Superlative - submit a short story to the June monthly feature competition (£100 prize)

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Upon acceptance, Superlative will publish the winner's short story as our featured story for June, share bio and social media handles, and pay a £100 winner prize. We also nominate winners for major prizes (Pen America, Pushcart, Best of the Net, etc) and continue to promote winners after publication. Submitted work should be:

  • Fiction of any genre.
  • Up to 5,000 words.
  • Your own - not written by any kind of AI software.
  • Edited and formatted correctly in standard British English.


 

 Additional information:

  • Winning pieces will be included in Superlative's annual journal publication, alongside annual competition winners, and winners will be invited to Superlative's December launch event and given the opportunity to read their work.
  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • We respond to every submission and, for monthly feature submissions, you will hear from us within 2 weeks of the closing deadline.
  • We encourage transgressive and experimental work.
  • We accept extracts from longer pieces of work, provided they still meet the submission criteria and stand as a comprehensible piece of writing in their own right.
  • The editors' decision is final.
  • Submission fees are purposefully nominal, and only cover the journal's running costs and competition prize money.
  • If you are unsuccessful, please do not be deterred from submitting new work in future! We receive a lot of submissions, and standards are always very high. Please persevere!


 

 Click here to go directly to Superlative's website

  • Superlative, The Literary Journal, is edited by Ross Turner, Gemma Mainwaring, Rachel Fennell, Daniel Chesmore and Holly Joyce, illustrated by Orlaith Stratford, and marketed by Hannah Darby.
  • We publish short stories and poetry.

 


Superlative accepts open submissions, and runs monthly feature competitions and annual competitions.

Superlative's annual competition schedule is:

  • Submissions accepted: 01 January - 31 August 
  • Judging: September
  • Longlist Contacted & Announced: October
  • Shortlist Contacted & Announced: November
  • Winners Contacted & Announced: December

 

  • The theme for Superlative's 2026 annual writing competition is GROWTH.
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