Voyage YA by Uncharted is pleased to announce our newest contest, the YA OPEN, judged by Voyage editors. Send us your wildest, most electric YA prose. We want to see drama, enigma, and tension. Your prose should glimmer with energy, with passion in every sentence. Make our heads turn. Write something that it is impossible for us to ignore. Show us what you needed to read when you were a teen.
First place will win $1,000, second and third place will win $600 and $400, respectively. All three winners will be published on our website.
For this contest, Voyage YA by Uncharted is open to all prose: Short Fiction, Flash Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Creative Nonfiction, and Hybrid Prose. We will not accept traditionally lineated poetry nor excerpts of longer works. Please see below for specific guidelines.
Guidelines
- The deadline for entry is October 1, 2024.
- All entries must be in the YA genre.
- The $20 reading fee allows for the submission of one <5,000 word short story or two flash pieces <1,000 words apiece. If submitting two flash pieces, please put them in the same document.
- Writers from historically marginalized groups may submit for free until we reach a cap of 25 submissions in this category. No additional fee waivers will be granted for this contest. [The cap for this category has been reached.]
- Stories must be written primarily in English, but some code-switching/meshing is welcomed.
- We encourage multiple submissions, but each entry must be submitted separately, each with a separate reading fee.
- Reprints are not eligible. If your story has been published anywhere else, even on a blog or social media, it will be automatically disqualified from the contest.
- If your story is a simultaneous submission, please withdraw immediately if it’s accepted elsewhere.
- Submissions should be double-spaced and use Times New Roman 12, or larger if needed.
- All submissions should include a cover letter, however brief, with your publication history, if applicable.
- We do not accept anonymous submissions.
- Please include a content warning, if applicable. This information will not factor into whether your submission is accepted, but rather simply serve to safeguard our staff.
- AI-generated stories will be automatically disqualified.
Optional Editorial Feedback
Participants are invited to request a two-page editorial feedback letter about their submission for an extra fee of $69, or three editorial letters from three different editorial consultants for $179. These letters will provide the recipient with valuable and personalized input from a qualified editor. Please allow up to twelve weeks from the close of the contest to receive your feedback. If your work is chosen for publication, no feedback will be given and your fee will be refunded.