We invite writers to submit to the second Uncharted Magazine Cinematic Short Story Contest from January 05 to March 08, 2026. This award is for all of our genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Horror, Mystery/Crime, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, and Humor stories.

Guest Judge Ananda Lima will choose three winning stories from our shortlist. We’re excited to offer the first-place winner of this contest $2,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively.

For this short story contest, we want to read your most cinematic stories! We want stories we can clearly visualize, that make us feel as if we’re there in the moment, and that engage all our senses. We want worlds that pop into our minds, characters who are fully articulated and intent on breaking their rituals. We want stories with vitality and velocity that rely on swift cuts of action and reaction.

Consider crafting your story around the most important moments in your character’s life, and fully engage us in this story. Think of the opposites of shadow and light, and the gray areas in-between, and write the stories we can’t look away from. We especially love stories that incorporate elements from multiple genres, so consider how these combined tropes might enhance your story. We’re drawn to stories that leverage their conflicts to create tension and resonance.

Ananda Lima is the author of Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil (Tor Books, 2024) and Mother/land (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), winner of the Hudson Prize.  Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Poets.org, Kenyon Review, Electric Literature, and elsewhere. She is a Contributing Editor at Poets & Writers and Program Curator at StoryStudio, Chicago. Lima was named to Newcity’s 2025 Lit 50 list, which recognizes influential people and organizations shaping Chicago’s literary culture. She was a mentor at the NYFA Immigrant Artist Program and the inaugural Latinx-in-Publishing WIP Fellow, sponsored by Macmillan Publishers. She has an MA in Linguistics (UCLA) and an MFA in Creative Writing (Rutgers-Newark). Craft, her fiction debut, was longlisted for the Story Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction,  and received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. The New York Times describes it as “a remarkable debut that announces the arrival of a towering talent in speculative fiction.” 

Here’s what Ananda looks for in a short story:

I would love to read stories that reveal something new or unexpected, be it a whole new world or a new way of seeing something familiar. Stories that build on the senses, the psychological, and language to create experiences that readers can live alongside the characters. Because of the focus on the cinematic in this contest, I will be also be reading for stories that create impactful images, scenes that I can see and hear as a I read. It doesn’t matter as much whether the story explores a big high concept idea or covers a quite subtle everyday occurrence, if it is realistic or fantastical, experimental or traditional. Send a story that is fully human, fully yours.

GUIDELINES

• The entry deadline is March 08, 2026. We will announce the shortlist within fourteen weeks of the contest’s close. All writers will be notified when the results are in.
• Your $20 reading fee allows ONE cinematic short story of 1,001–5,000 words per entry.
• We encourage multiple submissions—each story should be submitted separately, accompanied by a reading fee.
• Writers from historically marginalized groups can submit for free until we reach our cap of twenty-five free submissions. No additional fee waivers will be granted.
• Please submit short stories only—5,000 word count maximum.
• We only consider unpublished work for contests—we do not review reprints, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
• Simultaneous submissions are okay—please notify us immediately and withdraw your entry if you find another home for your writing.
• All entries will also be considered for publication in Uncharted.
• Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 (or larger if needed).
• Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
• Please include a content warning to help safeguard our staff (if applicable).
• We only read work in English, though some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
• We do not read anonymous submissions. However, shortlisted stories are sent anonymously to the judge.
• AI-generated work will be automatically disqualified.

Some Submittable Hot Tips:

• Please be sure to whitelist or add this email address to your contacts so notifications are not filtered as spam/junk: notifications@email.submittable.com.
• If you realize you sent the wrong version of your piece: It happens. Please DO NOT withdraw the piece and resubmit. Submittable collects a nonrefundable fee each time. Please DO message us from within the submission to request that we open the entry for editing, which will allow you to fix everything from typos in your cover letter to uploading a new draft. The only time we will not allow a change is if the piece is already under review by a reader.

OPTIONAL FEEDBACK ON YOUR WRITING

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide two-page global letters discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Uncharted. A significant portion of the editorial letter fees goes to our feedback editor. Should your story win, no feedback will be offered, and your fee will be refunded.