We are thrilled to announce that the brilliant Dantiel W. Moniz—author of the acclaimed story collection Milk, Blood, Heat—will judge our 2024 American Short(er) Fiction Prize. The prize recognizes extraordinary short fiction under 1,000 words. The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication. Previous winners of the Short(er) Fiction Prize have gone on to be anthologized in places such as The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. All entries will be considered for publication.

General Guidelines

•  Submit your entry online between November 30, 2023 – February 1, 2024.

•  The first-place winner will receive a $1,000 prize and publication in a future issue of ASF. All entries will be considered for publication.

•  Please submit your $18 entry fee and your work through Submittable. We no longer accept submissions by post. International submissions in English are eligible.

•  Stories must be 1,000 words or fewer. You are allowed to include up to three stories per entry. Please submit all stories in one document. Each story must begin on a new page and be clearly titled. For the title of your submission list the story titles, separated by a comma. Please DO NOT include any identifying information on the manuscript itself.

•  You may submit multiple entries. We accept only previously unpublished work. We do allow simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you notify us promptly of publication elsewhere.

Conflicts of Interest

Staff and volunteers currently affiliated with American Short Fiction are ineligible for consideration or publication. Additionally, students, former students, and colleagues of the judge are not eligible to enter. We ask that previous winners wait three years after their winning entry is published before entering again.

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Dantiel W. Moniz is the recipient of a National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, and Fellowships from Yaddo, The Lighthouse Works, and MacDowell, among others. Her debut collection, Milk Blood Heat was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award, the PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize, and the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, as well as longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize and The Story Prize. Her writing has appeared in the Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar, American Short Fiction, Tin House, and elsewhere. Moniz is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches fiction.

We can’t wait for your submissions!