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 winner
Grown-up Handwriting by Joyce Bingham
What our judges said
“This beautifully tender story demonstrated how to build layered and intriguing worldbuilding into a deceptively quiet, yet pivotal moment in a character's life. A wonderful story, very well told, that will stay with me for some time. “ Lorraine Wilson
“With richly imagined world-building cleverly suggested this story, built round a single, weighty moment, had so much to say both about women's role in the preservation and growth of society and the importance of passing on real as opposed to artificial intelligence.” Simon Spanton-Walker
Joyce Bingham is a Scottish writer, living in the North-West of England, whose work has appeared in publications such as Sci-Fi shorts, Flash Frog, WestWord, Molotov Cocktail, Bending Genres, and Ghost Parachute. When she’s not writing, she puts her green fingers to use as a plant whisperer and Venus fly trap wrangler.
Runner-up
Hot Property by George Prew-Stell
“A very clever and entirely convincing reimagining of dragons, this story was thought provoking, deft, and told with a lovely light humour. “ Lorraine Wilson
“What appeared at first glance to be little more than a fun idea actually carried a clever critique of the whole idea of cultural theft and preservation. Light on its feet and full of slyly on point satire. Lovely and informative details helped to flesh the idea out while lending the point weight.” Simon Spanton-Walker
Inside the Hulks by R.M. McRitchie
“I hugely admired the worldbuilding scope of this clever twist on a post-apocalyptic tale. An intriguing and unsettling glimpse into something deep and tangled that I could have spent a lot more time in.” Lorraine Wilson
“The story's power came from its ability to pack in a huge amount of world-building and vast implication into its hints around our encounter with aliens into a single fraught and claustrophobic conversation.” Simon Spanton-Walker
Highly commended
Gap Year Roon The Galaxy by S A McQuilken
“This story was just such immense fun! A wonderfully rendered voice that swept the reader along with humour and subtle pathos to a perfectly poignant finale. “ Lorraine Wilson
”The story's vivid and successful use of the narrator's dialect crystallised the important points it wanted to make about how progress and opportunity is unfairly handed out however advanced and technological a society is.” Simon Spanton-Walker
A word from Head Judge Noel Chidwick, Editor in Chief of Shoreline of Infinity
“As we’ve found over the years since we started this annual competition back in 2019, the standard across all the entries was high, and made the task to select winners as tough a challenge as ever. And with so many themes and approaches too - from new twists to the Selkies myths, to taking a gap year around the galaxies, it’s all here. Scottish SFF&H is proving to be as strong and diverse and imaginative as ever. Roll on 2027 to see where we go from here.
With grateful thanks to our judges, Simon Spanton-Walker and Lorraine Wilson, and Ann Landmann who maintained order.
Thanks go to all the entrants. And a final congratulation to Joyce Bingham, R.M. McRitchie, George Prew-Stell and S A McQuilken.
And a wee special thanks to our artist, James Abell, who has produced two wonderful illustrations with a week in which to work.
The winning story is published in Shoreline of Infinity 40, which is available in the Creators Hall over the festival weekend, or online.
Shoreline of Infinity's Event Horizon
Saturday, June 6, 2026, 8:30 PM 10:30 PM
Pleasance Bar
Hear the winning story read aloud at this year’s Shoreline of Infinity's Event Horizon, read by Danielle Harrow.
Other line-up includes
Songs and music from Dan Collins, he of ‘Dune the Musical’ fame
Poetry from Rachel Plummer
Danielle Farrow reading the winning story from the Cymera/Shoreline of Infinity short story competition for Scottish writers
Goldy-Looking Blanket
and a reading from BSFA award winning EM Faulds
MC for the evening is Pippa Goldschmidt
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.
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)