FREE | Call for Submissions – Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors

Fix, Grist’s solutions lab invites you to submit a hope-filled climate fiction short story for our second annual contest, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors.

Stories must be set anytime between today and the year 2200, and show a path to a clean, green, and just future. We especially want to read — and share — narratives that center solutions from the communities most impacted by climate change and stories that envision what a truly equitable, decolonized society could look like. In 3,000 to 5,000 words, show us the world you dream of building.

Of course, we don’t expect you to be overly optimistic or Pollyannaish; 178 years of equitable climate progress will involve hard work, struggle, and adaptation, and we invite you to show that, too.

We’re also especially interested in cultural authenticity (a deep sense of place, customs, cuisine, and more); rich characters with intersecting identities; and stories that challenge the status quo in which wealth and power are built on extraction, oppression, and violence.

We’ll be looking for these core elements:

• Hope
• Vivid characters
• Cultural setting
• Creative solutions
• Decolonized futures

We will also judge submissions based on the quality of artistic voice, originality, craft, and technique, as well as the depth of the environmental, scientific, historical, and/or cultural background that informs the story.

What we’re offering to winners: 

• Cash prizes
• Publication on Fix’s site in the fall of 2022
• A reason to stay hopeful

The winning writer will be awarded $3,000, with the second-and third-place finalists receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. An additional nine finalists will get $300 apiece. All winners and finalists will have their story published in an immersive collection on Fix’s website — each with its own original art — and will be celebrated in a public virtual event.

The deadline for submission is May 5, 2022, by 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Standard Time.

Publication Date: Fall 2022

Inspiration: Imagine 2200 draws inspiration from Afrofuturism, as well as Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, disabled, feminist, and queer futures. The contest is also grounded in hopepunk and solarpunk — literary genres that uplift equitable climate solutions and continued service to one’s community, even in the face of despair.

We are excited to see what you write and to dive into the worlds you create!