We're excited to launch a new themed contest for our microfiction and flash writers. From February 20 to April 16, 2023, we welcome writers to submit to the Fractured Lit Legends, Myths, & Allegories Prize. (We would also love to see your ghost stories!)

We're thrilled to partner with Guest Judge Natalie Lima, who will choose three prize winners from a shortlist. The first-place winner of this prize will receive $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.

Natalie Lima is a Cuban-Puerto Rican writer raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Hialeah, Florida. Her essays and fiction have been published or are forthcoming in Longreads, Guernica, Brevity, The Offing, Catapult, Sex and the Single Woman (Harper Perennial, 2022), Body Language (Catapult, 2022), and elsewhere. Lima’s writing has been honored in The Best Small Fictions (2020) and noted twice in The Best American Essays  (2019 and 2020). Her work has received support from PEN America Emerging Voices, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Tin House, the VONA/Voices Workshop, the Mellon Foundation, the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, and the Hedgebrook Writers’ Residency. Lima recently joined the creative writing faculty at Butler University as assistant professor in the Department of English. She is currently working on a memoir and an essay collection.

 

GUIDELINES:

• Your $20 reading fee allows up to two stories of 1,000 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 fiction only—1,000 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• We only consider unpublished work for contests—we do not review reprints, including self-published work (even on blogs and social media).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.

The deadline for entry is April 16, 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 to 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 global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. Our aim is 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.