Submit to Our Contests
Each year, So to Speak holds annual contests in the genres that we publish: visual art, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Each contest is judged by a renowned writer in that genre. In the past, judges have included Claudia Rankine, Emily St. John Mandel, and Jeannie Vanasco. Please read instructions for your specific genre below before submitting. We also recommend reviewing the Submissions page on our website.
So to Speak accepts submissions using our Submittable submissions manager. Each contest charges a reading fee per entry. Submissions are free for Black and Indigenous writers, who may use the genre-corresponding submission portal designated as free submissions for Black and Indigenous writers. If you are not a Black or Indigenous writer but the fee poses a serious barrier to you, please reach out to us via sotospeakjournal@gmail.com rather than using this submission portal.
Multiple submissions are welcome in the same or other genres, but they must be in separate entries, and a writer can only win one genre.
We only accept previously unpublished work as submissions to our contests and magazine. This means submissions must not be published on any platform.
The winner of each genre will be awarded a monetary prize and publication; finalists may also be selected for publication.
If you win a contest, you must wait three years to submit to that contest again. If you are a runner-up, you must wait one year to submit to that contest again. If you are a finalist but your piece is not printed in the contest issue, you may submit again as soon as you’d like (when submissions are open).
Current and former students of the judges are disqualified from entering corresponding contests, as well as students of George Mason University’s MFA program and graduates within 5 years of graduating. In addition, judges will be reading finalists as selected by the So to Speak editorial staff. The payment of a monetary prize is subject to U.S. laws and regulations, including those that prohibit payments to persons from or who reside in countries subject to U.S. sanctions.
We look forward to reading your entries! Feel free to reach out with questions and concerns. You can purchase last year’s contest issue on our Submittable page. You can find out more about our submission guidelines on our website and/or on our Submittable page.
CATEGORY: POETRY
We’re looking for 3-5 of your best poems per submission; the winner will be awarded a $500 prize and publication in the journal. Up to three finalists may also be featured in the journal.
JUDGE: Susannah Nevison
READING PERIOD
September 10- November 14, 2021
CATEGORY: FICTION
Send your single best work of fiction up to 4,000 words; the winner will be awarded $500 and publication in the journal. Up to three finalists may also be featured in the journal.
JUDGE: Krys Malcolm Belc
Krys Malcolm Belc is the author of the memoir The Natural Mother of the Child (Counterpoint) and the flash nonfiction chapbook In Transit (The Cupboard Pamphlet.) His work has been featured in Granta, The Rumpus, Black Warrior Review, and elsewhere, and has been anthologized in Wigleaf Top 50, Best of the Net 2018, and in the anthology The Best of Brevity: Twenty Groundbreaking Years of Flash Nonfiction. Krys lives in Philadelphia with his partner and their three young children and works as an educator in a pediatric oncology clinic.
What Krys is Looking For: I have to admit that I read–and love–widely. What I love most in fiction is getting to be fully immersed in something else that is not my kitchen counter where I sit to read. Whether that’s immersion in plot, character, form, or something entirely different, I want to be transported.
READING PERIOD
September 10- November 14, 2021
CATEGORY: NONFICTION
JUDGE: Alysia Sawchyn
READING PERIOD
September 10- November 14, 2021
CATEGORY: VISUAL ART
So to Speak is open to review any form of visual artwork. Past issues have included photography, drawing, painting, digital media, and images of various installations and sculpture. We welcome submissions including performance, digital and new media, photography and all 2D and 3D visual art forms.
The winner will be awarded a $500 prize and publication in the journal. Up to three finalists may also be featured in the journal.
JUDGE: Ghislaine Fremaux
READING PERIOD
September 10- November 14, 2021