Editor's Choice Publishing Awards
Category: Collections
March 10th, 2025 - November 10th, 2025
Details:
We aim to award transparent publishing contracts with competitive royalties and varied advances plus 25 copies to 4 exceptional collections per year and provide a dedicated launch team to craft a tailored, robust launch and marketing campaign. Please read through the manuscript eligibility requirements and full submission guidelines before submitting your manuscript.
Eligible Manuscripts:
Eligible Manuscripts include previously unpublished poetry collections, collections of flash fiction and collections of flash creative/literary nonfiction totaling 50-150 pages. We consider “published” to mean work that has been traditionally or self-published in any print and/or digital format. Individual pieces that have been previously published may be included, provided you hold the rights and proper acknowledgments are made, though we ask that the majority of your manuscript be made up of previously unpublished pieces.
We are drawn to evocative, raw, poignant, and powerful pieces of substance and style.
Pluck at our heartstrings, speak to our souls, send shivers down our spines, shine a light on our darkness, and uncover our unspoken truths.
The Submission packet:
When building your submission, please adhere to the following guidelines. We do not accept AI-generated work and require a statement certifying that generative AI was not used during the creation process. We will auto-decline submissions without such a statement or disregarding the following guidelines. See our AI policy for more info.
We require you to submit the following separate documents.
Document #1- Your Manuscript
—An eligible and previously unpublished collection manuscript saved as a .docx file of no less than 50, but no more than 150 pages.
—Start each piece on a new page.
—Please be sure to strip identifying information from your manuscript document.
—Include your manuscript title in the header of each page.
—Number your pages.
—Page size 8.5×11, with all margins set to 1 inch.
—Use 12pt Times New Roman.
—Please double space prose. Poetry can be spaced as needed.
—Images- Please do not include any art or images in your submission. You’ll have ample opportunity to discuss art and imagery with your publishing team should your manuscript be accepted. Your writing needs to stand on its own.
Document #2- Your Cover Letter
Your cover letter should introduce both you as the author of the work and the work itself. Please keep this under two pages. Be sure to list your website and any social media handles you have. Next, include a brief statement certifying that you didn’t use generative AI to create or assist in the creation your manuscript.
Finally, include your contact information as follows:
—Pen Name under which you wish to publish, if applicable
—Pronouns
—Legal Name (for internal uses such as accounting and contracts)
—Email address
—Mailing address
—Phone number
—Social Media pages/profiles
Document #3- Acknowledgements Page
Please provide a list of the individual previously published works included in this manuscript, including their original publishers and respective issue, volume, or online domain as applicable.
Please note that the inclusion of this document is only required if any of the individual pieces that make up your chapbook manuscript have been previously published elsewhere as defined in the eligibility section above.
Awards:
Manuscript publishing by Shadow Dog Press- 4 manuscripts are selected and offered transparent publishing contracts with competitive royalties and varied advances plus 25 copies and a dedicated launch team to craft a tailored, robust launch and marketing campaign.
Reading Fee: $20
Every submitter receives personalized manuscript feedback.
Things to Know Before Submitting:
Shadow Dog Press is a safe place for you and for all writers, poets, and artists, no matter who you love, how much money you have in your pocket, the color of your skin, your educational background, or what you have going on in your pants.
For the Editor’s Choice Awards, in furtherance of our quest to publish rising underrepresented, disadvantaged, and otherwise disenfranchised writers from beyond the academic sphere, we do not separate the creator from the creation by blind reading manuscript submissions.
Selected Manuscripts are announced by February 25th, 2026 and hit shelves in the second half of 2026.
Shadow Dog Press does not solicit work and only publishes work received through our submission system.
All fees collected go to paying and elevating writers and the transaction, platform, and administration fees associated with doing so. Shadow Dog Press is a small independent publishing house and is the primary funding source of Shadow Dog Literary Inc. and associated programs and grants.
NOTICE: Abuse, threats, harassment, and mistreatment directed toward any member of our staff or our contributors on or off our platforms will result in being permanently banned by Shadow Dog Literary Group, all its holdings, and partner programs, including but not limited to its current and future holdings, publications, platforms, events, social media pages, outreach and support programs, grants, scholarships, contracts, prizes, awards, etc. and reported to the authorities as necessary.
Please add Editors@ShadowDogPress.com to your address book to ensure your decision letter doesn’t end up in your spam folder.
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