Short Stories Competition May '26 - NOMINATIONS OPEN

Nominations period: May 5th to May 17th, 2026. Rules in the post.

Welcome to Short Stories and Tales.

This publication was created to bring beautifully written pieces to the spotlight, that deserve recognition.

Following Saturday’s Live with the Emma Steel, where we talked about a few of her stories in her short story book, and where we talked about the purpose of this publication (beginning of the the live) and reward options as well (end of the live),
this post is to open the nomination period, when we can share our favorite short stories’ links in the comments, so they can compete with each other.
With this post, the Nomination period for the May Short Stories and Tales Short Story Competition is NOW OPEN.
Please feel free to nominate in the comments.
Reward options for the winning story and rules and info how it works can be found below. Please check them out.

This competition serves as an advertisement for writers
who are willing to participate or whose work is nominated
and
to those who agree for their books listed as possible reward for the winner to choose from.
If you’d like your book to be featured as a reward, please reach out and provide a link to your work. Offers are welcome.

Reward options:
Subject of availability of shipping:

Click on the title to see the Amazon page to read about the author and his/her book(s) and the Author’s name to check out their Substack!

Loretto by Gabriel O. Maestas

My Angel Wears a Helmet by Joe Nichols

Myths & Monsters by Emma Steel

The Ugly Duckling by Hank Cotton

Please SUBSCRIBE, RESTACK and LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS in the comments under this post, ALONG WITH YOUR NOMINATION. Most importantly: ENJOY!

Here is how / The rules:

• Frequency: Monthly

• Nominations and voting periods are approximately 2-2 weeks,

• Genres: Not narrowing it down, you can nominate any genre, but need to keep it under 2000 words. - this gives exposure to more people and makes the end result (who’s going to be the winner) more unpredictable, more exciting every month.

The details, logistics:

1. A post, THIS POST

   is calling all readers/writers to nominate their favored stories with a link in the comments during the nominations period while sharing this post = please check the box to share in Notes, too.
   Restacking and sharing this post is always welcome.

   Nominations period is: May 5th to May 17th, 2026.

2. A post calling for voting, listing the nominated stories (published at the end of the nomination period) with the poll(s) and the links to the possible reward options included.

3. Both posts
   a) the post calling for nominations (this one)
   b) and the one calling for voting (published at the end of nomination period)

   are listing the authors and their published books (written by fellow authors on Substack) that are available for the winner to choose from as a prize (Disclaimer: 1 book and subject to availability of shipping) - please see below:

4. Q&A: Can a writer who has a book included in the rewards section be nominated in the contest?: Yes.

NOMINATION WINDOW IS NOW OPEN, from May 5th to May 17th, 2026, with voting open in the second half of May.

Thank you!
H.