The Women Writers Route (WWR) is pleased to announce the first edition of the Narrative Routes International Short Story Contest, organised in 2027 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme.
The contest is open to the general public and invites authors to submit an unpublished short story in their national language.
Centred on the theme “the journey that transforms the protagonist,” the contest aims to foster literary creativity, intercultural dialogue and a deeper appreciation of Europe’s rich cultural heritage.
National reading groups will play a central role in selecting the finalists and national winner, with the contest culminating in an official award ceremony in Ljubljana in September 2027.
Below you can find the full contest rules, including participation requirements, the selection procedure, thematic proposals, publication arrangements and the contest calendar.
RULES OF THE COMPETITION
Narrative Routes – WWR International Short Story Prize – First Edition 2027
Art. 1 – Purpose and leading network
The Women Writers Route (WWR), as the leading network, announces the first edition of the Narrative RoutesInternational Short Story Competition. The competition is open to the participation of other Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe that will fully adopt the criteria and regulations outlined below. The aim is to promote literary creativity, intercultural dialogue and the enhancement of European cultural heritage through storytelling.
Art. 2 – Participation, requirements and documentation
Authors of all genders from all nations belonging to the WWR network or to the other participating Cultural Routes may take part.
Each participant may submit a single unpublished short story, written in the language of their own country.
The text must not exceed the maximum length of 15,000 characters (spaces included).
Together with the short story, each author must submit a short biography of no more than 1,000 characters (spaces included), to be published in the appendix to the final volume.
Participation is conditional upon the signature of the following documents:
● privacy notice and consent form for the processing of personal data (GDPR);
● release form for translation and publication rights;
● declaration of originality and non-use of generative Artificial Intelligence in the drafting of the text.
Art. 3 – National reading groups and selection procedure
WWR national coordinators and/or partners in different countries shall autonomously organise the reading groups, bringing together real, avid readers who need not be publishing professionals. The support of bookshops, libraries and pre-existing reading groups is encouraged; the groups may also meet in venues affiliated with other Cultural Routes, thus creating synergies between different Routes.
The selection procedure is divided into three phases:
1. Distribution and screening: the short stories received are divided equally among the established groups (by way of example: 5 groups and 100 short stories, 20 short stories per group). The groups meet periodically (on a weekly basis or according to the procedures established at national level) to discuss the assigned texts and select those to be promoted. A shortlist of 10 short stories must emerge from the first phase.
2. Selection of the finalists: the 10 selected short stories will be read by all the reading groups, which will proceed to select the 5 national finalists.
3. Proclamation of the winner: from among the 5 finalists, the reading groups will vote for the national winner and draw up a short statement of the reasons for their choice.
Art. 4 – Finalists, winner, events and prizes
5 finalists will be proclaimed for each nation. Each nation will organise a public event to celebrate its finalists and proclaim the national winner.
The short stories of the 5 finalists will be published in the dedicated section of the WWR website.
The 5 finalists from each nation will be recognised and awarded prizes made possible through the collaboration of the participating Cultural Routes. The prizes will offer the finalists an opportunity to discover and experience destinations connected with the Cultural Routes, further strengthening the exchange between literature, culture and European heritage.
The national winner will be invited to the official award ceremony to be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in September 2027.
Art. 5 – Publication, translation, rights and prepress
Each nation undertakes to obtain the release form for translation and publication rights from its own winner and assumes responsibility for the translation into English of the winning short story.
The winning short stories will be published in a bilingual volume both in the original language of each country and in English.
The prepress work (graphics, layout and production of the print PDF) will be handled by ICCI, National Representative for Italy of the WWR.
Each nation is responsible for the administrative management and the editorial rights relating to its own winner.
Art. 6 – Personal data processing (GDPR)
In compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), participation in the competition is conditional upon the signature of a privacy notice and consent form for the processing of personal data. Data will be processed exclusively for the purposes connected with the competition (selection, publication, communication, organisation of events) and will not be transferred to third parties.
Art. 7 – Declaration on the use of Artificial Intelligence
Each participant must declare, under their own responsibility, that the submitted short story is the result of their own original creation and has not been generated, either in whole or in part, by generative Artificial Intelligence tools. Any use of digital tools shall be limited to non-creative aids (spell-checkers, translators, research); the generation of narrative text is categorically excluded.
Art. 8 – Responsibilities and national coordination
Each participating nation, through its own WWR representatives or representatives of the other adhering Cultural Routes, is responsible for:
· the local organisation of the competition,
· the identification of reading groups,
· the administrative and rights management, t
· he organisation of the national event and the translation of the winning short story into English.
Art. 9 – Thematic proposals
Participants may choose one of the following three themes for their short story. All three proposed themes are centred on the concept of the journey that transforms the protagonist, but each offers a different perspective and approach to the idea of travel, encounter and transformation:
“The Detour”
Every itinerary begins with a specific destination in mind, but it is almost always in the detours that we find what we did not know we were looking for. We invite writers to narrate the moment when a journey strays from its predetermined path. An unforeseen event, a delay, a wrong turn: what is the breaking point that forces the traveller to change not only their route, but also their perspective on themselves and the world?
“In Transit: Encounters along the Route”
Travel is, by definition, a suspended space, a moment in which our defences are lowered. We ask for stories focused on the encounters that take place along the route, in “non-places” (stations, trains, borders). Lives that cross, even if only for an instant, generating a spark capable of transforming the protagonists forever.
“Inner Geographies: Border Crossings”
Crossing a border is never merely a geographical act. Whether it is the border between two countries or the threshold of a house one finally decides to leave, every crossing requires courage. We invite writers to explore the theme of crossing: stories of characters on the move, in which the European landscape serves as a backdrop to the discovery of a new inner geography.
Art. 10 – Calendar
● 23-25 September 2026: Presentation of the project at the 15th Advisory Forum, Yerevan, Armenia.
● October 2026: Launch of the competition call.
● 31 January 2027: Deadline for the submission of short stories (maximum 20,000 characters, spaces included) and biographies.
● 31 March 2027: Completion of the selection by the national reading groups.
● 15 April 2027: National events announcing the 5 finalists and proclaiming the winner.
● 31 May 2027: Delivery to the WWR, by each nation, of the edited winning short story translated into English, accompanied by the release form for publication rights and the GDPR form.
● June 2027: Layout and proofreading phase. Each laid-out short story will be sent to the country of origin (author and national representative) for review and correction and must be returned with corrections within 10 days of receipt.
● 31 July 2027: Final draft ready for printing; sending of the PDF to Vitor (Portugal) for printing management.
● September 2027: Official award ceremony in Ljubljana.
Torino, Ljubljana, 1 August 2026