Fineline Competition

The Fineline Competition for Prose Poems, Short Shorts and Anything in Between

Our congratulations to Rachel Morgan, whose piece “They Go on Living” was selected by Sherrie Flick as winner of the 2020 Fineline Competition!

You will find these pieces and our other finalists in issue 41 of Mid-American Review, due out in summer 2021.

We are currently reworking the Fineline Competition as our schedule has changed. We continue to accept work on a rolling deadline, and will have a 2021 cut-off deadline posted as soon as possible.

General guidelines: Contest is for previously unpublished work only—if the work has appeared in print or online, in any form or part, or under any title, or has been contracted for such, it is ineligible and will be disqualified. There is a 500-word limit for each poem or short. A $10 entry fee (payable online for online submissions, or check or money order made out to Mid-American Review for submissions by post) is required for each set of three prose poems/short short stories. Entry fees are non-refundable. All participants the issue where the winners are published. where the winners will be published. Submissions will not be returned. Manuscripts need not be left anonymous. Contest is open to all writers, except those associated with the judge or Mid-American Review, past or present. Our judge’s decision is final.

Note: All pieces submitted in verse form—i.e., poetry with line breaks—will be automatically disqualified, as will previously published work or pieces over 500 words.

For online submissions and online payment, please use our Submissions Manager. Please be sure to select “Fineline” as your genre.

Send all postal entries with check or money order to:
Mid-American Review
Department of English
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403

Thank you to all of our entrants!