Phyllis Grant Zellmer Prize for Fiction ($15 Entry Fee, $1000 prize) -- 2026 contest
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The Phyllis Grant Zellmer Prize for Fiction
Special Promo: Be one of the first 25 writers to submit before 1/25, and we'll respond to your submission within 2 weeks.
The contest is open from January 15, 2026 - March 15, 2025. Entry fee is $15 for each individual story (one story per entry), with no limit per writer, and includes a copy of our spring 2025 print edition.
Eligibility
- This contest is open only to emerging writers only who have not yet published a book with a print run over 1,500.
- Only previously unpublished stories will be accepted.
- Stories that have won and/or placed in any other writing contest are ineligible.
- Unlimited entries allowed. One story per submission.
- Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but previously accepted or work published in West Trade Review is ineligible.
- Please withdraw your submission and notify West Trade Review if it is accepted elsewhere.
- No one editorially or financially affiliated with West Trade Review can enter the contest.
Guidelines
- All entries must be submitted by 11:59pm EST on March 15, 2026.
- Entry fee is $15 for each individual story (one story per entry), with no limit per author, and includes a copy of our spring 2025 print edition.
- Submission is one original story up to 5,000 words.
- The author’s name must not appear on the manuscript or in the file name.
- Please submit one story per entry in a single Microsoft Word file and list the title of your story as the submission title.
- Please use a standard font, either Times New Roman or Arial in 12 point font size.
- Do not include a cover page. Include your title with your story.
- Please do not include professional resumes or biographies with your entry. Entries are judged anonymously; the judge will only consider story quality.
- Please take the judge of the contest into consideration. If you know her personally, or have ever attended classes or workshops she has instructed, please use manuscripts that she would not have seen before.
- Revisions or edits will not be accepted once submitted for judging.
- Entries that do no meet guidelines or eligibility requirements will not be considered.
$1000 and publication in West Trade Review will be awarded to the winning story. Other entries of merit may be considered for publication. The winning story will be announced on our website and social media platforms mid-April 2026 and then published in the 2027 spring print issue of West Trade Review.
Contest Judge: Margaret Malone
Margaret Malone is the author of the story collection PEOPLE LIKE YOU (Atelier26 Books), Finalist for the 2016 PEN Hemingway Award and Winner of the Balcones Fiction Prize. She is a graduate of Randolph’s M.F.A. program and Humboldt State University where she received a B.A. in Philosophy.
Her writing can be found or is forthcoming in BOMB, The Rumpus, The Missouri Review, Paper Darts, and elsewhere.
She lives in Portland, Oregon where she hosts the interview series and radio show Bust the Canon. Margaret teaches creative writing through Stanford’s Distinguished Careers Institute and at Literary Arts and mentors both established and emerging writers in person and online.
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