Test build. The contests on this page are test contests. Nothing entered here is an entry in the real Ralph Prize.
The Ralph Prize for Writing in the Age of AI · Annual · Human-judged
Human creativity
in the age of AI
Use AI extensively, lightly or not at all.
Human readers and judges make the literary decisions.
Story deadline: to be announced
The date general reviews close will be announced.
The target date for most ordinary reviewing will be announced.
Dates will be announced when the calendar is set.
The Ralph Prize
A large prize
Grand prize, second and third, and awards for the other anthology authors TEST · OQ-15
Target 2,000–5,000 words
Accepted 1,500–5,500 words
Free electronic anthology of ten stories
Amounts are announced when the rules are approved.
Blind review
Author identity and AI-use note hidden from every reader and judge.
One primary author
One story per verified person. Collaborators may be acknowledged.
Join just to review
No story needed. Open to people 18 and over, who review three stories, blind, like every entrant.
How it works
Every story is read by people. Three times, at least.
- 1Enter one story2,000–5,000 words, fiction or nonfiction, primarily in English. Lock the exact version you want judged.
- 2Review threeEvery entrant reads and rates three other stories, blind. Up to five if the system needs more evidence.
- 3Your story is enteredOnce your reviews are complete, your story joins the pool other entrants read.
- 4Judges read a set of storiesIn later phases of the prize, a small group of judges reads a set of stories independently. This test build stops before that stage.
- 5Ten are publishedThree are named first, second and third. The other seven are unranked. All ten form the anthology.
Read the whole process, step by step, before you start. How it works