Writing Competitions in Zimbabwe: A Monthly Short Story Contest You Can Enter From Harare or Bulawayo
Quick answer: Writing competitions in Zimbabwe are mostly annual; Writory's short story contest closes every month. Entry is $8 for one story of 100 to 3,000 words in any genre and any language. 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, Shona, Ndebele or any other language. The deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, 8:29 PM in Harare, and every entrant receives a certificate and a five-part score out of 100 on 30 November 2026.
Zimbabwe's short story record, and what a monthly contest adds
Few countries of fifteen million have this record in short fiction. Dambudzo Marechera's The House of Hunger won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. Petina Gappah's An Elegy for Easterly, a story collection, won the Guardian First Book Award in 2009. NoViolet Bulawayo took the Caine Prize in 2011 for Hitting Budapest and was shortlisted for the Booker twice, and Tsitsi Dangarembga was shortlisted for the Booker in 2020 and given the PEN Pinter Prize the year after. Weaver Press in Harare and amaBooks in Bulawayo built that record one anthology at a time.
The openings for a new story are still scarce. The Zimbabwe International Book Fair and the Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo come round once a year, the Caine Prize needs a story that is already published, and most competitions reply to non-winners with nothing. 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.
Shona, Ndebele, English: the terms
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, Shona, Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga or any other language; every 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, paid in US dollars, which in Zimbabwe needs no conversion. 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 that scores well here can still go to an anthology or the NAMA judges later. 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 Harare 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; Zimbabwe keeps Central Africa Time, two hours ahead, all year, with no daylight saving. The difference is three and a half hours, so the deadline is 8:29 PM in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Gweru, on the 25th itself, in every month of the year.
That is a comfortable hour. Load-shedding is the practical risk rather than the clock, so upload earlier in the day if your area's schedule is uncertain, and confirm that the entry shows in your account. A story filed at 9 PM Harare time has missed the round and rolls into the next one. Results and certificates follow on 30 November 2026, to every entrant on the same day.
Paying in US dollars from Zimbabwe, and how the prize is paid
Writory 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. Zimbabwe already transacts largely in US dollars, so there is no exchange rate to think about; what matters is that your card is enabled for international online payments, which a USD-funded card from a local bank normally is.
The $100 prize is paid by PayPal. PayPal in Zimbabwe has for years allowed sending but not withdrawing to a local bank, so before you enter with the prize in mind, check what your own account allows and be ready to tell us how you can receive money. The certificate and 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 Zimbabwe enter?
Yes, from any province, on the same terms as everyone else. There is no African 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 a single pool. Writory's sister poetry contest has already named a winner from Kenya.
How much is entry from Zimbabwe?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, charged in US dollars by card or PayPal. Since Zimbabwe transacts in US dollars, the amount you see is the amount you pay. 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 named. Your rank and the size of the field are not disclosed, so the score is about your story rather than the competition around it.
What time is the deadline in Zimbabwe?
25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST is 8:29 PM in Harare and Bulawayo. Zimbabwe does not change its clocks, so the conversion is the same in every month: the round closes at 8:29 PM Central Africa Time on the 25th. Results follow on 30 November 2026.
Can I write in Shona or Ndebele?
Yes. A story in Shona or Ndebele 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. Zimbabwe's other official languages are read the same way.
Can I still submit the story to the Caine Prize or an anthology later?
Yes. Entering here is not publication; you keep all rights and the story remains unpublished unless you win and agree to publication. The Caine Prize requires a story that has been published, so a Writory entry does not qualify you for it, and equally does not disqualify you once the story finds a publisher.
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.