Home » Newpages Blog » Calls and Contests 2020

Call :: We Want the Best Stories in All Genres

The Blue Mountain Review flierSubmissions accepted year-round.

The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings.

Call :: Blue Mountain Review Seeks Homespun Feel with International Appeal

The Blue Mountain Review flierDeadline: Submissions accepted year-round.
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings. The November 2020 issue features interviews with writers Lee Herrick, Lee Matthew Goldberg, and Jendi Reiter.

Call :: NOMADartx Review Seeks Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art, Interviews, & Reviews

NOMADartx logoDeadline: Rolling
NOMADartx is an emerging global creative network dedicated to sharing and amplifying creative potential, regardless of genre. Our new NOMADartx Review curates fresh voices that address creativity and creative process via fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, critiques, and reviews. Our “Industry Specials” column also provides a place for contemporary creatives to share wisdom (individual or collective) toward building success in their fields of practice. We currently consider work that addresses these themes in any way. More information is here: nomadartx.submittable.com/submit.

Call :: Essential Voices Anthology Extends Submissions Deadline to January 15

Extended Deadline: January 15, 2021
While the pandemic has ravaged our world, certain populations have been impacted more deeply than others. Essential Voices strives to give voice to those who have been silenced. Send us your poems, stories, recipes, or works of art that reflect upon the experience of COVID and COVID related issues in your life. This anthology will be published by West Virginia University Press. To accommodate those who do not have computer and/or internet access, we accept both electronic and mail-in submissions either typed or handwritten. However, we only accept visual art electronically. There is no submission fee. Please see the full guidelines at www.essentialvoicesanthology.wordpress.com before submitting to [email protected].

Call :: Chestnut Review Invites Submissions from Stubborn Artists Year-round

Deadline: Year-round
Chestnut Review (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $100 and a copy of the annual anthology of four issues (released each summer). Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! Don’t forget to check out our recent issues at chestnutreview.com.

Contest :: River Styx 2021 Microfiction Contest: $1000 Prize and Publication

River Styx 2021 Microfiction Contest BannerDeadline: December 31, 2020
River Styx offers a prize of $1,000 for a single microfiction story of 500 words or fewer. The top three stories will be published, and all stories will be considered for publication. Your choice of entry fee: $20 to receive a one-year (two issue) subscription or $15 to receive just the issue with the winning stories. Submit up to three stories per entry, maximum 500 words per story. Additional stories may be submitted with additional fees. Submissions may not be previously published either in print or online. Submit via mail or Submittable. Complete guidelines are posted at www.riverstyx.org/submit/microfiction-contest/.

Call :: We Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open

Driftwood Press website screenshotDeadline: Year-round
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests. We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too. www.driftwoodpress.net

Contest :: Sagauro Poetry Prize Deadline is December 31

Kallisto Gaia Press logoDeadline: December 31, 2020
The Saguaro Poetry Prize winner is awarded $1,200, twenty author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for 28–48 pages of contemporary poetry. Ire’ne Lara Silva (Cuicacalli / House of Song, 2019) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at kallistogaiapress.submittable.com/submit.

Contest :: Don’t forget Interim’s Test Site Poetry Prize Deadline is December 15

Interim 2020 Test Site Poetry Prize bannerDeadline: December 15, 2020
Submit your manuscript to Interim’s 3rd annual Test Site Poetry Contest! As our series title suggests, we’re looking for manuscripts that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. The winning book will demonstrate an ethos that considers the human condition in inclusive love and sympathy, while offering the same in consideration of the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. The winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.

Call :: Blue Mountain Review Wants the Best Stories in All Genres Year-round

The Blue Mountain Review flierDeadline: Year-round
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings.

November 2020 eLitPak :: Tartt First Fiction Award

November 2020 - January 2021 Livingston Press eLitPak flier screenshot
click image to open PDF

Winning short story collection will be published by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama, in simultaneous hardcover and trade paper editions, also in e-book and Kindle. Winner will receive $1000, plus our standard royalty contract, which includes 50 copies of the book. Author must not have had book of short fiction published at time of entry, though novels or poetry are okay. Deadline: March 15, 2021.

View full November eLitPak Newsletter here.

November 2020 eLitPak :: december magazine 2021 Poetry Contest

December Magazine eLitPak flier
click image to open PDF

2021 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize

Carl Phillips will judge. $1,500 & publication (winner); $500 & publication (honorable mention); all finalists published in the 2021 Spring/Summer awards issue. Submit up to 3 poems per entry. $20 entry fee includes copy of the awards issue. Submit October 1 to December 1. For complete guidelines please visit our website.

View full November eLitPak Newsletter here.

Call :: NOMADartx Review Seeks Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art, Interviews, & Reviews

NOMADartx logoDeadline: December 20, 2020
NOMADartx is an emerging global creative network dedicated to sharing and amplifying creative potential, regardless of genre. Our new NOMADartx Review curates fresh voices that address creativity and creative process via fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, critiques, and reviews. Our “Industry Specials” column also provides a place for contemporary creatives to share wisdom (individual or collective) toward building success in their fields of practice. We currently consider work that addresses these themes in any way, with a special call for work about routine, ritual, and repetition (or their opposites). More information is here: nomadartx.submittable.com/submit.

Contest :: Carve Magazine Prose & Poetry Contest Extends Deadline

Carve Prose & Poetry Contest 2020 Extended DeadlineExtended Deadline: November 20
Carve Magazine‘s Prose & Poetry Contest deadline has been extended to November 20. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but work must be in English. Max 10,000 words for fiction and nonfiction; 2,000 words for poetry. Prizes: $1,000 each for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. All 3 winners published online in Spring 2021. $23 late entry fee. Guest judges are Shruti Swamy for fiction; Kendra Allen for nonfiction; and Roy G. Guzmán for poetry. www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest/

Call :: Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology

Deadline: December 31, 2020
While the pandemic has ravaged our world, certain populations have been impacted more deeply than others. Essential Voices strives to give voice to those who have been silenced. Send us your poems, stories, recipes, or works of art that reflect upon the experience of COVID and COVID related issues in your life. This anthology will be published by West Virginia University Press. Visit us at www.essentialvoicesanthology.wordpress.com for guidelines before submitting to [email protected].

Call :: Stubborn Artists, Chestnut Review is Open to Submissions Year-round

Chestnut Review (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $100 and a copy of the annual anthology of four issues (released each summer). Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! chestnutreview.com

Into the Void Wants Your Work in Issue #18

Into the Void coverDeadline: December 7, 2020
Print & online journal Into the Void is open to submissions of fiction, flash, creative nonfiction, poetry, & visual art to Issue #18 through December 7. Payment is $10 per poem/flash/art or $20 per long-from prose piece, a contributor copy, & a one-year online subscription. No theme, & no reading fees until Submittable monthly limits reached. Send us something that makes us feel alive. Details at our website.

Contest :: Reminder Carve’s 2020 Prose & Poetry Contest Closes November 15

Flier for Carve Magazine's Prose & Poetry Contest 2020Deadline: November 15
Carve Magazine‘s Prose & Poetry Contest deadline is November 15. Accepting submissions from all over the world, but work must be in English. Max 10,000 words for fiction and nonfiction; 2,000 words for poetry. Prizes: $1,000 each for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. All 3 winners published online in Spring 2021. Entry fee $17 online only. Guest judges are Shruti Swamy for fiction; Kendra Allen for nonfiction; and Roy G. Guzmán for poetry. www.carvezine.com/prose-poetry-contest/

Contest :: Reminder Inaugural Acacia Fiction Prize Accepting Submissions

Kallisto Gaia Press logoDeadline: December 31, 2020
The Acacia Fiction Prize winner is awarded $1,200, 20 author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for a collection of short stories, flash fiction, novellas, or any combination of fiction totaling between 40K and 75K words. Richard Z. Santos (Trust Me, 2020) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at kallistogaiapress.submittable.com/submit.

Call :: We Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open

Driftwood Press website screenshotJohn Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests. We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too. www.driftwoodpress.net

Contest :: The 2020 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize

Deadline: December 1, 2020
The 4th annual Jane Underwood Poetry Prize is accepting submissions! Open to all poets, the prize is awarded for a single poem. For a fee of $15, submit one entry of up to three poems. The prizewinner will receive an award of $250, online publication of the winning poem, and an invitation to do a featured reading. This year’s final judge is David Hernandez. Full guidelines can be found at www.writingsalons.com/awards-resources/jane-underwood-poetry-prize/.

Call :: Girls Right the World Seeks Work for Fifth Issue

Deadline: December 31, 2020
Girls Right the World is a literary journal inviting young, female-identified writers and artists, ages 14–21, to submit work for consideration for the fifth annual issue. We believe girls’ voices transform the world for the better. We accept poetry, prose, and visual art of any style or theme. We ask to be the first to publish your work in North America; after publication, the rights return to you. Send your best work, in English or English translation, to [email protected] by December 31, 2020. Please include a note mentioning your age, where you’re from, and a bit about your submission. Please read our first four issues for an idea of work we like.

Contest :: 2020 Philadelphia Stories/Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry

Philadelphia Stories 2020 Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry bannerDeadline: November 15, 2020
The Sandy Crimmins National Prize for Poetry is an annual national poetry prize featuring a $1,000 cash award for first place. Three runners up will each receive a $250 cash award. The winning and runner up poems are published in the Spring issue with these poems and honorable mentions also appearing online. The Crimmins Prize celebrates risk, innovation, and emotional engagement. We especially encourage poets from underrepresented groups and backgrounds to send their work. philadelphiastories.org

Call :: Waymark Literary Magazine Seeks Works of an Individual’s Footpath in Life

Waymark Literary Magazine logoDeadline: November 20, 2020
Waymark Literary Magazine is an online and physical literary magazine dedicated to publishing the works of an individual’s waymark; their footpath in life. Anyone can submit as long as they have a story to tell. We are looking for nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and art submissions to be published in our biannual publication. Check out our Summer 2020 issue for an idea of what we seek.

Contest :: Baltimore Review Wants Prose Under 1,000 Words for Winter 2020 Contest

Deadline: November 30, 2020
No theme for our winter contest. Subject matter is entirely up to you. Surprise us! But keep it short. Two categories: flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction. We want to be amazed at how you abracadabra 1,000 or less into magic. And maybe be a little jealous of how you do that. One writer in each category will be awarded a $300 prize and published in the winter issue. All entries considered for publication and payment. Final judge: Diana Spechler. See www.baltimorereview.org for complete details. Deadline: November 30, 2020. Fee: $5.

Call :: Auroras & Blossoms Plus FPoint Collective Seek Work Year-round

Deadline: Year-round
Launched in 2019, Auroras & Blossoms is dedicated to promoting positive, uplifting, and inspirational art; and giving artists of all levels a platform where they can showcase their work and build their publishing credits. We publish short stories, six-word stories, paintings, and drawings. We are also looking for work that tells beautiful stories and articles that are helpful to photographers at every level of their career for publication in our sister journal FPoint Collective Photography Magazine. We are interested in photography, along with articles, tips, stories, and essays relating to photography. International submissions welcome. Submission Guidelines and apply here. Check out past issues for a taste of what we like.

Contest :: Win More than $8,000 of IvyZen’s Premium Mentoring Services

IvyZen Scholarship flier
click to open PDF

Application Deadline: November 15, 2020
At IvyZen, our greatest joy is helping realize the potential of top students looking to get into Ivy League Schools. The scholarship program provides the following services and totals more than $8,000 worth of our premium mentoring services: How to craft a unique and compelling theme to make your application stand out; Overall application strategy and plan; How to write Ivy League admissions essays; Brainstorming Essays; College List Consultation; Free access to our project management platform to keep all your essays and materials organized; and 24/7 online access to the IvyZen Mentorship Team.

Call :: Reminder: The CHILLFILTR Review Open to Submissions Year-round

Submissions accepted year-round.
The CHILLFILTR Review strives to bring the best new art to a worldwide audience by leveraging best-in-class technology to create a seamless and immersive web experience. We welcome submissions from all walks of life, and all perspectives. We are committed to inclusivity and kindly welcome work from marginalized voices. All featured works will receive an honorarium of $20 per 1000 words and will be published online at The CHILLFILTR Review as well as on our Apple News Channel. Readers can vote for their favorites, and year-end “Best Of” winners will receive an additional $100 cash prize.

Call :: The Blue Mountain Review Wants the Best Stories in All Genres

The Blue Mountain Review flierSubmissions accepted year-round.
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings. Check out recent issues for a taste of what we like.

Contest :: Reminder: Interim’s 2020 Test Site Poetry Contest Open to Submissions

Interim 2020 Test Site Poetry Prize bannerDeadline: December 15, 2020
Submit your manuscript to Interim’s 3rd annual Test Site Poetry Contest! As our series title suggests, we’re looking for manuscripts that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. The winning book will demonstrate an ethos that considers the human condition in inclusive love and sympathy, while offering the same in consideration of the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. The winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.

Call :: Submissions Open for TriQuarterly Issue 160: Black Voices

TriQuarterly Call for Black Voices flierDeadline: December 1, 2020 for poetry & prose; January 15, 2021 for video essays
This fall, TriQuarterly is open to free submissions from October 1 to December 1, 2020 (and January 15, 2021 for video essays), for our 160th issue. We will be working with guest editors to select and curate work exclusively by Black poets, prose writers, and video artists for June 2021.

Contest :: Announcing The Creative Block Essay Contest

Deadline: November 30, 2020
We seek previously unpublished personal essays up to 2,000 words about the creative endeavor that you paused. Yes, we want to hear about the dreaded creative block. Tell us a story about your circumstances and what was going through your head as you put down your work. Was it a relief to put aside your art? A regret? Is it still an idea that you kept coming back to, unable to shake? The winner will receive $650, and the submission fee is $10. The contest is open to writers worldwide until November 30. For more details see criticalread.submittable.com/submit.

Call :: MudRoom Winter 2021 Issue

Deadline: January 1, 2021
MudRoom is open for submissions until January 1st! We are seeking poetry and prose in all their forms. Submissions are free, and we aim to respond to work quickly. MudRoom is somewhere between where you’ve come from and where you’re going. We believe in the liminal, the dirty, the messy, and the mundane. We publish four issues of prose and poetry a year, and we also work to put out content devoted to developing a practice—we feature short essays on craft and interviews with writers. Send us your work, we’d love to read it!

Call :: Gateway Literary Press Seeks Short Story Collections

Deadline: November 30, 2020
Gateway Literary Press, a new small press, seeks submissions for its catalogue. We seek short story collections that fall somewhere in the surrealist/fabulist/magic realist tradition. Prospective writers should submit a 2 story sample with cover letter describing the rest of the collection, including a list of previous publications, particularly for stories included in the collection. No complete manuscripts at this time, please; these will be rejected unread. We read from November 1-30 and do not charge a fee. A sample authorial contract and more information can be found on our website: gatewayliterarypress.wordpress.com.

Call :: Call for Prose Submissions: Sou’wester 2021 Issue

Sou'wester Spring 2020 coverDeadline: November 15, 2020
Sou’wester is still reading fiction and creative nonfiction for our annual print issue, forthcoming in spring 2021. We are committed to investing in and encouraging the words/stories/voices of all writers, prioritizing those belonging to marginalized communities. We want to read stories from writers belonging to the black diaspora, indigenous communities, Asian communities, Latin(x) communities, neurodivergent communities, those with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+. We seek fiction that allows us to transcend the everyday, haunts our dreams, and feels fresh. We’re looking for work that will move, stun, and awe our readers. Submission is free through Submittable.

Call :: Palooka Seeks Chapbooks, Prose, Poetry, Art, & Photography

Deadline: Year-round
Palooka is an international literary magazine. For a decade we’ve featured up-and-coming, established, and brand-new writers, artists, and photographers from all around the world. We’re open to diverse forms and styles and are always seeking unique chapbooks, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, artwork, photography, graphic narratives, and comic strips. Give us your best shot! Submissions open year-round. Issue 11 features work by Paul Luikart, Duke Stewart, Nils Blondon, Khalilah Okeke, Tim Chapman, Mark Halpern, Clark Merrefield, Leanne Hoppe, Donald Illich, and Malia Nahinu. palookamag.com

Call :: Storm Cellar Seeks Ambitious New Writing & Art

Girl with Flowers Storm Cellar CoverDeadline: Rolling
Storm Cellar is a literary journal of safety and danger, in print and ebook formats since 2011. We seek the voices of Black, Indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+, gender nonbinary, neurodivergent, fat, disabled, border-straddling, poor, and more marginalized authors. We encourage connections, in work or by creator, to the Midwest, broadly construed. Now paying. Send ambitious, surprising new art and writing through stormcellar.submittable.com; learn more at stormcellar.org. It is free to submit, but we offer tip jar, expedited, and submission + issue response options.

Contest :: Saguaro Poetry Prize – $1,200 & Publication

Kallisto Gaia Press logoDeadline: December 31, 2020
The Saguaro Poetry Prize winner is awarded $1,200, twenty author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for 28–48 pages of contemporary poetry. Ire’ne Lara Silva (Cuicacalli / House of Song, 2019) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at Submittable.

Call :: 2020 Blueline Reading Period Closes November 30

BLUELINE: A Literary Magazine Dedicated to the Spirit of the Adirondacks seeks poems, stories, and essays about the Adirondacks and regions similar in geography and spirit, focusing on nature’s shaping influence. Don’t forget the submissions window is open until November 30. Decisions made by mid-February. Payment in copies. Simultaneous submissions accepted if identified as such. Please notify if your submission is placed elsewhere. Electronic submissions encouraged, as Word files, to [email protected]. Please identify the genre in the subject line. Further information at bluelineadkmagazine.org.

Contest :: 2023 $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize

Every year, the University of Arkansas Press accepts submissions for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and from the books selected awards the $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize in the following summer. For almost a quarter century the press has made this series the cornerstone of its work as a publisher of some of the country’s best poetry. The series is edited by Patricia Smith. The deadline for the 2023 Prize is September 30, 2021. For more information visit uapress.com.

Call :: The American Journal of Poetry January 2021 Issue

The American Journal of Poetry skull logoDeadline: Rolling
Now reading for Volume Ten, our Winter/Spring 2021 issue to be published in January 2021. Please visit us to read our previous volumes filled with poems from poets the world over, from the first-published to the most acclaimed in literature. A unique voice is highly prized. Be bold, uncensored, take risks. Our hallmark is “STRONG Rx MEDICINE.” We are the home of the long poem! No restrictions as to subject matter, style, or length. Published biannually online. Submissions accepted through our online submission manager, Submittable; a submission fee is charged. theamericanjournalofpoetry.com

Call :: Breakbread Extends Deadline for First Issue Submissions

BreakBread Literacy Project logoExtended Deadline: November 15, 2020
BreakBread Magazine is a magazine for all young creatives between the ages of 13 and 25. We are always looking for vivid, timely poetry, nonfiction, short stories, comics and visual arts (photography, illustrated narratives, and hybrid work) that explore new directions in arts and letters. Submissions are always free. Visit breakbreadproject.submittable.com/submit to send us your work. Check out our website for more information: www.breakbreadproject.org.

Call :: Pensive Open to Submissions on Black Lives Matter for Spring 2021 Special Feature

Deadline: November 15, 2020
New online publication based at Center for Spirituality, Dialogue, and Service (CSDS) at Northeastern University in Boston. Seeking work that deepens the inward life; expresses range of religious/spiritual/humanist experiences and perspectives; envisions a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world; advances dialogue across difference; and challenges structural oppression in all its forms. Seeking work for feature section on Black Lives Matter to be published in the Spring 2021 issue. Send unpublished poetry, prose, visual art, and translations. Especially interested in work from international and historically unrepresented communities. No fee; currently non-paying. Submit 3-5 pieces via Submittable or [email protected]. Questions? Contact Alexander Levering Kern, co-editor or visit pensivejournal.com. The first issue will have a special online launch event on Wednesday, October 21, 2020. Mark your calendars to learn more.

October eLitPak :: december Magazine 2021 Poetry Contest

December Magazine eLitPak flier
click image to open PDF

2021 Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize

Carl Phillips will judge. $1,500 & publication (winner); $500 & publication (honorable mention); all finalists published in the 2021 Spring/Summer awards issue. Submit up to 3 poems per entry. $20 entry fee includes copy of the awards issue. Submit October 1 to December 1. For complete guidelines please visit our website.

View full October 2020 eLitPak here.

Call :: Utopia Science Fiction Underrepresented Protagonists

We’re looking for enthralling, upbeat stories set in futures we might want to live in. In contrast to growing dystopian stories and darker themes that seem so abundant in today’s literature. We invite you instead to share in our vision of a better tomorrow. Of a future filled with wonder and hope. We publish stories that transport us to another world, a bright future, one we want to believe in, one we’ll fight to see realized. The theme of our next issue is ‘underrepresented protagonists.’ www.utopiasciencefiction.com

Call :: Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology

While the pandemic has ravaged our world, certain populations have been impacted more deeply than others. Essential Voices strives to give voice to those who have been silenced. Send us your poems, stories, recipes, or works of art that reflect upon the experience of COVID and COVID related issues in your life. This anthology will be published by West Virginia University Press. Visit us at our website for guidelines before submitting to [email protected]. Deadline: December 31.

Call :: Awakenings Review Seeks Submissions Year-round

Established in 2000, The Awakenings Review is an annual lit mag committed to publishing poetry, short story, nonfiction, photography, and art by writers, poets and artists who have a relationship with mental illness: either self, family member, or friend. Our striking hardcopy publication is one of the nation’s leading journals of this genre. Creative endeavors and mental illness have long had a close association. The Awakenings Review publishes works derived from artists’, writers’, and poets’ experiences with mental illness, though mental illness need not be the subject of your work. Visit www.AwakeningsProject.org for submission guidelines.

Call :: Light and Dark Seeking New Short Stories for Issue 18

Deadline: November 15, 2020
Light and Dark is an online literary magazine seeking works of short fiction by both new and established authors. We are looking for stories that grapple boldly with the dichotomous nature of existence: the light and the dark; the pain, pleasure; the joy and sorrow. We pay $15 per story. For our complete submission guidelines, head over to either our website or our Submission Manager at Submittable. We look forward to reading your work!

Contest :: 2021 Vern Rutsala Book Prize

Jane Craven headshotThe Vern Rutsala Book Prize is an annual contest sponsored by Cloudbank Books. The winner receives a $1,000 cash award, plus publication. This year’s judge is Christopher Buckley. Most recent prize winners are Jane Craven for My Bright Last Country and Timothy Geiger for Weatherbox. Due date for the 2021 prize is Nov. 10, 2020. Entrants receive a copy of Cloudbank. For details visit Contest Guidelines. Cloudbank also awards a $200 prize for one poem or flash fiction published in each magazine. Due date for this contest is February 28, 2021. Regular submissions are accepted year round. For more about Cloudbank Books visit our website. Revive us with your fire.

Call :: Club Plum Seeks Flash Fiction, Prose Poetry, Hybrid Works, & Art for Volume 2 Issue 1

Deadline: December 31, 2020
Please send your beauties and uglies to Club Plum for Volume 2, Issue 1, dropping January 15, 2021. Send your pain. Send your fury. Send your strange. Unsure if prose poem or flash fiction? Send it our way. See www.clubplumliteraryjournal.com for guidelines.