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The 2026 Aurora Contest Names Contenders for Round 2
Hundreds enter the Aurora Contest each year, but only a fraction of entering authors emerge at the head of the pack after the first round of judging. We’re excited to honor those authors whose books showed the greatest promise in their writing quality, their storytelling, their character uniqueness, and their speculative world building!
An army of judges read, scored, and commented on the books contending for a spot on the round 2 roster.
The first round of the Aurora Contest is complete, and we’re excited to announce the contestants moving on to Round Two!
Congratulations to everyone who made it through. Your work stood out in a strong field of unpublished authors, and we’re looking forward to seeing what comes next.
But before we get to the names, we want to say something to everyone who submitted.
The hardest part of entering a contest like the Aurora isn’t always writing the story.
It’s hitting SUBMIT. It takes courage to take something you’ve spent months or years working on and put it in front of someone else. There’s always that little voice wondering if it’s good enough, if people will understand what you’re trying to do, or if this will finally be the submission that goes somewhere.
So if you submitted to the Aurora and your name isn’t moving on to Round Two, keep going.
Keep writing. Keep reading. Keep learning. Keep refining your craft. Take what you learned from this experience and put it back into the next story.
And if your name is on the list below, take a moment to celebrate. You earned this.
Every contestant will receive feedback from the judges when the contest concludes, giving you honest, actionable insight you can use to keep refining your story and sharpening your craft.
The following list names authors and their books from each category that will advance to continued judging.
Wishing each of you the best of luck in your continued journey through the contest gauntlet.
Middle Grade:
Faithbringer; M. B. Moore
Lost or Found; Jenny Rose
Meg Fury and the Royal Curse; N. J. Henson
Planet Origin; Reid Echelmeier
The Fairy Baker’s Apprentice, Kassy Lodge
The Legends of Elemidon, Stephanie Craig
Winston Ledger and the Pirates of Dominor; Kimberly Cornelius
Young Adult:
Atlantis Guard; Lucy Peterson
Curse-Eaters; Emma Heinz
Day of the Light; Rebecca van den Ham
Fortress of Faith; Bridgette Huebener
If The Crown Fits; Rachel Leitch
Keystone; Jaela Nance
Made in His Image; Cheresa Bouley
NIRO; Nikki Diekemper
Our Platinum Bond; Hadassah Waugh
Outcast of Arathea; Hannah DiPasquale
Project: Tess; Allison Cook
Prophecy of Embers; Julia N. White
The Broken Heir; Olivia Bacon
The Darkwalker’s Agent; N.J. DiPasquale
The Errant Heir; Macey Friedel
The Forgotten Magic; Gracie Mae
The Ithielian Dreamer; Laura Blank
The Silver Veil; Shannae Grace
The Temple Atoner; Kimberly Cornelius
The World Before; Emily Edelman
Timeless; Avery Carr
Adult:
A Three-Stranded Cord; Sygal Amitay
Accessions; C. M. Rule
Kin and Kind; Mark Knapp
Legacy Of Cain; Jason Miller
Paradisos; E.J. Cattani
Ruthie’s Magical Pest Control; Elizabeth Shelton
SEER; Terry Agold
Simulacrum; Kinsey Holt
The Girl Who Stole Time; Radu Paun
The Invasion; Jonathan Lovelace
The Last Tale of Vastland; Donald Beck
The Tower; Ginger Takamiya
The Wounded Planet; Avery Chen
Waking Venus; Braeden Gregg
Horror/Paranormal/Supernatural:
Boysenberry and Aquamarine; Drake of Ushuaia
Cold Call; W. Tanner Forbes
Dawnspark; Taylor Pence
Eve; S. M. Lundy
Nights of the Purple Sky; M.B. Everett
The Letter Box; Phee Paradise
This Blessed Land; Grace Elliott
Cross Genre:
After the Sanctum War; Caleb McCoy
As Elyon Designs; Julisa Smith
City of Lies; Sara Hinton
Curse-Eaters; Emma Heinz
The Invasion; Jonathan Lovelace
Waking Venus; Braeden Gregg
Woven in the Willow; Jessica Benscoter
Science Fiction:
Galaxy Shadows: Trinity War; Anna Bourassa
Look for the Flares; Emily Grant
Paradisos; E.J. Cattani
Planet Origin; Reid Echelmeier
Project: Tess; Allison Cook
SCALES; Amanda L. Helvey
Simulacrum; Kinsey Holt
Sunshot; William Quimby
The Darkwalker’s Agent; N.J. DiPasquale
The Tower; Ginger Takamiya
The Wounded Planet; Avery Chen
Fantasy:
Day of the Light; Rebecca van den Ham
Faithbringer; M. B. Moore
Forged by Fire; Chloe Szymanski
Greensleeves; Jennifer Norton
Heartache; Wes Byrd
Iron and Thread: The Prince’s Marriage Contract Breaks the World; Bailey Lewis
Meg Fury and the Royal Curse; N. J. Henson
NIRO; Nikki Diekemper
Of Powers and Pain; Trinity Riley
Our Platinum Bond; Hadassah Waugh
Outcast of Arathea; Hannah DiPasquale
Path of the Eternal; Bailey Welch
Persephone; Susan Pieters
Ruthie’s Magical Pest Control; Elizabeth Shelton
The Silver Veil; Shannae Grace
The Swordmaker; Danika Puhek
The Temple Atoner; Kimberly Cornelius
The Veiled Ember; Sara C. Anderson
where Have all your swordbearERs gONe?; Drake of Ushuaia
Round 2 judges are eagerly evaluating longer sections of all the books that have advanced, and in early November, we’ll be back to announce which books have risen to the top! Those books will then pass into the hands of our panel of final round judges, which is composed of multi-published authors and publishing industry professionals.
A brief note on the length of each list above: the contest committee elects to advance books who have achieved scores in the a top percentage of the category’s range. The percentage that advances is similar across all categories, but due to the number of original entries, the length of the list of books that advance varies.