Read three, be read three times.

The Ralph Prize is an annual, human-judged short-story prize. You may use AI in any amount, including none. People read every story.

What you are asked to do

Every entrant reads and reviews three other stories, blind, before their own story is entered. Up to five if the system needs more evidence about a story.

You can also join only to review, without entering a story, if you are 18 or over. You review three stories with the same reader and the same questions.

What a review is

You read one anonymous story at a time and answer the same set of questions on it, then write a short rationale in your own words. You may use AI to help you read, not to write your review.

The form has 11 questions. You choose the genre or genres, say whether the story is fiction or nonfiction, and rate how easy it was to follow, how well its people are developed, how clear its structure and progression are, and how satisfying its ending is. You also give an overall rating from 1 to 10, say how confident you are, and say whether you would recommend advancement. Then you write your reason in 50 to 1,500 characters, typed or dictated.

The last question asks how this story compares with the previous story you reviewed, from much worse to much better, or that you cannot compare. It is not used in deciding anything about a story. Your first review has nothing to compare yet, so it shows as not applicable.

How long it takes

A review is about 20 to 30 minutes of reading and writing. Each assignment is offered to you for 48 hours and due 7 days after you accept it.

Blind and private

Stories are read without names or identifying details, and the note about your AI use is never shown to your readers. Reading behavior such as time and scrolling is recorded on every review and seen only by administrators. The rules page gives the full text.

This is a test build

This site is the V2 build. It uses test settings and test text. Settings still open carry a TEST badge and the number of the open question.