Short Story Competition 2026
At university, we somehow are constantly surrounded by walls. Walls that can be decorated, climbed, walked through, dug under, covered with stickers, or ignored. Walls that offer protection, cast shadows, mark boundaries, and ex- or include. Walls that are brand new or dilapidated, with or without a roof. Walls that can be a thousand things at once, and perhaps also a source of inspiration for your story.
We are pleased to announce five winning entries!
Following an initial reading phase, during which a shortlist of 12 entries was compiled, the jury, after extensive discussion of all shortlisted entries, declared five entries as winners of this year’s short story competition in April 2026:
1st Place: “Blind Contact” by Falix Gemünder
1st Place: “Schwarze Schuppen” by Clara Lefering2nd Place: “Zehn Stufen” by Tara Althaus
2nd Place: “Busfahren” by Robert Antoine Lafleur
2nd Place: “Aufwärmen” by Julian GülkerThe total prize money of 1,500 euros was distributed among the winners as follows: 1st Place: 350 euros, 2nd Place: 250 euros.
The texts will be published in the upcoming issue of UniKunstKultur magazine, Winter 2026/27. The magazine is available at many locations on campus and throughout the city. If you are interested, we would be happy to send you a free copy—while supplies last—so please send us your address at kluth@uni-muenster.de.
Conditions of participation
For the 2026 short story competition, we seek prose texts driven by the keywords „WÄNDE | WALLS“. We welcome submission from students and staff of Münster University or students from other academic institutions in Münster. The texts must not exceed 7,500 characters (including spaces). Since the texts are to be submitted anonymously to the jury, author names should only be noted in the accompanying email. The winners will receive prize money totalling 1,500 euros.
Send your short story – in German or in English or both – as a PDF file (text 1.5 lines) by 31.01.2026 to: kultur@uni-muenster.de. The winning texts will be presented in an author reading in May 2026 and will appear in print.Regarding AI
For those who decide to work with AI, such as ChatGPT, we recommend the following: Use AI as your faithful companion. But preserve the essence of your creativity, preserve the authenticity of your voice, and ensure that your stories showcase YOUR originality. We are counting on your sense of responsibility, because fantastic stories can be created in collaboration with AI, and we are excited to see what you will conjure up.
However, please let us know if you have used AI, because what is AI other than the collective achievement of all authors whose works were used (without permission) to train the AI?
Jury
Our sincere thanks for their willingness to support this competition as jury members goes to:
PD Dr. Julia Bodenburg, Studiobühne
Prof. Dr. Antonia Eder, Institute of German Studies
Dr. Nora Kluck, KFG ACCESS to Cultural Goods in Digital Change
Prof. Dr. Matthias Löwe, Münster Mathematics / Institute for Mathematical Stochastics & Winner of the 2024 Short Story Competition “Vergessen”
Lisa-Maria Meier, M.A., Philosophy Seminar
Dr. Michael Paaß, Writing and Reading Center
Dominik Renneke, Center for Literature - Bürg HülshoffAward ceremony
The award ceremony, which included a reading by the authors, took place as part of the NEUE WÄNDE 2026 festival on May 10 at 12:15 p.m. in the studio of the Theater Münster.
Previous competitions
Short Story Competition 2024 "Vergessen"
The winning texts in the UniKunstKultur magazine winter 2024/25 [de/en]
Short Story Competition 2022 "Green Tales"
The winning texts in the UniKunstKultur magazine [de]
The winning texts in SATURA [en]