Book Contests

Etchings Press 2024 Book Prizes

Etchings Press, a student-run publisher at University of Indianapolis, welcomes submissions for its annual contests: a chapbook of poetry, a chapbook of prose, and a novella.

The deadline for all contests is Tuesday, January 30, 2024.

Please submit through Submittable between September 1st and January 30th.

UIndy graduate and undergraduate students will read the submitted manuscripts and choose a winner in each category. The students will then edit, design, publish, and promote the chapbooks and the novella.

Students are interested in editing and publishing authors in our region. The students are using the 370 miles between Flannery O’Connor’s Milledgeville, Georgia, and William Faulkner’s Oxford, Mississippi, as the relative mileage for regional literature. Using UIndy’s campus on the southside of Indianapolis as a starting point, that distance makes a circle which includes all of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, most of Michigan, Tennessee, and West Virginia, and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and even Ontario. To see if you’re eligible for submission, please see the circle on this map.

Each year, students will judge and publish one chapbook in poetry, one chapbook in prose, and one novella. Mixed genre and multiple author manuscripts are welcome. All topics/themes are welcome.

Past Winners

Support past winners and purchase their books at Amazon.

Chapbook Guidelines

Chapbook submissions of 15-40 pages in poetry or prose will be considered. Collaborative works (two or more authors) are eligible, as are mixed-genre works. The chapbook winners in poetry and in prose will receive a $150 honorarium and 15 copies of the published chapbook.

1. The manuscripts or authors must have a connection to the geographic area shown on the map.
2. Manuscripts should be 15 to 40 pages in length (up to 10,000 words in prose).
3. Collaborative works (two or more authors) are eligible. Mixed-genre works are also eligible.
4. For prose, a single piece or multiple pieces can be submitted (multiple flash pieces, thematically connected pieces, etc.).
5. Please submit chapbook manuscripts in poetry, fiction, or nonfiction using the Submittable content submissions manager for Etchings. You will be prompted to create a free user account that will allow you to submit your manuscript and monitor its status.
6. Please submit your manuscript as a single file and include a title page (without name) and a table of contents. We ask that your name be removed from the manuscript for blind reading.
7. Submittable will request a cover letter with a short biographical statement and links to web sites and social media you use to promote your writing.
8. Undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Indianapolis will read all entries and choose a winner in poetry and in prose to publish. Students will then edit, design, publish, and promote each winning book.
9. Winners will be notified in March, 2024. Chapbooks will be released and available for sale in May, 2024, or soon thereafter.
10. The reading fee is $7 (payable via submittable.com)
11. The deadline is Tuesday, January 30th. Please submit through Submittable between September 1st and January 30th.
12. Alumni and current students of University of Indianapolis and former students of its faculty are not eligible.

Submit your manuscript and additional materials at etchings.submittable.com.

Novella Guidelines

Etchings Press, a student-run publisher at University of Indianapolis, invites submissions for its fifth annual novella contest. The winner will receive a $300 honorarium and 15 copies of the published novella.

1. The manuscripts or authors must have a connection to the geographic area shown on this map.
2. Collaborative works (two or more authors) are eligible.
3. Manuscripts should be 10,000-40,000 words.
4. Please submit novella manuscripts of 10,000-40,000 words using the Submittable content submissions manager for Etchings. You will be prompted to create a free user account that will allow you to submit your manuscript and monitor its status.
5. Please submit manuscripts as a single file and include a title page (without name). We ask that your name be removed from the manuscript for blind reading.
6. Submittable will request a cover letter with a short biographical statement and links to web sites and social media you use to promote your writing.
7. Undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Indianapolis will read all entries and choose a winner. Students will then edit, design, publish, and promote each winning book.
8. Winners will be notified in March, 2024. Novellas will be released and available for sale in May, 2024, or soon thereafter.
9. The reading fee is $12 (payable via submittable.com)
10. The deadline is Tuesday, January, 2024. Please submit through Submittable between September 1st and February 1st.
11. Alumni and current students of University of Indianapolis and former students of its faculty are not eligible.

Submit your manuscript and additional materials at etchings.submittable.com.

If you have any questions, please contact Kevin McKelvey at mckelveyk@uindy.edu.