Boulevard strives to publish only the finest in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. While we frequently publish writers with previous credits, we are very interested in less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise. If you have practiced your craft and your work is the best it can be, send it to Boulevard.

To get a feel for style, content, quality, and form of the work we publish try a sample issue or subscription.

Please do not submit a document edited with track changes. Copy and paste into a new document.

Accepting submissions from November 1 to May 1

  • No email submissions will be read.
  • There is a $3 fee to submit online; there is no fee to submit by post.
  • We allow simultaneous submissions, but please immediately withdraw work that has been accepted elsewhere. 
  • We accept multiple submissions, but please wait a reasonable time (at least one month) between entries.
  • Authors retain rights to their work from the time of publication in Boulevard.
  • Work submitted must be previously unpublished, both in print and online.
  • Cover letters with previous credits are not required, though always appreciated. Let us know if this would be your debut publication.
  • Our average response time is four months. Please do not query before then.
  • Send only complete, fully proofread work. We will not consider revisions--this is too difficult administratively for our small staff.
  • Please use a font other than Courier--it hurts our eyes!
  • Your work may also be considered for Natural Bridge, an online-exclusive feature published on the Boulevard website through a collaboration with the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. 

Sales cover less than 20% of Boulevard's annual budget, so your gift makes all the difference! Your tax-deductible support will help us continue our 30-year tradition of publishing the finest short fiction, essays, and poetry — presenting the best new and emerging writers alongside some of the world's most renowned. Donate today.


$18.00

$1,500 and publication in Boulevard awarded to the winning story by a writer who has not yet published a book of fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction with a nationally distributed press. 

Rules

  • All entries must be submitted online by December 31 by midnight CT. 
  • Entry fee is $18 for each individual story, with no limit per author, and includes a one-year subscription. 
  • Manuscripts should be typed and double spaced.
  • Cover sheets are not necessary. 
  • Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but previously accepted or published work is ineligible.
  • We accept works up to 8,000 words. 
  • All entries will be considered for publication and for payment at our regular rates. 
  • Entries will be judged by the editors of Boulevard
  • No one editorially or financially affiliated with Boulevard can enter the contest.
  • The winning story will be first announced on the website, traditionally during June, though occasionally earlier, and then published in the subsequent Fall or Spring issue of Boulevard.

 For complete guidelines.

Boulevard