The seventh annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award contest opens tomorrow.

Entries will be accepted beginning January 31st, 2020 at 12:01am EDT. The contest closes for submissions April 30th, 2020 at 11:59pm EDT.

The winners will be officially announced at NASFIC 2020, which is also hosting the 1632 Minicon. It will be held August 20-23, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio.

What We Want to See: Adventure fantasy with heroes you want to root for. Warriors either modern or medieval, who solve problems with their wits or with their weapons–and we have nothing against dragons, elves, dwarves, castles under siege, urban fantasy, damsels in distress, or damsels who inflict distress.

What We Don’t Want to See: Political drama with no action, angst-ridden teens pining over vampire lovers, religious allegory, novel segments, your gaming adventure transcript, anything set in any universe not your own, “it was all a dream” endings, or screenplays.

Each entry is limited to an original short story in the English language of no more than 8,000 words, and only one entry per author. Complete guidelines here. Entries will be judged by Baen editors

• The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at industry-standard rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive an engraved award and a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books.
• SECOND place winner will receive a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books.
• THIRD place winner will receive a prize package containing $300 of free Baen Books.

Finalists will be announced no later than July 1, 2020

Winners will be notified no later than July 17, 2020.

Since its beginning the contest has received thousands of entries of fantasy stories from all over the globe.