Summer 2025 Editor's Prize Contest
NOTE: We have extended the deadline for poetry submissions to August 8!
Genres
Fiction, Poetry, & Flash
Prize
$350 and publication in our Fall 2025 issue of Peatsmoke
Entry Fee
In order to keep this contest as accessible as possible, our entry fee is $12 per submission.
All submissions will be considered for publication in our fall issue, even if they are not chosen as contest winners.
Authors are welcome to make multiple separate submissions, each with a submission fee.
We will read all submissions blind, so please do not include any identifying information within your document. We will also announce at least three runners-up per genre.
We will only consider original, previously unpublished work. Work that has previously appeared elsewhere, including blogs or personal websites, will not be considered.
It is always our mission to support and lift up the voices of marginalized writers, so we encourage BIPOC, disabled, LGBTQIA+, and neurodivergent writers to submit. We are also excited to see work by previously unpublished writers.
Fiction
Please submit one short story per entry, 2,000-6,000 words in length. All subject matter is welcome, as long as it is not discriminatory in nature. We are equally excited to see speculative work and realism. Bring it on!
Poetry
Please submit up to three poems per entry. Each individual poem may be of any length. 12-point font.
Flash
You may submit up to three pieces per entry, each piece under 1,000 words in length. We’re open to all subject matter, as long as it is not discriminatory in nature. Realism, speculative, traditional narration, and formal exploration are all welcome to the party!
We will announce our winners in September. We can’t wait to read your work!
Peatsmoke features artists in each issue, with art paired with each story and poem and displayed prominently on our main page. We are into any kind of 2-D art that appears well on a website, but the one exception is cartoons. It's hard to pair them well with another piece of writing.
Send us your collage, your photography, your paintings, your sculptures, your line drawings, your wood cuts, your etchings, your linotypes, your sand art --- whatever it is, we'd love to check it out. For our consideration, please give us a submission of 5-10 images. Upload each JPEG image with a name or title so that it is easier for us to differentiate between pieces. Please send only one submission at a time and wait until you have received a response before submitting again. If you were in our past two issues, please skip this submission cycle (unless asked to submit) so we can give more artists a chance to get published.
Sometimes it can take months, even up to a year, before we accept or decline, a submission, especially if we like your work. We pair art and writing, so finding a match can take time, but we realize the long wait can be frustrating. If you want an update, feel free to send our art editor, Shagufta, a message after it has been three months since you submitted. If you would like to have your submission opened for editing to replace art that was accepted elsewhere, let us know at any time.
We accept simultaneous submissions but if any of your pieces are accepted elsewhere, please let us know immediately.