New Letters Awards for Writers

$4,500 total prizes for writers
Next postmark deadline:  May 18, 2008.

The $1,500 New Letters Prize for Poetry

for the best group of three to six poems

The $1,500 Dorothy Churchill Cappon Prize for the Essay

for the best essay

The $1,500 Alexander Patterson Cappon Prize for Fiction

for the best short story

GUIDELINES

For a printable version of the 2008 guidelines, click here.

• $15 for first entry; $10 for every entry after. Entry fee includes the cost of a one-year subscription, renewal, or gift subscription to New Letters, shipped to any address within the United States.  (Subscriptions mailed outside the U.S. require a $12 postal surcharge.)  Make checks payable to New Letters.
   
• Two cover sheetsthe first with complete name, address, e-mail address, phone number, category, and title(s); and the second with category and title only.  Your personal information should not appear anywhere else on the entry.  For sample cover sheets, click here.
   
• A stamped, self-addressed postcard for notification of receipt and entry number.
   
• A stamped, self-addressed envelope for a list of winners.  This is optional.  Please send only one envelope if submitting more than one entry.

• All entries will be considered for publication in New Letters.
   
• Fiction and essay entries are not to exceed 8,000 words.  A single poetry entry may contain up to six poems, and those poems need not be related.
   
• Multiple entries are accepted with appropriate fees.  Please make cover sheets for each entry of fiction, essay, or group of poems.
   
• Manuscripts will not be returned.
   
• No substitutions after submissions.  No refunds will be offered for withdrawn material.
   

• Current students and employees of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and current volunteer members of the New Letters and BkMk Press staffs, are not eligible.

• Postmark by May 18, 2008.

Entire list

The annual New Letters Awards for Writers were established in 1986 to discover and reward new writers and to encourage more established writers to try new genres or new work in competition.  The contest is open to any writer.  The number of entries and finalists varies year-to-year, and in 2007, the New Letters Writing Contests received entries from all 50 states and 20 foreign countries.  In order to assure fairness throughout the judging process, all judging is done anonymously and by writers outside the New Letters staff, with two rounds of judges making finalist and winner decisions.  For final judges from previous years, please see the list below.

Finalists are notified in mid-to-late July.  Final judges select one winner and one runner-up in each category, which are announced the third week of September.  First runners-up receive a courtesy copy of a recent book of poetry or fiction from our affiliate BkMk Press.  Judges have the option to select work for second runner-up and honorable mentions.  All finalists are listed in the New Letters issue in which the winners are published.  These and all other entries will be considered for publication by the New Letters editor. 

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