With the spirit of "We're tiny, but we refuse to die," and to celebrate two years since the end of The Umbrella Academy TV series—along with the birth of the most controversial ship in modern television history (according to me, anyway)—Five × Lila, I'm excited to announce a writing competition!
Participants may submit one Five × Lila story in any genre, with a maximum word count of 20,000 words—and it must consist of a single chapter only. Whether your entry is 3,000 words or 20,000 words, that's entirely up to you. The one-chapter rule simply makes judging more manageable.
Each contestant may submit only one entry.
All entries must be submitted to our AO3 Five × Lila 2nd Year Anniversary Collection. You can submit your work here:
"AO3 Five × Lila Writing Contest 2026 Collection"
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
All genres and ideas are welcome. However, this is a Five × Lila competition, so your story must center on that pairing. Entries focusing on another pairing will be disqualified.
Everyone is welcome to participate, whether you're an established member of the fandom or have never written for it before. We'll judge each entry solely on the quality of the writing.
There will be two judges:
- Alexa_K3S (me)
- Lokinightfury
We'll each score every story independently, then combine our scorecards to determine the winners.
To ensure fairness, all submissions will be anonymous during judging, so neither of us will know who wrote what.
There are five categories, each with a USD $100 prize:
- Best Original AU
- Best Literary Prose
- Best Tragedy/Angst
- Best Comedy
- Best Smut
Make us laugh. Make us cry. Make us swoon.
Prize money will be paid via PayPal after judging has concluded and the winners have been announced.
There will also be a USD $50 bonus prize for the person who participates in the author guessing game at the end of the competition and correctly matches every story to its author.
The winners will be announced on Tumblr, AO3, and Discord.
Submission deadline: 30 August 2026
Now go absolutely nuts. ❤️