Our William Van Dyke Short Story Prize is closed.
Each year we award $1500 and publication to the winner author.
You can also sign up for our emails, and we'll send you deadline reminders and updates:
Short story must be
5,500 words or less
5,500 words or less
Entry fee is $20
(includes a digital copy of Ruminate)
(includes a digital copy of Ruminate)
Deadline is Feb. 15th (plus a 3-day grace period)
Meet our Judge, Wendy J. Fox.
Wendy J. Fox is the author of The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories, The Pull of It, and the recent novel If the Ice Had Held. Tweeting from @wendyjeanfox and living in Denver, Colorado. More at wendyjfox.com.
As with all our submissions, we highly recommend reading a copy of the magazine to better understand the type of work we are looking for.
Download a free excerpt from Issue No. 38 featuring some of our favorite short stories
Want to read a full issue?
Purchase issues featuring past Ruminate Short Story Prize recipients here:
Purchase issues featuring past Ruminate Short Story Prize recipients here:
"Stories have a way of percolating in people. They land, they ripple outward, they settle. Over time they become a part of us through their telling and retelling, a new limb through which we feel the world. Their lessons latch on to our senses and color anew everything we experience."
—Jason Villemez, winner of Ruminate's 2018 William Van Dyke Short Story Prize. His story, "Coda" appears in Issue 48: Exposure.