The Ninth Letter Literary Awards are open for submissions from March 1 – May 1, 2026.
First prize is $1,000 for each genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction), print and web publication, and bragging rights! See full guidelines and details below.
Guest Judges
Fiction
Born and raised in Jacksonville FL, Dantiel W. Moniz is a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Honoree, a 2024 USA Fellow, the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, and Fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell, among others. Her debut collection, Milk Blood Heat was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. Moniz is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her debut novel, Beholder, is forthcoming from Scribner in 2027.
Poetry
Steven Espada Dawson is the author of Late to the Search Party (Scribner, 2025). From East Los Angeles and the son of a Mexican immigrant, he has received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Foundation, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. His poems appear in many journals and have been anthologized in Sarabande’s Another Last Call, Best New Poets, Best of the Net, and Pushcart Prize. He has served as a poetry editor for Copper Nickel and Sycamore Review and has taught creative writing at universities, libraries, and prisons across the country. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he serves as poet laureate.
Creative Nonfiction
Angela Pelster’s new essay collection The Evolution of Fire: Essays on Crisis and Becoming is forthcoming with Milkweed Editions in April 2026. Her first essay collection, Limber, won the Great Lakes Colleges Association award and was a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel award for the Art of the Essay. Her children’s book, The Curious Adventures of India Sophia, won the Golden Eagle Children’s Choice Award. Her essays have previously appeared in Agni, Orion, LitHub, Ploughshares, Tin House, Granta, and The Kenyon Review, among others. She received her MFA from the Nonfiction Writing Program at the University of Iowa, and she’s been a McKnight fellow, a Bread Loaf fellow, and a Minnesota State Arts Board grantee. She’s the Director of the Creative Writing Programs at Hamline University and is the founder and director of Writers Go to the Movies.
Submission Guidelines
We aim to make the Ninth Letter Literary Awards submission and selection process transparent and accessible. If you have questions, please email ninthletter9@gmail.com. As a CLMP member magazine, Ninth Letter abides by the CLMP Code of Ethics.
Prize
The winner in each genre (poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction) will receive $1,000, publication in the Fall/Winter print issue and online, two contributor’s copies of the print issue, and bragging rights. Ninth Letter acquires First North American Serial Rights (FNASR) only; all other rights are retained by the author. All submissions are considered for publication in our general issue and/or online.
General Guidelines
Submissions are read anonymously, so neither the author’s name nor any identifying information should appear on the manuscript itself. If the author’s name appears in the poem, story, or essay, please replace with [Author’s Name] to maintain anonymity. Acceptable file formats are .pdf, .doc, .docx.
We do not accept previously published work, including self-published work on websites, blogs, etc. We do not accept AI generated writing. You may email ninthletter9@gmail.com if you have questions.
Prose Guidelines
Please submit one piece of no more than 8,000 words. You may also submit up to three pieces of flash-fiction or flash-nonfiction as long as the total word count of the submission is no more than 4,000 words.
Poetry Guidelines
Please submit up to 5 poems in a single file of no more than 10 pages.
Submission Fee
There is an $20 submission fee for each entry. All U.S. entrants will receive a one-year print subscription to Ninth Letter. All international entrants will receive a copy of the fall/winter print issue. Payments are accepted via Submittable.
Multiple Submissions
You are welcome to send multiple submissions in multiple categories provided a fee is paid for each entry. Should you submit more than once, your print subscription will be cumulative. For example, if you submit one manuscript to each poetry, fiction, and CNF, you will receive a three-year subscription.
You may also choose to gift any or all of your print subscriptions to another literary magazine fan of your choosing. If you’d like to gift any of your submissions, please fill out this Google Form after submitting, and our contest coordinator will manage the subscriptions. The Google Form is anonymous and will not collect your email.
Mail Submissions
Submissions sent by mail should be accompanied by check or money order made to Ninth Letter. Please use our mailing address Department of English, Ninth Letter, Contest Submission, 608 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801. Include a self addressed stamped envelope for response. Submissions sent via email will not be considered.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your submission immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. For poetry, please send a message via Submittable if withdrawing select poems but not the entire manuscript. Due to logistical and labor considerations, neither refunds nor replacement submissions will be offered for withdrawn manuscripts. You will still receive the complimentary one-year subscription even if you have to withdraw your submission.
Eligibility
No current students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or students associated with the school in the past five years are eligible to submit. Likewise, any entrants with a close relationship with guest judges are not eligible to submit.
Accessibility
If you require additional accessibility considerations, please email ninthletter9@gmail.com with the subject line “Contest Accessibility.”
