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Quarter After Eight Writing Contests

Quarter After Eight Short Prose Contest

3rd annual Summer Poetry Chapbook Contest

Judge: Karyna McGlynn
Prize: $1000, plus 25 published copies of your chapbook.
Submissions Open: June 15, 2025
Closing Date: September 15, 2025

2024 Winner: Lane Devers
Judge: Hieu Minh Nguyen

We're seeking captivating poetry manuscripts that leave us in awe, wishing we had written them ourselves. Whether you're experimenting with form or evoking strange and mesmerizing auras, we want chapbooks that make us upset we didn鈥檛 write them ourselves. We especially welcome submissions from underrepresented groups. Open to new, emerging, and established writers. Please submit your chapbook manuscripts of up to 25 poems.

32nd annual Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest

Judge: Steven Dunn
Prize: $1,008.15 + Publication
Submissions open: Oct. 1, 2025
Closing Date: Nov. 30, 2025

2024 contest winners, judged by Lily Ho脿ng
Winner: Eliza Gilbert, "Unchained Melody"
First Runner up: Carlos G贸mez, "Turns"
Second Runner up: Julie Marie Wade, "茅tude: absence"

Submit up to three previously unpublished pieces of 500 words or fewer. Send us your best prose poems, short-short stories, micro-essays, etc. The entry fee is $15 for three pieces. Include a title page with your email address, mailing address, phone number, and the title(s) and genres of your submission. All entries will be considered for publication in Quarter After Eight. We no longer accept submissions by mail. All entries must be made online through our Submittable page.

Submit Your Work