Winners

  • Surrender

    Surrender

    Paul Cesarini

    A Recorder reflects on a dramatic encounter with a sentient species, revealing truths about deception, memory, and survival against tyranny. Read more

  • ​Death Certificate

    ​Death Certificate

    Jonathan Ryan

    A ghost refuses to move on without proof he’s dead. For Nicodemus Scratch, it means another day of demons, red tape, and rising chaos. Read more

  • Bounce

    Bounce

    Mert Erogul

    A father struggles with parenting challenges at a children’s party, ultimately finding joy with his son amidst chaotic fun. Read more

  • The Algorithm Doesn’t Cry

    The Algorithm Doesn’t Cry

    Tim Collyer

    A mother fights for her son’s survival in a system that values efficiency over love, beauty, or humanity. Read more

  • I Am Not Lying

    I Am Not Lying

    Ismael Hussein

    Am I disloyal or delusional? I cannot say. Both torment me deeply. I have been unfaithful, yes, but not in the way you might think. I never wanted to cheat on my wife. I am not lying. And still I think, what’s worse: to endure pain in the name of love, or cause it in… Read more

  • Small Spaces

    Small Spaces

    T. J. Prendergast

    Duggan had just begun to slide into a half-sleep when they brought the man into the cell. He pushed his head up and watched the constables haul his new roommate in just as they had done to him hours earlier. In the dim light that fell through from the corridor into the open room, Duggan… Read more