-1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest
Enter Midway Journal’s -1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest for a chance to win the $500 grand prize! See contest guidelines below.
Opens: March 1st
Closes: June 1st
Fee: $10 per entry (unlimited entries)
Prizes:
First Prize: $500 + publication in Midway Journal
Second Prize:$250 + publication in Midway Journal
Third Prize: $50 + publication in Midway Journal
Judge: Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh
Contest Guidelines:
Entries and payments must be received through Midway Journal‘s online submission manager under “-1000 Below: Flash Prose and Poetry Contest.” You may submit an unlimited number of entries, but a new entry fee must be paid for each new submission. You may also submit to each genre. However, there is only one grand prize winner, one second prize winner and one third prize winner and not a winner in each genre.
Paste the title of your submission and your contact information (name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address) in the cover letter box. Your name and contact information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript you upload.
Previously published work will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are permitted, but must be withdrawn from the contest if accepted elsewhere.
Poetry: up to 2 poems per entry, up to 55 words per poem. No more than one poem per page.
Prose (Fiction and Nonfiction): 1 piece per entry, up to 1,000 words per piece.
All submissions will be considered for publication.
Judge: Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh
Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh (she/they) is a biracial Nisei and the author of five volumes of poetry, most recently tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 (Milkweed Editions, 2019), named a “Best Book of 2019” by the New York Public Library and listed as a poetry finalist in the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards. Her fiction collection, Reveal Codes, winner of the Moon City Press Short Fiction Award, was published by Moon City Press in 2023, and their chapbook, #stringofbeads, a winner of the Diode Chapbook Competition, was published by Diode Press in 2023. Her book of lyric essays, unMothered, unTongued, was recently named winner of the Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction in the 2024 AWP Award Series and will be forthcoming from the University of Georgia Press. Horikoshi Roripaugh received the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series. Seven of their essays have been listed as Notable Essays in Best American Essays, and her poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in Kenyon Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, American Poetry Review, Story Magazine, Terrain.org, Hotel Amerika, and North American Review, among others.
Judging Process:
The staff of Midway Journal will select a group of finalists from all the contest entries. Finalists will be chosen for strong work regardless of genre and sent to the judge by September. The finalists will be sent to judge blindly. A winner will be announced in October.
Enter Midway Journal’s Action/Words Poetry Contest for a chance to win the $300 grand prize! See contest guidelines below.
Opens: October 1st
Closes: December 31st
Fee: $10 per entry (unlimited entries)
Prizes:
First Prize: $300 + publication in Midway Journal
Second Prize: $150 + publication in Midway Journal
Third Prize: $50 + publication in Midway Journal
Judge: Leah Umansky
Contest Guidelines:
Entries and payments must be received through Midway Journal‘s online submission manager under “Action/Words Poetry Contest.” You may submit an unlimited number of entries, but a new entry fee must be paid for each new submission.
Action/Words Poetry Contest seeks submissions that call for, enact, or reflect upon connections between poetry and praxis. Each fall, the Midway team will select a verb to serve as the “action word” and theme for that year’s contest. This year, we have selected the verb “to face.” We welcome writers to submit poems that respond directly or indirectly to the various meanings of this term.
Paste the title of your submission and your bio and contact information (name, mailing address, email address, etc.) in the cover letter box. Your name and contact information must not appear anywhere on the manuscript you upload.
Previously published work will not be accepted. Simultaneous submissions are permitted but must be withdrawn from the contest if accepted elsewhere.
Poetry: up to 3 poems per entry. Any style. No word limits. No more than one poem per page.
All submissions will be considered for publication.
Judge: Leah Umansky
Leah Umansky is the author of three collections of poetry, including her newest, OF TYRANT (Word Works Books 2024.) She earned her MFA in Poetry at Sarah Lawrence College and has curated and hosted The COUPLET Reading Series in NYC since 2011. Her creative work has been featured on PBS and The Slowdown Podcast, and in such places as The New York Times, The Nation, The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, POETRY, and American Poetry Review. She is an educator and writing coach who has taught workshops to all ages. She can be found at www.leahumansky.com and at @leah.umansky on IG.
Judging Process:
The staff of Midway Journal will select a group of finalists from all the contest entries. Finalists will be chosen for strong work regardless of style and sent to the judge by February. The finalists will be sent to judge blindly. A winner will be announced in March and published in Midway.