Awards
Now Open
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Halle Hill
2025: March 18 to May 18
The 2025 Short Fiction Prize will be awarded in October 2025. The first-place winner will receive $2,000 and our $500 Tech Bonus. Second and third place will be awarded $500 and $300, respectively. All three winners will be published online with an introduction by the guest judge and an author’s note by the writer. Learn more here.
Extended!
Novelette Print Prize
Guest Judged by ’Pemi Aguda
2025: January 15 to March 16
Now extended until March 23!
The 2025 Novelette Print Prize will be awarded in January 2026. One grand-prize winner, chosen by ’Pemi Aguda, will receive $3,000, online excerpt publication, print publication, twenty author copies, royalties, and a free class from The Loft Literary Center. ’Pemi Aguda will also write a foreword for the print publication. Learn more here.
Past
Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest
Guest Judged by Donald Quist
2024: November 13 to January 15
The 2024 Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest will be awarded in June 2025. Three winners, chosen and introduced by Guest Judge Donald Quist, will receive $1,000 each, publication, and a set of six titles of Graywolf’s The Art Of series. Two editors’ choice selections will receive $200 each and publication. All fifteen shortlisted writers will also receive a $1,000 scholarship to PocketMFA. Learn more here.
Flash Prose Prize
Guest Judged by Meg Pokrass
2024: September 1 to October 27
Winners
Sara Grace: “Dog’s Rothko”
Will McMillan: “Conundrum”
Kelly Pedro: “Pareidolia”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Dialogue Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2024: August 15 to August 25
Winner
Catherine Buck: “The Devil Alive in Jersey”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Kimberly King Parsons
2024: June 1 to August 4
Winners
First Place: Hadley Franklin, Happiness House
Second Place: Taylor Leatrice Werner, What Empties as It Fills
Third Place: Susan Morehouse, A Tremendous Thing
Find our full list of honored entries here.
EcoLit Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2024: May 20 to May 30
Winner
Janice Vis: “Here and There at the Lake”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Deesha Philyaw
2024: March 18 to May 19
Winners
First Place: Toni Martin, “Hold On”
Second Place: Mary Williams, “Pretend”
Third Place: Shivani Manghnani, “Island Girl”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Novelette Print Prize
Guest Judged by Hanna Pylväinen
2024: January 15 to March 17
Winner
Philip Anderson: Landing in Andonia
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest
Guest Judged by Sarah Fawn Montgomery
2023: November 13 to January 14
Winners
Chaya Bhuvaneswar: “Orchid,” Excerpt from Orchid: A Memoir
Elissa Lash: “Twelve”
Gabe Montesanti: “Bus Stop”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Prose Prize
Guest Judged by Kathy Fish
2023: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Annabel Li: “Analysis of a Fugue”
Heidi Richardson: “Southern Womb”
Rebecca Starks: “The Two Denvers”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Setting Sketch Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2023: August 10 t0 August 20
Winner
Gabrielle Hovendon: “North Country, New York”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Rebecca Makkai
2023: June 1 to July 30
Winners
First Place: Sonny Buttar, The Bad One
Second Place: Melissa Yancy, The Golden Suicides
Third Place: Jill Rosenberg, My Demons
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Character Sketch Challenge
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2023: May 15 to May 25
Winner
Naomi Melati Bishop: “Gordon Bishop”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Nana Nkweti
2023: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: Chinonyelum Anyichie, “Blackbird”
Second Place: Uyen Dang, “A Line of Wings”
Third Place: Janey Tracey, “Cillian”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Hybrid Writing Contest
Guest Judged by Nicole McCarthy
2023: January 3 to February 28
Winners
First Place: Rowan McCandless, “Split Ends”
Second Place: Andrew Borneman, “The Babysitter”
Third Place: Baņuta Rubess, “Four Words Whispered on a Smoky Field”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
2022: November 1 to December 29
Winners
Christian Bodney: “What I Do and Don’t Remember from the Days and Nights of Endlessly Smoking Crack and Shooting Heroin”
Lotte Mitchell Reford: “On Possessing a Body”
Amber Wong: “Where Am I From?”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Amelia Gray 2K Contest
Guest Judged by Amelia Gray
2022: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Sudha Balagopal: “Flapping Wings and a Shoeless Walk”
Katharine Duckett: “Birds x Bees”
Amy Grote: “Penny, Barbara, Ruth, Irene”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Maisy Card
2022: May 3 to June 30
Winners
First Place: Leah Bailly, Vegaboy
Second Place: Sarah Harris Wallman, Angels and Bears
Third Place: Ra’Niqua Lee, Frenzied, Desperate Birds
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Alan Heathcock
2022: March 1 to May 1
Winners
First Place: Lisa K. Buchanan, “Question Twenty-Eight”
Second Place: Amy Stuber, “Ghosts”
Third Place: Billy Middleton, “Pine Barrens”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Hybrid Writing Contest
Judged by CRAFT Editors
2022: February 1 to February 28
Winners
First Place: Chelsea Biondolillo, “Weeds”
Second Place: Christine Hume & Laura Larson, “All the Women I Know (Sandra, Dani, Roma, Alex)”
Third Place: Jade Hidle, “Census”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Ira Sukrungruang
2021: November 1 to December 30
Winners
JT Baldassarre: “Roach Farm”
Amy Evans: “The Stoics”
Gina DeMillo Wagner: “Following Floodlights Instead of the Moon”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Robert Lopez
2021: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Amina Gautier : “What the Mouth Knows”
A.J. Rodriguez: “De Nuevo”
Pete Stevens: “Riders”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Masie Cochran
2021: May 3 to June 30
Winners
First Place: Sam Simas, We the Liars
Second Place: Sena Moon, Familiar Strangers
Third Place: Leigh Camacho Rourks, When We Drowned
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Kirstin Valdez Quade
2021: March 1 to May 2
Winners
First Place—Willa Zhang: “Night Air”
Second Place—Leesa Fenderson: “Ugly”
Third Place—Cyn Nooney: “Just the Thing for a Day Like This”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Creative Nonfiction Award
Guest Judged by Joy Castro
2020: November 1 to December 31
Winners
Tammy Delatorre: “The Ties That Bind”
Clare Fielder: “What You Don’t Know”
Liz Harmer: “Catalogue for a Coming of Age”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Leesa Cross-Smith
2020: September 1 to November 1
Winners
Puloma Ghosh: “In the Winter”
Ruth LeFaive: “It Will Be All of These Things”
Arshia Simkin: “Everything Is Haram and So Are You; or, What to Do with a Birthday Card”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Elements Contest: Conflict
2020: June 1 to August 3
Winners
John Haggerty: “Shelter”
Tobey Hiller: “Splinter”
Eliana Ramage: “This Dreary Exile of Our Earthly Home”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Alexander Chee
2020: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place—Jinwoo Chong: “Ariel”
Second Place—Rachel Pollon: “Yo Te Veo”
Third Place—Elie Piha: “Mule”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Flash Fiction Contest
Guest Judged by Benjamin Percy
2019: September 1 to October 31
Winners
Carol M. Quinn: “Epilogue”
Steven Simoncic: “Girls’ Weekend”
Hillary Smith: “How to Return Your Child to School”
Find our full list of honored entries here.
First Chapters Contest
Guest Judged by Naomi Huffman
2019: June 1 to July 31
Winners
First Place: Meg Richardson, Paradise Pawn
Second Place: Timothy Hickey, Little Squirrel
Third Place: Jonathan Bohr Heinen, Empire of Dirt
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Elizabeth McCracken
2019: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: “Winters,” by Marilyn Hope
Second Place: “Every Bird a Rival,” by Jacqui Reiko Teruya
Third Place: “Assassin, Alchemist,” by Robert Ren
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Elements Contest: Character, Dialogue, Setting
2018: August 15 to September 30
Winners
Character: “So Much Trouble,” by Karin Lin-Greenberg
Dialogue: “Heart Trouble,” by Rex Adams
Setting: “Passing,” by Thaïs Miller
Find our full list of honored entries here.
Short Fiction Prize
Guest Judged by Jim Shepard
2018: March 1 to April 30
Winners
First Place: “Beyond Love,” by James Winter
Second Place: “Mule Brigade,” by Kenan Orhan
Third Place: “Proof You Worked the Land,” by Charlotte Crowe
Find our full list of honored entries here.