For over 20 years, NYC Midnight has organized the Inspiring Challenges for Storytellers. In recent years we have been proud sponsors of several of NYC Midnight’s most popular challenges.
We’re partnering with NYC Midnight again as sponsors for their Screenwriting and 100-word Microfiction challenges. As a returning title sponsor, iA will award the top 10 finishers in both challenges with their own copy of iA Writer for iPad, iPhone, macOS, or Windows.
In addition, the top three finishers will also get their own award-winning iA Notebook—the notebook for writers.
About the Challenges
Screenwriting Challenge
Kicking off Feb 13, 2026 the Screenwriting Challenge offers international screenwriters a prime opportunity to put their best foot forward, crafting original screenplays under tight deadlines.
You can learn more, see past winners, or sign up for the challenge until 10 PM (New York time) on February 13, 2026: https://www.nycmidnight.com/scc
100-word Microfiction Challenge
Kicking off on March 20 for the 7th year running. We last sponsored this unique challenge in 2021 and we can’t wait to see what writers come up with this year.
4,500+ (expected) writers across the world will be challenged to create short stories under a tight 24-hour time limit. Random genre, action, and word assignments dial up the heat as writers go head to head against peers for professional feedback, and a chance win great prizes—like iA’s writing tools.
You can learn more about this challenge, see the work of past winners here or register until 10 PM (New York time) on March 20, 2026: https://www.nycmidnight.com/100
How iA Writer helps
From inception iA Writer has helped writers do their best work. The app is beloved by both amateur and professional writers because it is made for distraction-free writing and nothing else. In 2025 Writer was recognized as an Apple Design Award finalist. Learn more: https://ia.net/topics/apple-design-award-2025. Some features that enhance your writing experience include:
Focus Mode
iA Writer’s signature feature allows you to focus on one sentence or paragraph at a time. How does it work?
Style Check
Easily spot fillers, redundancies, or clichés that might be creeping into your text. Cut it down to the essentials. You can also create custom patterns to highlight expressions that you want to avoid.
Syntax Highlight
Pinpoint awkward verbs, repetitive nouns, or excessive use of certain parts of speech. How does it help?
Live Preview
Watch your work take shape in beautiful templates, all in real-time.1 Or you can choose to work fully focused in the Editor while Preview remains on call.
Multi-Platform
Available for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Windows devices, Writer allows writers to pickup right where they left off, even on the run! Seeing is believing, Here’s a quick tour of Writer:
Get Started
Registration deadlines for 2026 challenges are quickly approaching. Please be sure to check out the NYC Midnight website for more details.
You can learn more about Writer’s dedicated Fountain template and how you can maximize screenwriting productivity in Writer here.
Download your free iA Writer trial
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In 2023 we even added support for Fountain files. Seasoned screenwriters are likely already familiar with Fountain, a plain text syntax that leverages the strength of Markdown and is tailored for screenwriters. ↩
