Deadline: November 1, 2025

$1,500 grand prize, $600 runner-up, $400 2nd runner-up 

Judge: TBA

Up to three poems per entry (100 lines max per poem). You may submit additional stories using the Additional Entry option for $5. 

Note: once an entry is received, no revisions will be allowed. Entry fees are non-refundable. Please ensure your entry meets the following guidelines before submitting.

PRISM international offers free entries for self-identifying Indigenous and Black writers for all our contests. Indigenous and Black writers are invited to submit using the appropriate fee options from the dropdown list in the form.

We also have a number of free entries to offer to low-income writers, and we encourage writers for whom the contest entry fee is prohibitive to contact us at prism.promos@ubc.ca to arrange contest entry. We do not require any information or reasoning regarding eligibility.

As always, we encourage submissions from writers of colour, writers with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ writers, and writers from other intersectional and marginalized groups.

Rules & Regulations (please read carefully) 

• The author’s name should not appear anywhere on the manuscript, the title or in the title that the file is saved under.
• Entries must be original, previously unpublished in print or online. PRISM will purchase First North American Serial Rights for all work accepted for publication.
• Entries should be formatted with size 12pt serif font (Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia) and regular margins. Prose must be double spaced.
• Not open to students or faculty of the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program (this includes the UBC optional residency MFA program). This also includes incoming students that have accepted a place in UBC’s creative writing program. In order to enter, UBC alumni cannot have taken a UBC creative writing program course during the previous two years.
• Winners of last year’s contest (grand prize, first runner-up, and second runner-up) must wait a year before entering the contest in the category for which they won, but are welcome to enter either of our other categories. Other writers who made the longlist and/or the shortlist are still eligible to enter any category.
• Entrants must submit their entry under their real name, although they may publish under a pseudonym if they wish. Contestants who do not submit under their real name may be subject to disqualification. No images or photos should be included.
• Only use the “Additional Entry” category if you have already entered the contest in question and wish to enter again.
• No refunds will be made if an entry has been submitted to the incorrect category. Once an entry is received, no revisions will be allowed, and entry fees become non-refundable.
• PRISM international may contact you in future to inform you of future writing contests. We do not share information with any third parties. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Mailing entries: PRISM International will not be reading mailed submissions for contests until further notice.

Subscriptions: Contest entry fees no longer include an annual subscription.