2023 Competition
The 250-word Fiction Challenge 2023 is underway! All competition assignments and results will be automatically updated below. Best of luck to the 4,400+ writers participating worldwide!
UPDATES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
IMPORTANT LINKS
1st Round: Kickoff Email / Assignments
Rules: Official Rules & Participation Agreement
Thank you to the participants for helping to donate $8,968 to our charities this year! Click here to see the breakdown and learn more about the organizations that received the donations.
How it Works
The 5th Annual 250-word Microfiction Challenge is a competition that challenges writers around the world to create very short stories no longer than 250 words based on genre, action, and word assignments in 48 hours. In the 1st Round, beginning at 11:59 PM (New York time) on Friday, December 8th, writers are placed randomly in groups and are assigned a genre, action, and word assignment.
Writers have 48 hours to craft an original 250-word story in their assigned genre, with the assigned action taking place, and incorporating the assigned word. The judges choose a top 10 in each group to advance to the 2nd Round where writers receive new assignments and again have 48 hours to craft original stories.
Judges select the top 5 writers in each group from the 2nd Round to advance to the Final Round of the competition where writers will receive their final assignment of the competition. Feedback from the judges is provided for every submission, and there are thousands in cash and prizes for the winners. Sound like fun? Join the competition below and get ready for December 8th!
A Few Reasons to Participate
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Feedback provided on every submission
Not only do the writers receive feedback from the judges for every submission, but a special review forum is available for the participants to submit their stories for review from fellow writers throughout the competition.
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A vibrant writing community
Join over 26,000 writers in our online forum to discuss the challenges, post and review stories, and discuss writing in all facets. We are dedicated to providing a forum that is a welcoming and helpful place for writers of all levels. Click here to visit the forums.
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Keep all the rights to your stories
Writers retain all the rights to the stories they create during the competition, which means that we could not and would not share the stories publicly without consent from the authors.
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Thousands in prizes
There are thousands in cash and prizes for the top writers, with $4,500 going to first place. Click here to view the full prize list.
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Writing for a good cause
We are proud to support global charities currently dealing with some of the most critical issues facing our world. We will be donating two dollars from each entry fee, and writers can choose where their donation goes. Click here to view the charities.
What Our Participants Say
“I love this microfiction contest! I just uploaded my entry. By selecting a genre and action for me, and imposing a strict word limit, it's a challenging exercise in the craft of writing.”
— Peri D. (Playa Del Carmen, Mexico)
“Done! Feeling great about my submission. Who knew that I would love micro fiction so much. Loving this 250 word competition.”
— Michelle H. (Bel Air, USA)
“These prompts were fabulous. Been so busy recently and not had time for the longer comps, but this was great. Hard to compress a full story into 250 words, but well worth the challenge and discipline to try.”
— Paula W. (Brighouse, Great Britain)
“This was an absolutely awesome exercise!”
— Nate P. (East Cleveland, OH, USA)
“This was so fun! What a great way to stimulate creativity!”
— Kim C. (Newfield, USA)
“Well, that was fun! Never written drama before but nothing like a tight deadline and an even tighter word count to show you what you're capable of!”
— Ryan K. (Belfast, USA)
“LOVED this!!! No matter what the result, I very much enjoyed the creative process and will most definitely continue participating in these challenges. Thank you!”
— Maia T. (Cedar Crest, NM, USA)
“Really, really fun! Great challenge to whittle away the story to get it just right.”
— Jessica F. (Pittsburgh, PA, USA)
Get Prepared
Prepare for the challenge by reading some helpful tips on writing microfiction from our blog.
How to Register
Registration is now closed. We’ll have more challenges in 2023, so sign up for our newsletter to know when the next one is announced!
*Get $5 off the entry fee just for tweeting! Click here to make a post to Facebook or Twitter and receive a $5 promotional code.
We will be donating $2 from every entry fee to charities currently dealing with some of the most critical issues facing our world, and writers can choose where their donation goes. Click here to learn more.
Mark Your Calendar
While we send e-mails at the beginning of each round to all registered writers, many times, e-mails go to junk mail folders, spam, or are blocked by servers for unknown reasons. We recommend that everyone marks their calendars with the start dates of each round, especially the first challenge at 11:59 PM EST (New York time) on Friday, December 8th, so that you know when to expect an e-mail. Use the "Add to Calendar" buttons below to add each event to your calendar, or click here to learn about subscribing to our entire event calendar.
Leila Murton Poole, the winner of the 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2022 and the Screenwriting Challenges 2021 and 2023, shares valuable insights into her writing process.