We’re honored to have the brilliant Leslie Jamison as the judge of this year's nonfiction contest. Jamison is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Recovering and The Empathy Exams; the collection of essays Make It Scream, Make It Burn, a finalist for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award; and the novel The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She writes for numerous publications including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, the New York Times, Harper’s, and the New York Review of Books. She teaches at Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn.

Please read the contest details and guidelines carefully before submitting!

Contest Details:

We will accept contest submissions from March 1, 2024 - May 1, 2024.

1st Prize: $1,500 and publication in our Fall/Winter 2024 issue

Honorable Mention: $500 and publication in our Fall/Winter 2024 issue

Contest entry fee includes a copy of the Awards issue.

Contest Entry Guidelines:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. Entries that identify the submitter/author will be disqualified without review in order to uphold the integrity of our blind reading process. 

2. Each entry should include one essay of no more than 8,000 words. You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry should include no more than one essay.

3. Submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions. We will respond as promptly as possible.

4. Please include only your name and address in your cover letter.

We’re thrilled to have the remarkable Tlotlo Tsamaase as the judge of this year's fiction contest. Tsamaase is a Motswana author (xe/xem/xer or she/her pronouns). Tlotlo's debut adult novel, Womb City, is out now from Erewhon Books. Tlotlois a Caine Prize finalist. Xer novella, The Silence of the Wilting Skin, is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award finalist and was shortlisted for a 2021 Nommo Award. Tlotlo has received support from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, and xer story “Behind Our Irises” is the joint winner of the Nommo Award for Best Short Story (2021). Tlotlo's short fiction has appeared in Africa Risen, The Best of World SF Volume 1, Clarkesworld, Terraform, Africanfuturism Anthology, and is forthcoming inChiral Mad 5 and other publications. Xe is a 2017 Rhysling Award nominee and a 2011 Bessie Head Short Story Award winner. Xe obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Botswana and won an award for design architecture. Tsamaase is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at Chapman University.

Please read the contest details and guidelines carefully before submitting!

Contest Details:

We will accept contest submissions from March 1, 2024 - May 1, 2024.

1st Prize: $1,500 and publication in our Fall/Winter 2024 issue

Honorable Mention: $500 and publication in our Fall/Winter 2024 issue

Contest entry fee includes a copy of the Awards issue.

Contest Entry Guidelines:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. Entries that identify the submitter/author will be disqualified without review in order to uphold the integrity of our blind reading process. 

2. Each entry should include one story of no more than 8,000 words. You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry should include no more than one story.

3. Submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions. We will respond as promptly as possible.

4. Please include only your name and address in your cover letter.

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name.

2. Limit each submission to one short story or three very short (each 1,000 words or fewer) stories.

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

To subscribe to december and waive the reading fee, please, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe. 

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

***This submission portal is for those who are already subscribers. Please use the non-subscriber submission portal if you are not already a subscriber. To subscribe, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe.***
 

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. 

2. Limit your submission to one short story or three very short ( 1,000 words or fewer) stories. 

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

 

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. 

2. Limit each submission to one essay, memoir, or other work of creative non-fiction.

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

To subscribe to december and waive the reading fee, please, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe.  

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

***This submission portal is for those who are already subscribers. Please use the non-subscriber submission portal if you are not already a subscriber. To subscribe, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe.***

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. 

2. Limit each submission to one essay, memoir, or other work of creative non-fiction

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. 

2. Limit each submission to no more than five poems and combine all of your poems into one document. If you are submitting haiku, you may include up to 15. 

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

To subscribe to december and waive the reading fee, please, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe.
 

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

***This submission portal is for those who are already subscribers. Please use the non-subscriber submission portal if you are not already a subscriber. To subscribe, visit our website at www.decembermag.org/subscribe.***

Please adhere to the following guidelines in the submission process:

1. Remove your name and all identifying information from your document and from the file name. 

2. Limit each submission to no more than five poems and combine all of your poems into one document. If you are submitting haiku, you may include up to 15. 

3. We ask that you submit to us exclusively; we do not accept simultaneous submissions, but we generally respond in six to eight weeks.

Thank you for sharing your work with us.

We are looking for collections of work that speak to the relationship between art and language for publication in portfolio form in one of our print issues. We are also interested in work that can be printed as black and white illustrations throughout the issue. 

Please send pdf or jpeg images. Low-resolution is acceptable for submission purposes, but high-res images must be available upon acceptance. We do not accept images of visual art that have been previously published, either in print or online.