F – The Masters Review Summer Short Story Award for New Writers

Shake off the snow and break out your beach reads: it’s time for the Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers is a biannual contest that recognizes the best short prose from today’s emerging writers. We welcome submissions of previously unpublished fiction or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words. The contest runs is open to any writer who has not published a novel or memoir with a major press.

GUIDELINES:
The first-place winner receives $3,000, online publication, and agency review.
The second- and third-place finalists receive cash prizes ($300/$200), online publication, and agency review.
Submissions of fiction or nonfiction must be under 6,000 words.
Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites.
The entry fee is $20.
Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.
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.
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platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses and self-published authors are welcome to submit unpublished work.
International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use Times New Roman or Garamond.
The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PDT on August 27, 2023.
All entries are considered for publication in New Voices.
Every submission will receive a response by the end of November. The winners will be announced by the end of the year.
Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award. Consider submitting to the winter contest instead!
A significant portion of the editorial letter fee goes directly to your feedback editor.
We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for t best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold.