World Anvil News: September 2026

This month, we have a bunch of exciting new community events for you! Keep reading to learn about a new writing challenge, details about the next Worldbuilding Awards, and all our community plans for the rest of the year.

📍 Map pins in world search

The world search now includes map markers too, on top of everything else (articles, images, timelines, events…). Searching across all maps makes it super easy to find which map had a particular town or location! Try it out by clicking the search icon at the top of the left sidebar, or pressing Ctrl+K on your keyboard.

📚 Dictionaries in the new article editor

Just like we did with Diplomacy Webs and Family Trees, the Dictionary feature in the Language article template is now available in the new article editor too! The feature went through Alchemist testing and is now available to everyone. Edit a Language article and click the Dictionary button in the bottom toolbar to get started:

Check the changelog for the full list of changes and a look into the future!

🗓️ September events

Here’s everything going on this month!

🪶 For Flash’s Sake September: This month, we challenge you to write a piece of flash fiction for your world—that’s between 500 and 1,000 words. Check the challenge page for details!
🍦 Summer Camp Awards Ceremony: On September 19th, we’ll reveal the Summer Camp winners! Join us on our Twitch channel at 6pm UK/10am Pacific time to learn if you won anything and celebrate the community.
🎓 Sage Seminar: Back to school with worldbuilding: With all this September back-to-school energy in the air, we’ll be refocusing on what we’re all here for: worldbuilding! Find the link in the Professional Portal.

🔜 Upcoming Events on World Anvil!

Here’s a list of our upcoming challenges and community events, to help you get ready:

September: “For Flash’s Sake September” is our non-competitive flash fiction challenge! Write a flash fiction piece, between 500 and 1,000 words long, and submit it before September 26th.
October: The spooky season is upon us! Answer up to 21 one-word prompts with worldbuilding, art, writing, or any other art form.
November: We’ll have two events in November!
- We challenge you to write 50k words of prose or more for your next novel in NovelEmber.
- And with just one month to go before WorldEmber, it will be time for WorldEmber Prep! WorldEmber is our yearly event where we challenge you to write 10k words of worldbuilding. It’s a big challenge, so November is your chance to get ready.

All our challenges launch first on community live stream, so follow us on Twitch to get the news first!

🏆 The 7th Worldbuilding Awards

The 7th Worldbuilding Awards will be open for submission next year, from January 2nd to February 28th! This year we’re introducing a new major category (Best Flash Fiction) and lowering the submission requirements for people who’ve won in the past. Check the event details to start preparing!

💡 Did you know…?

You can add all template prompts to your article at once! When editing an article, click the +Prompts button, then the Add All Prompts button, and all the prompts will be added to your article! Fill in what you want, and the unused ones will disappear when you reload to reduce clutter.

📹 YouTube video round-up

Need a little push to improve your worldbuilding? Or want some advice from a professional worldbuilder? Here are our latest YouTube videos:

What is Cozy Fantasy? Why is cozy fantasy so appealing to readers, writers, and worldbuilders? These stories still have magic, monsters, conflict, and meaningful stakes—but they focus on personal-scale struggles rather than epic battles. And here’s how to build one!
How to create a Mythic Fantasy setting: If you love epic stories of ancient gods, monsters, and kings, of lands in turmoil crying out for mythic larger-than-life heroes… check out this video, where we dig into mythic & bronze age worldbuilding!

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to stay on top of all our latest videos.

🌟 Community highlight: Eluvemar

This month’s highlighted work is Eluvemar, the winner of the Best Newcomer category in the 6th Worldbuilding Awards! Check out this beautiful world by lil_rose19:

Here’s what lil_rose18, the author, had to say about this:

Eluvemar has been living in my head for about seven years, first scribbled across a chaotic stack of notebooks filled with ideas about a shattered moon, twin suns, warring kingdoms, and far too much lore. It originally began as a homebrewed world for my D&D group, but when I joined World Anvil during 2025 Summer Camp, it finally started becoming something much bigger.

At first, I was completely overwhelmed by how to turn all those scattered ideas into something coherent. Summer Camp gave me permission to simply pick a corner of my world and write a few sentences… no pressure and no perfect plan required. Those sentences became articles, and before I knew it I’d mapped five continents, built a pantheon, drafted five ages of history, and the planning of three novels.

The competitions and community have been a huge part of that journey too. Being chosen for the Best Newcomer Award was something I genuinely never expected. I’m incredibly thankful to everyone who has read my work, supported Eluvemar, and welcomed me into the community. Having this strange world that had lived mostly inside my head recognised like that gave me so much confidence to keep creating.

So, if you’re new to World Anvil and intimidated by the enormous world living inside your head, my advice is simple: pick a spot, write two sentences, and let the momentum carry you. You never know where those first two sentences might take you.

I haven’t been as active these last few months due to some health issues, but Eluvemar certainly hasn’t been forgotten. I have a stack of articles drafted and waiting, and I’m hoping to be back to posting properly soon.

Extra note… Eluvemar has also grown beyond just worldbuilding into The Starless Prophecy Trilogy, set during the Age of Shaping. The first book I am currently writing is called Starfire. Which follows Sera, who was thrown from a world of ash into one where the stars still shine. She wakes with no name, no family or friends, and only a stranger’s final word in her mind: survive. But something is coming that will unmake the sky, and Sera.. who has seen darkness before.. must choose whether to help save a world that calls her mad, weak, and powerless… or let it burn.

And yet again, to everyone who has supported Eluvemar so far, thank you. I hope you’ve enjoyed exploring this world as much as I’ve enjoyed creating it. There is so much more still to come… I promise.

Lots of love,

Rose xo