Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction

The University of North Texas Press host the 2026 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. The winner of this annual award will receive $1000 and publication by UNT Press. Entries will be judged by an eminent writer.

Manuscripts may be submitted starting May 1 and closing at end of date on June 30. The winning manuscript will be announced in January 2026.

Entries must be a collection of any combination of flash fiction, short stories, or novellas, from 100 to 200 book pages in length (word count between 27,500 and 50,000).

Material should be previously unpublished in book form. Stories included in the submission may have appeared previously in magazines or anthologies but may not have been previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work.

In order to ensure that all writers have access to publication, this contest will be open for fee-free submissions on Sunday, June 1st from 12:00 am to 11:59 pm.

FAQ
If you are curious how writing competitions work, or it’s your first time entering one, we recommend reading our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page first.

ProWritingAid
We are keen to encourage quality, so suggest writers to check their stories before submitting using Prowritingaid. They have free and paid versions and are the best writing software we know to help improve grammar, readability and check for repetition, ‘sticky’ sentences and suggest alternatives. Visit their website and try ProWritingAid for free.