Best Emerging Writers 2026

Fifteen years ago, The Masters Review opened with a call for stories with a sense of urgency and authenticity, with a dare to “be creative, bend genres, and be yourself.” From this call emerged our very first anthology, and for every year since, these criteria have been our guiding principles. This April, we’re opening a call for submissions for our anthology for the fifteenth time. Best Emerging Writers 2026 will showcase a collection of prose from ten emerging writers who are bold and brave, who tell stories only they can tell, stories that must be told now. 

Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal, will select this year’s best emerging writers! Each of our ten winners will receive a $700 award and a print copy of the book.

“I am so excited to read your dearest and truest work. I love stories of all kinds—ultra realistic, ultra-wild, quiet, loud, lush, sparse. What I want is to read work that feels bright with your own obsessions, your own way of seeing. I love a sentence that makes me want to stop and re-read. Bring me your particularity, your exact images, your surprises, and your care—it will be my great good luck to be on the other side.” 

—Guest Judge Ramona Ausubel

Our anthology has been at the heart of our mission to provide a platform for emerging writers since day one, and we’re excited to share these stories and essays both in our printed book and on our website, where they will be highlighted for a full year. The book will be available for purchase at Bookshop.org and other online distributors. Submissions will open April 6 and close June 7, 2026. As always, we don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best.

Guidelines:

• Submissions of fiction or creative nonfiction must be under 8,000 words.
• Submitted work must be previously unpublished, which includes publication on personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
• The entry fee per submission is $20.
• Simultaneous submissions and multiple submissions are allowed, though each submission requires a $20 entry fee.
• Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit  for free until we reach fifty submissions in this category.
• If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission on Submittable, or contact us otherwise to let us know the piece is no longer available.
• We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest, though the guest judge will review the shortlist anonymously.
• This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
• International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
• No translations, please. 
• All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font. 
• The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PDT on June 7, 2026.
• All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.
• Every submission will receive a response by the end of September 2026. The winners will be announced in October 2026.
• Friends, family, and close associates of the guest judge are ineligible for this award.
• Writers whose work appears in previous editions of our anthology are ineligible for this award.

Ten winners will receive:

• a $700 award;
• publication in our internationally distributed anthology and on our website;
• a contributor’s copy;
• and exposure to over fifty literary agencies as part of our exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country.

Raffle Opportunity

For an additional $5, sign up to participate in our raffle. One lucky winner will receive editorial feedback on a story or essay of their choice. Other prizes include a copy of JR Fenn’s Tiny Vessels, back issues of The Masters Review’s anthologies, and a voucher for a free submission to any future TMR contest. Ten winners will be announced in June after submissions close.

About the Judge

Ramona Ausubel is the national bestselling author of five books of fiction, most recently The Last Animal which won the National Book Foundation Science + Literature Prize. Unstuck: 101 doorways leading from the blank page to the last page, a writer’s guide, will be published by Tin House Zando in April 2026. She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award, the Cabell First Novelist Award and has been a finalist for both the California and Colorado Book Awards and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review daily, One Story, Tin House, The Oxford American, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She is a professor at Colorado State University and lives in Boulder with her family. 

Editorial Letter Option

If you’re interested in getting feedback on your writing, utilize our editorial letter add-on option. Our response to your submission will be accompanied by a one- to two-page letter from an experienced guest editor, who will offer observations on the strengths of the piece as well as opportunities for revision. Your editor may also offer further submission and reading suggestions, or other comments on craft. A significant portion of the additional fee is paid directly to your feedback editor. See a sample editorial letter.

Best Emerging Writers 2026

Note: This submission category is for marginalized or historically underrepresented writers ONLY. 

Fifteen years ago, The Masters Review opened with a call for stories with a sense of urgency and authenticity, with a dare to “be creative, bend genres, and be yourself.” From this call emerged our very first anthology, and for every year since, these criteria have been our guiding principles. This April, we’re opening a call for submissions for our anthology for the fifteenth time. Best Emerging Writers 2026 will showcase a collection of prose from ten emerging writers who are bold and brave, who tell stories only they can tell, stories that must be told now. 

Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal, will select this year’s best emerging writers! Each of our ten winners will receive a $700 award and a print copy of the book.

“I am so excited to read your dearest and truest work. I love stories of all kinds—ultra realistic, ultra-wild, quiet, loud, lush, sparse. What I want is to read work that feels bright with your own obsessions, your own way of seeing. I love a sentence that makes me want to stop and re-read. Bring me your particularity, your exact images, your surprises, and your care—it will be my great good luck to be on the other side.” 

—Guest Judge Ramona Ausubel

Our anthology has been at the heart of our mission to provide a platform for emerging writers since day one, and we’re excited to share these stories and essays both in our printed book and on our website, where they will be highlighted for a full year. The book will be available for purchase at Bookshop.org and other online distributors. Submissions will open April 6 and close June 7, 2026. As always, we don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best.

Guidelines:

• Submissions of fiction or creative nonfiction must be under 8,000 words.
• Submitted work must be previously unpublished, which includes publication on personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
• Writers from historically marginalized or underrepresented groups are invited to submit  for free until we reach fifty submissions in this category.
• If your submission is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw your submission on Submittable, or contact us otherwise to let us know the piece is no longer available.
• We do not require anonymous submissions for this contest, though the guest judge will review the shortlist anonymously.
• This contest is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author book-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
• International submissions are allowed, provided the work is written primarily in English.
• No translations, please. 
• All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use 12pt Times New Roman or Garamond font. 
• The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PDT on June 7, 2026.
• All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.
• Every submission will receive a response by the end of September 2026. The winners will be announced in October 2026.
• Friends, family, and close associates of the guest judge are ineligible for this award.
• Writers whose work appears in previous editions of our anthology are ineligible for this award.

Ten winners will receive:

• a $700 award;
• publication in our internationally distributed anthology and on our website;
• a contributor’s copy;
• and exposure to over fifty literary agencies as part of our exclusive mailing. We send our anthology to editors, writers, and literary institutions across the country.

Raffle Opportunity

For $5, sign up to participate in our raffle. One lucky winner will receive editorial feedback on a story or essay of their choice. Other prizes include a copy of JR Fenn’s Tiny Vessels, back issues of The Masters Review’s anthologies, and a voucher for a free submission to any future TMR contest. Ten winners will be announced in June after submissions close.

About the Judge

Ramona Ausubel is the national bestselling author of five books of fiction, most recently The Last Animal which won the National Book Foundation Science + Literature Prize. Unstuck: 101 doorways leading from the blank page to the last page, a writer’s guide, will be published by Tin House Zando in April 2026. She is the recipient of the PEN/USA Fiction Award, the Cabell First Novelist Award and has been a finalist for both the California and Colorado Book Awards and the New York Public Library Young Lions Award. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Paris Review daily, One Story, Tin House, The Oxford American, Ploughshares and elsewhere. She is a professor at Colorado State University and lives in Boulder with her family. 

Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author. Writers with single-author novel-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We accept simultaneous and multiple submissions but ask that you inform us immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere. 

The Masters Review pays a flat rate of $100 for flash-length stories (1,000 words or fewer) and $200 for longer stories (up to 7,000 words). We are thrilled to be paying for published pieces but will be highly selective in our choices for publication.

Guidelines
 

• This category is for emerging writers only. Writers with single-author novel-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
• We accept fiction and narrative non-fiction. We do accept a variety of genres and styles; our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. We want to be wowed. Bend genres, experiment with structure, and write your heart out. But please, send us polished work. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. Send us only your best.
• We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
• All submissions must be under 7,000 words.
• If you're submitting flash, feel free to include up to three stories in a single document.
• We do accept multiple submissions.
• We cannot consider work that has been previously published in any form. This includes personal blogs.
• Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history and a short bio.
• We aim to respond to all submissions within twelve weeks. Please do not email before twelve weeks have passed. 
• For submissions that request an editorial letter, a significant portion of the editorial letter fees go to our feedback editor.
•  We do not consider or review AI-generated work. Submissions utilizing AI tools will be automatically declined.

We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold. Thanks for supporting our publication, and thank you for your work. 

The Masters Review is committed to providing a platform to diverse, emerging voices. We are now offering an expedited reading category explicitly for marginalized or underrepresented writers. Submitters to this category may choose to receive either a response in two weeks or fewer; or a few sentences of feedback, if declined. 

Although our aim is speedy responses, we can occasionally be backed up by the demand in this category. We prioritize close reading and valuable feedback over quick responses, but if you've requested feedback and your piece is still pending after six weeks, please gently nudge us at contact [at] mastersreview.com for an update. 

All submissions are considered for publication on our website under New Voices, and our regular New Voices guidelines apply (see below). The Masters Review pays a flat rate of $100 flash-length submissions (1,000 words or fewer) and $200 for longer works (up to 7,000 words).

Please see the guidelines below, or contact us at contact [at] mastersreview.com with any questions. This form is for marginalized or underrepresented writers only. If you'd like to submit work with an expedited response time and do not identify as BIPOC or as a writer from another demographic who has been historically mis- or underrepresented in publishing, you may do so here with a $9.99 fee. 

Black Lives Matter. Black Voices Matter. 

With love,

 Cole, Brandon, Jen and the entire Masters Review team.   

Guidelines

• This form is for BIPOC and historically marginalized writers only.
• New Voices submissions are for emerging writers. Writers with single-author novel-length work published or under contract with a major press are ineligible. We are interested in providing a platform to new writers; authors with books published by indie presses are welcome to submit unpublished work, as are self-published authors.
• We accept fiction and narrative non-fiction. We do accept a variety of genres and styles, our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft. We want to be wowed. Bend genres, experiment with structure, and write your heart out. But please, send us polished work. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. Send us only your best.
• We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
• All submissions must be under 7,000 words.
• If you're submitting flash, feel free to include up to three stories in a single document.
• Please, only one active submission at a time. 
• Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history and a short bio.
• Do not submit work to this category if you do not identify as BIPOC or as a writer from another demographic who has been historically mis- or underrepresented in publishing.
•  We do not consider or review AI-generated work. Submissions utilizing AI tools will be automatically declined.   

We don’t have any preferences topically or in terms of style. We’re simply looking for the best. We don’t define, nor are we interested in, stories identified by their genre. We do, however, consider ourselves a publication that focuses on literary fiction. Dazzle us, take chances, and be bold. Thanks for supporting our publication, and thank you for your work. 

The Masters Review is now accepting submissions of completed book reviews, interviews, and craft essays for publication on our blog. Please do not send pitches or queries to this category. Submissions must be previously unpublished. We do not consider reprints. At the moment, we are unable to pay for book reviews or interviews, but we can pay $50 for craft essays. If you have a pitch or query, please contact us at contact [at] mastersreview [dot] com.

Genre Guidelines

Book Reviews

• Book Reviews must be of books scheduled for a 2025 or later release. We recommend submitting your review at least one month before the scheduled publication date. Earlier is better.
• Book Reviews should be between 700-1,200 words.
• Include in your review at least one sentence that conveys your overall stance on the book and embolden it. (e.g., "The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley ruthlessly interrogates what it means to be successful as a Black woman, a Millennial, and a liberal living in an urban center.") 
• Our primary interest are debut authors and indie presses. Occasionally, we will consider and publish reviews from major presses or of notable authors.
• Rarely, we will consider a review for a book with a past release date, but it must have been published within four months. If you have questions about this policy, please contact us at contact [at] mastersreview [dot] com.

Interviews

• We are interested in interviews with authors, editors, agents, or other industry professionals, with a particular focus on recent publications or activity. Our mission is to bridge the gap between new and established writers, so any insight into the profession of writing is valuable (e.g., this interview with agent Miriam Atlshuler).
• Interviews should be between 1,200-2,500 words.
• Please include a bio of both the interviewee and the interviewer with your submission, as well as an introduction to the interview.

Craft Essays

• Craft Essays should focus on a particular aspect of the craft of writing fiction or nonfiction.
• Please do not send craft essays about poetry.
• We are especially interested in craft essays which examine the craft of a particular story. Please see our Stories That Teach and From the Archive series on the blog for examples.
• Craft Essays should be between 1,200-2,500 words.