Historical & Mythological Short Fiction

Ink of Ages Fiction Prize

World History Encyclopedia's international historical and mythological short story contest

The 2024 Winners

We're excited to announce the official winners of the inaugural Ink of Ages Fiction Prize, an international writing competition highlighting historical and mythology-inspired short fiction, sponsored by Oxford University Press. Every shortlisted story was read by each of our seven specialist guest judges, and re-read by Zhihui and Joanne from the World History Encyclopedia editorial team.

Scores were awarded for literary merit, originality and creativity, historical interest, and impact and enjoyment. Bonus points were awarded each time a judge placed a story in their personal top five. The whole shortlist was commended by the judges, and decisions were tough! Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to everyone who entered a story. We enjoyed reading every single one.

Each unique story made its mark on the judges

"Unique as each one is, all the stories [on the shortlist] make their mark."

Timothy Bent

Oxford University Press Editor

"What amazed me about the submissions was the diversity of styles and choices of subject, which I thought was really wonderful."

Louise M. Pryke

Historian & Author

"In the imaginations of these talented writers, history and myth stand, move, and move us in ways that only the best fiction can."

Stefan Vranka

Oxford University Press Editor

The Winners

First Prize:

“Circles in the Sand” by Sallyann Halstead →

Second Prize:

“Myrrhine” by Jenyth Evans →

Third Prize:

“A Somewhat Laughing Matter” by Bill C. Wilson →

Highly Commended:

“The Untold Story of the Murder of Isis” by Victoria Alvear →

“After the Siege” by Daniel Wan →

"Congratulations to the Ink of Ages contestants for creative, fun, and fascinating stories. Many authors featured a little-known historical figure and wove a personality and story based on the few threads found in the actual record. Other authors gave us first-hand fictional accounts of familiar events, often with surprising but historically consistent perspectives. Those stories remind us that no two witnesses see any incident the same way."

David Tollen

Author & Speaker

"The difficulty with historical stories is balancing the historical interest with creativity and readability in order to write a story that flows easily and is a joy to read. Congratulations to all shortlisted authors, and especially the winners and highly commended, for achieving this. The level of merit may have made the judging difficult, but also made it highly enjoyable – thank you all for submitting."

Wendy Orr

Author

"These often very moving stories, inspired by world history and mythology, were a privilege to read. It was a joy to see emerging voices and experienced writers bringing everything from local folklore to classics, and from lesser-known historical events to unique takes on familiar ones, to life."

Joanne Taylor

World History Encyclopedia

The 2024 Prize Shortlist

We've enjoyed re-reading the longlist and have selected 17 short stories based on their literary merit, originality, creativity, historical interest, impact, and enjoyment. The shortlist is now in the care of our specialist panel of judges. We appreciate everyone who has supported us in the first year of the Ink of Ages Fiction Prize and are excited to announce the shortlist for the 2024 prize!