Our 2025 Fabulist Fiction Contest winner will be announced in June of 2026.

Announcing the 2025 Fabulist Fiction/Novelette Contest.

By popular demand, we are bringing back our Omnidawn fabulist fiction/novelette contest in 2025.

Judge: Arria Deepwater
Deadline: EXTENDED to November 30, 2025 at 11:58 pm Pacific
Basic guidelines: found on Submittable and below.
Fee: $30 (with discount or fee waiver available upon request (write to submissions@omnidawn.com)
Prize: $1,000 + 20 copies and publication
Suggested length:  7,500 to 17,500 words.
To submit your work, go to Submittable:
https://omnidawn.submittable.com/submit

The winner of the Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook / Novelette Contest wins a $1,000 prize, publication of the perfect bound pocket series chapbook / novelette with a full color cover by Omnidawn, 20 free copies of the winning chapbook / novelette, and extensive publicity through social media, our subscriber lists and more. (Note that the guidelines for this fiction contest are very similar to the guidelines for Omnidawn’s poetry contests.) For more detailed guidelines, scroll below.

For more about the judge, Arria Deepwater

Important: Please do not use any old contest links. They will not work since we’ve moved from submissions manager to submittable. Also Omnidawn can no longer accept paper submissions for any of our contests.

Detailed Contest Guidelines:

  1. For this contest, Fabulist Fiction includes magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, horror, fable, and myth. Stories can be primarily realistic, with elements of non-realism, or primarily or entirely non-realistic.
  2. Open to all writers worldwide. There are no citizenship or residency requirements or limitations.
  3. Postal submissions are NOT accepted.
  4. Please do not include images of any kind in your submission. Your submission will be ineligible if you do, and we will be unable to refund your money or provide individual notification.
  5. Manuscripts must be in English, although it is perfectly acceptable to include some text in other languages.
  6. This contest is identity-hidden (formerly referred to as a “blind contest”), so you must remove identifying information from your manuscript before submitting.
  7. Manuscript submissions for all contests must be original. Entries using characters or other elements of existing works are eligible only if those existing works are in the public domain.
  8. Sometimes an individual story or poem or two from a chapbook collection, written by the author submitting, may have already been published, but the collected work submitted should be at least 50% new. And the author should retain the rights of the whole work submitted.
  9. Translations and collaborations by more than one author are not eligible.
  10. We recommend that you keep the total length of your manuscript between 7,500 and 17,500 words, consisting of either one story or multiple stories.
  11. Simultaneous submissions to other contests or presses are perfectly acceptable. Please let us know if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
  12. Revisions are not allowed to a manuscript after it has been submitted to the contest. However, the winning author may choose to make minor edits to the manuscript before publication, with approval of the judge.
  13. Multiple submissions to this contest are acceptable, but each manuscript must be submitted separately, with a separate entry fee.
  14. Entries must be received during the period the contest is open.
  15. Past or present students, colleagues, or close friends of the judge are NOT ELIGIBLE. For the purpose of this contest the following definitions apply:  A “student” is defined as someone who has taken one or more semesters or quarter courses from the judge, but we do not consider someone who has taken only a weekend or week long workshop to be a “student” of the judge.  “Colleagues” includes anyone who has worked with the judge, usually in the same department at a university or college (someone who has worked in a different, unrelated department at the same university or college, and who has had very little contact with the judge is not considered a “colleague.”) A “close friend” is defined as someone who has met with the judge socially, for instance for a private dinner. Someone who knows the judge, but only meets and greets the judge at readings and other events is not considered a “close friend.” Once you have had a “student,” “colleague,” or “close friend” relationship with the judge, even if it was many years ago, you are ineligible for this contest. Please feel free to ask us if you’re not sure. 
  16. ALSO NOT ELIGIBLE: past and present staff and volunteers/interns for Omnidawn, authors of books Omnidawn has published, and winners of previous Omnidawn BOOK and CHAPBOOK contests. Winners of Omnidawn’s Broadside Contest are still eligible to enter and win Omnidawn BOOK and CHAPBOOK contests.
  17. A few small errors in your manuscript, including spelling, punctuation, formatting, or typographic errors, will not reduce your chances of winning. (We fully understand that such errors sometimes occur for everyone, and that these can be easily corrected later.)
  18. The fabulist fiction contest winner will be announced to our email list and on our website page. We will send you an email notification of the contest winner and finalists. 

Recent Winners of Omnidawn’s Fabulist Fiction Prize

Clyde Derrick

2020 Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Contest Winner —
Judge: Molly Gloss

Clyde Derrick — Book Title: The Ghost Trio

Clyde Derrick’s first novel The Wash won the Sol Books Fiction Prize for publication, while his experimental story “Each One As She Must” placed third in UCLA’s “Considering Gertrude Stein” competition. His lauded short film Strider’s House has aired on PBS and his plays Angel’s Flight and Teshuvah have been produced on the Los Angeles stage by Write Act Repertory Company. Clyde earned his BA at Pomona College, where he won the Dole King Kinney Prize for writing, and an MFA in Cinema at USC. He lives in Claremont, California. 

David Rothman

2019 Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Contest Winner —
Judge: Kellie Wells

Kristin Keane — Book Title: The Luminaries

Kristin Keane’s work has appeared with the New England Review, The Normal School, Electric Literature and elsewhere. She is a doctoral fellow at Stanford University and lives in San Francisco. More of her work can be found at thisisnotreallyhere.space. 

The five finalists selected by Kellie Wells (in alphabetical order by last name) are: Tobey Hiller, San Rafael, California; Noah Lemelson, Los Angeles, California; Amanda Montei, Concord, California; Simon Ratcliffe, Steenberg, Cape Town, South Africa; and Hubert Vigilla, Brooklyn, New York.

David Rothman

2018 Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Contest Winner —
Judge: Meg Elison

David Rothman — Book Title: The Lower East Side Tenement Reclamation Association

David Rothman has had short stories published in such journals as Glimmer Train, Hybrido, The Piltdown Review, Newtown Literary, among others. He has a Master’s Degree in English and Linguistics from the University of Wisconsin, and has taught writing for the City University of New York for over twelve years. David is the drummer for the NYC-based band, The Edukators.’ He is a proud resident of Jackson Heights, Queens, New York

The five finalists selected by Lily Hoang (in alphabetical order by last name) are: F.J. Bergmann, Madison, Wisconsin; Melissa Crandall-Everett, Hebron, Connecticut; Andrew Sebela, Brooklyn, New York; Marcus Stewart, London, United Kingdom; Taylor Sykes, Asheville, North Carolina.