WOW! Women on Writing runs quarterly, globally open contests for flash fiction and creative nonfiction essays, with publication opportunities, prizes, and optional paid critiques.
nonfictionEligibility requirements
Closes Oct 31Fee: $12.00 entry; $25.00 with critiquePays: Prizes: $500 first place, $300 second place, $200 third place, plus gift certificates and other prizes for runners-up and honorable mentions.
Closes Nov 30Fee: $10.00 entry; $20.00 with critiquePays: Prizes: $400 first place, $300 second place, $200 third place, plus gift certificates for runners-up and honorable mentions.
Closes Oct 1Pays: $100 per original story for first electronic rights, with six months’ exclusivity and a non-exclusive one-time anthology right; payment via PayPal or check.
Okay Donkey is a literary magazine publishing odd, experimental, surreal, genre-bending flash fiction and poetry, including work that is funny, sad, or both.
flashLiteraryScience FictionFantasyHorrorHumor
Closes Jan 2, 2027Fee: $4.00 for expedited; $2.50 for Tip JarPays: $25 honorarium per published flash fiction
poetryLiteraryHumor
Closes Jan 2, 2027Fee: $4.00 for expedited; $2.50 for Tip JarPays: $25 honorarium per published poem
F(r)iction is a genre-inclusive literary magazine and blog publishing short fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, essays, and reviews, with contests and group writing projects.
Eleventh Hour Literary is a perseverance-focused journal publishing revised, previously rejected prose and poetry, with no restrictions on subject matter.
Open to: Work must have been previously rejected and revised; submissions must include a rejection history; work must be unpublished and not AI-written.
Beaver Magazine is a literary publication seeking poetry, flash fiction, nonfiction, hybrid work, and other writing during its seasonal reading periods.
Open to: No AI-created work; previously published work is not accepted.
Thin Skin is a literary magazine showcasing writers aged 50 and over, accepting literary fiction, flash fiction, and poetry.
Open to: The magazine favors writers aged 50 and over, but will consider slightly younger writers if their work fits its ethos; writers may be from anywhere in the world.
Mystery Publishers Limited seeks original flash fiction by African writers worldwide aged 18 or older for its 2027 anthology themed “A Continent in Conversation.”
Sky Island Journal is an independent, international, free-access online literary journal publishing original poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction.
Open to: Submitters must be at least 18 years old; work must be previously unpublished, written primarily (50% or more) in English, and created entirely by a human author.
Statuses are gathered automatically from each market's public guidelines page and can lag or misread edge cases — always verify on the market's own site before submitting. Some markets and response-time data discovered via The Submission Grinder.