Rogue Writers

Rogue Writers

International Writing Network

Contests

January 2025 Short Story Contest

  • DEADLINE: January 31st, 2025 at 23:59 UTC
  • Write a short story while clearly using AT LEAST TWO (2) of the provided prompts (listed below).
  • Aim for 1,000 to 4,000 words.
  • Submit your short story using this January 2025 Contest Submission Form (Google Form)
  • Have questions? Reach out to Jenai or Cenlyra on the Rogue Writers Discord server, or email them at contest@roguewriters.net

The Prompts

Include at least TWO (2) of the following prompts in your short story (you will later identify your choices in your submission form):

  1. Visual Prompt: “The Indian-Pacific Railway, 1980”
    (Photo from the National Archives of Australia: A6135, K9/6/80/20)
  2. Text Prompt: “It has its own time zone?”
  3. Trope : You Are Too Late

Fun Fact: Did you know that Australia’s Indian Pacific Railway’s trains, which travel between Kalgoorlie and Port Augusta, have their own time zone called Train Time?

Visual Prompt

“The Indian-Pacific Railway, 1980”

(click photo to view larger)

Photo from the National Archives of Australia: A6135, K9/6/80/20

Additional Rules & Info

  • Open to Rogue Writers members only. Nonmember submissions will be rejected.
  • Limited to one submission per member.
  • Please aim for 1,000 to 4,000 words.
  • FORMATTING
    • Font: Times New Roman, Courier, or Arial
    • Size: 12 point
    • Color: Black text on white pages
    • Extra Styling: you may italicize text, but do not underline.
    • Line spacing: Double, with no extra space between paragraphs.
    • Margins: 1 inch/2.5cm on all four sides (usually the default)
    • Alignment: Left
    • Submit your story as a DOC or PDF file (to be attached with the submission form)
    • Do NOT include your name in the story file! (there is space for your name in the submission form)
  • Please ensure that content is appropriate for readers who are 13 years and older. Otherwise, your story may be disqualified.
  • As per general Rogue Writers rules, AI-generated content is NOT allowed. If we discover that a submission used AI-generated content, the submission and author will be disqualified from the contest.
  • Stories will be judged on technical aspects (ex: having a coherent theme) and emotional aspects (ex: reader immersion).
  • Submissions will be presented anonymously to the judges.
  • Once all entries are received, the judges will announce a timeline for announcing the winner.
  • We offer optional critiques to contest participants. These sometimes take Jenai a month or longer (post-judging) to produce. Therefore, please be patient when waiting for critiques.
  • Default prizes are bragging rights and a digital certificate. However, sometimes donors offer additional prizes.
  • The Rogue Writers Network does NOT retain rights to submitted works and does not have a policy against submissions to multiple contests or journals. If publishing is your goal, we encourage and support those efforts!

To preview future tentative contests and events, check out the Rogue’s calendar!

Event calendar