Applications are open for Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Welcome to Imagine 2200 — a new climate-fiction contest by Fix, Grist’s solutions lab. The world is crazy right now, and the stakes are high: just, you know, the entire frickin’ future. Our news feeds are full of denial, delay, and doom that make us want to scream into our pillows. But that’s just the old story. At Fix, we are telling the new story, of a path to a clean, green, and just future, and the people who are driving it. Our mission is to make the story of a better world so irresistible, you want it right now.

With that goal in mind, we decided to launch the first foray into the world of hopeful, forward-looking fiction — to inspire visions of the future that haven’t even been dreamt up yet, and welcome more voices into the climate conversation. Join this uprising of imagination, and help us turn the page on earth’s next chapter.

Rules

Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors has the following rules

• Entry is free.
• Submissions close April 12, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Standard Time.
• The contest is open to writers anywhere in the world.
• Authors must be 18 years or older at the time of submission.
• Submissions must be short, fictional stories, between 3,000–5,000 words.
• No previously published, multiple, or simultaneous submissions accepted.
• Submissions will only be accepted through Submittable — click the “submit” button at the bottom of this page when you’re ready! If you need accessibility accommodations, please email the team at [email protected]
• Stories will be judged by a board of literary experts, including authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon.
• The first-prize story will be awarded $3,000; second prize $2,000; and third prize $1,000.
• Nine additional finalists will each receive a $300 honorarium.
• All 12 final stories will be published in a digital collection on Fix’s website, and the authors will be celebrated in a public-facing virtual event.
• Worldwide copyright and ownership of each story remain with the author.
• If a story is accepted for publication, Grist retains the first serial rights of the work to publish, produce, reproduce, distribute, and market.
• All other remaining rights revert to the author upon publication.

Selection Criteria

• Hope
• Intersectionality
• Resilience
• A society that is radically different from the one we live in today, and how we got there
• A focus on climate, with creative and clearly articulated solutions that put people and planet first

For more info,  FAQ