Contests

Far Horizons Award

Our biennial Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction is now open! We welcome submissions from Canadian and international emerging short-story writers anywhere in the world. Eligible writers have yet to publish their fiction in book form.

DEADLINE: 11:59pm (PDT) on May 1, 2025

One winner will receive a prize of CAD $1,250 and be published in the magazine's fall 2025 issue #232.

This contest is offered every second year, alternating with the Far Horizons Award for Poetry.

Entries accepted via Submittable only. (See below for instructions.)

Judge

Meet the judge for the 2025 contest:

  • Sara Power

Look for an interview with her in our March newsletter to find out what she's looking for in a winning story.

Book Prize

We're giving away books to one lucky entrant! All you have to do is submit your work to the contest, and you'll be automatically entered to win. After the deadline, we'll pull one name from the list of entrants.

Guidelines

  • Eligible writers have yet to publish their fiction in book form and may submit one short story per entry.

  • A book is defined to have a length of 48 pages or more. Publication in literary journals is acceptable. Writers who have self-published a book of fiction are considered to have published their fiction in book form and are therefore ineligible to enter the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction contest. You are, however, welcome to enter your work in our Open Season Awards.

  • Each story must not exceed 3,500 words. Please include a word count on the first page of your story.

  • There are no restrictions on subject matter or aesthetic approach.

  • All entries are judged anonymously (no identifying information is to be included on any story submitted).

  • Multiple entries are allowed (at a reduced fee, if paid for at the same time as the initial entry: see Entry Fees, Additional Entries, and How to Submit below).

Entry Fee

  • CAD $25 for each entry from Canada *Early Bird discount until March 31, 2025: CAD $15

  • CAD $35 for each entry from elsewhere *Early Bird discount until March 31, 2025: CAD $25

  • CAD $15 for each additional entry (any writer, any country)

  • See How to Pay (below) for detailed instructions.

  • Entrants receive a one-year print subscription to The Malahat Review for the initial entry only (no subscriptions are available for additional entries).

Additional Entries

  • To receive the reduced entry fee(s) of CAD $15, any additional entries must be paid for at the same time as the first entry; such additional entries should be submitted online within 24 hours of the initial submission. The same guidelines apply to additional entries as to the initial submission.

Eligible Entries

  • No work simultaneously submitted elsewhere, already published, or already accepted for publication is eligible for consideration (even if only excerpted, or even if revised since original publication). We consider any appearance in print or online to be a publication, including newspapers, newsletters, magazines, anthologies, chapbooks, books, websites, blogs, social media, etc. This restriction applies regardless of the size of the print run or the extent of the circulation of previously published work.

  • Failure to comply with these criteria for eligibility will immediately disqualify any entry, regardless of when the ineligiblity is discovered in the process of adjudication (submission, processing, screening, shortlisting, final judging).

  • The entry fee for a disqualified submission will not be refunded, and the entrant will still receive a one-year print subscription to the magazine.

Notification

  • The winner will be notified by email.

  • Other entrants will receive notification of the shortlist and winner via Submittable messages.

  • The shortlist and winner will be announced in July 2025 on our website, Instagram, and Facebook.

  • The winner will be interviewed, and the interview will be published on our website and in the November 2025 edition of our newsletter, Malahat lite.

How to Pay (credit card)

  • Go to our online store to pay your contest fee(s).

  • Payment must be made online through our store before submitting, since you must include your ORDER# with your submission. We accept VISA, Mastercard, or American Express.

  • Online payments will not be accepted after the contest deadline (if you have any problems with such payment, please email malahat[at]uvic.ca.

How to Pay (cheque or money order)

  • If you are unable to pay by credit card, you can mail a cheque or money order made out to The Malahat Review in CAD$ or USD$ to: The Malahat Review, Clearihue Bldg, University of Victoria, PO Box 1700, Stn CSC, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada.

  • Instead of an ORDER#, you must indicate "cheque" or "money order" as required on the Submittable submission form.

  • Cheques or money orders must be mailed with a postmark date of no later than May 1, 2025.

How to Submit

  • Only online submissions made through The Malahat Review's Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction portal on the Submittable website will be accepted.

  • Acceptable file formats: Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF only.

  • You can make only one entry at a time on the Submittable webpage; to submit additional entries, whether at the reduced rate (paid for at the same time) or at a standard rate, simply follow the same process as with the initial submission (the ORDER# will be the same for additional entries paid for at the same time as the initial submission; it will be different for an entry or entries made at a later date, since these require the full fee).

Click the "Submit" icon below in order to enter the Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction contest on Submittable:

Submittable

Previous Winners