[The 2008 Contest is closed. New guidelines for 2009 posted in Fall 2008.]

$1000, 25 copies of the finely-printed chapbook, author can purchase more at 40% discount.

We will also publish at least one other finalist manuscript, possibly more (in 2007 we published five).

18-44 pp of poetry, fiction, essay, mixed-genre, or genre-bending work. Images can be included, though they must be black and white. No more than one poem (if yer sending poems) per page.

$15 reading fee (U.S. funds please; cash if you want to risk it, money orders, or checks made out to New Michigan Press, or use your credit card by clicking on the button below, in which case mention on your cover letter that you paid online. (If you pay online, you're welcome to send SASEs snail mail for a copy of the winning chapbook and notifications.)

If you pay online, you're welcome to use the DIAGRAM submissions manager system to submit your work; this way you will definitely get a response—create an account and submit your story, and this is important, you must choose the genre as "Chapbook Contest Entry" for your manuscript to be considered; you must also pay the entry fee ($15) through paypal with a CC. Note that you will receive an automated submission acknowledgment via email (it's the boilerplate one we send for regular DIAGRAM submissions, so ignore that part of the email).

Enclose a business-sized SASE if you'd like notification of the results. Manuscripts cannot be returned (sorry—please don't send your only copy).

Enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard if you'd like confirmation that we received your manuscript.

Enclose a self-addressed 6"x9" envelope with $1 of postage (in USA—$5 is a safe bet if you're sending from overseas) if you would like a complimentary copy of the winning chapbook (or another chapbook in our series—please specify which, if any). If you do not care, there is no need for this. Unfortunately we are giving up on IRCs. They don't seem to work. It is truly horrible. If you'd like us to mail out a copy internationally please make sure you include a self-addressed envelope and either an extra $5 for postage, or $5 worth of US postage.

Please do not send submissions certified mail, express mail, or anything we have to sign for; it's a pain. If you want to overnight it, please check off the "no signature req'd" box.

It's fine with us if individual works have been published elsewhere, but the manuscript can't have been published as a whole before. Please include specific acknowledgments if any of the works have appeared elsewhere—tell us where individual pieces appeared, as we consider submitted work for possible publication in DIAGRAM.

This contest is open to both published and unpublished writers.

Multiple submissions is fine; a separate reading fee is required for each.

Mail to: NMP/DIAGRAM Chapbook Contest, 648 Crescent NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503

We recommend that your manuscript be as coherent as possible. Chapbook manuscripts do not necessarily have to be diagrammatic (though the diagrammers among us do enjoy those). Since our resources are limited, we generally do not print four-color chapbooks.

About the Chapbook as an Art Form: Though we are a small press with fairly limited resources, we are devoted to producing striking and elegant (when appropriate to the subject matter) chapbooks, and we keep them in print. We feel that we run one of the classier chapbook operations around. (The Wick Poetry Program through Kent State University runs a series of chapbooks that we envy.) All contest entry fees go to support the contest, chapbook series, and the press.

Typically we narrow the field down to ten finalists, all of which are considered for publication (even if they don't win the contest; in 2003, NMP published four contest finalist mss.; in 2004, we published two; in 2005, we published four; 2006: four). All work submitted (unless previously published) is considered for possible publication in DIAGRAM.

We don't have a celebrity judge for our chapbook contest. Since we pick the majority of our chapbooks from the submissions to the contest, we judge everything internally.

Our readers change from year to year; we read work anonymously and try to be open to both traditional and experimental work. We strive to vary our aesthetic year to year and be open to what is excellent and moving.

Buy previous winners and other NMP chapbooks [here] to see what we mean.

Questions? Email <nmp@thediagram.com>.

[The 2008 contest is closed; new guidelines up in Fall for 2009. Results up here when we have them (May? June at latest.)

Our 2008 judge is fabulous (fabulist) fiction writer Kelly Link, author of Magic for Beginners and Stranger Things Happen.

The prize is $1000 + publication. 10+ finalists will have their stories published in the DIAGRAM Summer Fiction issue. The information on last year's contest finalists and winners is online [here]. The 2007 summer fiction issue is [here].

Length: 5 words to 10,000 words. NOTE: Poets & Writers listed this information incorrectly as 5,000-10,000 words. We really mean 5 (five) words is the minimum. Ten thousand words is the maximum.

We don't make money on this contest (obviously). This contest also has no frills: we can't send out snail mail contest announcements or email announcements of the finalists or winner (though if you submit electronically, you'll get a response). All submissions are read anonymously by an anonymous panel of judges and screeners (different group than last year). This is an ethical contest, so please, close friends or former students of the judge, you're not welcome to enter this time (sorry). All submissions are considered for publication by DIAGRAM. All stories submitted must be unpublished (personal website and blogs excepted).

The entry fee per story is $5, paid via paypal or check or cash.

This year we will accept submissions via two methods:

1> snail mail (not preferred, but okay if you want to do it): mail the story (w/a removable cover sheet with your contact info & the story title) and a check or cash to DIAGRAM $5IFC, 648 Crescent NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503). Sorry, but we can't notify via SASE. If you want a notification, go for #2.

2> the DIAGRAM submissions manager system: much preferred; this way you will definitely get a response—create an account and submit your story, and this is important, you must choose the genre as "$5 IFC" for your story to be considered; you must also pay the entry fee ($5) through paypal with a CC by clicking here:

[link void now that contest is closed]

or via post. Note that you will receive an automated submission acknowledgment via email (it's the boilerplate one we send for regular DIAGRAM submissions, so ignore that part of the email).