The Current Contest
Short Story Contest #47 launched on Sunday, April 12, 2026.
LESS
For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story in which one or more characters are trying to make something–anything–smaller in some way. Trying to change their behaviors (“I will ____ less”) or their weight counts, and so does inventing a way to make something faster (“this process will take less time”). So does inventing a shrink ray.
In the spirit of the contest premise, you get less space to work with this time. Stories must be between 1,000 and 3,000 words long. Usually you can go as long as 5,000 words, but not this time! This time you must work with LESS!
GENRE RULES: No fiction aimed at readers younger than 12, no exploitative sex, no over-the-top grossout horror. Also, no stories that are obvious parodies of existing fictional worlds/characters created by other authors. (For the same reason, we do not accept “fan fiction”.) Follow those rules and we’ll take anything from the most super-realistic literary drama to crazy farces (real-world or otherwise) to any variant of science fiction or fantasy you can imagine. Read our past issues and you’ll see.
Contest Deadline: 11:59 PM Eastern US time, Friday, July 3, 2026.
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Story Length: Between 1,000 and 3,000 words
(three thousand is the limit for this contest only!)
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Expected Publication Date: On or around Sunday, August 16, 2026. We will notify authors if the publication date will be more than two days earlier or later than that.
Prize Money: In US dollars, $250 for first place, $200 for second, $150 for third, and $75 for honorable mention. If there is a guest writer selection, guest writers are paid $35. Guest writers are published about one month after the winning stories are published.
One entry per author. There is no fee for entering this contest.
Remember to take all author information out of your story! Tell us who you are in the space provided in the web form cover letter you get when you click on the “submit” button, NOT in your story! No headers, no bylines… just the story.
If your contest entry does not get selected for publication, we will critique it for $15. For more information see our critique page.
If you have questions, ask us at Questions@OnThePremises.com.