Big Fish Lyric Essay/Writers on Writing Contest

Congratulations to Ryan Spooner! His lyric essay "Ineffable" has been selected as the winning entry in our spring Big Fish Online contest.

We're also pleased to credit Cal Freeman's genre-bending prose piece "Cartesian Grammar and the Lyric Form" with Big Fish honorable mention status. Keep your eyes peeled because these poetic prose pieces are both coming soon to CutBank online.

Our editorial staff was blown away by the quality and variety of this year's submissions, and we'd like to extend our sincere thanks to all who submitted. Reading your work was a true pleasure.

CutBank Announces New Contests

CutBank is pleased to announce the Montana Prize in Fiction, the Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and the Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry.

We are honored to have three talented judges participating in the inaugural year of these contests. The Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry will be judged by Michele Glazer. Aimee Bender will select the winner of the Montana Prize in Fiction. The winner of the Montana Prize in Creative Nonfiction will be selected by Suzanne Paola. Click here to read their bios.

Deadline for submissions is February 29. Winners receive $500 and publication in CutBank 69. All submissions will be considered for publication in CutBank.

The contests' $13 entry fee includes a one-year, two-issue subscription to CutBank, beginning with the prize issue, CutBank 69.

Please send only your best work. With all three of these awards, we are seeking to highlight work that showcases an authentic voice, a boldness of form, and a rejection of functional fixedness.


FULL GUIDELINES:

Submissions postmarked earlier than December 1, 2007 or later than February 29, 2008 will be returned unread (along with payment).

Submissions are accepted via postal mail only. Please include SASE for reply and prepare your manuscript according to CutBank's conventional submission guidelines. The contest entry must be noted on the envelope and cover letter, i.e.:

The Patricia Goedicke Prize in Poetry
CutBank
English Dept, LA 133
University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

A $13 contest entry fee includes a one-year subscription to CutBank. The entry fee covers the reading of a single submission in a single genre. Prose writers, please send only a single work of no greater than 40 printed pages. Poets may submit up to five poems. Submissions that exceed these guidelines will be returned unread, along with payment. Please submit only once within in a genre, although writers are permitted to submit in multiple genres.

Please include a short cover letter that mentions your address, phone number, and email address, as well as the title of your work. Please include the author's name on the manuscript—names will be removed from the pool of submissions that goes before our contest judges.

Current subscribers may submit for the same $13 fee—subscriptions will be extended by one year.


Please submit entry fee by personal or cashier's check. Checks can be made out to CutBank Literary Magazine.

Entrants will be notified of their submission status no later than May 15, 2008. One winner in each genre, as chosen by our guest judges, will receive a $500 award and publication in CutBank 69, our summer 2008 issue. Winners will be required to complete a W-9 form to receive payment. All manuscripts are considered for publication in CutBank. All rights to selected manuscripts revert to the author upon publication. The author grants their permission to have their work electronically archived as part of CutBank 69 in EBSCO International's subscription-based research database.

Current University of Montana students and faculty and former CutBank staff are not eligible for the awards.