that reply. Writory 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. It is meant to be the regular fixture between the annual ones.
The terms, in any language spoken in Uganda
Stories run from 100 to 3,000 words, in any genre, entered online at /submit-story by anyone aged 13 or over. Write in English, Luganda, Runyankore, Acholi, Lusoga, Swahili or any other language; each story is read in the language it was written in and judged in one pool. 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, and the winner enters the next round free. 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 FEMRITE, to a Commonwealth entry or to an anthology afterwards. 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 deadline in Kampala 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; Uganda keeps East Africa Time, three hours ahead, all year with no daylight saving. The difference is two and a half hours, so the deadline is 9:29 PM in Kampala, Entebbe, Jinja, Mbarara and Gulu, on the evening of the 25th, in every month of the year.
Nine-thirty in the evening is late enough to finish a day's work first and early enough that you are not entering half asleep. Data and power are the practical risks rather than the clock, so upload earlier in the evening if either is uncertain where you are, and check that the entry shows in your account before you close the browser.
Paying in US dollars from Uganda, 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 Visa or Mastercard, or through PayPal, at /submit-story. Mobile money, the everyday way to pay in Uganda, does not reach a foreign merchant charging dollars, so you will need a bank card enabled for international online payments; the charge converts to Ugandan shillings at your bank's rate on the day.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal. Before you enter with the prize in mind, check what a PayPal account in Uganda lets you receive and withdraw, since those terms have shifted over the years and we would rather you knew than assumed. The certificate and the score reach every entrant by email regardless. Optional written feedback is priced separately at entry; the Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft is free.
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 Uganda enter?
Yes, from any district, on the same terms as everyone else. There is no African category and no quota. Judging is blind, so the panel sees no name, town or nationality, and every story is read in its own language in one pool. Writory's sister poetry contest has already named a winner from Kenya, next door.
How much is entry from Uganda?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, charged in US dollars by card or PayPal and converted to shillings by your bank at the day's rate. Mobile money is not accepted. 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 split across the five rubric parts, sent on 30 November 2026, the same day the winners are announced. Your rank and the size of the field are not disclosed; the score describes how your own story was read against the rubric.
What time is the deadline in Uganda?
25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST is 9:29 PM in Kampala. Uganda does not change its clocks, so the round closes at 9:29 PM East Africa Time on the 25th in every month. Results and certificates follow on 30 November 2026.
Can I write in Luganda or another Ugandan language?
Yes. A story in Luganda, Runyankore, Acholi, Lusoga or Swahili is read in that language, 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.
Does entering here stop me sending the story to FEMRITE or the Commonwealth Short Story Prize?
No. Entering is not publication; you keep all rights and the story stays unpublished unless you win and agree to publication. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize requires unpublished work and has its own rule on simultaneous entries, so read its current conditions before you send the same story there.
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.