In case you missed last week’s announcement, The Masters Review will be hosting its first Spring Small Fiction Awards, honoring winners in Microfiction, Flash Fiction, and Sudden Fiction. Today, we are thrilled to announce that the first judge of this new award will be none other than K-Ming Chang! For the full contest details, see below or on our contest page. The Spring Small Fiction Awards will open for submissions on April 1st.
//Submissions Open April 1//
We’ve long admired the mighty power of the compressed form, which is why we are expanding our search for the very best in small fiction. The Masters Review is excited to announce the new Spring Small Fiction Awards! This contest will honor a grand prize winner in three categories—Microfiction, Flash Fiction, and Sudden Fiction—by awarding $1,000 and online publication to each winner selected by the magnificent K-Ming Chang! This year’s judge will be announced next week. A runner-up in each category will also be honored with a $200 prize and online publication.
For this contest:
— Microfiction is any story up to 500 words.
— Flash Fiction is any story between 501 and 1,000 words.
— Sudden Fiction is any story between 1,001 and 1,500 words.
We welcome up to two stories per submission, in any combination of the three categories. Please include both stories in one document.
JUDGING
K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of The New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice novel Bestiary (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2021, her chapbook, Bone House, was published by Bull City Press. Her most recent book is Gods of Want (One World/Random House, 2022). Her next books are a novel titled Organ Meats (One World) and a novella titled Cecilia (Coffee House Press). She can be found birdwatching in California.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
- Grand Prize Winners in each category receive $1,000 and online publication.
- Runners-up in each category receive $200 and online publication.
- Microfiction is any story up to 500 words.
- Flash Fiction is any story between 501 and 1,000 words.
- Sudden Fiction is any story between 1,001 and 1,500 words.
- Your $20 entry fee allows up to two stories. If submitting two stories, please include both stories in one document. If your two stories are from different categories, please check both relevant boxes in the submission form.
- Submitted work must be previously unpublished in any form. Reprints will be disqualified.
- Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.
- All submissions will be considered for publication in New Voices.
- This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
- International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
- Note our deadline: June 1, 2023.
- All submissions will receive a response by the end of August.
- Winners will be announced by the end of September.
- Friends, family, and associates of the final judge are not eligible for this award.
- A significant portion of the editorial letter fee goes to your feedback editor.