FLASH NONFICTION SUBMISSIONS FOR PRIME NUMBER MAGAZINE, Issue 293

Flash Nonfiction Editor: Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, author of A Small Thing to Want: Stories; Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough: Poems; What the Fortune Teller Would Have Said: Flash Essays 

A note from Shuly: Though I do not fact-check, I expect that every nonfiction piece is exactly that—the truth. Please, please, NO FICTION PIECES in this category. I am looking for Flash Nonfiction Essays of up to 750 words.

I love a good micro essay, so please don’t feel a need to pad your piece to hit 750 words. I would rather have a mini piece that packs a good punch. I adore a good story, and I’m a sucker for a strong piece that centers on a relationship. Please, no anecdotes. A good flash essay goes deeper than an anecdote. Find examples of essays I love at these links.

https://brevitymag.com/nonfiction/swerve/

https://brevitymag.com/nonfiction/snowbound/

Submission period: May 1-June 30, 2025 or until we reach 79 submissions (a prime number)

Publication Date: September 1, 2026

Reporting Time: We will do our best to notify writers of acceptance or rejection at least one months prior to publication date. Submissions will be open tri-annually (Jan-Feb; May-Jun; Sept-Oct) and will close either the last day of the second month or when we have received 79 submissions. 

Reading Fee: None

Submit ONE unpublished flash nonfiction piece of no more than 750 words (please include word count under title), shorter pieces are very welcome. Be sure your essay is double spaced with numbered pages, written in English and set in a standard 12-pt. font (Times, Garamond, etc). Please limit your submission to one essay per submission period.

This will be a “blind read,” so please DO NOT include your name on your submission.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please withdraw your essay immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. You will find the "Withdraw" button in the upper-right corner of your submission. Only original, unpublished works will be considered. Publication includes on a blog, website, or anywhere on social media.

Eligibility: Submissions are open to writers anywhere in the world who write in English.

Rights: Prime Number Magazine will be granted First Worldwide Serial Rights, including the right to permanently archive the accepted work in Prime Number Magazine. After the work is published, all other rights revert to the author.

Payment: Writers living in the United States, UK, and Australia will receive a free book from Press 53. All other writers will receive a PDF version of a Press 53 book.

Questions/Comments should be directed to Kevin Morgan Watson, Publisher and Editor in Chief (kevin @ Press53.com (no spaces)

SHORT FICTION SUBMISSION FOR PRIME NUMBER MAGAZINE, Issue 293, Sept-Dec 2026

Guest Short Fiction Editor: Clifford Garstang, author of House of the Ancients and Other Stories and What the Zhang Boys Know: A Novel in Stories, winner of the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction

Submission period: May 1 – June 30, 2026, midnight Eastern time (or until we reach 199 submissions)

Publication Date: September 1, 2026

Reporting Time: We will do our best to notify writers of acceptance or rejection no more than one month prior to publication date. Submissions are open the first two months of every quadrimester (every four months) with a new guest editor. Writers are encouraged to submit again during the open submission periods (Jan-Feb; May-Jun; Sept-Oct). Submissions close once we receive 199 stories. Please limit your submissions to one story per submission period.

Reading Fee: None

Submit ONE unpublished story of no more than 5,300 words (please include word count under title), micro, flash, and short-short stories are welcome. Be sure your story is double spaced with numbered pages, written in English and set in a standard 12-pt. font (Times, Garamond, etc). Please limit your submission to one story per submission period.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please withdraw your story immediately if it is accepted elsewhere. You will find the "Withdraw" button in the upper-right corner of your submission. Only original, unpublished works will be considered.

Please Note: Due to the high volume of submissions, we are now limiting submissions to 199 in order to give our guest editor plenty of time to read and consider each submission. Sorry, no exceptions.

Eligibility: Submissions are open to writers anywhere in the world who write in English.

Rights: Prime Number Magazine will be granted First Worldwide Serial Rights, including the right to permanently archive online the accepted work in Prime Number Magazine. After the work is published, all other rights revert to the author.

Payment: Writers living in the United States, UK, and Australia will receive a free copy of the guest editor's Press 53 story collection. Writers living outside these countries receive publication of their story as compensation. (Our printer has facilities in the US, UK, and AU, which allows us to print and ship from those locations. Due to high shipping charges outside those countries, we have to establish these limits.)

Questions/Comments should be directed to Kevin Morgan Watson, Publisher and Editor in Chief, at Kevin @ Press53.com (no spaces)

POETRY SUBMISSION FOR PRIME NUMBER MAGAZINE, Issue 293, Sept-Dec 2026

Guest Poetry Editor: Vaughn M. Watson, author of going out & being normal

Submission period: May 1 – June 30, 2026 midnight Eastern time (or until we reach 199 submissions)

Publication Date: September 1, 2026

Reporting Time: We will do our best to make sure you receive an acceptance or rejection one month prior to publication date. Submissions will be open the first two months of every quadrimester (four months) with a new guest editor. Poets are encouraged to submit again during the open submission periods (Jan-Feb; May-Jun; Sept-Oct). Submissions will close once we receive 199 submissions.

Reading Fee: None 

Submit ONE unpublished poem of up to three pages, written in English in a standard font (Times, Garamond, etc.) in whatever style you wish to see the poem presented to readers. 

Please limit your submission to ONE poem per person per submission period. Guest editors are instructed to read only the first poem if more than one poem is submitted. Note: Since we allow for simultaneous submissions, our one-poem submission rule eliminates confusion if a poem in a multi-poem submission is accepted elsewhere. This saves us a lot of time and grief. We hope you understand.

Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but please withdraw your poem immediately if accepted elsewhere. You will find the "Withdraw" button in the upper-right corner of your submission screen. Only original, unpublished poems will be considered.

Eligibility: Submissions are open to writers anywhere in the world who write in English.

Rights: Prime Number Magazine will be granted First Worldwide Serial Rights, including the right to permanently archive the poem online in Prime Number Magazine. Once the poem is published, all other rights revert to the author.

Payment: Writers living in the United States, UK, and Australia will receive a free copy of the guest editor's poetry book from Press 53. Writers living outside these countries receive publication of their poem as compensation. (Our book printer has facilities in the US, UK, and AU, which allows us to print and ship from those locations. Due to high shipping charges outside those countries, we have to establish these limits.)

Questions/Comments should be directed to Kevin Morgan Watson, Publisher and Editor in Chief (kevin @ press53.com (no spaces).

The 2027 Press 53 Award for Poetry Award includes: Publication by Press 53 of the winning poetry collection as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection; $1,000 cash advance; 53 copies. 

The Press 53 Award for Poetry is awarded annually to an outstanding, unpublished collection of poems. This competition is open to any writer, regardless of his or her publication history, who is 18 years of age or older, provided the manuscript is written in English and the author lives in the United States or one of its territories.  

Dates for submission: April 1, 2026–July 31, 2026. Submissions will close at midnight Eastern Standard Time on July 31. (Note: Deadline can be extended at the discretion of Press 53.)

Winner and Finalists announced: The winner of the Press 53 Award for Poetry and finalists will be announced on or before November 1, 2026, on the Press 53 website, and via email, Facebook, and by email through Submittable.

How to submit: Submit here with Submittable! 

Reading fee: A reading fee of $30 must be paid for each entry. Reading fees are nonrefundable.

Judging: Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo will be the only judge for this contest; the contest will be judged solely on the strength of the poems as a collection.

Eligibility: The competition is open to manuscripts written in the English language from writers at all levels, 18 years years of age or older, who live in the United States or one its territories. Note: authors and editors who work for Press 53 or have published a book with Press 53 are not eligible to enter.

Manuscript Guidelines:

1. Manuscripts should be approximately 50 to 120 pages in length. We do not favor one length over the other. We are only concerned with the quality of the poems.

2. The author's name should not appear on the manuscript. This is a blind read.

3. Manuscript should include a Table of Contents with numbered pages.

4. An acknowledgments page for previous publication of poems in the manuscript is not necessary; we will only be reading the poems.  

5. Use a standard, easy-to-read font such as 11- or 12-point Times New Roman, Minion, Garamond, etc.

6. Poems previously published in journals, magazines, or anthologies, and poems that have won awards, may (and probably should) be included in the manuscript. Selected poems from chapbooks are fine, but please use only a reasonable selection of poems, not the entire chapbook.

7. Previously published collections are not eligible, including self-published collections available as ebooks or in print.

8. Authors may submit more than one manuscript to the competition for consideration. Each submission will require a separate reading fee.

9. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable, but please withdraw your manuscript if it is accepted by another publisher. Withdrawal can be completed via Submittable by opening your submission and clicking "Withdraw" in the upper-right corner of your screen. Reading fees are not refundable and a withdrawn manuscript cannot be replaced with another manuscript.

10. Confirmation of receipt will be sent via e-mail by Submittable immediately after submission. An announcement of our shortlist and winner will be sent to all entrants via email through Submittable, and posted on the Press 53 website on the dates indicated above.

11. The Deadline for entering is July 31. Requests to edit a manuscript will not be honored after the deadline. If a manuscript is withdrawn, it cannot be replaced with another manuscript, but you may enter another manuscript before the deadline, which would require another reading fee.  

If you have any questions or concerns other than technical issues with the submissions manager, please contact Kevin Morgan Watson, Publisher & Editor in Chief