$1,000 Prize

Submissions Open June 1 - November 1

Awarding one of the richest purses among literary magazines, the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction recognizes exceptional works of fiction. All works should be stand-alone short stories, not chapters of a longer work.

 

Editors read all fiction submissions of up to 5,000 words. Reed 153 is an open-themed issue. Multiple submissions are accepted.

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Please be sure to:

• include your name, address, phone number, and email address on the first page

• format stories in double-spaced 12-point font

• include word count

• number pages

• provide a brief bio

• make sure your Submittable profile is up-to-date

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To be eligible, submissions must be 5,000 words or fewer and include a reading fee of $20, which includes a free copy of the latest edition of Reed. Contest submissions not selected for final judging may still be considered for publication in the magazine.

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2019 Judge

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Vanessa Hua is a highly acclaimed author and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Her best-selling novel, A River of Stars, was named in the Washington Post and NPR ’s Best Books of 2018 lists. Her story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, was a California Book Award finalist and received an Asian/Pacific American Award in Literature. She was the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Award, the San Francisco Foundation's James D. Phelan literary award, and a Steinbeck Fellowship at San José State University. She has been published in ZYZZYVA, The Atlantic, Guernica, the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, Newsweek, and many other publications.