The Stories of the Nature of Cities 2099 Prize for Urban Flash Fiction

We aspire to future green cities around the globe—cities that are resilient, sustainable, livable, and just. What does this mean?

The Nature of Cities and partners ArtsEverywhere.ca, the University of Utah, the University of Utah’s Center for Ecological Planning + Design, the New York City Urban Field Station, the University of Johannesburg, the University of Johannesburg’s Graduate School of Architecture, and Trinity College Dublin want to imagine with you.
The Stories of the Nature of Cities 2099 Prize for Urban Flash Fiction is open for all. From among all submissions, the organisers will choose up to six prize recipients in 2018, with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize categories, plus honorable mentions.

Eligibility any person of any nationality, country of residence, and age;

What are the stories of people and nature in cities in 2099? What will cities be like to live in? Are they lush and green, verdant and biodiverse? What will cities look like; be made of? How will they be designed and powered? Will they be tall, short, dense, under ground or under water? What of public spaces? Social organization? Mobility? Government? Sustainability and food? Wildlife? Climate change and resilience? Poverty, consumption, wealth, and justice? How will we interact and relate to one another and the natural world? What sort of stories can we tell about our communities and the spaces that will shape them?


Guidelines

• be 1000 words or less, including title and any notes (i.e., “sudden fiction” or “flash fiction”);
• be successfully submitted to the organizers no later than 11:59pmEDT on 15 April 2018;
• be set in a city (of any size) in the year 2099;
• include as significant plot elements both nature and people;
• be submitted in English (but see point 6 in the Fine Print section);
• be an original work by the submitter, to which he or she holds the rights;
• be previously unpublished, not under consideration in other contests, and remain so during the duration of the contest;
• not be racist, sexist, homophobic, gratuitously violent, or otherwise offensive.
• Individual authors (under actual name or pseudonym) may submit no more than one work.
• be of any style or genre of fiction.

Submit work:

by 15 April 2018, 11:59pm EDT (no exceptions);

send the work as an attachment to flashfiction@thenatureofcities.com;

include the word SUBMISSION in the subject line of the email;

the work must be in one of the following formats: doc, docx, rtf, or txt;

include the title and the authors name at the top of the document containing the work (the author’s name will be redacted during the judging process;

include the word END on a separate line at the bottom of the document containing the work (so we are sure we have the entire work);

include in the body of the email your name and a brief bio (100 words or less).

Prizes:

1 Gold prize: $3,000 and a place in the collected publication

2 Silver prizes: $1,500 and a place in the collected publication

3 Bronze prizes: $500 and a place in the collected publication

Honorable mentions (number to be determined): no prize money, but included in the collected publication

All winning stories will be published as a book by Publication Studios / Guelph,

and possibly other venues.

Link to organiser's website