2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers

Bundle up indoors and keep yourself warm this winter by polishing your manuscript for The Masters Review’s Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! This contest is your chance to take the next step in your writing career. Since 2016, our award has paired emerging writers with some of the industry’s top literary agents. Past winners of this award include Nana Nkweti, Nick Fuller Googins, Katie M. Flynn, Reena Shah, Rachel Cochran, and Claire Boyles, several of whom earned representation from one of our partnered agents as a result of this contest. 

We welcome submissions of previously unpublished fiction or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words. Bret Anthony Johnston, author of the new novel We Burn Daylight, will select this year’s winners. Our contest runs from December 1, 2024, to February 2, 2025, and is open to any writer who has not published a novel or memoir with a major press. The first-place winner will receive a $3,000 grand prize, while the second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively. We publish all winning pieces online. 

All winners will also receive agency review from our six partnered agencies. Participating agents include Nat Sobel from Sobel Weber, Victoria Cappello from The Bent Agency, Andrea Morrison from Writers House, Sarah Fuentes from United Talent Agency, Heather Schroder from Compass Talent,and Marin Takikawa from The Friedrich Agency. 

What Bret Anthony Johnston is looking for: "As a reader, I crave surprise. I don't mean epiphany or some big reveal, but rather the surprise of attention being paid, the surprise of witness. Stories feel most alive for me when the writer deploys language and imagination in ways that broaden or narrow the aperture of our vision. I want to surrender to the story, to its logic and contours, and I want the world to feel altered after I've turned the last page; I want to be surprised that the world still exists at all."

Submission Guidelines

• The first-place winner receives $3,000, online publication, and agency review.
• The second- and third-place finalists receive cash prizes ($300/$200), online publication, and agency review.
• Submissions of fiction or creative nonfiction must be under 6,000 words.
• Submitted work must be previously unpublished. This includes personal blogs, social media accounts, and other websites. Previously published work will be automatically disqualified.
• The entry fee is $20.
• Simultaneous 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. No additional fee waivers will be granted. NOTE: Submission cap has been met.
• 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, but the guest judge will read 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. Some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
• No translations, please.
• All submissions must be double-spaced with one-inch page margins and use Times New Roman or Garamond 12. 
• The contest’s deadline is 11:59pm PDT on February  2, 2025.
• All entries are also considered for publication in New Voices.
• Every submission will receive a response by the end of May 2025. The winners will be announced by the end of June 2025. 
• AI-generated submissions will be automatically disqualified.
• Friends, family, and associates of the guest judge are not eligible for this award. Consider submitting to the summer contest instead!

About the Judge

Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling author of We Burn Daylight, Remember Me Like This, and Corpus Christi: Stories. His work appears in The New Yorker, Virginia Quarterly Review, TheBest American Short Stories 2011, and elsewhere. He's the Director of the Michener Center for Writers.

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.

Recent News from Past Winners

• 2024 Winter First Place Angie Ellis’s first novel, A Snake and a Feathered Bird, is set to release in 2025!
• 2023 Summer Third Place Catherine Julia Carberry was awarded the 2023 James Jones First Novel Fellowship!
• 2022 Summer Honorable Mention Lyndsie Manusos’s debut novella from Psychopomp was released September 2024!
• 2021 Winter Second Place Reena Shah’s debut novel will be out in 2025 through Bloomsbury!
• 2019 Winter Honorable Mention Chloe Chun Seim’s debut novel-in-stories came out in November 2023!
• 2018 Summer First Place Alina Grabowski’s debut novel was released in 2024 through SJP Lit!
• 2017 Winter First Place Nick Fuller Googins’s new novel, The Frequency of Living Things, is forthcoming in 2025 through Atria Books!
• 2017 Winter Second Place Katie M. Flynn released a new short story collection, Island Rule, in 2024!
• 2016 Summer First Place Scott Gloden’s debut story collection was released in 2023 through Hub City Press!

Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a novel-length work of fiction or narrative nonfiction. Authors with published short story collections are free to submit.  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 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. 

NOTE: SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED AFTER DECEMBER 10, 2024, WILL RECEIVE A RESPONSE IN JANUARY 2025.

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 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 2024 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.