contest format

• Genre or Style: Dystopian flash fiction with a grounded, political, or psychological edge

• Prompt: Write a 500–1,000 word story set in a near-future or alternate present society shaped by control

• Word Count: 500–1,000 words

• Unique Rule: Your story must include a moment of compliance that reveals something chilling

CONTEST details

Orwell didn’t just imagine dystopias — he built them from the fears of his time. This contest invites you to create a short, sharp dystopian story that reflects your own anxieties. Think surveillance, censorship, authoritarianism, social decay, corporate control — whatever makes you feel watched, silenced, or stuck.

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We’re not looking for explosions or rebellion. We’re looking for subtle horror: a society that feels a little too familiar. The best entries will show a world that mirrors ours — but bends just enough to make us shiver.

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• Build your world through detail. A poster. A phrase. A missing word. Orwell’s dystopias are built from language and routine. Let small things carry the horror.

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• Make the characters complicit. Most people in Orwell’s worlds go along with the system. Show us why. Show us how that shapes them.

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• Invent language that controls. Consider creating a slogan, euphemism, or new word that reveals the values (or lies) of the society.

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• Keep it close to now. The most powerful dystopias feel like tomorrow. Let your story echo something real — a headline, a trend, a fear.

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• Let dread build slowly. Don’t rush. Let the reader slowly realize what’s wrong — just as the character might.

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• End with acceptance or ambiguity. Your story doesn’t need to end in resistance. It can end in silence. In complicity. In resignation. That can be the most haunting part.