Writing Contests for Women: Where Blind Judging Does the Work
Quick answer: Writing contests for women fall into two kinds: prizes reserved for women, such as the Women's Prize for Fiction and Mslexia's women-only competitions, and open contests judged blind so gender cannot weigh on the reading. Writory's monthly short story contest is the second kind: $8 entry, any language, and a certificate and a score out of 100 for every entrant.
Writory's monthly short story contest is open to everyone and judged blind, so a story reaches the panel with no name, gender or country attached. Entry is $8, the deadline is 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST, and every entrant receives a certificate and a score out of 100.
Two kinds of contest, and which this one is
Women-only prizes exist because open prizes have a long record of going elsewhere. The Women's Prize for Fiction is the best known, awarded to a novel published in the UK, and Mslexia runs competitions open only to women, including a short story competition. Both are real and worth knowing. Neither takes an unpublished 1,500-word story from a writer in Nairobi or Lahore on a Tuesday in March, because that is not what they are for.
Writory's contest is the other kind. It is open to everyone aged 13 and over, and it is judged blind: manuscripts reach the panel with no name, no gender, no age and no country attached, and are scored against the five published rubric headings, totalled out of 100. The claim is not that this contest is for women. The claim is that nothing about who you are can reach the reader before your first sentence does.
What blind judging means for fairness, exactly
Blind judging removes one specific thing: the reader's knowledge of the writer. It cannot remove the reader's taste, and it does not pretend to. What it does is make the score answer to the rubric alone. Storytelling & Structure is 25 marks, Character & Emotional Impact 25, Language & Craft 20, Originality & Voice 20, Impact & Resonance 10, and every mark is given to pages that carry no signature.
The rubric is published, which is the second half of fairness. You can read the five headings before you write, and when the five marks come back on 30 November 2026 you can hold them against the same document. Stories are read in the language they were written in, all in one pool, so a woman writing in Marathi or Arabic is not placed in a translation category. Winners are named on a dated results page, so any placement is checkable.
Entering, paying, and what comes back
One original story of 100 to 3,000 words, in any genre, entered at /submit-story before 25 November 2026 at 11:59 PM IST. Entry is $8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, paid by card in dollars. The top prize each round is $100, and the winner enters the following round free. Writers keep all rights, and entries are never published.
Every entrant receives a certificate carrying their name and the contest month, and all five rubric marks out of 100. The certificate records that you entered a judged international contest; it is not an award, and a placement is a separate, public, dated fact. For a writer returning to fiction after years away, the score is the more useful object: a reading from someone who owes you nothing and does not know you.
Craft notes, for any writer entering blind
When nothing about you travels with the manuscript, the first paragraph carries everything. Open inside a moment, not before it. Let the character want something a reader can name in one line, since half the marks ride on structure and character together. Cut the sentence that explains what the previous sentence already showed; Language & Craft is 20 marks and it rewards trust in the reader over reassurance.
Two more. Aim for the angle only you occupy rather than the subject you think judges expect; Originality & Voice is 20 marks and it is scored as position, not as strangeness. And end on an action or an image, not a summary, because Impact & Resonance is the last 10 marks and it measures what stays after the final line. The free six-lesson Story Craft course at /academy/story-craft goes deeper on each of these, with examples.
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
Is Writory's contest only for women?
No. It is open to anyone aged 13 and over. This page exists because writers searching for women's contests are often looking for a fair reading, and blind judging against a published rubric is one way to get it. If you specifically want a women-only prize, the Women's Prize for Fiction and Mslexia's competitions are real options.
How does the panel not know my gender?
Manuscripts are separated from the entrant's details before reading. The judges see the story and nothing else: no name, age, country or biography. Scores are given against the five rubric headings, and only afterwards are they matched back to entrants for certificates and results.
Can I write in my own language?
Yes. Stories are read in the language they were written in and all languages compete in one pool against the same rubric. There is no translation requirement and no separate category for non-English work, so a story in Hindi, Swahili or Spanish is scored on the same five headings as one in English.
What does entry cost?
$8 for one story, $14 for two, $25 for five, charged in dollars. Winners enter the next round free, and entering three rounds in a row earns the Seasoned Quill badge and a free entry with it. There is no other free route.
What do I actually get if I do not win?
The same certificate and the same five marks out of 100 as everyone else, on 30 November 2026. Non-winners' scores are private, and the certificate carries your name and the contest month. You keep every right to the story and can send it to a magazine or another contest the same day.
When does the round close?
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.
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.