Welcome to the fifth Monthly Writing Contest of 2026! The theme is: POETRY OPEN
What does that mean? It means you can submit poetry of any format (narrative, acrostic, sonnet, etc.) including prose poetry, narrative poetry, and stories in verse.
Please note: Fanfiction is NOT accepted. Please submit original work only.
Submissions can include the following formats:
- poetry (all formats)
- webcomics (wherein the text is poetry)
- prose poetry
- narrative poetry
- stories written in verse
- illustrated poetry
- excerpts of epic poems or books written in verse
- creative memoirs written in verse
- essays pertaining to poetry
Submission Timeline
- Submissions Open: May 01, 2026
- Submissions Close: May 24, 2026
- Results Announced: Week of May 25, 2026
If I am ever late with the results announcement, I apologize. I have a baby at home, and I have several chronic conditions that I manage. If I'm ever delayed, there's a good chance it is due to one of these.
Image Description: A ginger-haired woman leans over a book with yellowing pages. She is holding a pen and is pictured from behind. Her sweater has thin black and white stripes.
Credit: Esra Korkmaz / Pexels
How to Submit
There are five ways to submit your work. Please pick the one that is most convenient for you. (Note: Neobook has periodic outages. If this is impacting you, I recommend submitting through one of the other options.)
- Via Email:
- email your submission to contact.undergroundbookshelf@gmail.com
- include the contest you are submitting to, the name you would like to be credited under, a brief bio, and your pronouns
- Via Neobook:
- publish your completed work on Neobook
- include the hashtag #flashfictionfun so that other participants can find and read your work
- direct message the contest moderator (@LauraWrites), (include the contest you are submitting to, the name you would like to be credited under, and your pronouns)
- Via Booksie:
- publish your completed work on Booksie
- include the hashtag #flashfictionfun so that other participants can find and read your work
- direct message the contest moderator (@LauraWrites), (include the contest you are submitting to, the name you would like to be credited under, and your pronouns)
- Via Wattpad:
- publish your completed work on Wattpad
- include the hashtag #flashfictionfun so that other participants can find and read your work
- drop the link to your submission in the comment section of the appropriate chapter in the 2026 Writing Contests Book (or email me the link if you have difficulty posting the link: contact.undergroundbookshelf@gmail.com)
- Via UrNovl:
- publish your completed work on UrNovl
- visit the contests page and select the icon for this month's contest
- follow the instructions to submit your work.
- send me your bio and the name you would like to be credited under separately if you are among the winners.
Rules of Participation
- Be respectful of one another.
- Please no NSFW/smut.
- Please submit work written in English or bilingual. For example, I've received some submissions written in Spanish and translated to English (or vice versa). I have released both as separate posts with links to the other post to read it in the other language.
- No AI generated stories. (I'll accept works that use AI for brainstorming, researching, or conceptualizing, but the story itself must be your own and must be written by you in your voice.)
- Your work must be complete at the time of submission.
- Winners: please include the name you would like to be credited under, your bio, pronouns, and content warnings (if applicable).
- Submissions should generally be under 2,000 words. I can be somewhat flexible on this, (up to around 3,000), but this allows me to make sure I have enough time to give every submission a fair shot.
Quick Notes
- You retain all the rights to the stories you submit to these contests. If your work is featured on this platform, you are still able to publish it in other formats (just be sure to check the submission/publishing rules for other platforms, publishers, etc.).
- Winners have the option to have their work featured on Underground Bookshelf. Please make sure I have the name you would like to be credited under, bio, pronouns, and content warnings (if applicable) so that I can assemble your feature.
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