To enter you may submit in individual entries works of prose up to 3000 words. You may submit up to 3 poems per entry. You may submit up to 3 photographs per entry. Enter as many times as you like. Details and rules are on our Contest Rules pages. Entries are $10 each.
Entries open June 21 and run through July 31, 2024. Winning work will be published in our literary journal Back Roads and Low Tides.
Non-winning entries may be submitted for publication during our open submission window. Opening August 1 through September 15, 2024. Details on our contest rules page. Anyone from anywhere may enter their work.
We look forward to reading your work and wish everyone Good Luck!
The Shelby Dean Stephenson Literary Award is proudly sponsored by Cushing Publishing. This year the prizes awarded will be:
Prose, Poetry, and Photography (cover art)
Up to five honorable mentions may also be named for each.
Winning entries will receive:
Poetry $200 and a copy of Back Roads and Low Tides
Prose $200 and a copy of Back Roads and Low Tides
Photography $100 and a copy of Back Roads and Low Tides
Along with publication in the next issue of Back Roads and Low Tides: A Literary Journal and an interview on Carolina Writers Speak or Speaking of Writing Podcast.
Honorable mentions will receive:
Publication in the next issue of Back Roads and Low Tides, A Literary Journal
One copy of the journal will be given to each author whose work is published but did not win a prize.
General Restrictions
Entrants can be of any age or from any location worldwide.
Work must be original and previously unpublished (including online publication).
Work may not contain erotica, violence, hate, political editorial, or excessive profanity.
Absolutely NO AI
How to Enter Your Work
Please send your entries via email with a separately attached cover sheet your entry as an attachment without your name. Please be sure to include your work’s title in the cover letter.
(limited to one category: poetry or prose per entry)
Step 1. Email Your Entry
Email your entry to rose@cushingpublishing.com
Be sure your subject line reads Shelby Stephenson Writing Contest entry
Multiple entries (via separate emails) are permitted.
Attach your work(s) (see detail below) to the email as a .word document (prose or poetry)
ANONYMIZE YOUR WORK(S). The contest is reviewed blindly by third-party judges (see below):
Remove any identifying information from image or document filenames.
Attach a cover sheet (separately) to the email as a .docx or .doc containing the following:
Your name and the name under which you prefer to be published, if applicable
Your mailing address, email address, and phone number
The title or titles of your works
A bio of no more than 70 words written in the third-person point of view
Detail: The Attached Work(s)
Prose entries may contain only 1 work of prose of no more than 3,000 words (excluding title).
Poetry entries may contain up to 3 poems of no more than 30 lines each (excluding title and stanza-separating empty lines). Attach each poem to the email as a separate .docx or .doc document/
Photography entrants may include up to 3 photos per entry. All photos should be 300 dpi, jpg format, and vertical image suitable for a cover.
Step 2. Send Your Entry Fee
$10.00 per entry (multiple entries permitted via multiple emails and $10 per entry)
Payment is due by the entry deadline and may be sent by either:
PayPal: send $10/per entry to rose@cushingpublishing.com
(please choose "Friends and Family")
… or …
Postal mail: send a $10/per entry as a check or money order made payable to Cushing Media at
Rose Cushing
9380 Driver Road
Middlesex, NC 27557
Rules and Rights
The Shelby Stephenson Literary Award is a Cushing Publishing contest and is an independently judged competition (see below). Winners and honorable mentions will be published in Back Roads and Low Tides unless you otherwise notify us that you do not wish your entry published via email. Non-winning works will NOT automatically be included in the next issue of TBD. If your entered work does not win or receive an honorable mention, please submit it during our general, non-contest, open submissions reading window for TBD when it opens in mid-July.
By entering a work for consideration, you implicitly grant first-time-only publication rights to Cushing Publishing in the event the work is accepted for inclusion. Photos, poems and prose may be used for advertising purposes for the journal. Full credit will be given. All proceeds from Cushing Publishing contest go towards publishing, contest costs and advertising the literary journal.
Judges are selected for the contest based on their skill sets in either poetry or prose. All decisions by judges are final.