Winter Contest 2026

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While the arrival of the holiday season comes adorned with classic traditions and cheer, this prompt invites you to think about the unorthodox. Proffer your own twist on common motifs and symbolism, toy with structure, invert tropes and expectations—there is no right or wrong interpretation of the prompt. All that is asked for is your own unique foray into the easy assumptions we lapse into when approaching stories, people, and just about everything else.

 

As normalcy is a malleable concept, subversion is as well. A non-exhaustive list, color symbolism; stereotypes; a poem’s rhyme and meter; behavioral norms; and literary tropes and genres may all well be subjects of consideration. Think of the color red traditionally denoting violence. Think of what is associated with a story when it is categorized as romance, or horror, or fantasy. Think of your lived experiences, through both the lenses of what others have come to expect of you, as well as what you have come to consider as normal behaviors and values.

 

Take a caged bird, for instance. It's the quintessential model of restriction and stagnation. Then, let's consider the circumstances. Say that the cage is its safest option when confronted with a predator. Does it, then, still impart a message of unilateral confinement? Arguably not. Although even the thematic ideals of the caged bird change—from freedom and its absence, to the requirements of survival—the bird is still, by dictionary definition, trapped. So, before the chiming of the bells heralds the arrival of a pristine new year, may we pause to consider the mechanisms behind our expectations and work to subvert them.

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Interested in honing your poetry-writing skills for the contest? Then try taking our poetry workshop, Around the World of Poetry in 80 Days. This workshop will help you to brainstorm, draft, and revise poems of your own!

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Interested in becoming an editor for Polyphony Lit? Take our editorial training course and join the staff!

 

Winter Contest Guidelines

• Submissions will open on January 1st and will remain open until March 31st. The first 200 submissions to the contest are free, but the contest will not close entirely after we reach 200 submissions. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open.

• Please note that this is a separate submission category from Polyphony Lit Volume 20.​ Submissions that were submitted to Polyphony Lit Volume 20 will receive feedback from the editors, but for the seasonal contests, only the winning submissions will receive feedback from the judge.

• If you have already submitted your work to the Volume 20 category, then please do not send the same submission to the contest category.

• If you submit to the contest category first and your work is declined, then you may submit it to the Volume 21 category or future contests after this contest is finished.

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Writer Qualifications​

• High school students from anywhere in the world are eligible to submit.

• We do not accept submissions from editors who currently serve on the staff of Polyphony Lit.

• Submit a maximum of three pieces.

• If submitting multiple pieces, please upload as separate submissions. Multiple pieces submitted in a single document will be withdrawn, and you will be asked to resubmit your pieces separately.

• We accept simultaneous submissions and work that has been published elsewhere. If submitting previously published work, please send a message in Submittable noting where and when your work has been published, and if it is eligible for republication. If it is accepted for publication elsewhere after submitting to Polyphony Lit, please notify us immediately but do not withdraw your submission if you are still interested in publication at Polyphony Lit. If we accept a previously published submission for publication, we will acknowledge the place of the original publication.

• Previously published pieces are not eligible for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards.

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Length

• Poetry must be 80 lines or less.

• Fiction and creative nonfiction must be 1,800 words or less.

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Formatting

• Do not put your name on the piece, as all work is blind juried.

• Submissions longer than one page should have the page number inserted at the top (right or left side) of every page, as it would help our Judge specify the location for their commentary.

• We accept submission in .doc, .docx or .rtf formats.

• We prefer common conventions:

  • Color: Black & white

  • Font Size: 12 pt throughout, including titles

  • Font Type: Times or Times New Roman

  • Margins: 1-inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inch at the left and right. One space after periods. There should be no extra returns after paragraphs unless you have a meaningful reason for the extra space.

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Using Submittable

• Please upload submissions through Submittable. We do not accept email submissions or hard copies via mail.

• Upload only one piece per submission file; to submit more than one piece, make more than one submission file.

• The first 200 submissions for this contest are free. Once the contest collects 200 submissions, there will be a $4 submission fee for additional submissions, but the contest category will remain open. For this reason, we recommend submitting early.

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Prize

There will be one winner and two finalists. The winners/finalists will receive:

• Publication in Polyphony Lit Volume 20

• Eligibility for the Claudia Ann Seaman Awards

• Editorial feedback from the Contest Judge

• A full scholarship for Polyphony Lit’s "How to be a Literary Editor" course. Upon completion of the course, students will be eligible to join the editorial staff of Polyphony Lit!

• Please note that only the three winners will receive feedback from the Judge.

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Additional Guidelines for Creative Nonfiction​

• At Polyphony Lit, we look for creative nonfiction pieces that are written in the style of short personal memoirs. We are looking for pieces that are informal, flexible in form, and most importantly, personal. Personal discovery is the keystone of a personal essay. Self-revelation, human experiences, humor, and flexibility of form are all aspects that we look for in pieces we publish as creative non-fiction.

• We do not look for op-ed pieces, critical analyses, research papers, or academic essays.

• We would advise reading some samples of our work, in order to understand the material that we publish. Here are some samples of creative nonfiction that we have published:

• Memories of the Boy I Didn't Know

• responses to love

• Holiday in a Burning City