The Protopian Prize

Fledgling Listing: This project is new and has been listed with us for less than six months.

About

To create a better world, we need to first imagine it-and the work required to get there. The Protopian Prize is a fiction contest inviting you to share your vision of people working toward liberatory futures, meeting obstacles, and making real change. "Protopian" — a word coined by Kevin Kelly, one of our contest's judges—means an achievable, optimistic future characterized by continuous, incremental progress rather than revolutionary leaps or a static, perfect state. Protopian stories imagine a future that is neither flawless nor catastrophic, but instead workably better than today.
It's about plausible progress rather than perfection or collapse.

No Fees! This contest does not charge mandatory fees.

Country of Publication & Year Established

United States

Established in 2026

Publication Medium & Contest Frequency

Print Publication Print Publication: Unknown contest frequency

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

4 members set this contest as a Favorite.

Fiction Temp Closed

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres, including:
General Open to all/most Subgenres
Science Fiction Open to all/most Subgenres

Lengths:

Flash Fiction: 500 - 1,000 words.
Short Story: 1,000 - 6,000 words.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Politics/Political Science: See guidelines.
Science: See guidelines.
Society/Culture: Social issues, See guidelines.
Other: May vary.

Winner's Prize:

Professional payment (5 or more US cents per word) Professional payment. Details: USD $5,000 for the winner of each category.

Submissions:

Method: Moksha submission manager.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Unknown.
Multiple entries: Multiple entries are NOT allowed.
Media: Text.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

Fledgling listing. No cover available for The Protopian Prize until first issue/book published.

Go to contest webpage

Report:
Submission/Response
Correction/Update
New Cover Art

Social Platforms:
None known

For the Editor(s):
Duosuma Submission Manager
Link to Duotrope

The Protopian Prize Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

Filter:

Group by submission

Accuracy:

We have not received any complete reports within the past 12 months.

Pending

3 responses are pending (99 min | 118.3 mean avg | 123.0 median | 133 max days waiting | 17.5 std dev) from 3 different members

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Before Submitting

We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is correct. It is not unusual for publications to evolve or close without notice. We do our best to keep up, but it isn't always possible. Duotrope listings do not imply endorsement or recommendation of the project being listed. Before submitting, you should use your own judgment to determine whether the project meets your standards.

Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
Unless the publisher's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 31 Jul 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.