24 Comments
User's avatar
Winston Malone's avatar

I wish the participants of this round the best of luck. If a link isn't working or the guidelines are unclear, let us know and we'll do our best to address it. Thank you for being here!

Zachary Roush's avatar

@Nathan Slake slake is now hard at work reading all your wonderful submissions.

Thank you to all who submitted their stories! Stay tuned for the winners announcement, shooting for February 26th!

Ian Barr's avatar

Here we go again! Woooo!

Nicholas Samuel Stember's avatar

Thrilled to join in this first round of 2026. I just submitted a fantasy short story.

Best of luck to us all!

Jason Duck's avatar

Submitted

Zachary Roush's avatar

Wonderful! Thank you!

Evelyn K. Brunswick's avatar

Don't usually do fantasy, but I submitted something anyway.

Then again, I didn't usually do horror either and ended up with a runner's up! It would be wonderfully ironic to never win anything in my usual sci-fi genre. I wouldn't complain...

Zachary Roush's avatar

Sometimes we choose the genre, sometimes the genre chooses us. Good luck!

D.S. Brandt: Author, Goblin(s)'s avatar

Let's see how "The Lady and the Lake" fares.

Declan Cosson's avatar

I just submitted my short story "The Prince" to this competition.

Looking forward to the results.

Wendy Cockcroft's avatar

I submitted

Zachary Roush's avatar

🔥 amazing!

Caitriana NicNeacail's avatar

Just submitted! Good luck everyone, and thank you Zachary and Nathan for all your work on this!

Keith Long's avatar

Curious if Runner Up’s of last season are ineligible alongside winners? And if a story submitted in a previous season but not chosen can be reentered into the next season?

Zachary Roush's avatar

Hi, Keith!

Per our submission guidelines:

- Since this is a new season, you (or other winners & runners-ups) may participate again

- (Although it's not exactly clear per season) we are only accepting new, un-submitted stories.

Hope that helps!

H. A. Titus's avatar

Just sent in my story! I'm excited to see how this year goes in the Lunar Awards!

Eric Falden's avatar

I see in the FAQs that we writers are to remove "any attributable information (e.g., author name, website, Substack links)" before we submit, but I'm not seeing that elsewhere. Should the .docx / PDF we submit be scrubbed of authorship?

Zachary Roush's avatar

You don't have to omit that information to submit, and just so you know we are removing it anyway for fair judging.

Eric Falden's avatar

Awesome. Thank you, Zachary. And thanks for all your work on this.

Zachary Roush's avatar

Happy to help!

Jason Duck's avatar

Just checking, does the pages need to be numbered or not? Thanks

Zachary Roush's avatar

We highly recommend you number them for our judge's (and Ambassadors') sake :)

Jason Duck's avatar

Thanks