The Current Contest
Short Story Contest #48 launched on Sunday, October 25, 2026.
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story in which some kind of game or sport is important to the story. The judges don’t care if the story’s main characters are the ones actually playing the game or sport–it’s fine either way. You can make up a game/sport, too.
We have returned to our usual maximum story length of 5,000 words for this and future contests.
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, February 12, 2027. This deadline is further from the contest launch than usual because we are trying to get our publication schedule back to having issues come out every April and October.
Story Length: Between 1,000 and 5,000 words. We have returned to our normal 5,000 word limit.
Expected Publication Date: On or around Sunday, April 4, 2027.
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 approximately one month after the winning stories are published.
AI use: Create your own characters, come up with your own plot, and write your own sentences and paragraphs. Modern electronic research tools rely on AI to some degree, and always have, so if you need to do research, there’s no way around AI use. It’s fine to use an AI-assisted search program to learn whether 1998 Honda Accords were ever manufactured with a V6 engine, or if they ever came in “Forest Green”. Or how large a cattle ranch would have to be if the ranchers had 500 cows. But don’t let software write your prose for you.
Translations: All contest entries must be submitted in English. (An occasional non-English phrase or line of dialogue is okay, but 98% English at least.) However, if you don’t feel confident in your English skills, you can try writing a story in a different language and getting a translator, human or otherwise, to translate it for you. Translated fiction has a long and robust history, and at least so far, no one in publishing has launched a campaign against translation. If you use a translator and your story is chosen for publication, we will want to credit your translator. We have to warn you though, translation is difficult and what is beautiful prose in one language may come out as plain and uninteresting in another. Also, most humor doesn’t translate well because it’s often culturally-specific or based on wordplay. So tread carefully with translations.
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.