A fresh new year brings new opportunities to get our work out into the world! It’s always bracing to throw your hat in the ring and submit a piece you love. It’s a great way to push yourself to polish it and to gain exposure — you never know what can happen.

So if boosting your submissions is part of your writing strategy, here’s a heads up on one promising opportunity sponsored by the Masters Review: The Winter Short Story Award For New Writers. The winning story will be awarded $3000 and receive publication online. The deadline is coming up: January 15.

Second and third place stories will also be published and each win a small cash prize.  All winners and honorable mentions will be reviewed by established literary agents: Nat Sobel from Sobel Weber, Victoria Cappello from The Bent Agency, Andrea Morrison from Writers House, and Mark Gottlieb from Trident Media. Past winners have gone on be published:Winner Caitlin O’Neil earned representation from Victoria Marini and the Fall Fiction winner selected by Kelly Link sold her story collection to Grove Atlantic.

The contest is for emerging writers only. See full guidelines for specifics. More details:

Winner receives $3000, publication, and agency review
Second and third place prizes ($200/$100, publication, and agency review)
Word count: under 7000 words
Previously unpublished stories only
Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed

Short-story scribes, start your engines! For more information, visit: https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/. Write on!