Undergrad Flash Nonfiction Contest - No Entry Fee

The MFA in Writing Program at Lindenwood University presents a Flash Nonfiction Contest for current undergraduate students--in any major, at any university/college/community college--with no entry fee. The winner will be published in issue 17 of The Lindenwood Review online literary journal and will be featured on our Facebook page. 

Flash Nonfiction pieces may be in any form, including traditional personal narrative essays, lyrical essays with poetic or stylistic language, or experimental creative nonfiction pieces that use a nontraditional format or structure. Send us any questions at TheLindenwoodReview@lindenwood.edu. 

All contest submissions will be considered for publication. Issue 17 will be published online by the end of March 2027.   

GUIDELINES:

• The Undergrad Flash Nonfiction Contest is open from June 1, 2026, through October 1, 2026.
• Submissions must be the writer’s original work and cannot be previously published in print or online. Do not submit work that has been produced using any AI resources.
• Undergraduate students may submit one flash nonfiction piece. 
• Length may range from one paragraph to five pages, double-spaced. 
• Submissions for this contest will only be accepted through Submittable.  
• Include your name, your email address, the school at which you are currently an undergraduate, and the title of your submission on the first page of your submission document. List your name exactly as you would like it to appear in our journal if accepted for publication.
• Simultaneous submissions to other journals are allowed, but we ask to be notified immediately if your piece is accepted elsewhere.
• All publication decisions will be made by February 1, 2027. 
• Writers accepted for publication receive a book-formatted pdf of their accepted work, a pdf of the full book (issue 17), and a link for sharing their work. The journal will be published online by the end of March 2027.

To read samples of flash nonfiction pieces previously published by The Lindenwood Review, visit us at www.lindenwood.edu/LindenwoodReview. 

RESTRICTIONS:

• Do not submit work that has been previously published elsewhere, whether online or in print.
• Do not submit work that has been produced using any AI resources.
• Do not submit multiple pieces in your submission; include only one flash nonfiction piece.
• Note that the number of submissions we can receive each month is limited; during our submission period of June 1 through October 1, if our Submittable page indicates that we are not currently accepting work, that means the month's maximum has been met, so please wait until the beginning of the next month to submit your work (through the final deadline of October 1).

Contact us with any questions at TheLindenwoodReview@lindenwood.edu and visit us on Facebook.

Our MFA in Writing program offers a fully online option with no residency requirement, as well as offering an optional on-campus/hybrid class each term in St. Charles MO. Visit us at www.lindenwood.edu/mfawriting.