Prose and Poetry Competition: Dogwood

Submissions are invited between Aug. 1 and Oct. 15, 2011 for the literary contest sponsored by Dogwood: A Journal of Poetry and Prose. Dogwood, the national annual literary magazine of Fairfield University, is resuming publication and its annual contest, now with $500 prizes in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction and with new editor Sonya Huber. Dogwood has published poets such as Elton Glaser, Allison Joseph, Virgil Suarez, and Joshua Mehigan, and fiction writers such as Eric Gabriel Lehman, Nalini Jones, Tom Hazuka, and Gina Ochsner. Judges for the competition have included former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, and Oprah book club author A. Manette Ansay. Work from Dogwood has been selected for The Pushcart Prize Anthology and has been featured on Verse Daily.


The judges for this year's contest will be Ira Sukrungruang in prose and Katherine Riegel in poetry. Katherine Riegel’s first book of poetry is Castaway (FutureCycle Press 2010). Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous journals, including Crazyhorse, the Cream City Review, and Terrain.org. She is co-founder and poetry editor for the independent online journal Sweet: A Literary Confection. She teaches at the University of South Florida and lives in Brandon. Visit her website.

Ira Sukrungruang is the author of Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including North American Review, Creative Nonfiction, and The Sun. He teaches in the MFA program at the University of South Florida. Visit his website.

Submissions will be accepted for the annual contest between August 1 and October 15, 2011, using the online submission manager. The contest entry fee of $10 will include a free copy of Dogwood with the winning entries and finalists.

Submission Guidelines:
Submit fiction or nonfiction up to 25 pages or three poems (max ten pages) using the online submission manager. Please double space and use 12-point font.
Include a brief bio in the cover letter field on the submission manager, but no name should appear on the mss.
If you choose not to enter the contest, please include “non-contest” in your document title in the online submission manager.
Simultaneous submissions allowed if Dogwood is notified of acceptance elsewhere.
Previously published work is not eligible.
Deadline: October 15, 2011
If you choose to enter the contest, please send in a $10 check per prose entry or group of three poems. Make check payable to Fairfield University, write the name of your entry and the genre on the memo line of the check, and mail to:

Sonya Huber, Editor
Dogwood, English Dept.
Fairfield University
North Benson Rd.
Fairfield, CT 06824-5195

All contest entries meeting these requirements will be considered for publication in Spring 2012 Issue of Dogwood along with selected non-contest submissions.
For more information, please go here. Or email:

dogwoodliterary(at)gmail.com
replace (at) with @ in sending e-mail