PITON NOIRE LAUNCHES ITS FIRST SCI-FI, FANTASY & FOLKLORE SHORT STORY CONTEST FOR STUDENTS IN ST. KITTS AND NEVIS

Young Writers Ages 9–12 Invited to Imagine New Worlds, Explore Folklore and Compete for Cash Prizes and Publication.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS AND NEVIS – September 2026 – Piton Noire Sci-Fi/Fantasy Writers Collective, creators of The Flying Crapaud anthology series, announces the launch of its first Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Folklore Short Story Contest for students in St. Kitts and Nevis.

The competition invites students ages 9 to 12 to put their imaginations to work and create original short stories inspired by science fiction, fantasy, folklore – or a combination of all three.

The initiative expands Piton Noire’s mission beyond publishing established and emerging writers by encouraging a new generation of Caribbean storytellers to imagine worlds of their own.

Young writers are being challenged to look at the stories, traditions and environments around them and ask a simple question:

What if?

What if an old Caribbean legend happened tomorrow? What if a creature from folklore appeared in a modern school? What might St. Kitts and Nevis look like hundreds of years from now? What new heroes, technologies, civilizations, or supernatural worlds could young Caribbean writers create?

There are no limits to where imagination can take them.

Cash Prizes and Publication

The competition will award cash prizes to its three highest-placed entries:

• First Prize – US$300
• Second Prize – US$200

Third Prize – US$100

Beyond the cash prizes, the Top 10 entries will be published in The Flying Crapaud anthology, giving young writers an opportunity to see their stories become part of Piton Noire’s growing Caribbean speculative-fiction project.

The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2026.

Contest rules, submission requirements and entry information are available through: The Flying Crapaud — Contest Information

Building the Next Generation of Caribbean Storytellers

The contest grows naturally from Piton Noire’s larger literary mission.

The collective was created to encourage science fiction and fantasy writing connected to Dominica and the Caribbean while preserving and reimagining the region’s mythologies, folklore and oral storytelling traditions. Its writers use Caribbean culture not merely as historical material, but as a starting point for imagining new characters, worlds and futures.

Through The Flying Crapaud anthology series, Piton Noire has brought together Caribbean folklore and contemporary speculative fiction, demonstrating that Caribbean stories can move freely between the ancestral and futuristic, the supernatural and technological.

The student competition brings that same idea into the classroom.

Rather than simply asking children to read stories created by others, the contest challenges them to become world-builders and storytellers themselves.

A Regional Partnership Supporting Young Writers

The contest is sponsored and supported by organizations committed to education, culture, innovation and Caribbean development, including the Ministry of Education, the St. Kitts & Nevis Consulate in Toronto, and the Canadian Multicultural Inventors Museum (CMIM).

By bringing together literature, imagination, folklore and speculative thinking, the initiative seeks to give young people another avenue for developing writing skills while exploring their own creativity and cultural heritage.

Piton Noire hopes the inaugural competition will establish a platform through which young Caribbean writers can discover that their communities, traditions and ideas can become the foundations for extraordinary fiction.

Contest at a Glance

Competition: Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Folklore Short Story Contest
Eligibility: Students ages 9–12
First Prize: US$300
Second Prize: US$200
Third Prize: US$100
Publication: Top 10 entries published in The Flying Crapaud anthology
Submission Deadline: November 30, 2026

Full rules and entry information

About Piton Noire

Piton Noire is a Caribbean-rooted writers’ collective dedicated to encouraging science fiction, fantasy, and folklore-inspired literature connected to Dominica and the wider Caribbean. Through The Flying Crapaud anthology series, the collective works to preserve elements of traditional storytelling while giving writers space to create new worlds, reinterpret mythology, and explore Caribbean futurism.

Media & Contest Contact:
Nicole Georges-Bennett
P.R.O
Piton Noire / The Flying Crapaud Collective
Email: [email protected]
Official Website