Fabula Press hosts two short story competitions every year, for the two anthologies Aestas and Nivalis.  Aestas 2022 is now closed for submissions, and we are gearing up for Nivalis 2023, to be announced shortly. 

 There is no theme for our contests; also, barring a few exceptions, we are flexible about genre. Simply put, we are looking for are great stories that stay with the reader; so while we are heavy on ‘literary fiction’, we would welcome a Poesque tale of horror or mystery, an enchanting work of historical fiction, or light science fiction in the style of Connie Willis’ Firewatch, or Edgar Pangborn’s The Music Master of Babylon. Hard science fiction, fantasy, young adult or chick lit do not work for us, though.  

The contest will be judged by four independent judges, and three winners will be selected from the entrants, and will be awarded prizes as detailed in the below guidelines (see ‘Prizes‘). In addition, depending on the length and quality of submission, a long-list of stories will be selected for publication in an anthology which will be sold through leading online bookstores, and all authors so published will be paid an honourarium of US$75 each.

Please read through the contest guidelines before submitting.