The 2026 Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction
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Please read guidelines before submitting:
Bellingham Review's annual writing contests are open from February 1st to March 15th.
$1,000 first-place prizes and $500 second-place prizes will be awarded in poetry (49th Parallel Award), fiction (Tobias Wolff Award), and creative nonfiction (Annie Dillard Award).
Through Submittable, please submit 3 pieces of flash fiction of up to 1,500 words each OR a story of up to 4,000 words. All entries will be considered for publication in the journal.
$15 entry fee.
Important notes:
* The author’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript. Manuscripts including identifying information will be disqualified.
* We only consider previously unpublished work.
* Simultaneous submissions are encouraged; please let us know if you work has been accepted elsewhere by withdrawing your submission.
Our guest judge for 2026 is Kim Fu
Kim Fu is the author of five books, including the story collection Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century, winner of the Washington State Book Award, the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, as well as a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Ignyte Awards, the Shirley Jackson Awards, and the Saroyan International Prize. Stories in this collection were selected for Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and Best of the Net, featured on Levar Burton Reads and Selected Shorts, and optioned for television and film. Their next novel, The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts, will be released in March 2026. Fu lives in Seattle.
Thank you and we look forward to reading!