Our annual Novel Excerpt Contest is just around the corner, and we’re thrilled to announce that former Short Story Award winner Nick Fuller Googins has agreed to select this year’s winners! Nick’s newest novel,The Frequency of Living Things, was published earlier this month by Atria Books. You can read our review of The Great Transition here, Nick’s prize-winning story, “Drop Zone Summer,” or more about what our judge does when he’s not writing right here. (Is it obvious we’re big fans?) The Novel Excerpt Contest will open for submissions of novel excerpts up to 6,000 words on September 10, and close on November 9. You can find out more about the contest, as well as what our judge is looking in submissions, below or on our contest page.
About the Judge
Nick Fuller Googins is the author of the novels, The Frequency of Living Things and The Great Transition. His short fiction and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Men’s Health, The Sun, The Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. He lives in Maine, and works as an elementary school teacher. He is a member of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, as well as the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the United States.
Here’s what Nick is looking for:
I used to volunteer for a well-respected literary magazine, reading through the slush pile. We were given 100 stories as a batch, with orders to send no more than one to the editors for consideration. Yikes! Given these tight parameters, I developed a radar for unnecessary confusion, and to this day, I’m on high alert for writing that feels needlessly difficult. I also remember, as a new writer, feeling the pressure to “prove” that I could write, but so often this led to confusing language or round-about sentences and plots that made my readers scratch their heads. It took a long time for me to go back to the basics. I encourage writers to simplify, simplify, simplify. What reader loves feeling dumb for not understanding the basics of who, where, or what they are encountering on the page? A great novel, or story, in my opinion, is crystal clear in these basic foundational elements, allowing for the author’s unique language, tone, dialogue, or plot to shine through and delight.
Submission Guidelines
- The winner receives $3,000; online publication; and a consultation with Marin Takikawa, a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency.
- The second- and third-place finalists receive cash prizes ($300/$200), online publication, and agent feedback.
- Submitted excerpts must be under 6,000 words.
- Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published excerpts will be automatically disqualified.
- 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 excerpt is accepted or contracted 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 judge will review the shortlist anonymously.
- This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author 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.
- No translations, please.
- All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font.
- Excerpts from novels under contract for 2025 or 2026 are ineligible, but novels under contract from 2027 and beyond are eligible.
- The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PST on Sunday, November 9, 2025.
- All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.
- Every submission will receive a response by the end of March 2026. The winners will be announced in May 2026.
- AI-generated or -assisted submissions will be automatically disqualified.
- Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award, nor are past winners of the Novel Excerpt Contest.