Fiction and nonfiction, including scripts and screenplays, from 7,501 words up to 17,500 words should be submitted to Sunspot before May 1. Graphic novels should be 18 to 24 pages. A single poem between 11 and 15 pages is also accepted. Submit here.

Sunspot Lit accepts novelette-length fiction and nonfiction, including scripts and screenplays, from 17,501 to 29,000 words. Graphic novels should run 25 to 50 pages. A single poem between 16 and 20 pages is also accepted. Submit here before April 15.

Authors & Artists Eligible

Rigel is the brightest star in the Orion constellation. Sunspot Lit is looking for the single short story, novel, novella, artwork, graphic novel, or poem that outshines all the rest.

Rigel offers $250 plus publication to the winner, and offers publication to select finalists. No restrictions on theme or category. The length for prose is restricted to a maximum of 5,000 words for short stories, or ten pages for poetry and graphic novels. Excerpts should always be from the beginning of a longer work, and should include a synopsis. The synopsis counts toward the entry’s total word/page count. Artwork should consist of a single piece.

Any novels, novellas, or graphic novels selected as the winner or as finalists will be offered publication only for the submitted sample.

Open: April 1, 2022

Close: June 30, 2022

Entry fee: $6

Prize: $250 cash and publication for the winner; publication offered to runners-up and finalists.

Sunspot asks for first rights only; all rights revert to the contributor after publication. Works, along with the creators’ bylines, are published in the next quarterly digital edition an average of two months after contest completion, as well as in the annual print edition. 

Works should be unpublished except on a personal blog or website. Artists offered publication may display their pieces in galleries, festivals or shows throughout the publication contract period.  

Enter as many times as you like through Submittable, but only one piece per submission. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your piece if it is published elsewhere before the winner is selected.

Enter through Sunspot’s Submittable form or

Duotrope.