Fiction Fantastic menu:
What is Fiction Fantastic?
Fiction Fantastic is an annual short story competition for students in grades K-12 in public, private, and home schools across Lane County
Fiction Fantastic encourages students to hone their creativity, storytelling skills, and develop a love for writing
Fiction Fantastic is free for students to enter
Fiction Fantastic is organized by Wordcrafters in Eugene, a nonprofit literary arts organization dedicated to inspiring writers and readers of all levels and ages
Fiction Fantastic by the numbers
- Years running: 13
- Average number of annual entries: 123
- Total number of story submissions: more than 1,200
- Number of words submitted in 2024: 138,171
- Total number of published stories (in 10 anthologies, since 2016): 142
Fiction Fantastic annual anthologies
- A compilation of the winning stories from each category— K-2 Spotlight stories (not judged), Elementary, Middle, and High school
- Creatively themed each year:
- 2024: Realm of Forgotten Dreams
- 2023: Enter the Imaginarium
- 2022: Tales From the Deep Beyond
- 2021: A New Story Rises
- 2020: Fueled by Fire
- 2019: Portals
- 2018: Secret Keepers
- 2017: Becoming
- 2016: Transit
- A testament to the hard work, creativity, and storytelling prowess of our young writers
- Professionally edited, published, and available for sale.
- Provide a platform for our students’ voices to be heard, their creativity to be celebrated, and their skills to be recognized
Prizes
Prizes (often a combination of cash and bookstore gift cards) are awarded for first, second, and third place in each grade level category.
- First place: $100
- Second place: $50
- Third place: $25
Important Dates
- Contest opens for submissions on October 1, 2025
- Contest closes for submission on January 10, 2026
The judging process
Each year, an amazing group of volunteer judges comes together to read the contest submissions. They include authors, teachers, and other arts-oriented community members. Last year, we had 25 dedicated judges!
- Judging is blind.
- Submissions go through several rounds of judging, depending on the number of submissions in their category.
- Submissions are ranked by total scores based on grade level criteria (see below).
- The top-scoring stories of each grade level are judged by a celebrity author for placement in first, second, third, and honorable mention.
Interested in being a judge for Fiction Fantastic? Sign up here.
Remember, every story matters.
Let’s keep writing the story of Fiction Fantastic together.
