Literary Contests
Blair aims to hold one contest annually, rotating through the three genre-based contests listed below. Submissions are made through Submittable. All manuscripts are read without identifying information by a reading committee comprised of Blair staff and qualified, paid readers. Contests are free to enter. Please contact blairsubmissions@gmail.com with questions or accessibility requests.
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The Bakwin Award for Full-Length Prose is currently closed.
The latest winner is Tara Weinstein for her novel The Only Way Out Is Through, selected by Tiya Miles. For more previous winners, scroll to the bottom of this web page.
This award is for an unpublished full-length literary prose work of fiction or nonfiction, prioritizing manuscripts by authors that fit Blair's mission of publishing new and historically neglected voices.
Entries should be literary in nature. Novels, short story collections by a single author, memoirs, essay collections, and biographies are all acceptable (NO POETRY COLLECTIONS, PLEASE). Blair does NOT publish strict genre fiction (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.), but we acknowledge that some elements of genre fiction may be present in literary fiction.
This contest is free to enter. There is a suggested donation of $25.00. Donation information will not be known to our team of readers nor the final judge. Submissions will be accepted through Submittable; no mailed submissions will be accepted.
DO NOT INCLUDE CONTACT INFORMATION anywhere in your manuscript file. Any manuscripts submitted with identifying information will be automatically declined. Use the cover letter field in Submittable to provide a short bio. If portions of your manuscript are previously published in journals or other outlets, you may include those acknowledgments in the cover letter field of Submittable. The manuscript as a whole should be unpublished.
Though you may have multiple manuscripts that fit this call, you may only submit one manuscript to this award.
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This award is for a book-length literary novel.
Submissions for the Lee Smith Novel Prize are currently closed.
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This prize will open September 15, 2025, and close on November 15 or after we reach our cap of 350 submissions.
The Wren Poetry Prize is for a first, second, or third full-length poetry collection.
Winners selected by Blair poetry editor Sandra Beasley.
Submittable link to come.
Our Editorial Vision
Our mission at Blair is to publish emerging writers and writers from groups whose work has been historically neglected—for us this includes writers with marginalized gender identities, BIPOC writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers with disabilities, and writers from the U.S. South, among others. We are most interested in literary fiction, issue-driven creative nonfiction and memoir, and poetry. We will also consider regional nonfiction focused on the U.S. South.
Books we’d particularly like to see: fiction or nonfiction from Native American authors, fresh takes on Southern fiction, novels with strong narrative arcs, books by authors or about characters who live with physical challenges, books with fresh takes on the history or folklore of the U.S. South, historical novels set in eras and places rarely explored in literature.
Not accepted at this time: science fiction, horror, romance, YA.
We do not accept unagented fiction, memoir, or poetry outside of our contests. Unagented nonfiction proposals may be sent to us at blairsubmissions@gmail.com.
Contest Winners
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![Tara Weinstein, a white woman with shoulder-length brown curly hair wearing drop earrings, and a burgundy blouse, smiling, with a purple backdrop.]()
Tara Weinstein
Winner of the 2024 Bakwin Award for Full-Length Prose for her novel The Only Way Out Is Through.
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![A woman with short brown hair and glasses in an off-white blouse and a blurred green background]()
Kionna Walker LeMalle
Winner of the 2023 Lee Smith Novel Prize for her novel Behind the Waterline.
