Submissions open February 5!
Since day one, our mission has been to support new and emerging writers by providing a platform that celebrates their work. This year, we are excited to announce a new contest devoted specifically to brand new fiction writers. The Debut Fiction Prize will honor the work of writers who display tremendous promise in their craft. Our goal is to provide a boost for these writers at the very beginning stages of their career and help them take the next steps forward.
We will welcome submissions of previously unpublished fiction up to 6,000 words from writers who have never published in the genre. Our winners will be chosen by Julie Iromuanya, author of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor and the forthcoming A Season of Light. Our contest runs from February 5, 2025, to April 6, 2025. The first-place winner will receive a $3,000 grand prize, while second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively. All winners will also receive a copy of Best Emerging Writers, an anthology by The Masters Review which will be published in May 2025. We publish all winning pieces online.
Submission Guidelines:
- The first-place winner receives $3,000, online publication, and a copy of Best Emerging Writers.
- The second- and third-place finalists receive cash prizes ($300/$200), online publication, and a copy of Best Emerging Writers.
- Submissions of fiction must be under 6,000 words.
- This contest is for debut fiction writers only. Emerging writers with publication history in poetry and creative nonfiction are welcome to submit their debut fiction, as are self-published writers and writers with fiction publications in campus magazines.
- Writers whose work is scheduled to be published later this year are ineligible for this prize.
- Please see our FAQ below for more information regarding eligibility in this contest.
- Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
- The entry fee is $20.
- Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.
- Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit for free until we reach fifty submissions in this category.
- If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission on Submittable, or contact us otherwise to let us know the piece is no longer available.
- We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest, but the guest judge will read the shortlist anonymously.
- International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English. Some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
- No translations, please.
- All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use Times New Roman or Garamond 12.
- The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PDT on April 6, 2025.
- All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.
- Every submission will receive a response by the end of July 2025. The winners will be announced in September 2025.
- AI-generated submissions will be automatically disqualified.
- Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award.
Judging
Julie Iromuanuya is the author of A Season of Light (Algonquin Books, 2025) and Mr. and Mrs. Doctor (Coffee House Press, 2015), a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize for Debut Fiction. Her scholarly-critical work most recently appears in Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism; Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters; Afropolitan Literature as World Literature (Bloomsbury Publishing), and The Georgia Review. She is a 2020 George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation Fellow, and she was the inaugural Herbert W. Martin Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. Iromuanya earned her PhD at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. She is an assistant professor for the Program in Creative Writing at the University of Chicago and affiliate faculty of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture.
Editorial Letter Option
If you’re interested in getting feedback on your writing, utilize our editorial letter add-on option. Our response to your submission will be accompanied by a one- to two-page letter from an experienced guest editor, who will offer observations on the strengths of the piece as well as opportunities for revision. Your editor may also offer further submission and reading suggestions, or other comments on craft. A significant portion of the additional fee is paid directly to your feedback editor. See a sample editorial letter.
Frequently Asked Questions
I haven’t published fiction before, but I have published a book review. Am I eligible?
Yes, you’re eligible!
I’ve published flash fiction in an online litmag—am I eligible?
Unfortunately, you’re not eligible since you’ve published fiction before, even fiction under 1,000 words. Consider submitting to New Voices or one of our seasonal Short Story Awards for New Writers!
I publish my fiction on a personal blog, but I’ve never been published in a literary journal. What about me?
Good news—you’re eligible, provided your submission hasn’t been published on your blog.
I published a short story in college with an undergraduate-run litmag. Can I submit?
If submissions were limited to only members of the university community and distribution was limited, then you’re eligible. If submissions were open to a wider audience, then you would not be eligible.
I published a short story five or ten or fifteen years ago, but nothing since. Can I submit new work?
Unfortunately you would not be eligible for this contest, since you’ve debuted in the past. But feel free to submit to one of our other opportunities in the future!
If you still are unsure whether you’re eligible, please get in touch with us at contact@mastersreview.com.
All previous contest winners can be found on our Past Awards page.