The annual Carve Magazine Prose & Poetry Contest seeks the best fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from writers all over the world. A guest judge in each genre selects one winner to be awarded a $1000 cash prize.

The contest is open October 1 – November 15 and

winners are published in our spring issue in April.

2020 PROSE & POETRY CONTEST GUIDELINES

Submission Dates: October 1 – November 15.

Prizes: $1000 each for one winner in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Winners announced February 1, 2021 and published online in Spring 2021. 

Honorable mentions and semi-finalists will be listed online for up to 6 months.

All work submitted will also be considered for non-contest publication.

Entry Fees: $17 for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

One poem, essay, or short story per entry. No limit to number of entries.

Story, essay, or poem must be previously unpublished (including online).

10,000 maximum word count for fiction and nonfiction; 2,000 maximum for poetry.

We accept entries from anywhere in the world, but the work must be in English.

Winners of the past two Raymond Carver and Prose & Poetry contests are ineligible.

Submitting online: no cover page or author info in document. We will consider all contest submissions without identifying information.

No mailed submissions accepted for this contest.

For additional questions about the Prose & Poetry Contest, please contact us.