After an inspiring and imaginative competition, we’re delighted to announce the winners of the Dubai Future Forum Sci-Fi Short Story Competition! We received a remarkable collection of stories from local and international participants, each offering a unique vision of the future and the boundless potential of technology. From vivid tales set in distant worlds to reflective explorations of humanity’s next frontiers, every entry demonstrated the power of storytelling to spark new ways of thinking about what lies ahead.
Thank you to everyone who shared their stories and imagination with us – and to our judges for diving into these incredible worlds. You’ve shown us just how many futures are waiting to be written.
Stay tuned – the Top 3 winners will be announced as part of the Awards Ceremony at the Dubai Future Forum!
A big congratulations to our top 10 winners
Meet our Judges
Hessa Abdulla
Hessa Abdulla is an Emirati writer who writes short stories in the field of fantasy, crime, and horror, in addition to poetry and prose poems in three languages: Arabic, English and Urdu. Her recent short story collection entitled “The View from the Mirror” explores a modern twist on the classic Emirati folklore characters. Her stories have been featured in different publications including the online magazine "Sikka", the anthology of "We are all Sidra, We all Love the Sea" from the Union of UAE Writers, and the anthology of "Alsaboora: The Blackboard" from Ghaf Publishing House.
Suyi Davies
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is an award-winning author of fantasy, science fiction and general speculative work. He has published various novels, the latest of which are Warrior of the Wind and Son of the Storm—both of The Nameless Republic epic fantasy trilogy—and the novella Lost Ark Dreaming. His debut novel, David Mogo, Godhunter, won the 2020 Nommo Award for Best Novel. His shorter works have appeared in various periodicals and anthologies and have been nominated for various awards. He earned his MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, and lives in Ontario, where he is a professor of creative writing at the University of Ottawa.
Glyn Morgan
Glyn Morgan is Head of Collections and Principal Curator at Science Museum, London, and curated the "Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination" exhibition. As a scholar of science fiction he is a former editor of Vector: The Critical Journal of the British Science Fiction Association and contributor to numerous other publications and journals.