CRAFT 2025 Novelette Print Prize — Guest Judge 'Pemi Aguda (Reduced Fee for Writers from Historically Marginalized Groups)

CRAFT 2025 Novelette Print Prize

January 15, 2025 – March 16, 2025

Awarding $3,000 + Print Publication

Guest Judge: ’Pemi Aguda

The novelette occupies a unique and enigmatic space in the literary landscape. Too expansive to be confined by the brevity of a short story, yet too concise to fully embody the scope of a novel or novella, the modern novelette stands on its own as a bold and ambitious form. But within its constraints lies the opportunity for daring experimentation, as seen in last year’s prize winner, Landing in Andonia by Philip Anderson. This year, we dare you to embrace the challenges and idiosyncrasies of the form and then send us your most mesmerizing novelette for consideration.

For the CRAFT 2025 Novelette Print Prize, we’re seeking submissions of polished novelettes from 7,500 to 15,000 words. One grand-prize winner will receive $3,000, print publication, royalties, and twenty author copies. The winner will have the option of international distribution through drop-shipping at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and other platforms, earning fifty percent of royalties on their published novelette. 

Submissions will be open from January 15, 2025, until March 16, 2025. Entries will cost $30 and multiple entries will be welcomed. Guest Judge ’Pemi Aguda, a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award, will choose the winner and write the foreword for the print publication. 

Here’s what ’Pemi expects from a winning novelette:

My ideal novelette would be swallowed in one sitting, swinging wickedly from sentence to sentence, image to image, until the ending proves that not one word could have been added or removed. Strangeness and disorientation—on the level of language or story—can be propulsive engines for this not-quite-short-but-not-quite-long form of the novelette because they provide an unmooring that makes one want to hold on tightly to the author for the ride. Whether traditional or experimental, ultimately, I love to be told a good story, to be surprised or cut, to remember the characters, while being delighted by the way a sentence spins out and curves back in, leaving me a little wrecked.

We are also partnering with The Loft Literary Center for this contest. The winner will receive a free class of choice in addition to the comprehensive publication package mentioned above.

Here’s what last year’s winner, Philip Anderson, has to say about his experience with CRAFT:

The CRAFT 2024 Novelette Print Prize especially appealed to me because the paragraph CRAFT included about what the guest judge, Hanna Pylväinen, expected. For example, “an excellent novelette will have some important reason for its length—maybe a complex background, or multiple settings, or a roving plot.” Landing in Andonia is the length it is to give a full understanding of the fictional town of Andonia, Illinois. A complex background, if you will. So I submitted my twelve-thousand-word story—with its chapters, footnotes, and particular formatting—to the Novelette Print Prize, and happily I won. 

The process afterward involved regular contact with the wonderful editor in chief, Courtney Harler, who worked closely with me on copyedits in preparation for turning this story into its own little book. Courtney and I then discussed with Emelie Mano at Discover New Art’s Red Mare Press what that little book would become. Courtney, Emelie, and the interior designer, Julianne Johnson, were all very patient with me as I had certain ideas about how everything—from cover to titles—should look. Courtney kept me abreast of everything throughout, and I am forever grateful for the work she and the team at CRAFT did in getting this novelette made. I am honored to be the first novelette published by CRAFT, and I look forward to watching the print series grow over the years.

And finally, Editor in Chief Courtney Harler will be teaching a class with The Loft! Writers are invited to register (for a low fee) to learn more about the literary submission process in general and CRAFT’s behind-the-scenes logistics in particular. All are welcome to participate!

GUIDELINES:

• The CRAFT Novelette Print Prize is open to all literary fiction writers from January 15, 2025, to March 16, 2025.
• International submissions are welcome. Work should be written primarily in English, though stylistic code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
• Please send novelettes only—we’re looking for one very long short story for this contest, or what some may call a short novella. Your novelette should be complete and cohesive, though may be organized into chapters or sections.
• Please adhere strictly to the 7,500 to 15,000 word-count requirement.
• Please do not submit any form of creative nonfiction. Autofiction will work, however.
• We review adult literary fiction, but are open to a variety of genres and styles. Work may lean toward speculative fiction or other genres, as long as it’s literary in its expression.
• Submit previously unpublished work only—we do NOT review reprints or partial reprints for contests (including any form of self-publishing such as on blogs, personal websites, social media, et cetera). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
• Work generated by AI will be automatically disqualified.
• We allow simultaneous submissions—writers, please notify us immediately and withdraw your novelette if your work is accepted elsewhere.
• We allow multiple submissions—please submit each novelette as a separate submission accompanied by an entry fee.
• Please note the $30 entry fee per submission.
• Kindly double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12. (Feel free to contact us directly if you need to change these formatting requirements for better accessibility.)
• Please include a brief cover letter with your publication history (if applicable) and any content warnings (to help safeguard our staff).
• We do not require anonymous submissions, but the guest judge will read the shortlist of five novelettes anonymized.
• We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason.
• Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication: work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be automatically disqualified without complete review.
• Submissions that do not adhere to the above guidelines will be automatically disqualified.
• We are always happy to answer questions. Please email us at contact@craftliterary.com.

AWARD:

• $3,000,
• online excerpt publication,
• print publication with foreword by the guest judge, 
• royalties on optional international drop-shipping with our partners, 
• twenty author copies,
• and a free class at The Loft Literary Center!

FINE PRINT:

• Friends, family, and close associates of the guest judge are not eligible for consideration for the award.
• Our collaboration with literary professionals in the judging and awarding of our contests does not imply an endorsement or recognition from their agencies, houses, presses, universities, et cetera.
• Work already contracted for publication is not eligible for contest consideration. CRAFT will require first serial rights for one year for the print publication.
• We hope to publish the winning print novelette and its online excerpt in January 2026.

GUEST JUDGE:

’PEMI AGUDA is from Lagos, Nigeria. She has an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Her writing has been published in Granta, Zoetrope: All-Story, Ploughshares, and One Story, among others, and won O. Henry Prizes. Her novel-in-progress won the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She was a 2021 Fiction Fellow with the Miami Book Fair, a 2022 MacDowell Fellow, and is the current Hortense Spillers Assistant Editor at Transition Magazine. Her collection of stories, Ghostroots (Norton, 2024), a finalist for the 2024 National Book Award in Fiction, is her first book. Find her on Instagram @pem.i.

CONTEST PARTNER:

THE LOFT’s mission is to advance the power of writers and readers to craft and share stories, to create and celebrate connections, and to build just, life-sustaining communities. Founded in 1974, The Loft started as a grassroots gathering space for poets and writers to share their work and improve their craft. Over the years, we have grown to become one of the nation’s leading independent literary centers. Annually, The Loft offers hundreds of classes, readings and events, awards and grants for writers, major festivals and conferences, and other resources for readers and writers. Find them on Instagram @loftliterarycenter.