Short Fiction Contest for New Jersey Undergraduate Students

Are you a writer currently residing in New Jersey and in the process of completing an undergraduate degree? The William Paterson University Department of Language, Literature, Culture and Writing (LLCW) is looking for emotionally evocative, page-turning works of fiction by all New Jersey undergraduate students!

The winner will be published in WP's online literary journal, MAP LITERARY and WPU's undergraduate literary journal Zeitgeist, as well as receive a prize of $250. The runner-ups will be considered for pub­li­ca­tion in Map Literary and Zeitgeist. Submit your work through our Submittable portal by February 15th, 2025, at 11:59 PM.

We wel­come unpub­lished short fiction manuscripts up to a maximum of 3,000 words. Please submit one short fiction piece only. The first 50 entries to this contest can be submitted free of charge. After that, there will be a $5 entry fee. 

Note that you may enter the contest only once, and submissions are accepted only from students who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree program in New Jersey. To enter, you will need to create a Submittable account, which is completely free. We do NOT accept email submissions.

The contest will be judged by Dr. John Parras: the BA/MFA Coordinator and Map Literary's editor-in-chief.
 

1. Submissions must be works of prose fiction.
2. Submissions must be previously unpublished. If it is accepted elsewhere, please withdraw it immediately.
3. Submissions should be no more than 3000 words. Limit 1 piece per person.
4. The first 50 submissions are free. After that, submissions will be $5.
5. Submissions are only accepted from individuals who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate, higher education college or university in New Jersey.
6. Student emails (the ones given by your college) are required.
7. The first place winner will have their piece published in the undergraduate magazine, Zeitgeist, for the Spring 2025 edition.