Announcing the 2013 Gulf Coast Prizesin Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction!Judges: Stanley Plumly, Maggie Shipstead, and Darin Strauss
We are now accepting entries for the 2013 Gulf Coast Prizes in Poetry, Nonfiction/Lyric Essay, and Fiction. The contest awards $1,500 and publication to the winner in each genre, as well as $250 to two honorable mentions in each genre. The winners will appear in Gulf Coast 26.1, due out in Fall 2013, and all entries will be considered for paid publication on our website as Online Exclusives.The 2013 Gulf Coast Prize in Poetry will be judged by Stanley Plumly. His poetry collection Old Heart won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. His most recent collection is Orphan Hours.
The 2013 Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction will be judged by Maggie Shipstead. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and a recent resident at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris. Her short fiction has appeared in Tin House, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ecotone, American Short Fiction, Subtropics, The Best American Short Stories, and other publications. Her story “La Moretta” was a 2012 National Magazine Award finalist, and her first novel, Seating Arrangements, won the Dylan Thomas Prize.
The 2013 Gulf Coast Prize in Nonfiction/Lyric Essay will be judged by Darin Strauss. He is the author of the international bestseller Chang and Eng, and the New York Times Notable Book The Real McCoy, one of the New York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember of 2002," as well the novel More Than it Hurts You, and most recently a memoir, Half a Life, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Also a screenwriter, Darin is currently adapting Chang and Eng for the screen with the actor Gary Oldman. Another screenplay on which he collaborated is in pre-production at Paramount Studios. He is the recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship.
The deadline for entries is March 15, 2013. The $23 reading fee includes a year-long subscription to Gulf Coast.
We will accept submissions both via our online submissions manager and via postal mail.
Contest Guidelines for Online Submissions
- Submissions accepted via Gulf Coast’s online submissions manager. Fiction and nonfiction entrants may submit one piece, up to 7,000 words; poetry entrants may submit as many as five poems, up to ten pages.
- You may submit more than once or in more than one genre, but each submission must be uploaded separately as a .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf file.
- Only previously unpublished work will be considered.
- The contest will be judged blindly, so please do not include your cover letter, your name, or any contact information in the uploaded document. This information should only be pasted in the “Comments” field.
- After submitting your work you will be redirected to PayPal to authorize your $23 reading fee, which includes a year-long subscription to Gulf Coast. You do not need a PayPal account to submit to the contest; PayPal accepts all major credit cards for payment. We will contact you if there are any issues with your payment.Contest Guidelines for Postal Mail Submissions
- Only previously unpublished work will be considered. Fiction and nonfiction entrants may submit one piece, up to 7,000 words; poetry entrants may submit as many as five poems, up to ten pages.
- You may submit more than once or in more than one genre. Remember to pay the additional entry fee each time.
- Please address postal mail entries to:Gulf Coast
ATTN: Gulf Coast Prize in [Genre]
Department of English
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-3013- The contest will be judged blindly, so your contact information should appear only on your cover letter.
- Please include your $23 reading fee for each entry, payable to “Gulf Coast.”Last year’s winning pieces, chosen by Joyelle McSweeney (Poetry), Victor LaValle (Fiction), and Jenny Boully (Nonfiction/Lyric Essay), are available on our website: Gulf Coast Prize Winner in Poetry, Lo Kwa Mei-en; Gulf Coast Prize Winner in Fiction, Geetha Iyer; and Gulf Coast Prize Winner in Nonfiction/Lyric Essay, Emily Watson.