I am one of the top 10 shortlisted winners in the Fableration World Short Story Competition!
It is with great honour that I would like to share that I was one of the top 10 shortlisted winners in the Fableration World Short Story Competition! It is an international short story competition that drew almost 1000 entries worldwide.
The entries were first longlisted to 50 by the reader judges in the Fableration community, and the top 10 were shortlisted by a panel of expert judges. The top 3 were decided by public votes.
While I didn’t get top 3, it was truly an honour to even make it into the top 10!
A Bit About My Writing History
I used to love writing fiction when I was in high school; in fact it had been an ambition of mine to be a writer. I used to write short stories, poems, and even a high school series (think of it as Sweet Valley High fan fiction) which my friends would devour and always ask for the next update. My English teachers across my different grades always pour praise on my writing, naming me as one of the top 5 strongest writers in class.
I stopped writing when I graduated from university – maybe because I didn’t have any external push such as from an English teacher, or as homework.
I did try to start writing again a few years ago, but the words were not flowing well and the stories were so cringe!
So what made me think I could even enter this prestigious competition?
Joining Fableration World Short Story Competition
Somehow when this competition popped up on my Facebook Feed, I was very drawn to it. I wasn’t even sure if it was genuine, and I did my due diligence to research about Fableration; everything about it was true.
Something told me that I needed to join this competition; so I thought, let’s just do it.
I already had an idea sitting in my head for some time, but I will admit it was a struggle to get it out in words as I had not written fiction for a very long time. I stayed up many nights in spite of the need to wake up super early in the mornings (work starts early because school starts early!). I kept writing and editing, doing numerous spell checks and grammar checks. I thought I would struggle to write up to 5000 words; it was the complete opposite. I wrote so much that it was a struggle to whittle it down to 5000 words! There was so much I wanted the readers to know. It was good that there was a word limit, because it forced me to tighten up the scenes and in the end I was super proud of the story that I had written.
I persevered, managing to complete the story just in time for the initial deadline of the competition in August 2025. However, the deadline for the competition was then extended. By then I had already submitted it, and I think it was a good thing for me that I submitted it early anyway because I had managed to complete the story. Had I known that the deadline would have been extended, I might have overthought the story instead. The deadline was continually postponed (the final deadline was finally final in February 2026), which I believe was to encourage more participation from writers around the world.
So I had submitted it, and then forgot about it. Fableration did keep sending reminders that we could submit multiple entries, but by then I had started a new job and simply did not have the energy to write more, so I had only that one little humble story. I did not even had time to participate as a reader judge (which was open to everyone, with the caveat that they would need to read the submissions to longlist the stories).
Longlisted, then shortlisted
The email informing me that I was longlisted was out of the blue for me. I had not even bothered to tune in to the longlist announcements because I did not expect to have been even considered. I was completely floored! My story was good enough to make an impact on readers!
And then, two weeks later, to be shortlisted by the panel of judges, was just… WOW. During the video announcement, the judges took the time to share comments about each story, stating what they liked about each story and why those stories had been shortlisted. I think it was incredible what they did, as they really acknowledged each submission and spoke of the stories in a way that made people want to read them.
I did not win top 3 (although I did try to get all my friends and family to read and vote), but anyway the top 3 were truly deserving.
To have been shortlisted on my first try is already a huge achievement for me, and I have been inspired to keep writing.
Thank you to Fableration for this amazing competition and for the honour of being top 10!
