For the 2024 reading period, the Autumn House staff and board as well as select outsider readers will serve as the preliminary readers, and the final judge is Alexandra Kleeman. The winner will receive book publication, a $1,000 honorarium, and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote their book. The submission period opens on January 1, 2025, and closes on February 28, 2025 (Eastern Time). We will announce the finalists and the winner of the contest by June 1, 2025.
 

• Fiction submissions should be approximately 150-300 double-spaced pages (37,500-75,000 words).
• The reading fee is $35 (We will waive the submission fee for those undergoing financial hardship or living with limited means. Before you reach out to request a waived fee, please read our full statement and instructions here. If the guidelines are not followed, we will not be able to offer a waived fee.)
• All fiction sub-genres (short stories, short-shorts, novellas, or novels) or any combination of sub-genres are eligible.
• The book should be previously unpublished.
• Do not include your name, bio, or an acknowledgments page in the manuscript.
• You may include a brief bio in the “cover letter” section of Submittable.
• Feel free to include a table of contents (This does not count as part of your final page count).
• Simultaneous submissions are permitted.
• Friends, family members, and former students of judges or Autumn House editors may not submit to the contest. Students do not include interactions at short-term residencies or fellowships.
• Former employees of Autumn House, including interns, may not submit to the contest.