The MAYDAY Prizes will open for submissions on September 1, 2023. First, second, and third place winners in each category will receive publication, promotion, and the following cash prizes:

• First place: $500
• Second place: $250
• Third Place: $100

General Guidelines

• Manuscripts should be a Word or PDF document. Please use the title of your story as your document name.
• In your cover letter, please include your name, contact information, and a brief third-person bio.
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere while under our consideration.
• Entry fee is $20.
• Deadline is November 1, 2023.

The MAYDAY Short Fiction Prize

• Submit a story that responds to or somehow reflects the theme “Endings.”
• Submissions should be 1,500 words or less and previously unpublished.
• Please double-space your manuscript.
• Our guest judge will be Alissa Hattman, author of the novel Sift. Her writing has appeared in The Rumpus, Carve, The Gravity of the Thing, Propeller, Big Other, Shirley Magazine, MAYDAY, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Pacific University and a MA in English Literature from Portland State University. Alissa has worked as a fiction editor, book reviewer, zine librarian, writing group facilitator, and teacher. She lives in the Pacific Northwest.

The MAYDAY Prizes will open for submissions on September 1, 2023. First, second, and third place winners in each category will receive publication, promotion, and the following cash prizes:

• First place: $500
• Second place: $250
• Third Place: $100

General Guidelines

• Manuscripts should be a Word or PDF document. Please use the title of your essay as your document name.
• In your cover letter, please include your name, contact information, and a brief third-person bio.
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere while under our consideration.
• Entry fee is $20.
• Deadline is November 1, 2023.

The MAYDAY Creative Nonfiction Prize

• Submit an essay that responds to the theme “Changing My Mind,” which might refer to trying to change the minds of others, something you changed your mind about, or a subject you wish you could look at differently. Editors would especially love to see humor in your piece.
• Essays should be 5,000 words or less and previously unpublished.
• Please double-space your manuscript.
• No guest judge; winners will be selected by the editors.

The MAYDAY Prizes will open for submissions on September 1, 2023. First, second, and third place winners in each category will receive publication, promotion, and the following cash prizes:

• First place: $500
• Second place: $250
• Third Place: $100

General Guidelines

• Manuscripts should be a Word or PDF document. Please use the title of your micro-chapbook as your document name. Do not include identifying information in your manuscript file.
• In your cover letter, please include your name, contact information, and a brief third-person bio.
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted. Please let us know immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere while under our consideration.
• Entry fee is $20.
• Deadline is November 1, 2023.

The MAYDAY Micro-Chapbook Poetry Prize

• Submit a micro-chapbook of 8-12 pages of poetry.
• Please also include a title page and dedication/epigraph.
• Please single-space the poems in your manuscript.
• Individual poems from the manuscript may have been published previously in magazines or anthologies, but the collection as a whole must be unpublished.
• Our guest judge will be Sophia Terazawa, author of Anon and Winter Phoenix, both with Deep Vellum, along with the chapbooks I AM NOT A WAR (Essay Press) and Correspondent Medley (Factory Hollow Press), winner of the 2018 Tomaž Šalamun Prize. She teaches poetry at Virginia Tech. Her favorite color is purple.

Submissions for the 2024 New American Poetry Prize are now open. The winning manuscript will be published and its author will receive $1500, promotional support, and 25 author copies.

Manuscripts should be at least 48 pages, but there is no maximum length. All forms and styles of poetry are welcome.

DEADLINE: January 15, 2024.

We read manuscripts blind, so please exclude identifying information from the manuscript itself. All necessary contact information is included in your Submittable record. We do not accept submissions by email or post. Please use Submittable to send your work.

Final judge this year is NIKKI WALLSCHLAEGER, author of the full-length collections Waterbaby (Copper Canyon 2021), Crawlspace (Bloof 2017), and Houses (Horseless Press 2015)  as well as the graphic book I Hate Telling You How I Really Feel (Bloof 2019). Wallschlaeger’s work has been featured in The Nation, Brick, American Poetry Review, Witness, Kenyon Review, Poetry, and others. She is also the author of an artist book called “Operation USA” through the Baltimore-based book arts group Container, a project acquired by Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee.

More information is available at our Frequently Asked Questions.

Further questions may be directed to david@newamericanpress.com.