Welcome to Imagine 2200 — a new climate-fiction contest by Fix, Grist’s solutions lab. Seeking: short stories that envision the next 180 years of equitable climate progress. Offering: $8,700 in prizes, publication, and a reason to stay hopeful.

The world is crazy right now, and the stakes are high: just, you know, our entire frickin’ future. Our newsfeeds are full of denial, delay, and doom that make us want to scream into our pillows. But that’s just the old story. At Fix, we are telling the new story, of a path to a clean, green, and just future, and the people who are driving it. Our mission is to make the story of a better world so irresistible, you want it right now.

To that end, we decided to launch our first foray into the world of hopeful, future-looking fiction. In this inaugural year of our cli-fi contest, Fix is asking writers to assume the role of future ancestors, building the world they want our collective descendants to have — on paper.

Stories will be judged by a board of literary experts including authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon. Submissions close in April, 2021. First, second, and third-prize winners will be awarded $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively, and nine additional finalists will each receive a $300 honorarium. Winners and finalists will be published in a stunning, immersive digital collection on Fix’s website and will be celebrated in a public-facing virtual event.

Together, we can fix the future with fiction. Join this uprising of imagination, and help us turn the page on earth’s next chapter. In your story lies our collective liberation.

Contest guidelines

• Entry is free!
• Submissions close April 12, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Standard Time.
• Authors must be 18 years or older at the time of submission.
• No previously published, multiple, or simultaneous submissions accepted.
• Submissions must be 3,000–5,000 words.
• Worldwide copyright and ownership of each story remains with the author.
• If a story is accepted for publication, Grist retains the first serial rights of the work to publish, produce, reproduce, distribute, and market.
• All other remaining rights revert to the author upon publication.
• If you need accessibility accommodations, please email us at imaginefiction@grist.org.