Call for submissions! One week to go!

By Ōtepoti He Puna Auaha | Dunedin UNESCO City Of Literature | Posted: Friday Jul 25, 2025

Submissions close 31 July 2025

The Katherine Mansfield Sparkling Prosecompetition is accepting stories up to 1888 words. Experimentation is encouraged. 
 

New! International submissions in 2025!
 

• The competition calls for works of fiction up to 1888 words – a reference to the year of Mansfield’s birth. We take our themes from Mansfield’s writing. This year, the theme is ‘double life’. All submissions must follow the theme, however loosely.

• You can write your work in any form – short story or hybrid or another imaginative form, but please note this is not a competition for flash fiction (see Flash Frontier to read Aotearoa’s best flash). Stories should be considerably longer than a flash fiction.

• Submissions need not be directly related to Katherine Mansfield.

• We encourage experimentation and outside-the-box thinking! Send your stories of quiet, strange, beautiful, oddball or wild double lives – we look forward!

• Up to two entries per person.

• Entry fee: $10 per story or 2 for $16

The 2025 judges are the award-winning writers Gina Cole and Lynn Jenner.

Submissions are accepted through midnight, July 31 in your time zone.

Details and how to submit here.

Good luck!