Writing contests range from short weekly submissions to multi-round global challenges. Reedsy’s listed weekly contests recorded between 199 and 434 entries in the supplied 2025–2026 results, while NYC Midnight reports more than 5,000 writers in its 2026 Short Story Challenge. The rules also differ sharply: Reedsy accepts 1,000–3,000 words, while one NYC Midnight first round limits stories to 300 words.
Contents
- Reedsy weekly participation in summer 2026
- Reedsy participation in early 2026
- Late-2025 Reedsy results
- Reedsy fees, deadlines, and prizes
- NYC Midnight participation and prize scale
- NYC Midnight formats and advancement
Reedsy weekly participation in summer 2026
The Reedsy weekly results show a contest-entry count and a separate story count for each listed prompt. These are reported contest figures, not a unique-writer census: one writer may submit more than once, and the supplied records do not define how entries relate to individual participants.
The 10 listed contests from July 3 through September 4, 2026 recorded 2,714 entries and 947 stories in total. The individual results were:
| Contest and date | Entries | Stories |
|---|---|---|
| #371 Liminal Spaces, Sep. 4 | 258 | 75 |
| #370 In Real Time, Aug. 28 | 270 | 80 |
| #369 What We Carry, Aug. 21 | 307 | 93 |
| #368 Everyday Enchantment, Aug. 14 | 265 | 67 |
| #367 The Point of No Return, Aug. 7 | 293 | 95 |
| #366 Not What It Seems, Jul. 31 | 282 | 103 |
| #365 Two Sides to Every Story, Jul. 24 | 199 | 79 |
| #364 Whodunit?, Jul. 17 | 223 | 85 |
| #363 Weather the Storm, Jul. 10 | 319 | 112 |
| #362 Food for Thought, Jul. 3 | 298 | 153 |
Across those 10 records, the entry counts ran from 199 for “Two Sides to Every Story” to 319 for “Weather the Storm.” Story counts ranged from 67 for “Everyday Enchantment” to 153 for “Food for Thought.” The corresponding arithmetic totals describe only these listed contests and do not estimate the entire Reedsy program.
The results also show that a larger entry count did not always coincide with a larger story count. “Weather the Storm” had 319 entries and 112 stories, whereas “Food for Thought” had 298 entries and 153 stories. The published records provide both measures but do not explain the difference between them, so the figures should be read as separate reported counts rather than as a conversion rate.
Reedsy participation in early 2026
The supplied early-2026 records cover February 6 through April 17, with a gap between March 27 and April 10 in the listed dates. The 10 contests recorded 3,248 entries and 1,088 stories in total.
The February and March results were:
- #341 “Echoes of the Past” recorded 353 entries and 151 stories on February 6, 2026.
- #342 “Love is in the Air” recorded 331 entries and 109 stories on February 13, 2026.
- #343 “Tension, Twists, and Turns” recorded 326 entries and 112 stories on February 20, 2026.
- #344 “Stranger than Fiction” recorded 229 entries and 95 stories on February 27, 2026.
- #345 “Gone in a Flash” recorded 338 entries and 134 stories on March 6, 2026.
- #346 “Final Destination” recorded 274 entries and 111 stories on March 13, 2026.
- #347 “The Lie They Believe” recorded 434 entries and 137 stories on March 20, 2026.
- #348 “What Makes Us Human?” recorded 351 entries and 111 stories on March 27, 2026.
- #349 “From the Ashes” recorded 314 entries and 96 stories on April 10, 2026.
- #350 “Comic Relief” recorded 278 entries and 111 stories on April 17, 2026.
Within this group, “The Lie They Believe” had the highest listed entry count at 434. “Stranger than Fiction” had the lowest at 229. The highest story count was 151 for “Echoes of the Past,” while the lowest was 95 for “Stranger than Fiction.” Those ranges indicate variation among prompts, but they do not establish why a particular theme attracted more submissions.
For the source record and contest-by-contest listings, see Weekly Writing Contests - Reedsy Prompts – Page 2 and Weekly Writing Contests. These pages are the cited sources for the 2026 results in this section and the summer section.
Late-2025 Reedsy results
The 10 listed late-2025 contests run from October 24 through December 26. Together they recorded 2,878 entries and 1,240 stories. The results were:
- #326 “The Last Laugh” recorded 268 entries and 129 stories on October 24, 2025.
- #327 “Whiskers & Witchcraft” recorded 210 entries and 128 stories on October 31, 2025.
- #328 “A Matter of Time” recorded 253 entries and 103 stories on November 7, 2025.
- #329 “The Graveyard Shift” recorded 344 entries and 141 stories on November 14, 2025.
- #330 “Hello and Goodbye” recorded 309 entries and 120 stories on November 21, 2025.
- #331 “Winter Secrets” recorded 262 entries and 111 stories on November 28, 2025.
- #332 “Under the Weather” recorded 276 entries and 132 stories on December 5, 2025.
- #333 “Bon Appétit!” recorded 294 entries and 132 stories on December 12, 2025.
- #334 “Once Upon a Time…” recorded 300 entries and 131 stories on December 19, 2025.
- #335 “Stuck in Limbo” recorded 362 entries and 145 stories on December 26, 2025.
The lowest entry count in these records was 210 for “Whiskers & Witchcraft.” The highest was 362 for “Stuck in Limbo.” Story counts ranged from 103 for “A Matter of Time” to 145 for “Stuck in Limbo.” The figures are historical contest listings and should not be treated as current participation unless a current source says so.
The late-2025 source listings are available in Weekly Writing Contests - Reedsy Prompts – Page 1 and Weekly Writing Contests - Reedsy Prompts – Page 2. The source pages supply the contest labels and reported counts; they do not, in the supplied facts, provide a unique-participant methodology.
Reedsy fees, deadlines, and prizes
Reedsy’s current terms, accessed September 30, 2026, describe a recurring weekly structure. The service publishes 5 themed writing prompts every Friday, and writers have 1 week to submit a story. A weekly-contest entry must be in English and must contain 1,000–3,000 words. The paid submission fee is $5 per entry.
Each week, Reedsy selects 1 winner. The weekly winner receives $250 USD. Runners-up receive $25 each in Reedsy Marketplace coupons. These are terms-based awards, not estimates, and the access date matters because contest rules can change. The relevant source is Terms of Use.
Reedsy also lists terms for its inaugural Literary Prize. The 2026 Literary Prize accepts English stories of 2,000–5,000 words, charges $20 per entry, and awards $1,500 USD to the winner. That prize therefore has a longer permitted minimum and maximum than the weekly contest, a higher entry fee, and a larger stated cash award. The Literary Prize terms are identified as applying to 2026; they should not be generalized to every Reedsy contest.
| Reedsy opportunity | Word limit | Fee | Stated winner award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly contest | 1,000–3,000 words | $5 | $250 USD |
| 2026 Literary Prize | 2,000–5,000 words | $20 | $1,500 USD |
NYC Midnight participation and prize scale
NYC Midnight reports more than 31,000 writers in its online forum. That is a current site figure accessed September 30, 2026, and it describes the forum rather than one contest’s entrant count.
Contest-specific figures are also larger than the Reedsy weekly records listed above. The 2024 NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge began with more than 1,700 writers worldwide. For the 2026 competition, the Short Story Challenge has more than 5,000 writers participating worldwide, and the Rhyming Story Challenge has more than 1,400 writers participating worldwide.
The 2026 Short Story Challenge awards $8,500 for first place. That is a stated first-place award, not a claim about the total prize pool or the value received by every finalist. The participation and prize details come from NYC Midnight: Inspiring Challenges for Storytellers and The Short Story Challenge.
The available NYC Midnight counts refer to different competitions and years: more than 1,700 writers for the 2024 Screenwriting Challenge, more than 5,000 for the 2026 Short Story Challenge, and more than 1,400 for the 2026 Rhyming Story Challenge. They should be compared as scale indicators, not added together.
NYC Midnight formats and advancement
NYC Midnight uses formats that emphasize timed writing, short submissions, and progression through rounds. The 2026 Two-Story Challenge asks writers to create 2 stories in 72 hours. First-round submissions are original stories of no more than 300 words, and groups contain approximately 45 writers.
The Two-Story Challenge ranking system assigns 15 points for first place and descends to 1 point for 15th place. Because the supplied rule describes positions 1 through 15, the points range is 15 at the top to 1 at the bottom of that ranked span. The source does not state that every group has exactly 45 writers; it says approximately 45, so that figure is an approximate group size.
The Rhyming Story Challenge has a different length structure. Its first round allows stories up to 500 words, while its final round allows stories up to 400 words. This means the final-round maximum is 100 words shorter than the first-round maximum, but the challenge’s supplied facts do not explain the judging criteria or the full advancement schedule.
The relevant format sources are Two-Story Writing Challenge and The Rhyming Story Challenge. Together, they show why “writing contest” is not one uniform category: a weekly 1,000–3,000-word submission, a 72-hour two-story task, and a round-based rhyming challenge place very different demands on entrants.