Writing Competition: ProForma: Grist

ABOUT THE CONTEST

Every spring, Grist welcomes submissions of unpublished creative work for our ProForma contest in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and/or hybrids that explore the relationship between content and form. Our contest is open to all forms of literary expression.

“Pro forma” often means an established way of doing things. For the contest, we look for work that makes the most of its form, whether that’s an essay that breaks from traditional expectations, a set of poems from a sonnet sequence, a short story that blends or bends its genre, a hybrid text or a genre-less piece. However you define the relationship with form in your writing, we want to see your best work.

PRIZES

First Prize: $1,000 plus publication in the print journal
Runners Up: publication in the print journal (along with normal payment rates)

ENTRY

• Contest entry fee: $20

• For longer works: no more than 5000 words

• For shorter works: no more than 5 pieces

• Reading will be done anonymously, so please remove your name or any other identifying information from both the file name and the manuscript itself. Otherwise, we will be unable to consider it. 
• Simultaneous submissions are fine, but please notify us if the submission is accepted elsewhere.

• Multiple submissions are also fine, but you will be charged the full reading fee per submission. We cannot refund the fee if the submission is withdrawn.

• No one currently or recently affiliated with the University of Tennessee is eligible to enter. Additionally, former students of our final judge and close associations of current Grist staff are also ineligible.

• All submissions will also be considered for publication outside of the contest feature.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Please indicate in the comments section on Submittable if your manuscript should be considered in a certain way (if three flash pieces or poems should be grouped together rather than read as separate pieces, for example). 

SUBMISSIONS WINDOW  

Submissions open: March 15, 2023, 12:01 EST
Submission deadline: April 30, 2023, 11:59 EST

Submit your entry here.