The Writer

 Summer seems like the right time to write short. Show us your very best work in any genre, fiction or nonfiction. The catch? We’ll only accept works that are 1,000 words or less. 

Deadline: July 15th, 2018

Grand prize: $1,000 and publication in our magazine

Word count: 1,000 words or less

Other prizes: Our second-place winner will receive $500 and publication on our website, writermag.com; our third-place winner will receive $250 and publication on writermag.com as well.  

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PLEASE READ ALL GUIDELINES BEFORE SUBMITTING.

Guidelines:

• The submission deadline is midnight EDT on July 15th, 2018. Please note that the deadline is eastern time. If you are unsure when that would be in your time zone, we recommend using an online time zone converter, such as thetimezoneconverter.com. Every year, we receive emails from writers who waited until the last minute to enter and experienced a technical glitch or another emergency. To be safe, we recommend submitting before the final deadline to account for any problems. If you do experience a technical problem, contact customerservice@madavor.com and we will do our very best to help you. 

• The entry fee is $25 (including processing fees). All entries MUST be submitted through Submittable to be considered. We cannot accept mailed or emailed submissions. 

• We encourage you to submit multiple entries for a discounted entry fee of $15. All entries must be submitted on the same transaction in order to get the discounted rate. The first submission will be $25 and each additional submission (up to 5 per transaction) will be $15.

• You may choose to add on a critique of one of your entries for an additional $25. Our critiques are roughly 200 words and aim to show both your work's best strengths in addition to what might need improvement. If you submit more than one piece, our judging panel will critique the story that we felt was the strongest overall. Again, if you submit more than one entry and you add-on a critique fee, we will only critique one piece. You will receive your critique in an email via Submittable once we close the contest and announce the winners. It takes a great deal of time to read all entries and craft our critiques, so please have patience with us as we work through our entries.

• You may enter simultaneously submitted work. However, if one of your pieces is accepted for publication anywhere else, please withdraw your entry on Submittable and email us at tweditorial@madavor.com immediately so we know your story is no longer under consideration. We are not able to give refunds for contest entries that were accepted for publication elsewhere, so consider your options carefully before entering simultaneously submitted work.

• Do not submit any work over 1000 words or it will be disqualified. (Your piece's title will not be included in the final word count.)

• Please remove your name, bio, and any contact info from the file that you submit – including title page, header and footer. This is a blind contest and your confidentiality is essential. Once we close the contest and determine our winners, Submittable will allow us to contact you via your account information. There is no need whatsoever to include your personal information in your document.

• We prefer Word documents, but we do accept some other file types (such as PDFs). Please do give your piece a title and make sure that title matches the name you enter in the Submittable "title" form. (Your title will not be included in the maximum word count). For multiple submissions, simply enter one of your stories' titles in the Submittable form.

• A blind reading of all entries will be conducted by the editorial staff of The Writer.

• $1,000 and publication in a future issue of our magazine will be awarded to the winner. The runner-up will receive $500 and publication on writermag.com. The third-place winner will receive $250 and publication on writermag.com.

• Close friends and colleagues (current & former) of The Writer staff and Madavor Media are not eligible to compete.

• All submissions must be submitted via our online submission form manager. Again, we will not accept mail or email submissions. 

• All submissions must be previously unpublished. A work that has previously appeared on a blog or website is considered previously published and is thus ineligible for our competition.

• Entry fees are non-refundable.

• International (non-US) writers are welcome to submit.

• Must be 18 years or older to enter.