Editors’ Prize Guidelines
Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize
$5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry
The 2025 winners (1 per genre), runners-up (3 per genre), and finalists (10 per genre) were announced in January. Winners receive publication, promotion, and a cash prize. All entries are considered for publication.
This contest is currently closed. The contest will open for entries this summer with a deadline of October 1.
Guidelines
- Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction up to 8,500 words, or any number of poems in 6–10 pages. Please double-space fiction and nonfiction entries.
- Entries must be previously unpublished.
- Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry and withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
- Winners will be published in a print issue of TMR. All entries will be considered for publication (whether in print or online, as part of our Poem of the Week or BLAST features).
- Standard entry fee: $25. Each entrant receives a one-year subscription to the Missouri Review in digital format (normal price $24) and a digital copy of the latest title from our imprint, TMR Books, a short-story anthology by former contributors (normal price $7.95).
- All-Access entry fee: $30. In addition to the one-year digital subscription to the Missouri Review and a digital copy of the latest title from TMR Books e-book, each entrant receives access to the last ten years of digital issues and the audio recordings of each digital issue.
Eligibility
- Previous winners of the Editors’ Prize and current University of Missouri students and faculty are ineligible.
- Previous Editors’ Prize finalists and runners-up are welcome to enter again.
Submit
OR
- By mail:
- Postmark deadline: October 1
- Please enclose a cover letter. Make sure your name, address, email, and phone number appear at the top of the first page of your entry.
- Include a check for $25 (Standard) or $30 (All-Access) payable to the Missouri Review.
- Mention in your cover letter if you want your manuscript returned, and remember to include self-addressed stamped envelope with sufficient postage.
- Mail entries to:
Missouri Review Editors’ Prize [GENRE]
453 McReynolds Hall
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO 65211
Winners
View winners, runners-up, and finalists for the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize.
Read prize-winning fiction by Jeffery Brady, poetry by Amanda Gunn, and nonfiction by Justin Thurman in the latest Editors’ Prize issue.
Questions? E-mail question@moreview.com.