Editor’s Choice Award

$1,000 Editor's Choice Award

Deadline: November 10, 2025

We will begin accepting entries for the 2025 contest on July 1, 2025.

Guidelines

This year our editors are looking to read your best short narratives, whether they are stories, essays, poems, or hybrid forms. The only requirement is that each entry must be brief—1,000 words or fewer.

Rules, Tips & Notes

$20 entry fee for each manuscript submitted. A one-year digital subscription to New Letters is included in the price of the first entry.

No substitutions or revisions may be made after a manuscript has been submitted. Edits can be considered prior to publication, if the manuscript wins the award.
Simultaneous submissions of unpublished entries are accepted with proper notification upon acceptance elsewhere.
Multiple entries are welcome with appropriate fees.
The winner will be announced in early March 2026.
The winner will be published in New Letters and receive a $1,000 cash prize.
Online entries via Submittable only. Entries received through the postal mail will not be accepted and will be recycled upon receipt.
Current students and employees at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and current volunteer members of the New Letters staffs are not eligible.