We are now welcoming submissions of fiction in line with our ethos of publishing work that blurs genre and plays with form, experiments with compression or expansion, uses language in surprising ways, and brings attention to subject matter of contemporary urgency or uncommon interest. We especially love work that is tender, weird, and wild, hard-hitting and incisive, clear-sighted and daring. Stun us, wound us, share your gifts, or keep us warm—send us work that is unapologetically yours.

Please send one short story of up to 5,000 words or up to four related flash fiction pieces within the same total word limit.

This Editors' Choice prize for a single essay is open to any writer writing in English. The contest awards $250 to the first-place winner, $100 to the second-place winner, and $50 to the third-place winner and includes publication in the winter 2025/6 issue of Birdcoat Quarterly. 

All submission will be read anonymously by our team of editors and a first-place, second-place, and third-place essay will be chosen for prize and publication. Only previously unpublished work will be considered. You may submit one essay per $10 entry fee. 

We only accept submissions via Submittable. Please take care that you are submitting under the contest category as regular submissions received during the contest period WILL NOT be entered into the contest. The deadline for contest submissions is June 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM EST. 

Each entry must include: 1) an entry fee of ten dollars ($10) and 2) the submitter's contact info (do NOT include any identifying information on the manuscript itself).

Simultaneous submissions will be considered with notification. All rights revert to author after publication.

 We offer an expedited option with an expected response time of two weeks. Submitting through the expedited option does not guarantee acceptance.   

Please send one creative/lyric nonfiction essay of up to 5,000 words. We welcome submissions that blur genre and play with form, experiment with compression or expansion, use language in surprising ways, and bring attention to subject matter of contemporary urgency or uncommon interest. We especially love work that is tender, weird, and wild, hard-hitting and incisive, clear-sighted and daring. Stun us, wound us, share your gifts, or keep us warm—send us work that is unapologetically yours. 

We offer an expedited response time with an expected response time of two weeks. Submitting through the expedited option does not guarantee acceptance.  
Please submit  up to 3 poems in one document. We welcome submissions that blur genre and play with form, experiment with compression or expansion, use language in surprising ways, and bring attention to subject matter of contemporary urgency or uncommon interest. We especially love work that is tender, weird, and wild, hard-hitting and incisive, clear-sighted and daring. Stun us, wound us, share your gifts, or keep us warm—send us work that is unapologetically yours. 

We welcome submissions of creative nonfiction with a focus on lyric essays. While the definition of what makes a lyric essay is expansive and ever-evolving, our editors gravitate towards work that experiments with form and language, complicates our understanding of a topic, challenges our sense of certainty, or eschews truth in favor of the unknown, and takes us somewhere new. We are not particularly interested in essays that simply inform or document, but ones that bring to us to the threshold (of what? Anything) and incite conversations. We're looking for your essays that meander through time, challenge expectations, introduce nuance, humor, and paradox. We want work that lingers, elides, and leaves things unsaid. All is fair play for the lyric essay.

Please send one essay of up to 5,000 words or up to four related short essays within the same total word limit.