The Emerging Writer Contest is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book.

Benefits

• publication in the Winter 2022-23 issue of Ploughshares.
• money prize of $2,000
• review from Aevitas Creative Management
• a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres.

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Eligibility

• Have yet to publish a book
• 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

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Submitting

The contest opens on March 1, 2022, at noon EST and closes on May 15, 2022, at noon EST. Ploughshares at Emerson College 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 the online submission manager.

• No entries via email or mail will be considered for the contest.
• Submitted work must be original and also previously unpublished in any form.
• Also, for poetry, Ploughshares will be reading both for the strongest individual poem as well as 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.
• Moreover, cover letters are not necessary. Please remove all identifying information from your submission as it will be read anonymously.

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Entry Fee

If you are a current subscriber through hosts’ Winter 2022-2023 issue, your contest entry is free of charge. You will still be prompted to “checkout” but you will not be required to enter payment information and will not be charged.

If you are not a subscriber, or your subscription expires before the Winter 2022-2023 issue, the submission manager will prompt you to pay the $24 fee at checkout. The fee includes a 1-year subscription to Ploughshares as well as free submissions to the 2022 regular reading period.

If you are an international submitter, please be in touch via email for more information about this process.

Submit to the Emerging Writer’s Contest through the submission manager.