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River Styx

Following the river from mouth to source

2022 Microfiction Contest

$1,000 First Prize

Judged by the editors of River Styx

Submissions are currently open until December 31, 2021.

  • 500 words maximum per story, up to three stories per entry fee. (Additional stories are accepted with additional fees.)
  • Choose your entry fee: $15 or $20.
    • $20 entry fee includes a one-year subscription.
    • $15 entry fee includes a copy of the issue in which the winning stories will appear.
  • Include name and address on the cover letter only.
  • First, second, and third place winners will be published.
  • All stories will be considered for publication.
  • Previously published stories, including those that have appeared on websites, blogs, and personal home pages, are not eligible.
  • Simultaneous submissions are fine, but we ask that you notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
  • Judges will remove from consideration any entries they recognize as having been written by writers with whom they have worked or studied.
  • Contest results will be announced in April.

River Styx accepts online submissions via Submittable. No email submissions will be considered. As an alternative to Submittable, you may mail your submission, along with entry fee and self-addressed stamped envelope, to the following:

River Styx Microfiction Contest
3301 Washington Ave, Suite 2C
St. Louis, MO 63103

Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2021.

2021 Microfiction Contest Winners

Read the three winning stories in the upcoming Issue 105/106 of River Styx:

First Place: “Consumption” by Anna Svercl Hetzer
Second Place: “Bird and Balloon Go Racing” by Matthew Daddona
Third Place: “The Bridge” by Alan Michael Parker

Honorable Mention:
“Plumber’s Snake” by Randolph Thomas

2020 Microfiction Contest Winners

Read the three winning stories in the upcoming Issue 103/104 of River Styx:

First Place: “The Great Migration of Whales” by Michelle Kim Hall
Second Place: “Weighted Vest” by Rachel Furey
Third Place: “His Exposure” by Matthew Pitt

Honorable Mentions:
“Maybe This One” by Robert McBrearty
“On Liminality” by Marc Sheehan
“Wild Thing” by Haley Creighton

2019 Microfiction Contest Winners

Read the three winning stories in Issue 102 of River Styx:

First Place: “Klepto” by Todd Seabrook
Second Place: “The Uncertainty of Numbers” by Sherry Morris
Third Place: “Fair Enough” by Anthony Varallo

Honorable Mentions:
“Details I Remember” by Benjamin Russack
“Pine” by Nadia Mason
“The Museum of Boredom” by Alexander Weinstein
“Rockwell’s Missing Portrait” by Maja Zmyslowski
“Dinner Party” by Joel Goodman

2018 Microfiction Contest Winners

Read the three winning stories in Issue 100 of River Styx:

First Place: “Hangnail” by Tamara Panici
Second Place: “The Sign” by Mark Wagenaar
Third Place: “Daughter” by Leonora Desar

Honorable Mentions:
“Manhandling: to maneuver” by Rosemarie Dombrowski
“A Girl Walks on the Moon” by Ruth Joffre
“Turtles” by Tamara Panici
“The Last Mercy” by Mark Wagenaar
“Shelter” by Brian Phillip Whalen

2017 Schlafly Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest Winners

Read the below winning stories in Issue 98 of River Styx:

First Place: “Edifice and Artifice in Buda and Pest” by Sean Gill
Second Place: “The Snake” by John Blair
Third Place: “Music Lessons” by Eric Schlich

Honorable Mentions:
“In Case of Drowning” by Amy Blakemore
“My Boots” by Yael Hacohen
“What We Did Means Now” by Ethan Feuer

2016 Schlafly Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest Winners

Read the below winning stories in Issue 96 of River Styx:

First Place: “Sundowning” by Justin Herrmann
Second Place: “The Doors” by Leah Bailly
Third Place: “The Beast That Birthed You” by Caitlin Scarano

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