YA Holiday Short Story Contest

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

What could be more nerve-racking than shopping for someone special during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? Watching them open it and awaiting their reaction!

Whether it's a handmade card, a long-awaited surprise, or something entirely unexpected, the stories we’re looking for in this collection should highlight how your characters choose, give, and react to gifts during the most magical time of the year.

They may choose to gift their partners, crushes, best friends, siblings, parents or grandparents—or someone equally important to them. Your story can be heartwarming, humorous, dramatic, or even bittersweet—but it must revolve around the act of giving. Focus on the relationships, the intentions behind the gifts, and the emotions they stir.

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: 2k to 6k

    • Target audience: ages 12–18

    • Main characters need to be teenagers.

    • Genres accepted: Contemporary fiction; romance; science fiction and fantasy (low; aspects of these genres [e.g., magic, AI, space travel] incorporated into our modern world)

    • 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.

    • Avoid cursing, graphic violence, and open-door romance.

  • 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!