The 2nd Round of the 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2026 is underway! View the list of 2nd Round writers, prompt assignments, and a countdown until the deadline at nycmidnight.co/4tBn1du. Best of luck to the participating writers over the next 24 hours!

The 1st Round results for the 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2026 are up at nycmidnight.co/42CCTkS! Congratulations to the top 15 in each group for advancing to the 2nd Round, which kicks off this Friday, May 15th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

The 4th annual 500-word Fiction Challenge begins on May 29th and will challenge writers worldwide to create short stories no longer than 500 words in 48 hours. Learn more, register, and read previous winning stories at www.nycmidnight.com/500. Happy writing!

Found my flow today (finally!), and it felt GOOD. I hit a wall with only 1 scene left to write in my 1st draft. So, it's a walk & dinner & then back at it. I don't need that last scene to be good. I just need it done, so I can spend tomorrow fixing and polishing. #FlashFictionChallenge2026

The Flash Fiction Challenge 2026 is officially underway! View the 1st Round genre/location/object assignments, a countdown to the deadline, and the story upload link at nycmidnight.co/4w47q8L. Best of luck to the 2,700+ writers participating worldwide over the next 48 hours!

I’m ecstatic to share that I placed first in the inaugural year of NYC Midnight’s Scary Story Challenge! Having a 2nd win of a major writing contest is a milestone like nothing else I’ve experienced. I’m humbled, honored, and grateful for this opportunity to showcase my love of #horror storytelling.

The 18th annual Flash Fiction Challenge kicks off at 11:59 PM (NY time) tonight, May 1st, and registration is still open! Participants will have 48 hours to write a 1,000-word story based on a genre, location, and object assignment. Learn more and register at www.nycmidnight.com/ffc. Happy writing!

We're proud to present the winning story from last year's Flash Fiction Challenge! Read "The Last Bloom Visitor Center" by five-time NYCM winner, Leila Murton Poole (UK), at nycmidnight.co/last-bloom. Original Illustration by Yevgenia Nayberg. Enjoy, and get ready for this year's challenge on May 1!

The early entry deadline for the 500-word Fiction Challenge is today! The 4th annual competition kicks off on May 29th and will challenge writers worldwide to create short stories based on genre, action, and object assignments in 48 hours. Learn more & register at www.nycmidnight.com/500. Good luck!

The winners of the inaugural Scary Story Challenge have been announced at nycmidnight.co/4cI6y0w! Congratulations to D.R. Forge (New York, NY, USA) for winning the competition with their final round story, "Backseat Astronaut," and thanks to everyone who participated!

The 18th annual Flash Fiction Challenge begins on May 1st and will challenge writers worldwide to create short stories no longer than 1,000 words in 48 hours. Learn more, register, and read previous winning stories at www.nycmidnight.com/ffc. Happy writing!

The 2nd Round of the Screenwriting Challenge 2026 is underway! View the list of 2nd Round writers, prompt assignments, and a countdown until the deadline at www.nycmidnight.com/screenwritin.... Best of luck to the participating writers over the next three days!

In anticipation of the Flash Fiction Challenge kicking off on May 1st, we're happy to publish the story that placed 2nd overall in last year's competition. Check out "They Still Bring Your Flowers" by Natalie Minaker at nycmidnight.co/486oe4J. Original Illustration by Yevgenia Nayberg. Enjoy!

The 1st Round results for the Screenwriting Challenge 2026 are up at nycmidnight.co/41w0sLN! Congratulations to the top 5 in each group for advancing to the 2nd Round, which kicks off this Thursday, April 16th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

Congrats to longtime illustrator for NYCM, Yevgenia Nayberg, on the publication of her new graphic novel, Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters. It arrives just in time for the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion and is available wherever books are sold. Learn more at her Instagram @znayberg.

New interview with Charlie Weisman, director of the NYC Midnight competitions. I've been writing in these contests for 10 years (yikes) and it's still one of my favorite things. If you're a contest participant, or if you're contest curious, check it out! @nycmidnight.bsky.social

The 2nd Round of the Short Story Challenge 2026 is underway! View the list of 2nd Round writers, prompt assignments, and a countdown until the deadline at www.nycmidnight.com/shortstory/2.... Best of luck to the participating writers over the next three days!

In anticipation of the Flash Fiction Challenge 2026 kicking off May 1, we'll be publishing the top three stories from last year. Today, we're proud to publish the 3rd-place story, ./Human Legacy by @mmschreier.bsky.social at nycmidnight.co/3QaALxG. Original illustration by Yevgenia Nayberg. Enjoy!

The 1st Round results for the Short Story Challenge 2026 are up at nycmidnight.co/4cdouzU! Congratulations to the top 5 in each group for advancing to the 2nd Round, which kicks off this Thursday, April 9th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

END THE WAR ON IRAN NOW.

The 500-word Fiction Challenge 2026 kicks off on May 29th, and registration is open! The 4th annual competition will challenge writers worldwide to create 500-word short stories in 48 hours. Learn more, register, and read previous winning stories at www.nycmidnight.com/500. Good luck, writers!

i’m in the final round. please send ginger beer and orange snacks (carrots excluded). #MicrofictionChallenge250 📚✍️

The Final Round of the 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2025 is underway! The final assignment of the competition is Open (genre), Repairing (action), and fast (word). Best of luck to the 100 finalists with their stories over the next 48 hours!

The 2nd Round results for the 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2025 are up at bit.ly/4d6xjh6! Congratulations to the top five in each group for advancing to the Final Round, which kicks off this Friday, March 27th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

The 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2026 is officially underway! View the 1st Round genre/action/word assignments, a countdown to the deadline, and the story upload link at nycmidnight.co/4t0k4mN. Best of luck to the 3,800+ writers participating worldwide over the next 24 hours!

The 7th annual 100-word Microfiction Challenge kicks off at 11:59 PM (NY time) tonight, March 20, and registration is still open! Participants will have 24 hours to write a tiny story based on a genre, action, and word assignment. Learn more and register at www.nycmidnight.com/100. Good luck!

@nycmidnight.bsky.social's 100-word Microfiction Challenge kicks off March 20th! We're happy to be back as sponsors for 2026. Still time to learn more and register for a chance to compete for cash and focused writing tools like @writer.ia.net and @notebook.ia.net: ia.net/topics/nyc-m...

Check out a guest post from back-to-back winner of the 100-word Microfiction Challenge, Christy Hartman, on her five strategies to craft tiny stories that resonate universally. Enjoy, and get ready for the 2026 challenge kicking off on Friday, March 20th! www.nycmidnight.com/blog/anatomy...

We're proud to present the winning story from last year's 100-word Microfiction Challenge! Read "Impossible Choice" by back-back winner, Christy Hartman, at nycmidnight.co/impossible-c.... Original Illustration by Yevgenia Nayberg. Enjoy, and get ready for this year's 100-word challenge on March 20!

The 18th annual Flash Fiction Challenge kicks off May 1st, and registration is now open! Writers are challenged to create 1,000-word short stories in 48 hours. Learn more, register, & read previous winning stories at www.nycmidnight.com/ffc. Good luck, writers!

The Final Round of the Scary Story Challenge 2025 is underway! The final assignment of the competition is A WRONG TURN (scare), SIFTING (action), and AN EXHAUSTED PERSON (character). Best of luck to the 115 finalists with their 400-word scary stories over the next 48 hours!

The 2nd Round results for the Scary Story Challenge 2025 are up at nycmidnight.co/4baMTXu! Congratulations to the top five in each group for advancing to the Final Round, which kicks off this Friday, February 27th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

Had the best time with @nycmidnight.bsky.social. This is my absolute favorite thing! Thanks for all the reads and fresh eyes from @nickwaswriting.com, @michaelbuonocore.bsky.social, @matthewnicholson.bsky.social, @theuptownfive.bsky.social and @eric-writes.bsky.social. Here's to another round! 🤞

The Screenwriting Challenge 2026 is officially underway! View the 1st Round genre/subject/character assignments, a countdown to the deadline, and the screenplay upload link at nycmidnight.co/4aOl5Id. Best of luck to the 1,300+ writers participating worldwide over the next eight days!

We're happy to announce that Write Brothers will be providing the top 10 winners of the Screenwriting Challenge 2026 with their Movie Magic® Screenwriter™ software! Learn more at nycmidnight.com/scc-prizes, and get ready for the challenge kicking off in less than seven hours!

We're happy to announce that WriterDuet will provide the top 10 winners of this year's Screenwriting Challenge with a one-year pro subscription to its software, used by over 2 million screenwriters. Learn more at nycmidnight.com/scc-prizes, and get ready for the challenge kicking off tonight!

Happy @nycmidnight.bsky.social Screenwriting Challenge Eve to all those who celebrate, #Scriptsky! With the contest kicking off tomorrow night, here’s a friendly reminder that there’s a dedicated feed to follow for the contest that captures the hashtags #NYCMSWC & #ScreenwritingChallenge!

Thank you so much to @writer.ia.net for once again providing their focused writing app and beautiful notebooks to the winners of the Screenwriting Challenge, kicking off tomorrow! Learn more and view the full $14,000+ prize list at nycmidnight.com/scc-prizes.

I’ve taken part in this challenge a few times now. Great for developing writing skills and working to a deadline. Feedback is really useful. Next challenge kicks off on Friday. Would recommend @nycmidnight.bsky.social #NYCMidnightSC #Screenwriting #writing #writer

Supporting writers is something that has always driven what we do at iA. That's why we're so proud of our continued partnership with @nycmidnight.bsky.social. Learn more about our sponsorships for upcoming 2026 challenges: ia.net/topics/nyc-m...

We're happy to announce that we've just posted the three screenplays that helped Tom Glasson win last year's Screenwriting Challenge! Check them out along with other past winners at www.nycmidnight.com/scc-winnings.... Enjoy, and get ready for this year's Screenwriting Challenge kicking off Friday!

The 2nd Round of the 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2025 is underway! View the list of participating writers, prompt assignments, and a countdown until the deadline at www.nycmidnight.com/mfc250/2025-.... Best of luck to the 800 participating writers over the next 48 hours!

The winners of the Rhyming Story Challenge 2025 have been announced at www.nycmidnight.com/rsc/2025-fin...! Congratulations to Baylee Friday (Dallas, TX, USA) for winning the competition with their final round story, "The House with the Yellow X". Thanks to everyone who participated!

I realized today that we’re just shy of 9 days before prompts drop for @nycmidnight.bsky.social Screenwriting Challenge. I swear I checked the countdown last week and it said we had 40 days 😂 Roll call time! #scriptsky! Who’s joining in on the fun this year? #ScreenwritingChallenge #NYCMSWC

The 100-word Microfiction Challenge early entry deadline is today! The 7th annual competition kicks off on March 20 and will challenge writers worldwide to create very short stories based on genre, action, and word assignments in 24 hours. Learn more and register at nycmidnight.com/100. Good luck!

The 1st Round results for the 250-word Microfiction Challenge 2025 are up at nycmidnight.co/4tga7T4! Congratulations to the top 10 in each group for advancing to the 2nd Round, which kicks off this Friday, February 6th. Best of luck to them, and thanks to all who participated!

The Short Story Challenge 2026 is officially underway! View the 1st Round genre/subject/character assignments, a countdown to the deadline, and the story upload link at nycmidnight.co/4rf0kuU. Best of luck to the 5,000+ writers participating worldwide over the next eight days!

The 20th annual Short Story Challenge kicks off at 11:59 PM (NY time) tonight, Jan. 23, and registration is still open! 1st Round participants will have 8 days to write a short story no longer than 2,000 words based on a genre/subject/character assignment. Learn more at www.nycmidnight.com/ssc.

We are proud to present the story that won last year's Short Story Challenge! Read "When Dragons Do Laundry" by D.R. Forge (New York, USA) at nycmidnight.co/4a0Gei2. The original illustration is by Yevgenia Nayberg. Enjoy, and get ready for the Short Story Challenge 2026 kicking off this Friday!