2022 CONTEST

Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry, and Flash Categories

Poetry Judge: Diane Seuss

Fiction Judge: Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Nonfiction Judge: Kendra Allen

Flash Judge: Angie Sijun Lou

DEADLINE: September 1, 2022

Submit

NOTICE:

Due to a high volume of submissions this year, as well as the lasting impacts that COVID has had on our team and production cycle, response times are taking longer than usual. Please be patient with us as we try to keep up at this time. Thank you for your understanding in advance.

K-Ming Chang author photo

Poetry Judge: Diane Seuss

Diane Seuss is the author of five books of poetry. Her most recent collection is frank: sonnets (Graywolf Press 2021), winner of the PEN/Voelcker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, and a finalist the 2022 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, Claremont Graduate University. Still Life with Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl, (Graywolf Press 2018) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry. Four-Legged Girl (Graywolf Press 2015) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her sixth collection, Modern Poetry, is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2024. Seuss is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. She received the John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2021. Seuss was raised by a single mother in rural Michigan, which she continues to call home.

 

Eduardo C. Corral author photo

Fiction Judge: Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Maurice Carlos Ruffin is the author of The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, a New York Times Editor’s Choice that was also longlisted for the Story Prize, and We Cast a Shadow, which was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the PEN
America Open Book Prize.

Su Cho Author photo.

Nonfiction Judge: Kendra Allen

Kendra Allen was born and raised in Dallas, Tx. She’s the author of The Collection Plate, When You Learn the Alphabet, and Fruit Punch: a memoir. In her spare time she loves laughing, leaving, and writing music column Make Love in My Car for Southwest Review. You can keep up
with her work at KendraCanYou.Com.

 

J K Chukwu author photo.

Flash Judge: Angie Sijun Lou

Angie Sijun Lou is a Kundiman Fellow and Ph.D. Candidate in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writings have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry Northwest, The Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Best Small Fictions, The Georgia Review, The Asian American Literary Review, Hyphen, The Margins, and others. She edits fiction at FENCE. 

GUIDELINES

  • Fiction and Nonfiction: Submit up to 7,000 words.

  • Poetry: Submit a packet of up to 3 poems in one file.

  • Flash: Submit a packet of up to 3 flash pieces in one file. This can be in any genre, as long as the author considers it “flash.” We encourage experimental, hybrid, and lyrical submissions in this category. Image + text work is also welcomed. Surprise us. Word count is at the discretion of the submitter.

  • Cover letters are welcome.

  • Please do not include identifying information in your submission document. We will use your Submittable information to contact you, so please make sure your contact information is accurate and up-to-date.

  • Multiple submissions are welcome, as are simultaneous submissions. Please notify us immediately if your submission is accepted elsewhere.

  • We accept only previously unpublished work for publication. Winners in Nonfiction, Fiction, and Poetry genre receive $1000 and publication in BWR 48.2, our Spring 2022 issue. The first runner-up in each genre receive monetary compensation, acknowledgment in the print issue, and online publication (if desired). We may consider any submission for general publication.

  • The winner in Flash receives $500 and publication in BWR 48.2, our Spring 2022 issue. The first runner-up receives monetary compensation, acknowledgment in the print issue, and online publication (if desired). We may consider any submission for general publication.

  • The contest is open April 1 – September 1. Winners will be announced in October.

 

ELIGIBILITY

  • Students, faculty, staff, and administrators currently affiliated with the University of Alabama are ineligible for consideration or publication.

  • Intimate friends, relatives, colleagues, and former or current students of the judges are ineligible to submit in that category.

  • Previous winners should wait three years after their winning entry is published before entering again.

  • Black Warrior Review adheres to the CLMP Contest Code of Ethics.  You can find the CLMP Code of Ethics and our Contest Procedures here.

SUBMIT

  • Upload your submission as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf.

  • Contest submissions are free for up to 600 Black and Indigenous writers. We do not limit our definition of Indigenous to those from the U.S./Turtle Island. Submit here.

  • Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry: There is a $15 entry fee for each submission ($25 for international submissions). All domestic entrants receive a one-year subscription to BWR as a thank-you for your interest and support.

  • Flash: There is an $6 entry fee.

 
Submit