If you are a resident of the UAE and have always had a science fiction story in your mind, now is the time to write it.

The Emirates Literature Foundation, in collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, has launched a new round of the short story competition "New Voices in Science Fiction"; a competition to discover new writers in the field of science fiction.

This competition started on August 3, 2026, and residents of the UAE aged 16 and above can participate. Stories are accepted in Arabic or English, and their themes can revolve around ideas such as space exploration, time travel, artificial intelligence, future technologies, future civilizations, robotic societies, and new scientific discoveries.

To participate in the competition, you must:

Be a resident of the UAE and at least 16 years old.
Submit only one story.
The story must be original and written by you.
The work must not have been previously published and must not have been submitted to another competition.
The story should be written in Arabic or English.
The story should be between 1500 and 2500 words.
The final file should be submitted in Word (.docx) format.
The text should be formatted in Arial, Courier, or Times New Roman font, size 12, with line spacing set to 1.5.
For anonymous judging, the author's name should not be included in the story file.

The age of the participant at the end of the competition, which is December 11, 2026, will be considered, and participants will be evaluated in three age groups: 16 to 21 years, 22 to 30 years, and 31 years and above.

Submission deadline:

Registration started on August 3, 2026, and the final opportunity to submit a story is:

Friday, December 11, 2026, at 11:59 PM.
To register, submit your work, and see the complete rules:
The official page of the Emirates Literature Foundation competition⁠

https://elfdubai.org/mbrsc-short-story-award-new-voices-in-sci-fi