Welcome to the 2025 PSII Short Fiction Contest!

Open to any high school student in Greater Victoria and the Gulf Islands, The 2025 PSII Short Story Contest is a great opportunity for writers to challenge themselves and, at the same time, to give themselves an opportunity. And it’s free! Here are some of the big ideas:

• Those interested in being contestants must register before midnight on Thursday, January 16th.
• Registered contestants will then receive a writing prompt on Friday, January 17th. The prompt will consist of…
  • a genre
  • an emotion
  • a phrase
• Your story must fit all three elements of the prompt. Challenging? Yes!
• Stories must be no longer than 1200 words.
• Stories will be judged by peer judges as well as some guest judges who are professional writers.
• A first, second, and third place story will be chosen; there will also be several honourable mentions. Winners in the first three places will receive cash prizes of $100, $75, and $50 respectively. All of these will be published (with author’s permission) on this website, and shared through PSII social media. We want to celebrate your work!
• All writers will get written feedback, no matter how your story places in the contest.
• Once all is said and done, we plan to host and invite contestants to a writers’ gathering so that people can share their stories with one another in person.