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Individual Poems

Reading Period

Submissions open: MAR 1, 2026
Submissions close: MAY 31, 2026
FREE submissions: APR
Selections made: Within 4 months
Publication: 2026/2027

Submission Guidelines

• This category is only for INDIVIDUAL standalone poems (not book-length manuscripts). Submissions can be any type of poetry, small groups of linked poems, experimental, prose poems, or hybrid. (Hybrid that most closely resembles fiction or prose should be submitted to the prose category below or to the Luminaire Prose Award. Historical poems should be submitted to Footnote/Charter Oak Award.) We especially want to hear from marginalized and underrepresented authors, and we are an LGBTQUIA2+ safe-space.
• All genres, styles, and subjects considered. A soft upper limit of 5,000 words is suggested.
• Our journal is hosted on the Medium platform, which is not the best place for poetry that is anything other than left-aligned. We are not the best home for single poems with fancy layouts.
• You may submit up to 5 poems in a single document file.
• All work must be in English and must be the author’s own. Single work by multiple authors considered. We do not consider A.I.-generated works.
• These submissions are not read incognito. It doesn’t matter if your identifying information is or isn’t inside your submission file.
• If you need to adjust a submission, please use the Request to Edit option through Submittable. Please don’t request to edit for minor flaws, however—all accepted work will go through an editing process and will have the chance to be updated before publication, and your work will not be disqualified for a missing comma.
• All authors must be at least 18 to submit.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed. You do not have to withdraw a piece that is accepted elsewhere, as long as you still own the reprint rights after first publication.
• Previously published pieces are considered, as long as you still own the reprint rights.
• Submit via Submittable only. We do not accept email submissions.
• There is a $4.99 fee for each submission (up to 5 pieces in a submission). You may submit as many times as you’d like, but each submission must be made separately with a separate fee. The fee helps us with needed administration and journal production costs, but it’s not meant to be too inhibitive. If you are unable to pay, please email us for an alternative submission method.
• Each paid submission comes with a digital copy of our latest poetry book, Fish Love by Bryanna Licciardi ($7.99 value).
• It is highly recommended that you read our past published poems.
• We will send a response and notification to every submission within 4 months. Form response only, unless we are interested in publishing your book. We are regretfully unable to provide feedback. If you have not heard back after 4 months, please feel free to follow up (kindly).
• Individual poems can be submitted for free during Poetry Month (April). We close our free submissions when we reach our monthly Submittable submissions cap, so submit early in the month, and please only submit to free categories once per month, to give everyone a chance to submit before submissions are capped. When free submissions are open, the portal link will be active here.
• We acknowledge that we are headquartered on what should be Arapaho land on a street that is instead named for a dead white male president who owned enslaved people and severed Native American Nations apart irrevocably. To honor the reparations that this entire country needs to make, Black writers and Native American Indigenous (United States and Canada) writers may submit appropriate submissions for free to this open-reading period (please note that if the portal is not open, then we have reached our free-submission monthly cap until the beginning of the next month or open-reading period).
• If you’re ready to submit, head on over to Submittable.

Individual Stories/Fiction

Reading Period

Submissions open: FEB 1, 2026
Submissions close: MAY 31, 2026
FREE submissions: MAY
Selections made: Within 4 months
Publication: 2026/2027

Submission Guidelines

• This category is only for INDIVIDUAL standalone fiction (not book-length manuscripts). Submissions can be experimental, flash, short novelettes, long stories, short plays, or hybrid prose. (Hybrid that most closely resembles poetry should be submitted to the poetry category above or to the Luminaire Poetry Award. Historical fiction should be submitted to Footnote/Charter Oak Award. Nonfiction pieces (essays, articles, columns, reviews, memoir, journalism, interviews, booklists, literary trends) should be submitted to The Coil categories.) We especially want to hear from marginalized and underrepresented authors, and we are an LGBTQUIA2+ safe-space.
• All genres, styles, and subjects considered. A soft upper limit of 5,000 words is suggested.
• You may submit up to 4 stories in a single document file.
• All work must be in English and must be the author’s own. Single work by multiple authors considered. We do not consider A.I.-generated works.
• These submissions are not read incognito. It doesn’t matter if your identifying information is or isn’t inside your submission file.
• If you need to adjust a submission, please use the Request to Edit option through Submittable. Please don’t request to edit for minor flaws, however—all accepted work will go through an editing process and will have the chance to be updated before publication, and your work will not be disqualified for a missing comma.
• All authors must be at least 18 to submit.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed. You do not have to withdraw a piece that is accepted elsewhere, as long as you still own the reprint rights after first publication.
• Previously published pieces are considered, as long as you still own the reprint rights.
• Submit via Submittable only. We do not accept email submissions.
• There is a $4.99 fee for each submission (up to 4 pieces in a submission). You may submit as many times as you’d like, but each submission must be made separately with a separate fee. The fee helps us with needed administration and journal production costs, but it’s not meant to be too inhibitive. If you are unable to pay, please email us for an alternative submission method.
• Each paid submission comes with a digital copy of our latest short-story collection, Winter Dance Party by Brett Biebel ($7.99 value).
• It is highly recommended that you read our past published fiction.
• We will send a response and notification to every submission within 4 months. Form response only, unless we are interested in publishing your book. We are regretfully unable to provide feedback. If you have not heard back after 4 months, please feel free to follow up (kindly).
• Individual prose can be submitted for free during Short Story Month (May). We close our free submissions when we reach our monthly Submittable submissions cap, so submit early in the month, and please only submit to free categories once per month, to give everyone a chance to submit before submissions are capped. When free submissions are open, the portal link will be active here.
• We acknowledge that we are headquartered on what should be Arapaho land on a street that is instead named for a dead white male president who owned enslaved people and severed Native American Nations apart irrevocably. To honor the reparations that this entire country needs to make, Black writers and Native American Indigenous (United States and Canada) writers may submit appropriate pieces for free to this open-reading period (please note that if the portal is not open, then we have reached our free-submission monthly cap until the beginning of the next open-reading period).
• If you’re ready to submit, head on over to Submittable.

Publication

All selected poems and stories receive $10 each at or after publication and are published on The Coil, our online literary magazine. (Please note that pieces submitted during the open-reading periods are considered for publication but are not considered for prizes; to be eligible for prizes, please submit to the Luminaire Awards or Charter Oak Award instead.)

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