Open April 1 – May 15 each year.
$2500 in cash prizes, plus 3 literary agents will read your work. We accept stories from all over the world and many winners have gone on to have successful careers as published authors. Past guest judges include Aimee Bender, Ben Fountain, Pinckney Benedict, Susan Perabo, and Christopher Castellani.
The Raymond Carver Short Story Contest
Now in its 20th year, the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest is one of the most renowned fiction contests in the world. Featuring prominent guest judges and offering $3000 across five prizes, the contest delivers exciting new fiction from writers all over the world.
The contest opens each year April 1 – May 15 and prize winners are published in our annual fall issue in October.
2020 CONTEST GUIDELINES
- Submission Dates: April 1 – May 15. (Postmark deadline* May 15.)
- Prizes: $2000 (1st), $500 (2nd), $250 (3rd), and two $125 (Editor’s Choice).
- Winning stories will be read by three literary agents.
- Winners announced August 1 and published in fall issue online and in print.
- Honorable mentions and semi-finalists will be listed online for up to 6 months.
- All work submitted will also be considered for non-contest publication.
- Entry Fees: $17 online / $15 maile
- One short story per entry. No limit to number of entries.
- Story must be previously unpublished (including online).
- 10,000 maximum word count.
- We accept entries from anywhere in the world, but the story must be in English.
- No genre fiction (romance, horror, sci-fi); literary fiction only.
- Winners of the past two Raymond Carver and Prose & Poetry contests are ineligible.
- Submitting online: no cover page or author info in document. All readings are blind.
- Submitting by mail*: include $15 check or money order payable to Carve Magazine with cover page that includes story title, name, address, phone, email, and word count. Send to: Carve Magazine | Raymond Carver Contest | PO Box 701510 | Dallas, TX 75370.
*Please note: this will be the final year we accept mailed submissions for the contest. Only online entries will be accepted beginning with the 2021 contest.
For additional questions about the Raymond Carver Contest, please email us at info@carvezine.com.
Share the contest with others by downloading our PDF flyer.
2020 GUEST JUDGE: Pam Houston
Pam Houston is the author of the memoir, Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me, all published by W.W. Norton. Her stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century among other anthologies. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, the Evil Companions Literary Award and several teaching awards. She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers. She lives at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
