Holiday Short Story Contest

The winners of this contest will be published in an upcoming anthology to be released in Fall 2025. Please see below for the prompt and rules for submission.

What does it mean to be home for the holidays?

Whether it's a long-awaited reunion, a road trip full of detours, a surprise visit, or even creating a new definition of “home,” these stories should capture the spirit (and oftentimes struggle) and joy of reconnecting with family and friends during the holiday season.

Your story can be heartwarming, humorous, tense, or unexpected—but it should focus on characters working to bring loved ones together for the holidays, however they define family and home.

Rules

  • Deadline to submit: Saturday, August 16, 2025

  • No prior publishing experience necessary. However, please submit as close to ready-to-pub as possible. If chosen for publication, edits will be performed as needed, but please don’t submit your first draft.

  • Open internationally to writers 18 and older

  • Specs

    • Word Count: 3k to 10k

    • Target audience: age 18+

    • Genres accepted: Contemporary fiction; closed-door romance; historical fiction (1900s); light fantasy (a touch of magic)

    • All winter holidays are welcome, though try to lean more toward merriment, community, family, friendship, peace, winter, etc. in your story rather than focusing on the religion/spiritual belief featured/mentioned.

  • Submission fee: $10 per story

    • You CAN submit more than one story, but only one may appear in the anthology.

    • All who submit will receive professional feedback.

  • Stories written using AI or suspected of being written using AI will be rejected.

  • If chosen for publication, contributors will be asked to be an active participant in the book’s promotion via social media. Existing accounts should be public, or contributors should be willing to create a bookish page before publication to assist in getting the word out about our book! Assistance will be provided, if needed.

Why am I paying a fee?

This is new business, and your fee will go toward the publication and marketing of these anthologies. To show my appreciation, you will receive professional feedback on your submission, even if you are not selected for the anthology.

Other FAQs (Updated 7/2/25)

Do you have a short story or novella but it doesn’t quite work for this anthology’s theme? Don’t forget that Attic Ebooks is open to submissions right now! Check it out!