Northwest Review Poetry and Prose Contest - Summer 2026
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The Northwest Review invites submission for our Poetry and Prose Awards, judged by Mat Johnson (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction) and Michelle Peñaloza (Poetry). One poem and one piece of fiction or creative nonfiction will be chosen for publication in our Winter 2027 issue. Winning authors will receive $1,000 each. All entries will be considered for publication.
RULES
Please submit up to 3 poems (or 6 pages total) or one short story/creative nonfiction essay (9,000 word limit) per entry. Previously published manuscripts will not be considered. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable but let us know ASAP if it’s accepted elsewhere.
TO ENTER
The entry fee is $15. Multiple submissions are welcome. To make sure all work is read fairly, all entries will be read anonymously. Please erase all contact information in the manuscript. While your manuscript should be free of identifying information, make sure to list your name, email, title of entry, and genre in the “cover letter’ field.
SUBMISSION PERIOD
The 2026 Summer Contest runs from June 15th to August 31st. Results will be announced October 15th. Winners will be published in the Winter 2027 issue.
ABOUT THE JUDGES:
Michelle Peñaloza is the author of All The Words I Can Remember Are Poems (Persea Books, 2025). She is also the author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire, winner of the 2018 Hillary Gravendyk National Poetry Prize (Inlandia Books, 2019). The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants, Michelle was born in the suburbs of Detroit and received her MFA at the University of Oregon. She now lives in Covelo, CA.
Mat Johnson is a Philip H Knight Chair of Humanities at the University of Oregon. His publications included the novels Invisible Things, Loving Day, and Pym, the nonfiction novella The Great Negro Plot, and the graphic novel Incognegro. He has also written for Apple TV and Netflix. Johnson is the recipient of the American Book Award, the United States Artist James Baldwin Fellowship, The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, and the American Book Award.