Protopian Prize

The Protopian Prize is a new short story fiction contest hosted by Metagov and the Public AI Network. We invite writers, storytellers, and dreamers to imagine "protopian" futures that are neither flawless nor catastrophic—but workably better than today. Learn more at protopianprize.com.

This year's inaugural competition has two categories for previously unpublished short stories of between 500 and 6,000 words. The categories are 1) The Public AI Prize invites us to imagine AI development, ownership, policy, and tools, built for — and following the basic principles of — public benefit. Judges for the Public AI Prize include Gideon Lichfield, Kevin Kelly, Arati Prabhakar, Deji Bryce Olukotun, and Hannu Rajaniemi; and 2) The Democratic Futures Prize invites us to imagine institutions, tools, and organizational methods that expand and enhance public autonomy and shared control over societal futures. Judges for the Democratic Futures prize include Ruthanna Emrys Gordon, Karl Schroeder, Annalee Newitz, Ida Yoshinaga, and Henry Farrell.

One winner from each category will win $5,000 and publication in an anthology titled, In the Loop: Stories from the Future of People, Power, and Machines, published by MIT Press and edited by judging leads Gideon Lichfield and Ruthanna Emrys, alongside invited stories by professional science fiction authors. 

Submissions are open May 1 - July 31st, 2026. The contest is hosted by Metagov and The Public AI Network, two technology nonprofits dedicated to supporting research and development of protopian technologies.