Are you thinking about submitting a flash or four to our biennial competition, The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction? Here are a few answers to questions you might have.
When will submissions close?
November 15, 2022
Will I be able to submit to the general submission queue?
Not during the contest period. Our general submissions queue during the contest is closed, so you don’t have to make a choice—and so we don’t get confused. Don’t worry, though—if you don’t want to pay the contest submission fees, we get it, and we’ll happily take your story submission starting again on November 16.
Will I have to wait until November 15 to know if my story has been accepted? I entered the competition a week ago and have already received a rejection. Why?
During the competition submission period, we reject and accept submissions as we normally do with a response time of 7 days or sooner. If we are taking longer than 14 days, maybe even more than a month or two, be very very glad! This means your work has made it through a few hoops already and is still being considered for the competition issue. Due to messaging constraints on Submittable, we are unable to communicate with entrants directly until a final decision has been made. Messaging shows us your identity. To maintain the integrity of the competition, we have to make you wait. It’s killing us too.
My story has been accepted. When will I know if I’ve won?
Congratulations! If your story is accepted during the contest period, that means you’re automatically a finalist in the running for the grand prize of $2500. It also means that you’ll be published in our contest issue in December 2022. You need to keep this to yourself just a while longer. We will choose a winner from all our finalists and announce that winner publicly when the quarterly issue is published in December. Expect to hear whether you’ve won or not a few days before the publication of the issue.
I submitted once, but now I’ve written another awesome story. Can I submit again?
Yes. You may submit as many times as you want throughout the duration of the contest period. The appropriate fee must accompany each entry.
I was a guest editor for SmokeLong before. Am I eligible for the contest?
Absolutely! We welcome former guest editors and former contributors to apply. Former SLQ staff/editors are also eligible. Only current staff members are ineligible (obviously).
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