[Alternating Current Press]: Luminaire Prose Award

This is a fiction contest of Alternating Current Press. Please know what it is before submitting.

We’re seeking individual stories. Standalone fiction pieces only. Experimental, flash, short novelettes, long stories, short plays, and hybrid prose considered. We especially want to hear from marginalized and underrepresented authors, and we are an LGBTQUIA2+ safe-space.

Winner of the Luminaire Prose Award receives $100, our Luminaire Award digital medallion, a certificate, and publication online at The Coil and in our triennial print anthology. All accepted pieces, semifinalists, and finalists receive publication on The Coil as well, among other prizes. See website for details.

Submissions open: July 1, 2025

Submissions close: October 31, 2025

Winner announced: May 2026

Publication: 2026/2027

• This category is only for INDIVIDUAL standalone fiction (not book-length manuscripts). Submissions can be experimental, flash, short novelettes, short stories, long stories, short plays, or hybrid prose. (Hybrid that most closely resembles poetry should be submitted to the Luminaire Poetry Award. Nonfiction pieces (essays, articles, columns, reviews, memoir, journalism, interviews, booklists, literary trends) should be submitted to The Coil categories.)
• All genres, styles, and subjects considered. A soft upper limit of 5,000 words per piece is suggested.
• You may submit up to 4 stories in a single document file. If your pieces are very short flash, you may submit up to 6 flash pieces in a single document file.
• All work must be in English and must be the author’s own. Single work by multiple authors considered. We do not consider A.I.-generated works.
• Submissions are read incognito. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME OR ANY IDENTIFYING MARKS INSIDE THE FILE, including headers, footers, cover pages, acknowledgments, and file names. If you do leave your identifying marks inside the file, the submission will be read as-is, but the reader may disqualify the submission if he knows you on any personal level.
• If you need to adjust a submission, please use the Request to Edit option through Submittable. Please don’t request to edit for minor flaws, however—all accepted work will go through an editing process and will have the chance to be updated before publication, and your work will not be disqualified for a missing comma.
• All authors must be at least 18 to submit.
• Simultaneous submissions allowed. You do not have to withdraw a piece that is accepted elsewhere, as long as you still own the reprint rights after first publication.
• ACP and The Coil staff may submit work for publication consideration, but they are ineligible to win prizes while on our staff (including volunteers).
• Previously published pieces are considered, as long as you still own the reprint rights. Don’t include acknowledgments in the file.
• Submit via Submittable only. We do not accept email submissions.
• There is a $7.99 fee for each submission (up to 4 stories or 6 short flash in a submission). You may submit as many times as you’d like, but each submission must be made separately with a separate fee. The fee helps us with needed administration and journal production costs, and we pay our readers for their time and effort, but it’s not meant to be too inhibitive. If you are unable to pay, please email us for an alternative submission method.
• Each paid submission comes with a digital copy of our latest Luminaire Award anthology, The Sky Is a Free Country: The Luminaire Award Anthology, Vol 1, by 23 authors ($7.99 value). There is an additional option to purchase the next triennial Luminaire Award print anthology (publishing in 2028) as an add-on for a discount ($4 off the final cover price, U.S. shipping only). If you purchase this option, please make sure to keep your Submittable mailing address current in your profile.
• It is highly recommended that you read our past Luminaire Prose Award finalists and winners.
• We will send a response to every submission and post an announcement of the winner by the end of May. Form response only, unless we are interested in publishing your work. We are regretfully unable to provide feedback. We reserve the right not to choose a winning piece if there are no contestants that meet our high judging standards.

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