Submissions to the Best Emerging Writers anthology, our thirteenth volume, are now open through June 2nd! Ten winners, selected by guest judge Gina Chung, will earn a $700 prize, publication online and in our print anthology, a contributor’s copy and exposure to over fifty literary agencies as part of our exclusive mailing distribution. Submit your best unpublished prose (up to 7,000 words) before the deadline for your chance to be named a Best Emerging Writer. Find all the details below or on our contest page!
Submissions Close June 2!
Guidelines:
- Submissions of fiction or creative nonfiction must be under 7,000 words.
- Submitted work must be previously unpublished, which includes publication on personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
- The entry fee per submission is $20.
- Multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 fee.
- Simultaneous submissions are also allowed. However, 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.
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Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit for free until we reach fifty submissions in this category.
- We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest, though the guest 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writers; authors with books published by indie or university presses and self-published authors are welcome to submit unpublished work.
- 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 (or larger, if needed for accessibility).
- The contest’s deadline is 11:59 p.m. PDT on June 2, 2024.
- All entries are considered for publication in New Voices.
- Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are ineligible for this award.
- Writers whose work appears in previous editions of our anthology are ineligible for this award.
- A significant portion of the editorial letter fee is paid directly to your feedback editor.
Ten winners will receive:
- a $700 award;
- publication in our internationally distributed anthology and on our website;
- a contributor’s copy;
- and exposure to over fifty literary agencies as part of our exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country.
About the Judge
Gina Chung is a Korean American writer from New Jersey currently living in New York City. She is the author of the novel Sea Change, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a 2023 B&N Discover Pick, an APALA Adult Fiction Honor Book, and a New York Times Most Anticipated Book, and the short story collection Green Frog (out March 12, 2024, from Vintage in the US and June 6, 2024, from Picador in the UK). A recipient of the Pushcart Prize, she is a 2021-2022 Center for Fiction/Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellow and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School. Her work appears or is forthcoming in One Story, BOMB, The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, Catapult, Electric Literature, and Gulf Coast, among others.
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 strengths as well as opportunities for revision, suggest journals where you might submit a revised version of your story, and include other comments on craft. Though there is a reading fee for this option, a significant portion of the fee goes to your feedback editor. See a sample editorial letter.