Top MAgs & Litmags accepting VEry Short Prose
(Please email me with errors/omissions.)
Contests (Ordered by Due date)
American Short Fiction Short(er) Fiction Prize (1k-word max, JAN) - Fiction
Kenyon Review Short Contests (3k-word max, JAN) - F/Nonfiction
Oxford Flash Fiction Prize (1k-word max, JAN) - F
Pinch’s Page Prize (1k-word max, JAN) - N
Bath Flash Fiction Award (300-word max, FEB, JUN, OCT) - F
Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction (250-word max, FEB) - F
Lascaux Prize for Flash Fiction (1k-word max, MAR) - F
Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize (750-word max, MAR) - F
Passages North Neutrino Short-Short Prize (up to 3 < 1k, APR) - F/N
Prism International Short Form Contest (300-word max, APR) - F/N
Bridport Flash Fiction Prize (250-word max, MAY) - Fiction
Bridport Flash Fiction Prize (250-word max, MAY) - F
Bridport Short Story Prize (under 5k, MAY) - F
Masters Review Flash Fiction Contest (1k-word max, MAY) - F
New Orleans Review Micro-Essay Contest (300-word max, JUN) - N
NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge (3 rounds of 1k stories, JUN) - F
Arts & Letters Unclassifiable Contest (under 5k, JUL) - F/N
Fractured Lit Flash Fiction Open (1,000-word max, JUL) - F
Black Warrior Review Flash Contest (experimental, lyrical, AUG) - F/N
Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize (3 pieces < 500 words, AUG) - F/Nonfiction
Indiana Review’s 1/2k Prize (3 pieces < 500 words, AUG) - F/N
Meridian Short Prose Prize (1k-word max, AUG) - F/N
Southampton Review Short Short Contest (350-word max, AUG) - F
Writer’s Digest Personal Essay Award (2,000-word max, AUG) - N
The Forge Flash Competition (1k-word max, no fee, SEPT) - F/N
CRAFT Amelia Gray 2K Contest (micro, flash, prose poetry < 2k, OCT) - F
CutBank’s Flash Contest (750-word max, OCT) - F/N
Raleigh Review Flash Fiction Prize (1k-word max, OCT) - F
Southeast Review Contests (F: 3 pieces < 500 words, N: < 10p, OCT) - F/N
Quarterly West Prose Contest (6k max, submit 3 pieces < 1k, OCT) - F/N
Quarter After Eight Short Prose Contest (3 pieces < 500 words, NOV) - F/N
New Millennium Writing Awards (1k-word max, NOV) - F
Baltimore Review Flash Contests (3 pieces < 1k combined, NOV) - F/N
SmokeLong Flash Contest (1k-word max, NOV) - F
LitMag’s Anton Chekhov’s Flash Fiction Award (500-1,500 words, NOV) - F
Writer’s Digest Contest (under 1,500 Words, NOV) - F
River Styx Microfiction Contest (3 pieces < 500 words, DEC) - F/N
Mississippi Review Prize (1-8k words, DEC) - F/N
publications
The Adroit Journal (submit up to 3 pieces) - F/N
Agni (interested in prose poems & short shorts) - F/N
American Short Fiction (publishes flash) - F
The Atlantic (publishes fiction around 1k words and longer) - F
Baltimore Review (flash welcome, short CNF a good fit, send 1 piece) - F/N
Barrelhouse (send 1 piece, welcomes flash, short reviews) - F/N
Benningham Review (up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F/N
Black Warrior Review (up to 3 prose pieces) - F/N
Boulevard (publishes short prose, allows multiple subs 1 month apart) - F/N
Brevity (750-world max) - N
Catapult (seeks flash) - F/N
Chautaqua (welcomes flash) - F/N
Chestnut Review (flash < 1k, general subs 1-5k) - F/N
Chicago Quarterly Review (one sub at a time < 5k) - F/N
Cincinnati Review (miCRo) (500-word max, up to 3 pieces) - F/N
The Common - Dispatches (up to 800 words) - N
Conjunctions (publishes short prose) - F/N
Consequence (up to 3 pieces < 1k) - F/N(?)
Copper Nickel (sub up to 3 pieces of flash fiction) - F/N(?)
Craft (3 flash/micros < 1k words total) - F/N
Cream City Review (publishes flash, send 1 sub at a time) - F/N(?)
Creative Nonfiction - Sunday Short Reads (1k-word max) - N
CutBank (flash prose < 750 words) - F/N
Diagram (accepts flash) - F/N
Denver Quarterly (submit 3-5 short-form pieces) - F/N
Electric Lit (prose < 1,500 for Commuter, F > 2k for Rec. Reading) - F/N
Epiphany (submit one piece < 1k) - F/N
Epoch (submit a suite of smaller pieces) - F/N
Fence (up to 3 pieces each < 1k) - F/N
Five Points (accepts flash, send 1 piece at a time) - F/N
Flash Fiction Online (500-1,000 words) - F
Florida Review (above 750 words, send 3 short shorts < 15 pages) - F/N
The Forge (loves flash & micro) - F/N
Fourteen Hills (up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F
Fractured Lit (micro < 400 words, flash 401-1k words) - F
Georgia Review (publishes short work, one sub at a time) - F/N
Gettysburg Review (flash welcome) - F/N(?)
Grain Magazine (work < 3,500 words) - F/N
Gulf Coast (publishes short work) - F/N
HAD (publishes short work) - F/N
High Country News (essays/op-eds 750-800 words, features 800+) - N
Hippocampus (flash CNF < 800 words, general subs < 4k) - N
Hopkins Review (up to 3 flash pieces) - F/N(?)
Hunger Mountain (up to 3 flash pieces) - F/N
Idaho Review (up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F/N(?)
Indiana Review (submit up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F/N
Iowa Review (publishes short work) - F/N
JMWW (interested in flash under 1,500 words) - F/N
Kenyon Review (up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F/N
Litmag (one sub at a time, accepts short shorts) - F/N(?)
London Magazine (fiction < 4k, nonfiction 800-2,000 words) - F/N
Los Angeles Review (publishes flash prose) - F/N
Malahat Review (3 pieces of fiction < 750, 3 pieces of nonfiction < 1k) - F/N
McSweeney's Internet Tendency (300ish-800ish words) - F (humor)
McSweeney’s Quarterly (length up to you) - F/N
Mid-American Review (submit up to 5 shorts) - F/N(?)
Missouri Review (work under 2,000 words must be exceptional) - F/N
The Moth (send 2 short stories no longer than 3k) - F
Narrative Magazine (short shorts 500-2,000 words) - F/N
New England Review (up to 3 pieces < 1k words) - F/N
New Letters (perhaps 1k minimum for F, reviews 300-800 words) - F/N
New Orleans Review (flash welcome) - F/N
New Yorker (no length specified) - F
Ninth Letter (up to 3 pieces of flash prose) - F/N
North American Review (up to 2 short shorts) - F/N(?)
Northwest Review (submit up to 2 stories < 1k each) - F
Notre Dame Review (“excellence is the sole criteria”) - F/N
The Offing (accepts work as short as ten characters) - F/N
Opinion Pages - NYT, WaPo, LA Times, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, SF Chronicle (600-800 words) - N
Paris Review (one sub at a time, no word-count guidelines) - F/N
Passages North (up to 3 short-shorts or 5 micros) - F/N
Pigeonholes (send one piece of prose < 1k) - F/N
Pinch (send up to 3 pieces of flash) - F/N
Pithead Chapel (publishes flash, send 1 story at a time) - F/N
Ploughshares (publishes flash) - F/N
Prism (up to 3 pieces < 1k)
A Public Space (publishes short prose, sub 1 story at a time) - F/N
Puerto del Sol (one sub at a time, including flash) - F/N
Prairie Schooner (publishes short work, one sub at a time) - F/N
Quarterly West (publishes flash) - F/N
Redivider (flash < 1,200 words, submit up to 3 pieces) - F/N(?)
River Teeth - Beautiful Things (up to 250 words) + general subs - N
The Rumpus (one sub at a time, prose < 4k) - F/N
Salamander (up to 3 flash pieces) - F/N
Sierra Magazine (work as short as 250 words) - N
Southampton Review (flash fiction welcome) - F/N(?)
Southern Indiana (flash welcome) - F/N(?)
Split Lip Magazine (flash < 1k, short stories 1-3k, memoir < 2k) - F/N
SmokeLong (general subs up to 1k words, 1 piece at a time) - F/N
Solstice (send 3-5 flash pieces) - F/N(?)
Southern Humanities Review (accepts flash) - F/N
Story (submit up to 5 flash pieces) - F
StoryQuarterly (publishes short shorts) - F/N
Subtropics (no length specified, publishes experimental work) - F/N
The Sun (“no minimum length, surprise us”) - F/N
Third Coast (up to 5 flash fiction pieces) - F/N(?)
Sundog Lit (up 3 flash fiction pieces < 750 words, 3 prose < 1k) - F/N
Swamp Pink (Crazyhorse) (flash < 1,500 words, send up to 3 pieces) - F/N
Tahoma Literary Review (2 flash pieces < 1,500 total words) - F/N
Threepenny Review - Table Talk (1k-word max) - N
Trampset (up to 3 flash pieces, prose < 3k, free subs) - F/N
TriQuarterly (up to 3 subs < 1k) - F/N
Typehouse (no strict word-count, but most prose 500-5k words) - F/N
Water-Stone Review (up to 3 pieces in short/flash form) - F/N
Waxwing (up to 3 flash pieces < 1k) - F/N
West Branch (submit up to 3 pieces < 15 total pages) - F/N
Whale Road Review (send up to 3 pieces < 500 words) - F/N
Wigleaf (stories < 1k words, send up to 5 stories < 250) - F
Willow Springs (up to 3 flash pieces < 750 words) - F/N
Witness (up to 3 flash < 1,200 total words) - F/N(?)
Yale Review (online typically 1-3k, print 2-5k) - F/N
publications who may accept flash
Alaska Quarterly Review - F/N(?)
Hudson Review (perhaps 1k minimum) - F/N
Massachusetts Review (1 sub at a time, perhaps 1k minimum) - F/N
Memorious - F
Santa Monica Review (no stated word-count guidelines) - F/N
Pleiades - F/N
Ruminate - F/N
Salmagundi (perhaps 1k minimum) - F/N
Sewanee Review (perhaps 1k minimum) - F/N
Southwest Review - F/N
ZYZZYVA - F/N
Mags with higher word limits
Bellevue Literary Review (rarely publishes flash, most stories 2-4k) - F/N
Ecotone (interested in shorter work, 2-3k) - F/N
Guernica (2k-word minimum for fiction, 2,500 nonf) - F
Virginia Quarterly Review (2.5k minimum, 3k nonf) - F