Write and submit a short story of no more than 8,000 words. It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open, e.g. epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, etc.

No entry fee. But only one submission per person...we suggest your best one!

No reprints (i.e. the story must be unpublished).

All entries must be original unpublished works in English. Plagiarism, poetry, song lyrics, settings and/or characters from published gaming worlds or another author’s works of fiction will not be considered. Any AI-generated stories will be automatically disqualified.

E-mail submissions only. Send entries as .RTF attachments to:
baenfantasyaward@baen.com

Please put BFAA SUBMISSION in the subject line when sending a contest entry and BFAA QUESTION in the subject line for questions to the contest administrator.

Please include the following in the body of your email:

• the title of the work
• the author's name, address, and telephone number
• an approximate word-count

The manuscript should be a RTF attachment, in standard manuscript format, and should be titled and numbered on every page, but the author's name MUST BE DELETED to facilitate fair judging. Click here for our standard manuscript format guidelines.

Employees of Baen Books and Staff of Dragon Con are not eligible.

Previous Grand Prize winners are not eligible (previous second and third place winners are eligible).

Contest opens for submissions on January 15th, 2024 at 12:01am EST. (Entries sent before that date will be deleted unread.)

Contest closes for submissions April 30th, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT.

What We Want to See

Adventure fantasy with heroes you want to root for. Warriors either modern or medieval, who solve problems with their wits or with their weapons—and we have nothing against dragons, elves, dwarves, castles under siege, urban fantasy, damsels in distress, or damsels who inflict distress.

What We Don’t Want to See

Political drama with no action, angst-ridden teens pining over vampire lovers, religious allegory, novel segments, your gaming adventure transcript, anything set in any universe not your own, "it was all a dream" endings, or screenplays.

Judges

Entries will be judged by Baen editorial staff.

Prizes

The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at industry-standard rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a handsome engraved award and a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books.

SECOND place winner will receive a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books.

THIRD place winner will receive a prize package containing $300 of free Baen Books.

Finalists will be announced no later than July 1st, 2024

Winners will be notified no later than July 21st, 2024. (Only the winners will be notified.)

The winners will be officially announced during the Baen Traveling Roadshow at Dragon Con, in Atlanta, Georgia. (We would prefer the winners attend the convention, but it is not required.)

Submission Checklist

All identifying information (author's name, address, email) has been removed from the manuscript and manuscript file name.

Manuscript is an .RTF file and in standard manuscript format with title and page number on every page. Guidelines for manuscript formatting can be found here.

Author’s name, address, email, and phone number are included in the body of the email.

Please note all times for submission deadlines are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)!