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The Protopian Prize Fiction Contest invites writers, storytellers, and dreamers to imagine futures that are neither flawless nor catastrophic, but workably better than today. This year’s competition has two categories for previously unpublished short stories of between 500 and 6,000 words: 1) The Public AI Prize invites us to imagine AI development, ownership, policy, and tools, built for — and following the basic principles of — public benefit; and 2) The Democratic Futures Prize invites us to imagine institutions, tools, and organizational methods that expand and enhance public autonomy and shared control over societal futures.
One winner from each category will win $5,000 and publication in an anthology published by MIT Press and edited by judging leads Gideon Lichfield and Ruthanna Emrys, alongside invited stories by professional science fiction authors. The contest is hosted by Metagov and The Public AI Network.Submissions are open until July 31st, 2026!