Submission Sunday 4.28.24
Ploughshares, 3Elements Literary Review, Uncharted Magazine, Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, n+1, Presence, The Cincinnati Review, and Don Congdon Associates, Inc.
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This edition of Submission Sunday has calls and contests from Ploughshares, 3Elements Literary Review, Uncharted Magazine, Cow Creek Chapbook Prize, n+1, Presence, The Cincinnati Review, and Don Congdon Associates, Inc. More details below.
☆☆☆ This week, we’re celebrating our latest (reported) submission success with Emily Barr, whose essay “Encyclopedia Brown: A Story for My Brother, Philip Seymour Hoffman” was published in The Paris Review! She wrote, “I wanted to thank you for your work and for the encouragement. I submitted to The Paris Review after you shared info on how they would accept submissions in February.” Congratulations, Emily! ☆☆☆
Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Contest (Deadline May 15)
Ploughshares has published quality literature since 1971. Our award-winning literary journal is published four times a year; our lively literary blog publishes new writing daily. Since 1989, we have been based at Emerson College in downtown Boston.
The Emerging Writer's Contest is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book. We award publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres. The 2024 contest judges are Dantiel W. Moniz (Fiction), Porsha Olayiwola (Poetry), and Augusten Burroughs (Nonfiction). The winning story, essay, and poems from the 2024 contest will be published in the Winter 2024-25 issue of Ploughshares.
3Elements Literary Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
Each issue of 3Elements Literary Review begins with the posting of three elements (which are currently Wedding Dress, Crowd, Anchorage), and ends with a journal filled with the imaginative ways in which each writer and artist transformed those elements. Our journal is uniquely designed and filled with literature that is thoughtfully crafted. We pride ourselves on publishing contributors from all around the globe. We just might be the best online literary magazine you’ve never heard of.
Your story or poem doesn’t have to be about the three elements or even revolve around them; simply use your imagination to create whatever you want. You can use any form of the words/elements for the given submission period.
Uncharted Magazine Cinematic Short Story Contest (Deadline June 16)
This award is for all of our genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Mystery (Horror), Historical Fiction, and Young Adult. Guest Judge Matt Bell will choose three winning stories from our shortlist. We’re excited to offer the first-place winner of this contest $2,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively.
For this short story contest, we want to read your most cinematic stories! We want stories that we can clearly visualize, that make us feel like we’re there in the moment, and that activate all of our senses. We want worlds that pop up in our minds, characters who are fully articulated and bent on breaking their rituals. We want stories with vitality and velocity that rely on swift cuts of action and reaction.
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize (Deadline May 15)
The Cow Creek Chapbook Prize is a poetry chapbook contest brought to you by Pittsburg State University. We're open to all styles and subjects. As long as the poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to see them. The winning poet will receive $1,000 and 25 author copies. Submit 15-30 pages of poetry. This year's judge is Traci Brimhall.
New San Francisco-based Poetry Journal, Podcast, and Chapbook Series
antiphony is a new journal and press featuring experimental poetry, reviews, and interviews. Our goal, first and foremost, is to support writers. No fees, no contests, quick turn-around time on submissions. Each of six annual issues will feature ten writers whom we will promote through social media, our website, and an online reading. A podcast series will launch this summer and a chapbook series and print anthology in early 2025. Learn more about antiphony.
📚 Every other week, I’ll be making space for up to three online writing classes or programs (and the occasional retreat or conference) to advertise their upcoming offerings here. Learn more about getting your own classified ad. 📚
n+1 is a print and digital magazine of literature, culture, and politics published three times a year. We also post new online-only work several times each week and publish books expanding on the interests of the magazine.
We welcome submissions from all writers. If you are considering sending work, please start by reading an issue or two. The best submission guidelines are those implied by the magazine itself. We publish a limited number of pieces in the magazine, which comes out three times yearly, and a larger array of work in our online-only section.
Presence Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
Presence is Britain’s leading independent haiku journal, produced in print three times a year, seeking: haiku, senryu, tanka, haibun, other haiku-related poetry, and haiku-related essays; and books of or about, haiku, tanka, and related poetic forms for review.
The Cincinnati Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
Since its inception in 2003, The Cincinnati Review has published many promising new and emerging writers as well as Pulitzer Prize winners and Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows. Poetry and prose from our pages have been selected to appear in the annual anthologies Best American Essays, Best American Fantasy, Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, Best Creative Nonfiction, Best Microfiction, Best of the Net, Best New Poets, Best Small Fictions, New Poetry from the Midwest, New Stories from the Midwest, New Stories from the South, The O. Henry Prize Stories, The Orison Anthology, and the Pushcart Prize anthology.
We provide a venue for writers of any background, at any point in their literary careers, at any age, to showcase their best writing. We are invested in finding both promising new and emerging voices and in sharing the exceptional work of more established writers. Submissions open on May 1.
Don Congdon Associates, Inc. Open for Queries
Don Congdon Associates, Inc., founded in 1983 by Don Congdon and Michael Congdon, is a literary agency representing a distinguished and diverse list of authors and estates, ranging from current bestsellers and emerging talent to backlist classics. The agency’s seven agents provide individualized service to each client, and are committed to developing and representing all aspects of an author’s domestic and international literary career in a rapidly changing industry.
In addition to its New York Times and international bestsellers, Don Congdon Associates’ clients have been the recipients of an array of prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the George Polk Award, the National Book Award, the James Thurber Prize, the Man Booker International Prize, the Pritzker Lifetime Achievement Award, the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Macavity, Grand Master of Science Fiction and Horror awards, the J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project Award, the O. Henry Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, and the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Here’s a reminder of the deadlines coming up from previous posts. Please note that archived posts might also include calls that are open year-round. If you sign up for Substack Notes, I also post deadline reminders there. If you submit to any of the Submission Sunday calls and publish or win, let me know and I’ll broadcast your success in a future post.
Colorado Review Call for Submissions (Deadline April 30)
Amsterdam Quarterly Call for Submissions (Vibration(s) – Deadline April 30)
Necessary Fiction Call for Summer Flash Fiction (Deadline May 1)
december Call for Submissions & 2024 Curt Johnson Prose Awards (Deadline May 1)
The Georgia Review Call for Submissions (Deadline May 15)
Kweli Journal Call for Submissions (Deadline May 30)
Postcard Call for Submissions (Deadline May 31)
The MacGuffin Call for Submissions (Deadline June 30)
Bellevue Literary Review Call for General Submissions, 2025 Goldenberg Prize for Fiction, 2025 Felice Buckvar Prize for Nonfiction, and 2025 John & Eileen Allman Prize for Poetry (Deadline July 1)