The Hudson Prize

Black Lawrence Press accepts submissions and payment of the entry fee ($30) exclusively through our online submission manager, Submittable. We are not able to accept submissions via email or postal mail.

Entries are read blind by senior Black Lawrence Press editors and a rotating panel of former Hudson Prize winners. Recent members of the judging panel include:

Jacob Appel, author of Mysteries and Conundrums of the Secondary Planets

Gillian Cummings, author of My Dim Aviary

Dana Diehl, author of The Earth Room

Jeremy Griffin, author of Scream Queen

JoeAnn Hart, author of Highwire Act & Other Tales of Survival

Bettina Judd, author of Patient.

Beth Mayer,  author of We Will Tell You Otherwise

Greg Nicholl, author of Ghost in the Graveyard

Manuscripts should include a title page (listing only the title of the work), table of contents, and when appropriate, an acknowledgments page. Manuscripts should be paginated and formatted in an easy-to-read font such as Garamond or Times New Roman. Manuscripts should be 45-95 pages in length (poetry) or 120-280 pages in length (prose), not including front and back matter (table of contents, title page, etc.). Identifying information for the author should not be included anywhere on the manuscript itself. You are welcome to include a brief bio or something about yourself in your cover note on Submittable, which will only be made accessible to the editorial panel after the group of Semi-Finalist and Finalist manuscripts has been chosen.

Manuscripts containing individual stories, essays, or poems that have been previously published online or in print are absolutely eligible–please simply note previously published work on an acknowledgments page. On the other hand, if your manuscript has been previously published as a collection (including publication with a press, self-publication, online/digital publication, and publication in a small, limited-edition print run), then the manuscript is not eligible.

• Simultaneous submissions are acceptable and encouraged, but please notify us by withdrawing your manuscript on Submittable immediately if it is accepted for publication elsewhere.
• Multiple submissions (the submission of more than one manuscript to the contest) are permitted.
• Collaborative collections are welcome.
• Hybrid/multi-genre submissions are also welcome; please enter under the submission category that best fits your work.
• Novels and memoirs are not eligible. Prose refers to collected short fiction or essays.

Need help with our submissions manager?
Visit http://help.submittable.com

We look forward to reading your work!