Creativity goes global
Nurturing Natural Intelligence
International Jay Yes Short Story Contest 2026
With the incredible backing of ZDP, Jayanthi Sankar, an internationally acclaimed author from Singapore, designed the International Jay Yes Short Story Contest 2026. The Jay Yes Foundation announced the competition early this year with the theme, Seeking Refuse: Stories of Displacement. The aim was to discover fresh voices from across the world through contests and to create a sustainable writing community. With no entrance fee, the competition set a positive example for similar initiatives in the future, from many enthusiasts.
After the global contest announcement 140 submissions reached on the Google form from 32 countries including Angola, Australia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, New Zealand, the Philippines, Pakistan, Portugal, (a stateless refugee from) Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (USA), making it more global than expected.
The backbone of the initiative International Jay Yes Short Story Contest 2026 is most certainly Zero Degree Publishing, which made it possible by supporting two volumes of anthologies and traditional publishing deals for the four winners. The volumes will have 20 top stories from 17 countries.
545 of our emails reached book clubs, writing groups, and libraries across continents. Twenty world-wide organisation genuinely joined hands to support the initiative. Unexpectedly, the announcement spread much more effectively through the emails of relevant communities, with no anticipation of any reply. The promotion began with a simple social media announcement and grew steadily through collective effort. Devika Das of Dee Square Marketing led consistent outreach, supported by SreDhanea, Thivyaa S Sree, and many well-wishers and friends.
The jury, comprising eminent writers Lalitha Ramanathan from Singapore, Eric Valles from the Philippines, Sangeetha Vallat from Dubai, San Lin Tun from Myanmar, Lovelace Cook and Winnie Tataw from the USA, tried their best to spread the word. Traditional publishing contracts as prizes for winners certainly attracted entries. The landing page saw 5,000 visitors.
Under the Jay Yes Foundation’s tenets, all endeavours relied on a non-monetary framework—no charges for entry, no remunerated publicity—solely on the investment of time, labour, and positive regard. The results reflected this collective spirit. Submissions arrived from across the globe, surpassing expectations and affirming the decision to go international. What began as a hesitant idea grew into something far wider in reach. Behind the scenes, the process remained meticulous—organising entries, ensuring anonymity, and following up on missing documentation.
Social media outreach continued steadily, though it was the quiet persistence of outreach through those emails that carried it forward. “Reading voices from all corners of the world gave me a feeling of humility, to think all over again how negligibly minuscule a dust particle I am in the vastness. A part of, yet so far off. Stories carrying either or both the weight of life challenges or humane kindness,” said Jayanthi Sankar. “Attaching commercial value to creative processes does not sit well with me.”
When she began writing, she had no guidance. Contest opportunities in the nineties were far fewer than they are today, when social media spreads information rapidly—though many such opportunities have become increasingly commercial rather than genuine. She has observed with sadness that almost every corner of the literary, book, and publishing space has become commercialized. She believes that genuine intent, sincere efforts, valuable time, and amicable engagements are the four strong pillars of the foundation. With no financial investment, it commits only consistent time and collective commitment to literary causes. She recognizes that not all creative minds are self-motivated, and that many retreat upon seeing “submission fees.” She believes stories deserve to be heard—with no fee.
Jayanthi Sankar
Jayanthi Sankar, living in Singapore since 1990, has been in several international panels of literary festivals, including the APWT 2018 at the Gold Coast, Singapore Writers Festival, Asean-India Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Writers Festival. She is the author of 4 fiction. The winner in fiction: short story in 2020 International Book Award -American book fest Dangling Gandhi also won the international The Literary Titan award. Tabula Rasa was long listed in – 2025 Chommanard Women’s Literary Award, a distinguished favourite at 2022 NYC Big Book Award in the category of Historical Fiction as well as an ‘honourable mention’ in San Francisco book fest award 2022. Misplaced Heads was on the Eyelands Book Awards 2020 final list of historical fiction in Greece, making its mark as outstanding postmodern historical fiction. Her novella, When Will You Die? explores the human psyche. Under the initiatives of Jay Yes Foundation, she has published several anthologies including When the trees remembered, The year I forgot to hum, An Iron Fist in a velvet glove, The Dancing Goldflecks, Kiss and other classic ancient short stories, The necklace and other classic ancient short stories. Currently, she works full time as an onsite interpreter of English, Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam, with the Ministry of Manpower – since 2023.
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