Ink of Ages Fiction Prize
Historical & Mythological Short Fiction
World History Encyclopedia's international historical and mythological short story contest
Historical & Mythological Short Fiction
World History Encyclopedia's international historical and mythological short story contest
At World History Encyclopedia, we've enjoyed reading all 834 adult and 268 youth submissions this year! Each story was read by at least two reviewers (usually three!) from World History Encyclopedia and our dedicated reading team. It's always a delight to read stories from all over the world inspired by such a range of history and mythology. Due to the number of entries this year, we had to pass on some really good writing. Thank you to everyone who shared their (human) creativity with us!
"Asari" by Ekom Lawrence
"And Though Adversity Us Vex" by Marie McMullin
"Ladies of the Lake" by Jay Castello
"Let Thy Seed Possess the Gate" by Susan Martin
"The Sense of Unbelonging" by Faith
"Highland Elegy" by mwĩhaki k.m.
"The Cossack's Cat" by Ian Abbey
"Empress over Many Tongues" by Felix A. Cristiá
"At the Wairau" by Alexandra Tidswell
"The Girl, the Mountain, the Gun" by Zaineb
"The Third Escape" by Emily Cardinas
"Of Ellipses and Eclipses: Free Floating in a Clockwork Universe" by Guntaas Kaur Chugh
"The Crossing" by Eileen Joyce-Donovan
"The Weight of the Road 1998" by Yukta
"You Told Me About the Wakwak Tree" by Freya Abbas
"The Drowning of the Valley" by Matt Roberts
"The Plight of Rati" by Zeondra Jayson
"Bag of Regrets" by Anna Gebbie
"When Promises Marry Deception" by SR
"In Service of the King" by Matthew Gordon
"Maternal Instinct" by Leila Taheri
"My Mother's Daughter" by Preetha Devi
"The Spaniel of Destiny" by David McCallam
"Trials" by Zary Fekete
"Talents Gifted by the Gods" by Maria Kitagami
"The Lady of Astolat" by Rebecca Thomas
"The Kumari Speaks" by Natasha Derczynski
"The Lost Myth of True Love" by E. Kurian
"Jonet" by Nyk Irvin
"The Legend of the Persian Leopard and Mina" by Nooshin
"Peace Be to This House" by Rosi Hollinbeck
"Rosabelle" by Kevin Christopher Snipes
"Take Care" by Maria Vasileva
"Souls of Trees" by Ernest Obiorah
"Usher's Well" by Theo Hunter
"Glory Undying" by Zylla Black
"Not Proven" by Finola Austin
"Determination" by Lee Hana
"Trade" by Bill Dennis
"Rāj Bāgh (Royal Tiger)" by Tushar Sen
"An American Rhythm" by Matt McGee
"The Last Picture" by Lara Azarian
"Ghost Writer" by Nancy Brewka-Clark
"Used in the Coup" by M. Z.
"The Escape of Egypt’s Last Pharaohs" by Katy Dartford
"Seven Letters" by Negar feghhi
"The Angel of Armory Square" by Erin Makela
"Two Worlds" by Ornguze Nashima Nathaniel
"The Voice" by Peggy Barnett
"The Cinematograph" by Mehrdaad Rashidi
"Juno's Secret Weapon" by Debra Bliss Saenger
"The Ladies' Man" by Louie M.T.
"The Cigarette Tin Night" by Shera Sun
"Mummy Brown" by Sylvia Telfer
"Survival and Restoration" by Emma Gordon
"In the Shadow of the Mountains" by Alyson Serena Stone
"The Wise Woman of Wyld" by Lane Riosley
"The Lion and the Dogsnouts" by Jānis Bogužs
"The Maiden's Sigh" by Barbara Bridger
"Ravenstone" by Kathleen S. Allen
"The Promise" by Rian Durant
"Loose Threads" by Bhavanraj Kalsi
"She Lies Here" by Stephen Waites
"The Shape of Falling" by Nicky O'Connell
"A Way Across" by Urmi Chakravorty
"The Legion's Last Victory" by Vanessa J. Knipe
"Apotamkin the Sea Serpent of Passamaquoddy Bay" by Ali Anthony Bell
"A Theory Too Simple" by Cecil Beckett
"Murder on George Street" by John Ibanga
"Ansgar – When Stonehenge Was New and Exciting" by Peter Hajinian
"Styx and Phlegethon" by Evey Damianopoulou
"The Beckoning Woman" by Ash
"Below Mount Parnassus" by J.N. Howell
"Goodbye California" by Rachel Davison
"The Iliad – Bloodbath Undone" by Robin David
"I Can’t Sleep at Night Because I Think of You" by Ali Khamseh
"The Origin of the Coconut Tree; Sina and the Eel" by Ardyn Baia
"The Ba Xian and the Peaches of Immortality" by LAW Butler
"My Name Is Kang Haneul" by Harsagan Chadha
"K627" by Patrick Wood
"The Lost Lipstick" by Arushi Agarwal
"The Golden Swan" by Katie Lees
"Mir-Mahmoud and Mādar-E Āl" by Shirin Mahmoodi
"Ogbómọ̀ṢỌ́" by Little dark queen
"The Journey Back" by Andrea Okere
"Cyclops of the Cave" by Christopher Thomas
"Vienna, 1529 A.D. – A Siege and Turkish Soup" by Charles Havens
"The Signing" by Matthew Howorth
"Crawl" by Leslie Grover
"Death on the River" by Andrew D. Scrimgeour
"What Became of Wolf" by M Myers
"Treasure in My Head" by David McVey
"Solitarium" by A. V. B. Truitt
"What's Wrong with That Man?" by Jason Hanlan
"Tears for the Machine" by Amy Abugo Ongiri
"A Tokoloshe in the Walk Around" by R.T. Tippin
"The Man Behind the Glass" by E. G.
"The Woman in White" by Darren Chen Zhi Jie
"Hope in a Jar" by Laura Smith
"The Mantel and the Crib" by Katherine Williams
"The Rising" by Charles Aubin
"Bluegills" by Claude Clayton Smith
"The Meaning of the Light" by Nigel Code
"The Lazy Prince" by Renate Wildermuth
"Entrepreneur on the River Styx" by James Beffa
"The Race Around the World" by Joeyta Dutta
"Divine Glory" by Mahla Fathi
"Them" by Victor Klein
"May They All Burn" by Alexandra Kuhrt
"Apollo’s Last Visit to Socrates" by James Clark
"Babushka's Home Remedy" by Juliette Jarabek
"Under the Same Sky" by Dr. Sanchari Chandra
"The Will to Survive" by P.G.C. Robinson
"Elvis on Linen" by Jen Hepburn
"Ikaria" by Nick Mamatas
"The God's First Choice" by Ayame
"Pledged as a Girl, Paid as a Boy" by Phoebe Bush
"The Last Achaean" by Jack Horan
"Palimpsest" by Michael Kowalczyk-Barker
"Conjectural" by Tracy Warren
"The Riders of Ankou" by Sue Barnard
"The Words of the God" by Karen Walker
"My Name Is Sacrifice" by Caelfind Branigan
"Broken Land of the Free" by Asmina
"Friendly Fire" by Andrew Beattie
"The Kitsune’s Wedding" by Korisu Chan
"Victoria" by Taize Jackson
"Reunion" by William H. Nicks Jr.
"After the Ashes" by Ross Champion
"Among These Dark, Satanic Mills" by Susanna Early
"Wall Eilian" by David Lewis Pogson
"The Resurrection of Persephone" by Evangeline Dalton
"The First Cartographer" by Ron Frater
"His Boy" by Marlaina Cockcroft
"A Sword for a Stone" by Will Lawrence
"Mary Ding and the King That Fell from the Sky" by Anna Tan
"Penelope Weaving" by Carole McDonnell
"Mavka’s Last Stitch" by Olena Zheldak
"The Wanderer's Call" by Billie Grisdale
"The Death of Droopy Driscoll" by Xavier McCaffrey
"May 1958" by Rasmiya Ramamoorthy
"Nigel Groyne Sees the Light" by Alex Clissold-Jones
"I Wish I Were Estherka" by Loshi Rajen
"The General Slocum" by Sally Milliken
"The Great-Fiery-Snorting-Slug" by Isanimmegadia
"A Good Shot" by Daniel Seifert
"The Black Valkyrie" by Seth Bush
"The River of Eni" by Nneka Oluoha
"Snapshot" by Mairi McCurdy
"Eternity with You" by Dorian Rose
"A Watery Grave" by Zenia Smythe
"The Descent of Persephone" by Luka Nordez
For entrants aged 13 to 17. At World History Encyclopedia, we've enjoyed reading all 268 youth submissions this year! Each story was read by at least two reviewers (often three) from World History Encyclopedia and our dedicated reading team. It's always a delight to read stories from all over the world inspired by such a range of history and mythology, and even those stories that didn't make the longlist this year were read and enjoyed by the team.
Thank you to everyone who shared their (human) creativity with us!
Listed in no particular order:
"The True God" by Lilit Barseghyan
"The Fire in the Mine" by C.H. Degosserie
"Five Before Dark" by Kawthar Al-Atya
"A Kitsune’s Tale" by E Cook
"Erysichthon and the English Muffin " by Riley Shin
"The Curse of the Nuckelavee" by Elliot Walker
"The Lion" by A.W.S
"Cry No Tears After Nightfall" by Prianna Kumar Singhania
"The Woman from a Dream" by Zoe Cumings
"24th of April" by Josef Vraun
"The Journey of a Queen" by Katherine Rowlands
"The Shower of Vulcans Forge" by Brownies
"The Boy Who Found the Boy King" by Aicha Abdelmotaleb
"Mortality" by Kai
"Akiko" by Alice Jun
"The Story of an Opaque Island" by Shelby Park
"The Words Between Us" by Chloe Yu
"My Name Is Jane" by Rachel Cardoso
"Blood Valley" by Nnadi Harmattan
"The Wind Chimes" by Maitri
"Vanguards" by Favour Akande
"Icarus Son of Daedalus" by Arnav Thool
"Bread" by Daria Kosiakova
"So I Died" by Orla Grundy
"Crawled from Missing Flesh" by Samia Mimo
"The Darkness We Swam In" by Toby Brookes
"The Forgotten" by Nisha Ganguli
"Fafnir" by Marie Whitney
"Forever Sleeping Under a Blanket of Grey" by Hector Bateman
"The Wood Anemones " by Caelainn Ní Mhaoilchiaráin
"Hidimbi" by Nidhi
"The Final Song " by Charlotte Whyte
"The Golden Lotus" by Claire Yu
"House of Ashes" by Juliet Simon
"My Dear Dai" by Argentum
"A Double Sided Uniform" by Liam Choi
"Kun-Peng" by Carol
"The Taste of Home" by Zaina Zanan
"Among the Wildflowers" by Zoe Heyding Pereda
"The Hollow Mill" by Jaz
"There Are No Fires in Japan" by Raina De La Rosa
"Прощай, Маленький Лаика: Farewell, Little Barker " by Kadence Hormor
"When I Go to Heaven " by Arya M
"The Making of Mr Barry" by Prisha Roy Mahapatra
"He Who Holds Up the Sky" by S.S.
"The Billhook Nun " by Vivian Solum
"The Old Man" by L. C. Bouteneff
"Inescapable Stars" by Niamh Murray
"A World Between Us" by Ruqayya salman
"Wonder of his Age" by Neel Murali
"She Who Felt " by Hazar Mohanad Mohammad
"Eoduksini" by Sol Shin
"Into the Unknown" by Zoe Annetts
"What the Wind Carries" by Ishani Karmakar
"Survivor's Guilt" by Abigail Thomson
"Aleksey " by Judy West
"The Only Friend " by Yohana
"Pigeons and Pompeii" by Radha Shah
"Bitter, Bitter Sugarcane" by Fayra Qanita
"You Don’t Know Chepcugei" by Svetlana Shagzhina
"Of Woman and Devil " by Camelia
"Stolen Words" by Kanav Lall
"The End of Always" by Fahsai Wongs
"Irreverence in Silence " by Jessica Netzahuatl
"The Abyss of Avaritus" by Aly Low
"Little Charlie" by Amie Gregory
"A Torch and a Promise" by Zhongyi Wang
"Into the Untamed Wild" by Alexandra Buergi
We're determined not to charge writers entry fees.
Open to entries in English from anywhere in the world.
A dedicated team of WHE staff, submission readers, judges, and translators.
Stay informed about submission deadlines, winners announcements, writing tips, and general feedback from the judges.
My favourite editing tips. Writing and editing advice benefits from two disclaimers, I think: Do whatever you want as long as it works. And choose to ignore advice that doesn't inspire you, Let's go!