Submissions in this category can include folklores filled with magical elements, mythical creatures, and fanciful beings, in a perilous situation. These stories enchant and captivate minds in an educating and entertaining way, thus transporting readers to far-off lands filled with adventure and wonder. This category can also include plots that involve the use of magic and contain elements like knights, wizards, dragons - all set on Earth or another planet - either real or wholly invented. Traditional fantasy is often set in Medieval times, but Modern fantasy can be placed in a contemporary, historical, or a futuristic time.
The Next Generation Short Story Awards is a not-for-profit international awards program for authors of short stories. When you submit your short story for this contest, it can be considered for cash prizes, awards, anthology mentions, exposure and recognition as one of the top short stories written this year!
Here's what makes this contest unique. ALL entry fees go back to Winners and Finalists. This includes through cash prizes; medals and trophies; the awards ceremony; the running of the program; and the ongoing promotion of the Winners and Finalists.
In its inaugural year, the Next Generation Short Story Awards was created to honor the most exceptional short stories today. This awards program celebrates the best short story writers, their creative minds behind the words, and contributions to the literary world. The Next Generation Short Story Awards is brought to you by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest awards program in the world for self-published authors and independent publishers.
This competition is open to all authors, even first time authors, in the U.S., Canada, or internationally who have an original short story (5,000 words or less) written in English that has not been previously published.
Middle School and High School students can enter the "Student Categories" and submit stories between 1,000 to 3,000 words. Note: Middle School and High School students can also submit stories in the general categories outside of the "Student Categories" but must adhere to the word limit of 5,000 words.
Watch and read testimonial from past participants
Awards for Winners and Finalists of the Next Generation Short Story Awards are as follows:
In addition to cash prizes, all Grand Prize Winners also receive:
Name and Title of Story mentioned in the Anthology for 3 Finalists in each of the 30+ categories
In addition, Winners and Finalists will be listed in the Next Generation Short Story Awards Catalog. This catalog will be sent to thousands of story buyers, media, and more. Names of Winners and Finalists will be listed online for an entire year, helping each of them to potentially benefit from increased revenue through this ongoing online exposure. They will also be given significant social media coverage.
Plus, Winners and Finalists have the opportunity to display Winner or Finalist gold award sticker images on their story, website or social media. More information about the stickers is available here. There is also the option to purchase Anthology at half price for each Winner and Finalist.
Winners and Finalists will be notified of their placement by mid-May 2024. Other participants will not receive a notification but a complete list of Winners and Finalists will be available at https://shortstoryawards.com/ by the end of May 2025.
When a short story is not selected, it's often because there was plenty of outstanding competition in the category. Winners of the Next Generation Short Story Awards really are the cream of the crop.
Other times, a story may not be chosen because it didn't fit the category as well as it should. Still other times, more editing may help.
If you've entered a story in a previous Next Generation Short Story Awards competition, and would like to resubmit it in the following year, you may do so only by submitting it in a category different from the one(s) previously submitted in.