Each year Crazyhorse offers the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize for a single short story and the Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize for a single poem. The competition is open, the prize awards are currently $2000 for each genre, and the winning poem and piece of prose are published in Crazyhorse.  

Recent fiction prize judges have included Antonya Nelson, Dan Chaon, T. M. McNally, Diana Abu-Jaber, Michael Martone, and Charles Baxter.

Recent poetry prize judges have included Marvin Bell, Dean Young, Albert Goldbarth, Nance Van Winckel, Dara Wier, and Mary Ruefle.

See Past Prize Winners for last year's winners and judges.

To enter:

Please upload or mail in a manuscript of up to twenty-five pages of fiction or up to three poems (up to 10 pages of poetry).

More than one manuscript may be entered. For each fiction or poetry manuscript entered, please include the following reading fee, which includes a one-year/two-issue subscription to Crazyhorse: $16 per manuscript for new entrants, $14 per manuscript if you have entered the Crazyhorse prizes before. For each additional fiction or poetry manuscript entered and entry fee paid, your subscription to Crazyhorse will extend by one year/two issues.

Unfortunately, Crazyhorse's shopping cart is not online at present to process prize entry fees online, but it is possible either to upload your manuscript(s) and mail in your reading fee(s) or to mail in both your manuscript(s) and reading fee(s).

How to enter by uploading your manuscript(s) and mailing in your reading fee(s):

Please upload manuscripts and pay entry fees by Dec. 15, 2007. After uploading your manuscript(s) through the Submission Manager link below, mail payment to Crazyhorse's editorial address below. Mail a check (to “Crazyhorse”) or the following Mastercard, Visa, or Amex information: card type, name as it appears on card, card number, expiration date, signature, ZIP of card billing address, phone number of card billing address. The credit card charge will appear on your credit card statement as “College of Charleston."

With your mailed-in payment, please include your Submission Manager account e-mail address and the date you uploaded your manuscript for our office's reference.

Click here to upload your manuscript to Crazyhorse's Submission Manager and for upload instructions.

Like mailed manuscripts, uploaded manuscript files will be read blindly, unassociated with any of your contact information entered into the online Submission Manager.

Mail entry fee payment to:

Crazyhorse Fiction Prize / The Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize
Crazyhorse
Department of English
College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
USA

How to enter by mailing both your manuscript(s) and reading fee(s):

Please mail manuscripts and entry fee payment by Dec. 15, 2007. Each entry should have a cover page placed on the top of the manuscript with the entrant’s name, address, e-mail, and telephone number; please do not include identifying information on the manuscript itself, as all manuscript entries are made anonymous for review.

Include reading fee payment with each entry: a check written out to “Crazyhorse” or the following Mastercard, Visa, or Amex information printed on your cover page: card type, name as it appears on card, card number, expiration date, signature, ZIP of card billing address, phone number of card billing address. The credit card charge will appear on your credit card statement as “College of Charleston."

Include a self-addressed stamped envelope for notification of winners; entry manuscripts can not be returned; receipt of entry can only be confirmed by including a self-addressed stamped postcard with your entry or by USPS delivery confirmation.

Mail manuscripts and entry fee payment to:

Crazyhorse Fiction Prize / The Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize
Crazyhorse
Department of English
College of Charleston
66 George Street
Charleston, SC 29424
USA

General entry information:

All manuscripts entered must be original and previously unpublished. All entries are considered for publication in Crazyhorse.

New prize-entry subscriptions will begin with Crazyhorse Number 73, Spring 2008; the winning manuscripts will be published in Crazyhorse Number 74, Fall 2008.

Entries are accepted from Sept. 1 to Dec. 15, 2007. Winners will be announced by April 30, 2008.

The postmark and upload deadline for this year's prizes is December 15, 2007.

Details of prize process and timeline:

All manuscripts entered are made anonymous before they are reviewed: the identity of each entrant is separated or removed from each entrant’s manuscript and each manuscript is only identified by number when it is read by reviewers.

Between January 2008 and February 2008, Crazyhorse Fiction Editor Anthony Varallo reviews each anonymous fiction prize manuscript entered and selects up to 30 finalists for review by the fiction prize judge; Crazyhorse Editors Carol Ann Davis and Garrett Doherty review each anonymous poetry prize manuscript entered and select up to 30 finalists for review by the poetry prize judge.

During March 2008, each finalist's anonymous manuscript is reviewed by a judge in the respective genre. The fiction judge selects one story from the fiction prize finalists as the winner; the poetry judge selects one poem from the poetry prize finalists as the winner.  Only after the deadline to enter manuscripts in the prizes has passed is a judge for each genre selected.  Past judges have included Antonya Nelson, Dan Chaon, T. M. McNally, Diana Abu-Jaber, Michael Martone, and Charles Baxter for fiction; for poetry, past judges have included Marvin Bell, Dean Young, Albert Goldbarth, Nance Van Winckel, Dara Wier, and Mary Ruefle. The identity of each genre’s judge will be disclosed with the announcement of each genre’s winner and finalists at the end of April 2008.