about the contest
We will accept submissions to the Hayden’s Ferry Review Fiction & Poetry Contest between February 1-28, 2026. There will be two prizes of $1000 each and publication in HFR (online in summer 2026 and in the fall/winter 2026 print issue) for a poem or a group of poems and a work of fiction. A runner-up in each category will receive $250 and publication. All entries are considered for publication.
This year’s fiction judge is Gina Chung, author of Sea Change and Green Frog. Our poetry judge is Sarah Ghazal Ali, author of Theophanies.
View a list of our past winners and judges here.
about our 2026 judges
Gina Chung is a Korean American writer from New Jersey currently living in New York City. She is the author of the novel Sea Change, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and a B&N Discover Pick, and the short story collection Green Frog, which was a Good Morning America Book Buzz Pick, an NPR Best Book of the Year, and longlisted for the New American Voices Award. She has received the O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction, a Pushcart Prize, two APALA Adult Fiction Honors, and a Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowship. She is a faculty member of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University.
Sarah Ghazal Ali is the author of Theophanies (Alice James Books, 2024), winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and California Book Award and a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Her work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The Kenyon Review, the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series, and elsewhere. Sarah is the poetry editor for West Branch and an Assistant Professor of English at Macalester College.
Guidelines & entry fee
Submit 1-3 poems totaling up to 10 pages or a short story or novel excerpt of up to 20 pages with a contest entry fee.
You can choose between a $15 entry fee, which comes with a 1-year digital subscription or a $23 entry fee, which comes with a 1-year print subscription. For international addresses outside of the US, please select a digital subscription. Your 1-year subscription will begin with our spring/summer 2026 issue. Current subscribers will receive a 1-year renewal. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each entry must include its own entry fee.
*If you have an international shipping address and are interested in a 1-year print subscription, we are happy to accommodate this with an additional shipping fee. Please get in touch before submitting and no later than February 20th to discuss details at haydensferryreview (at) gmail (dot) com.
We will accept free submissions during a short free submissions window or until we hit our cap of 50 in each genre. *Please subscribe to our free newsletter by February 3rd. We’ll let our subscribers know via newsletter when our free submissions period will take place.* All will be able to submit for free during the free submission period or until we hit our cap; however, only newsletter subscribers will know in advance exactly when the free submission period will take place. Free submissions do not come with a 1-year subscription.
Judges will pick the winners and runner-ups from a list of finalists chosen by HFR editors. All entries are considered for publication in the fall/winter 2026 print issue. We do not read submissions anonymously.
How to submit
Between Feb 1-28, 2026 submit your work to the appropriate genre at https://hfr.submittable.com/
Submitted work must be original work by the writer and unpublished. If your work is accepted elsewhere for publication, please withdraw your submission. If only a part of your poetry submission has been accepted elsewhere, please leave a note in Submittable.
Eligibility
Close friends, family, or former and current students of the judges should refrain from submitting. We define a "former or current student" as someone who has done a semester-length course with the judge or who the judge has served as a thesis advisor. If you attended a one- or two-week-long workshop or similar with the judge, you are still eligible.
If you were published in one of HFR's print journals or web issues in the past two years, you CAN submit to this contest. (See our "general notes on submission" for specific guidelines for our print and web issues, which may differ from contest guidelines.)
Anyone affiliated with ASU (staff, faculty, and graduate/undergraduate students) is not eligible to submit to this contest and should refrain from submitting to HFR until they have been unaffiliated from ASU for three years.
We do not accept work that was produced wholly or in part by AI.
All individuals are able to submit without regard to sex, race, national origin, religion, disability or any other characteristic protected by law.