College Student Writing Contest

Arisia is once again pleased to offer a competition for college-aged fans to showcase their writing skills.

Basic Rules

  • Entries are free. Writers retain all rights to their works — we only wish to encourage, celebrate, and recognize talented young writers throughout the Northeastern US.
  • Entries must be original works of fiction by students or young adults currently enrolled in college, or equivalent, between 17 and 25 years of age and currently residing in the New England area (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT).
  • Entries must be 1000 to 3000 words long.
  • The theme for this year's contest is Persistence. Writers may draw inspiration from this or any sci-fi or fantasy themes they wish.
  • Please, no fan fiction; all entries must use original characters and settings.

Entry Guidelines

  1. Fill out the entry form below.
  2. Submissions must be made in doc or pdf format, sent to @email.
  3. Titles on the form and the submission must match.
  4. Both your entry form and story must be received by December 1.

For more information, please e-mail us at @email.

Winners will be contacted via email on or before January 1.

Prizes will be awarded to exceptional stories, including cash prizes that total $1,000, and free memberships to attend the Arisia convention. The school attended by our first-prize winner will receive a matching prize, up to $250. Prizes will be awarded at our annual Arisia convention on Sunday evening during the Arisia Masquerade.

The contest is sponsored by Arisia, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit, volunteer-run organization whose purpose is to promote science fiction and fantasy. The Arisia convention, held in Boston MA each year over MLK day weekend, is a celebration of all things sci-fi, fantasy, and related. You can find out more at https://www.arisia.org

Prizes will include cash, memberships to future Arisia conventions, and the option to have the story published on the Arisia website corp.arisia.org, provided the author gives consent. Authors retain their copyright, and we will remove the stories at any time requested.

Please keep your story appropriate to show to other college students (approximately PG-13 is a safe bet). We are looking for original prose stories, so please no fan fiction or poetry. All stories submitted must be original work. Please do not submit anything that has already been professionally published.

Collaborations are permitted provided all collaborators meet the entry qualifications. In the event of a collaboration winning, prizes will be split as evenly as possible among the winners.