SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Your stories are now being read blind by a large committee of committed adjudicators and myself, The Editor. The Editor will make final decisions on which stories are short listed as finalists. The finalist stories will be sent to the Guest Editor, Jess Lourey. Jess will make the final selections, make minor comments as she sees appropriate, and send the winning stories back to The Editor, who will lead the authors through polishing their manuscript.

If selected, we will send you a contract assigning Bouchercon the rights for your story for one year after the publication date. After that, the rights revert to you.

Look for the list of finalists on our Bouchercon Anthology web page in early December 2025.

Then look for the winning stories in February 2026. If your story is selected, you will be paid $75 US.

We will hold a signing at Bouchercon 2026. All winning authors, finalists and judges will be invited, along with attendees and guests of Bouchercon 2026.

Olyn Fleming Ozbick, Editor

Olyn Fleming Ozbick is a screenwriter, short story writer, novelist and journalist. Her three-time international award-winning screenplay Stumbling into a Chair has been made into a film for release in 2025. As Editor of Bouchercon’s annual Anthology of short mystery stories, she currently works both sides of the editorial desk. These are roles to which she is accustomed, as a multiple international-award-winning editor and publisher. Her short stories are published in literary journals throughout Canada, the US and UK. Her essays and journalism are published extensively. She is the recipient of support from Banff Centre for the Arts, and Canada Council. She has taught Writing at the Alexandra Writers Centre for the past 12 years. Prior to that she taught Feature Writing in the Journalism Department at Mount Royal University. She shares her time between Calgary, AB and Mesa, AZ when she isn’t traveling to meet and understand the vastly differing peoples and experiences that abound on our abundant planet.

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