The 2026 Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award
February 13, 2026 by Bethlehem Writers Group in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Contests, Featured Author of the Month tagged as #TheBWG, Bethlehem Writers Group, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable Short Story Award, new release, Seasons Readings, Short Story Award
The Bethlehem Writers 2025 Short Story Award
BWG is seeking stories of 2,500 words or fewer on the theme of Speculative Fiction (tales of science fiction and fantasy, broadly interpreted). The winners receive cash and publication, with the first-place winner being considered for our upcoming anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, forthcoming in 2026.
Winners receive cash awards and offers of publication. (See below for details.)
First Place:
$250 and consideration for publication in our upcoming anthology: Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy or Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Second Place:
$100 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
Third Place:
$50 and publication in Bethlehem Writers Roundtable
The 2026 guest judge is science-fiction and fantasy author Susan Kaye Quinn.
Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and studied global warming, getting a PhD in environmental engineering along the way, but now she invents cool stuff in books. She’s been writing across multiple genres for 15 years, with her latest works focusing on hopepunk, solarpunk, and the new stories we need to build a more just and sustainable world. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website: SusanKayeQuinn.com. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.
For more information on the 2025 Short Story Award and for information on how to enter, click here. You can also read an interview with Ms. Quinn here.
About BWG
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), is a community of mutually supportive fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories. BWG also publishes quality fiction through their online literary journal, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, and their award-winning A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology series.
Each anthology has an overall theme—broadly interpreted—but includes a variety of genres. All but the first anthology include stories from the winner(s) of The Bethlehem Writers Short Story Award.
Their first anthology, A Christmas Sampler: Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales (2009), won two Next Generation Indie Book Awards: Best Anthology and Best Short Fiction.
Season’s Reading: More Sweet, Funny, and Strange Holiday Tales is the latest in A Sweet, Funny, and Strange Anthology.
Books from Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC
The Bethlehem Writers Group, LLC (BWG), founded in 2006, is a community of mutually supportive, fiction and nonfiction authors based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The members are as different from each other as their stories, spanning a range of genres including: children’s, fantasy, humor, inspiration, literary, memoir, mystery, paranormal, romance, science fiction, women’s fiction, and young adult.
See the schedule of meetings and events here.
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