Each year, we recognize exciting new work through our contests. At present, contest winners receive $500 and Honorable Mentions (up to three per contest) receive $50. Winners and honorable mentions are typically published in The Midnight Oil within one year of acceptance, and all contest entries are considered for publication, regardless of whether they place in the contest or not.
Check out the list of past contest winners at the bottom of this page, and more importantly make sure to read them when they’re published later this year! You can find the full contest details at our Submittable page and our 2020 contest deadlines immediately below. If you have a short story, essay, or poem that you feel fits our aesthetic, then make sure to send it our way!
The following are a list of our previous Contest Winners, with the most recent being listed first:
Past Short Story Contest winners:
Olivia Wilde for “The Borders Between Oceans”
Marcie Ruderman for “Unmooring”
Kristen Davenport for “Phantom”
Molly Gleeson for “Meishi, Furo, Neru”
Past Poetry Contest winners:
Mary Barbara Walsh for “Cogito Ergo Es”
Veronique Bequin for “Clean Slate”
Rachelle Larsen for “Cosmological Expansion”
Rebecca Loggia for “Memory”