2025 PSII Short Fiction Contest

Welcome to the 2025 PSII Short Fiction Contest!

Open to any high school age student in Greater Victoria and the Southern Gulf Islands (Sooke, Metchosin, Colwood, Langford, View Royal, Esquimalt, Victoria, Oak Bay, Saanich, Central Saanich, North Saanich, Sidney, Salt Spring Island, Galiano Island, Mayne Island, Saturna Island, and Pender Islands).

The 2025 PSII Short Fiction 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 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, January 23th.
  • Registered contestants will then receive a writing prompt on Friday, January 24th. The prompt will consist of…
    • a genre (romance, comedy, horror, sci-fi, etc…)
    • an emotion (the emotional tone of the story, or an emotion experienced by a character in the story)
    • a phrase (must use the phrase in spirit if not in letter)
  • Your story must fit all three elements of the prompt. Challenging? Yes!
  • Stories must be no longer than 1200 words. They must be submitted (electronically) and received by Sunday, February 9, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.
  • 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! (and eat cookies)
Register Now!

See Contest Details page for more information about rules, etc.