Submissions

Our 2026 literary contests are open from February 1st to March 15th. Please read our submission guidelines per genre below in Submittable. The BR team and our guest judges are looking forward to reading your work!

Submit Your Writing!

We’re excited to announce our 2026 guest judges for our literary contests. See their bios below. 1st place winners receive $1,000. Additionally (new this year!), 2nd place winners receive $500. $15 entry fee. Please see our Submittable page for our guidelines per genre.

49th Parallel Award in Poetry Judge

Anastacia-Reneé is an award-winning writer, educator, interdisciplinary artist, TEDx speaker, playwright, and podcaster. She is the author of the debut fiction-hybrid book, Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere, and two books of poetry, Side Notes from the Archivist and (v.). Her mixed media art has been exhibited at the Frye Art Museum and her installation, "(Don’t Be Absurd): Alice in Parts," was selected by NBC News as part of the list of “Queer Artist of Color Dominate 2021’s Must See LGBTQ Art Shows.” She has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, The White Center, Mineral School, Ragdale, 4Culture, and The New Orleans Writers Residency. Reneé’s poetry, fiction and nonfiction has been anthologized and published widely.

The Tobias Wolff Award in Fiction Judge

Kim Fu is the author of five books, including the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, as well as a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection were selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net, featured on Levar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts, and optioned for television and film. Their next novel, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts, will be released in March 2026. Fu lives in Seattle.

The Annie Dillard Award in Nonfiction Judge

AJ Romriell is a queer, neurodivergent, and HIV+ writer from Salt Lake City, Utah. Author of the award-winning memoir, Wolf Act (2025), his essays, stories, and poems have appeared in Electric Literature, Black Warrior Review, The Missouri Review, Brevity, and elsewhere. He has been the recipient of the Walter E. Dakin Fellowship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Vandewater Poetry Prize, the Citino Poetry Award, multiple grants from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and a Presidential Fellowship from The Ohio State University, where he earned his MFA. He now lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his partner and their feline companion. Catch him at ajromriell.com.