The "Story of the Future" award has selected 120 sci-fi works

The "History of the Future" Award Has Selected 120 Sci-Fi Works

The organizers of the 2nd International Literary Science Fiction Award "History of the Future" have announced the longlist for the 2026 season. It includes 120 works distributed across four categories. This year, 1,060 short stories from 27 countries were accepted into the competition. The names of the winners will be announced on December 4 at a solemn award ceremony.

Thirty works were selected in each category. Authors are competing for awards in the categories "Best Short Story," "Best Short Story for Children and Young Adults," "Best Short Story in a Foreign Language," and "Best Script Pitch."

The works focus on how scientific discoveries and technological progress affect society, human relationships, and everyday life.

Among the main themes addressed by Russian authors are space exploration, artificial intelligence, unmanned technologies, digital immortality, and digital afterlife. At the same time, the human being remains at the center of the plots: their values, relationships with others, freedom of choice, and responsibility for the consequences of technological development.

"The second season demonstrates how diverse and multifaceted the modern view of the future is becoming," noted Sergey Shikarev, executive secretary of the award's organizing committee, literary critic, and science fiction researcher.

According to him, technology in the works serves not merely as a sci-fi backdrop, but as a tool for exploring how human beings themselves and their concepts of life, memory, and the future are changing. The scenarios proposed by writers from different countries differ noticeably and are of interest not only from a literary standpoint, but also from a futurological one.

The international component of the award has expanded significantly. The "Best Short Story in a Foreign Language" category features works by authors from Brazil, India, China, Argentina, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, and other countries. Differences in cultural traditions, social experiences, and concepts of scientific and technological development are reflected in the models of the future proposed by the writers.

An innovation of the second season is the "Best Script Pitch" category. It is intended for authors of science fiction concepts with potential for screen adaptation. The category was created in partnership with ANO "Avtor" and is designed to promote the development of original domestic stories for cinema and other audiovisual formats.

Elena Mironenko, Director General of the ATOM Museum and a cultural scholar, emphasized that the organizers view the award not only as a literary contest, but also as a space for ideas capable of inspiring scientists, engineers, and creative industries. According to her, the introduction of the script category will allow promising ideas to move beyond the book and gain a new life on screen.

The next stage will be the compilation of the shortlists of finalists—their publication is scheduled for November 2026. The award ceremony will take place on December 4 at the ATOM Museum at VDNKh.

The "History of the Future" Award was established by the Atom Foundation under the auspices of the Rosatom State Corporation. In its first season, more than 2.5 thousand authors from 30 countries participated. The total prize fund for the second season exceeds 6 million rubles. The chair of the 2nd season is the science fiction writer and screenwriter Sergei Lukyanenko.