Cymera (Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing) and Shoreline of Infinity (Scotland’s award-winning science fiction magazine) are teaming up again to discover the best new stories by Scottish writers.
Our 2026 competition has no theme, so let your creative juices flow unhindered!
Remember, we are looking for a speculative story—explore a future world through the eyes of your character, and tell us their story.
Speculative (ADJECTIVE): Engaged in, expressing, or based on conjecture rather than knowledge.
Our 2026 Longlist
We are excited to announce the longlist for our 2026 Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction. Out of close to 100 submissions, these are the best 14 stories as chosen by our jury. The winner and runners-up will be announced on Tuesday 2nd June 2026, just ahead of Cymera (5th to 7th June 2026).
The winning story will be read at this year’s Shoreline of Infinity Event Horizon on Saturday 6th June at 8:30pm.
Black Rain by Annemarie Allan
Gap Year Roon The Galaxy by S A McQuilken
Grown-up Handwriting by Joyce Bingham
Hot Property by George Prew-Stell
How To Stay Positive At The End Of The World by Beth Tianxin Xia
Inside the Hulks by R.M. McRitchie
Into The Den by Ian Hunter
Mele Kalikimaka From Da Bus by Elizabeth Ross
Pre-loved by Elizabeth Prew-Stell
Soulstream by Anna Ziemons-McLean
The Moss In The Forest Sings by Kit Calvert
The Pavilion In The Sky by Meghan Ellis
They Watch Me Through Glass Walls by Thomas Welsh
Tiger, Tiger by Stephen Connolly
The Awards
The Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction is open to any writer living in Scotland or Scottish by birth or inclination, aged at least 14 years.
Submissions are open from Monday 12th January 2026 until 8pm BST on Sunday 22nd March 2026.
The winning writer will be awarded £150. The winning story will also be published in Shoreline of Infinity Magazine, of which the author will receive a complimentary copy.
The winning story will also be published in the SF Caledonia Paper, released at Cymera Festival. SF Caledonia is a Shoreline of Infinity project created to showcase Scottish SF writing. Find out more at SF Caledonia.
The winner and the two runners-up will each receive a complimentary weekend pass to our 2026 festival. We will host a special Event Horizon event at the 2026 festival celebrating our competition and its winners, where the winning story will be read aloud by professional actors.
Am I Scottish enough?
The Cymera Prize for Speculative Short Fiction is open to anyone who is Scottish by birth or by inclination. In other words, you can enter if ANY of the following criteria applies to you:
You were born in Scotland
You currently live in Scotland.
One or both or your parents were born in Scotland
One or both of your grandparents were born in Scotland
You are married to a person who was born in Scotland
You were resident in Scotland for at least six months at some point prior to entering our competition.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please just get in touch on info@cymerafestival.co.uk
Need some inspiration? Check out our #Cymera21 event.
Watch our event where our judges Noel Chidwick, Cat Hellisen and Oliver K. Langmead discuss the competition, the shortlist and reveal the winner. Includes a reading from the winning story The Microwave Library by David Tam McDonald, read by Debbie Cannon.
(Contains some tips for writing a good short story)