Dispatches Competition Announcement
A new short fiction competition and cash prize.
The Dispatches competition is now closed to entries! Thanks to all who submitted.
I don't need to tell you there's a vibe shift. Just look around you. Feel the air. It sounds like action, smells like a fight. Sometimes, things really do happen.
Futurist Letters is proud to announce our second-ever short fiction competition, with submissions open now through mid-March. This event is funded in part by the generous subscriptions of our new paying members. Thank you and welcome to everyone who recently joined the community.
The competition, Dispatches, calls for you to let your inner journo roam the corridors and backrooms of your mind. We are looking for unpublished original fiction 800-5,500 words that is written as if it is a piece of investigative journalism, set in the present day or near future. A sense of authenticity is key. Your story should feel as if you could have seen it pop up in your timeline. It should fit seamlessly and with verisimilitude into the present moment.
'Journalism' can mean the style of Rolling Stone, NYT, VICE, FT, a counterculture zine, a blog like Tracing Woodgrains, a gonzo like Hunter S. Thompson, or anything in between. Hell, it can be a pinned Discord thread or Reddit effort post. It can be wholesome or schizo. It can be utterly online or completely innawoods. It can be gilded society glitz or far beyond all known civilization. We do kindly ask that you not submit anything defamatory to a real individual or organization in a way that would open up Futurist Letters to legal risk.
Remember, while it's a journalistic article in form, it's still a short story under the hood. It can be science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, comedy, drama, slice of life, or anything else your heart desires. We encourage you to take that daring leap into the subject you just can't shake. Thrill and unsettle us. Do as you will.
Please keep content no more extreme than what would be considered a standard 'R' rating on film, at most.
The judges for this competition will be Simpulacra, Arbogast, and myself. The winner will receive $200 and publication in the journal. We would like to reserve the right to select and publish honorable mentions as well, for our standard rate of $40 per piece. We ask that any selected works remain exclusive to Futurist Letters for six months following publication. Intellectual ownership of all submitted work, selected or not, is retained by the author.
Two examples of this 'journalistic fiction' form are “Network States” and “The Gottschalk Working.” Of course, you should not limit yourself unduly based on the nature of these stories. We love new approaches and new topics.
To submit, please email our submissions inbox below with the phrase 'DISPATCHES SUBMISSION' included in your subject line.
futuristsub@askariproductions.com
Submissions should be in standard manuscript format as .docx files. Pseudonymous submissions are welcome.
There is no limit on the number of submissions per author, and there is no submission fee. We ask you kindly to not submit any previously-published work. We also ask (although it is not required) that you share both this competition announcement and the eventual winning piece on social media, if you plan on submitting. We are a small journal, and all publicity makes a big difference.
Because of limited resources we can only respond to selected entrants. All submissions should be sent in no later than March 18, 2025. A winner will be announced on March 26, the following week, and published in the month of April along with any honorable mentions.
If you are looking for our standard non-competition submission guidelines, you can find them here.
As always, we thank you for your readership, your submissions, your patronage, and your commitment to artistic vitality.