And the winners are:
- Sideways by Cassandra Parkin
- Canarsie Zuhitsu by Geri Modell
- Every Thought and Prayer by Stephen Haines
Thank you to everyone who submitted to this contest! We're busy reading every submission! We announce a longlist in 10 weeks!
This month, we're launching a new contest for our writers. From July 21 to September 22, 2023, we welcome submissions to the Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize.
Life—how curious is that habit that makes us think it is not here, but elsewhere.
—V. S. Pritchett.
For this contest, we want writers to show us the forgotten, the hidden, the otherworldly. We want your stories to take us on journeys and adventures in the worlds only you can create; whether you make the familiar strange or the strange familiar, we know you will take us elsewhere. Be our tour guide through reality and beyond.
For the first time, we are also accepting sudden fiction, so we’re inviting submissions of stories from 100-1,500 words.
We're thrilled to partner with Guest Judge Rion Amilcar Scott, who will choose three prize winners from a shortlist. We're excited to offer the winner of this prize $3,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively. All entries will be considered for publication.
Good luck and happy writing!
Rion Amilcar Scott is the author of the story collection, The World Doesn’t Require You (Norton/Liveright, August 2019). His debut story collection, Insurrections (University Press of Kentucky, 2016), was awarded the 2017 PEN/Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His work has been published in journals such as The New Yorker, The Kenyon Review, Crab Orchard Review, and The Rumpus, among others. One of his stories was listed as a notable in Best American Stories 2018 and one of his essays was listed as a notable in Best American Essays 2015. He was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, and earned an MFA from George Mason University where he won the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award, a Completion Fellowship, and an Alumni Exemplar Award. He has received fellowships from Bread Loaf Writing Conference, Kimbilio, and the Colgate Writing Conference, as well as a 2019 Maryland Individual Artist Award.
guidelines
- Your $20 reading fee allows up to two stories of 1,500 words or fewer each per entry—if submitting two stories, please put them both in a SINGLE document.
- We allow multiple submissions—each set of two flash stories should have a separate submission accompanied by a reading fee.
- Please send flash/sudden fiction only—1,500 word count maximum per story.
- We only consider unpublished work for contests—we do not review reprints, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
- Simultaneous submissions are okay—please notify us and withdraw your entry if you find another home for your writing.
- All entries will also be considered for publication in Fractured Lit.
- Double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 (or larger if needed).
- Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable).
- We only read work in English, though some code-switching is warmly welcomed.
- We do not read anonymous submissions. However, shortlisted stories are sent anonymously to the judge.
- Unless specifically requested, we do not accept AI-generated work.
The deadline for entry is September 22, 2023. We will announce the shortlist within ten to twelve weeks of the contest's close. All writers will be notified when the results are final.
Some Submittable Hot Tips:
- Please be sure to whitelist/add this address to your contacts, so notifications do not get filtered as spam/junk: notifications@email.submittable.com.
- If you realize you sent the wrong version of your piece: It happens. Please DO NOT withdraw the piece and resubmit. Submittable collects a nonrefundable fee each time. Please DO message us from within the submission to request that we open the entry for editing, which will allow you to fix everything from typos in your cover letter to uploading a new draft. The only time we will not allow a change is if the piece is already under review by a reader.
OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:
You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a two page global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. We aim to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Fractured Lit. Should your story win, no feedback will be offered, and your fee will be refunded.