ABOUT THE PRIZE | THE PROTOPIAN PRIZE

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What is a Protopia?

(Things We Want and Don’t Want)

It’s not a utopia in which everything is wonderful. It’s a future measurably better than today’s, but you can see how we got from here to there.

It can and probably does have drama, conflict, or even tragedy. But it’s not simply a dystopia with a happy twist at the end, or a fight between good and evil in which good ultimately wins. It’s a world that’s already better in some ways (but might even be worse in some others, such as climate change).

We’re not looking for stories in which AI or another technology has simply solved all the problems. Technology isn’t a panacea; it’s a tool in the hands of people. Think of this as a people story set in the future, not a technology story.

We’re also not looking for stories that are simply about how to create a technology, such as artificial general intelligence (AGI).

We are looking for stories of society successfully steering technological development toward the thriving of diverse human communities. Show us new ways that people can turn technology into a public good.

You may choose to write about how a certain institution—a political party, an international body, a local council, a big business—has evolved to make a better society possible. But if you take that route, be sure to focus on the “how”, not just the “who.”

Be specific. If you’re writing about how people improve a broken system, like government bureaucracy, show what’s broken and what’s being done about it. Don’t just talk about “red tape” in the abstract.

We’re going for realism here. No supernatural forces. No miraculous technologies based on imaginary science, like Star Trek’s “dilithium crystals”; if you invent something, show that it’s plausible. And assume humans are still humans and haven’t magically become perfectly rational or peace-loving.

Remember: You’re writing a story, not a policy brief! The new institutions, processes, or technologies are part of it, but it’s about people.

Finally, while sex and violence are a part of life and of stories, we don’t want submissions that center on explicit, detailed sex, violence, or gore.

The Protopian Prize follows the tradition of many projects creating stories of positive futures:

Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future (By Ed Finn, Kathryn Cramer)
We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope (Edited by Malka Older, Annalee Newitz and Karen Lord)
Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors from Grist including Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future
Make Shift: Dispatches from the Post-Pandemic Future (Edited by Gideon Lichfield) and Twelve Tomorrows Anthologies by MIT Press in partnership with Technology Review
Stop Copaganda (Surveillance Tech Copaganda Toolkit) by Compost Mag and Fight for the Future