3rd Berlin Prize for Science Fiction — final
Bereits zum dritten Mal hat der Radiator Verlag den Berliner Preis für Kurzgeschichten im Bereich Science-Fiction ausgeschrieben. Diesmal lautet das Thema: 404: Fehlercode. Der Meldung 404: Seite nicht gefunden begegnen wir meist als Sackgasse während unserer Streifzüge durch das World Wide Web. Der Code 404 verweist darauf, dass der Inhalt einer Website entfernt, eine Datei gelöscht oder eine URL, die Internetadresse, geändert wurde. Aber„Systemfehler“ begegnen uns überall. In den Beiträgen zum Preis wird diese Idee daher weit über das Netz hinaus entfaltet und in der spekulativen und gesellschaftskritischen Erzähltradition von Science-Fiction mit verschiedenen Themen in Verbindung gebracht. Eine Vorjury hat aus den Einsendungen insgesamt acht Finalist*innen ausgewählt. Am finalen Leseabend präsentieren die eingeladenen Autor*innen ihre spannenden Texte in kurzen Lesungen. Alle nach Berlin eingeladenen Autor*innen werden in einer Anthologie beim Radiator Verlag veröffentlicht, die an dem Abend auch erworben werden kann. Eine unabhängige Jury, bestehend aus der Autorin Zara Zerbe, den Inhabern der Sci-Fi Buchhandlung Otherland und dem Autor und Journalisten Philipp Böhm, kürt den Siegestext. Der Preis ist mit 1000€ dotiert. Die Veranstaltung moderieren die Verleger*innen Nikolas Göllner und Iphigenia Andreou.
For the third time, Radiator Verlag has announced the Berlin Prize for Science Fiction Short Stories. This time, the theme is: 404: Error Code. We usually encounter the message 404: Page not found as a dead end during our forays through the World Wide Web. The code 404 indicates that the content of a website has been removed, a file has been deleted, or a URL, the Internet address, has been changed. But we encounter “system errors” everywhere. In the entries for the prize, this idea is therefore developed far beyond the Internet and linked to various themes in the speculative and socially critical narrative tradition of science fiction. A preliminary jury has selected a total of eight finalists from the submissions. At the final reading evening, the invited authors will present their exciting texts in short readings. All authors invited to Berlin will be published in an anthology by Radiator Verlag, which will also be available for purchase on the evening. An independent jury consisting of author Zara Zerbe, the owners of the sci-fi bookstore Otherland, and author and journalist Philipp Böhm will select the winning text. The prize is endowed with €1,000. The event will be moderated by publishers Nikolas Göllner and Iphigenia Andreou.
Toi Tautorus
Toi Tautorus (born 1999, Recklinghausen) studied media culture and philosophy in Cologne and most recently creative writing at the Academy of Media Arts. Her work explores the dichotomy of victimhood and perpetration in writing and life; it imagines the end of the world already happening or prophesies queer utopias in the past. Toi Tautorus' prose has appeared in numerous magazines and was most recently awarded the Frankfurter RomanfabrikschreiberInnen-Preis. Toi Tautorus is currently working on their first novel.
Lotti Spieler
Lotti Spieler (born in 2004, Berlin) lives in Vienna and studies language arts at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Her most recent publication appeared in DANKE magazine, published by März Verlag.
Leo Lemke
Leo Lemke (born in 1996 in Cologne) writes literature and code in the city where he was born. His short stories and travelogues, whose veracity is questionable, have appeared in numerous literary magazines (e.g., Mosaik, GYM, DANKE, absolut-zine, Denkbilder). He is part of the moderation team for the monthly Cologne reading series MIT ANDEREN WORTEN.
Maria Orlovskaya
Maria Orlovskaya (born 1994, Moscow) studied screenwriting and dramaturgy at the Film University Babelsberg. She then founded an underground screen printing company, worked in an arthouse cinema, and in the video editorial department of a large yoga center. Her texts have received several awards, including third place in the Kurd Laßwitz Prize, the Tandem Letterario Scholarship, and a nomination for the PAN and the Murderous Sisters' working scholarship in 2025.
Tim Slagman
Tim Slagman (born 1979, Heidelberg) has been a paramedic, agency editor, film critic, and festival staff member. He is an editor at Bayerischer Rundfunk, occasionally publishes short stories from the vast realm of fantasy, and even more occasionally publishes academic essays on film studies. He lives in Munich.
Joe Otim Dramiga
Joe Otim Dramiga is Afro-diasporic, reasons epistemically, and narrates metaphorically. You can find his stories in poetic or other forms in: Arriving in the Future – Stories of Home and Exile, Visionaries of Africa – The Continent in Unusual Portraits, Resonances – Black Literature Festival. A documentary. He lives in Berlin.
Kerstin Hörig
Kerstin Hörig (born 1986, Castrop-Rauxel) lives in Mannheim and holds a doctorate in biology. She writes texts in which scientific facts meet psychological abysses. After receiving an award at the Treffen junger Autoren, she spent the following years immersing herself in research and now uses this knowledge to stage scientific phenomena as the driving force behind her stories. She is currently working on a novel about the power of botany; most recently, one of her short stories was selected for the anthology Wege der Nacht (Paths of the Night, publication date March 2026).
Anton Borlinghaus
(*1993, Stuttgart) studierte Germanistik, Kulturwissenschaft und Informatik, lebt und arbeitet in Berlin. Er schreibt Kurzprosa, die bisher in Anthologien oder als Leseheft erschienen ist.
Anton Borlinghaus (born in 1993 in Stuttgart) studied German language and literature, cultural studies, and computer science. He lives and works in Berlin. He writes short prose, which has been published in anthologies and chapbooks.
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