Superlative - submit a short story to the open journal (£50 prize)
Upon acceptance, Superlative will publish the contributor's short story in our international online journal, share bio and social media handles, and pay a £50 contributor prize. We also nominate contributors for major prizes (Pen America, Pushcart, Best of the Net, etc) and continue to promote contributors after publication. Submitted work should be:
- Fiction of any genre.
- Up to 5,000 words.
- Previously unpublished.
- Your own - not written by any kind of AI software.
- Edited and formatted correctly in standard British English.
Additional information:
- Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know if your work is accepted elsewhere.
- We respond to every submission and, for open journal submissions, aim to do so within 1-3 months.
- 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.