Deadline: May 15, 2022
Entry Fee: $24
About the contest
The Emerging Writer’s Contest is open to writers of Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction who have yet to publish or self-publish a book.
The 2022 Emerging Writer’s Contest judges are Chen Chen (Poetry), Amelia Gray (Fiction), and Danielle Geller (Nonfiction). Winners in each genre receive $2,000, publication in Ploughshares, and a literary agent consultation with Aevitas Creative Management.
Submission guideline
- Have yet to publish a book (including eBooks, translations, books in other languages/countries, self-published works, and poetry chapbooks with a print run of more than 300).
- Have no book forthcoming before April 15, 2023.
- Are not affiliated with Emerson College or with Ploughshares as a contributing author, volunteer screener, intern, student, staff member, or faculty member.
- Will not have a relationship with Emerson College before April 15, 2023 (example: if there is a chance you will attend the Emerson MFA program in the coming year or if your work has been accepted for publication for an upcoming issue).
- The contest opens March 1, 2022 at noon EST and closes on May 15, 2022 at noon EST. We will announce the winners in mid-September of 2022.
- Fiction and Nonfiction: Under 6,000 words
Poetry: 3-5 pages - Submit one entry per year via our online submission manager.
- No entries via email or mail will be considered for the contest.
- Submitted work must be original and previously unpublished in any form.
- For poetry, we will be reading both for the strongest individual poem and the general level of work, and may choose to publish one, some, or all of the winner’s submitted poems.
- International submissions are welcome.
- We cannot accommodate revisions once a manuscript has been submitted.
- Cover letters are not necessary. Please remove all identifying information from your submission as they will be read anonymously.
- Submit your entry here.
