Our Editorial Vision
Our mission at Blair is to publish emerging writers and writers from groups whose work has been historically neglected—for us this includes writers with marginalized gender identities, BIPOC writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers with disabilities, and writers from the U.S. South, among others. We are most interested in literary fiction, issue-driven creative nonfiction and memoir, and poetry. We will also consider regional nonfiction focused on the U.S. South.
Books we’d particularly like to see: fiction or nonfiction from Native American authors, fresh takes on Southern fiction, novels with strong narrative arcs, books by authors or about characters who live with physical challenges, books with fresh takes on the history or folklore of the U.S. South, historical novels set in eras and places rarely explored in literature.
Not accepted at this time: science fiction, horror, romance, YA.
We do not accept unagented fiction, memoir, or poetry outside of our contests. Unagented nonfiction proposals may be sent to us at blairsubmissions@gmail.com.
Literary Contests
Blair aims to hold one contest annually, rotating through the three genre-based contests listed below. Submissions are made through Submittable. All manuscripts are read without identifying information by a reading committee comprised of Blair staff and qualified, paid readers. Contests are free to enter.
Please contact blairsubmissions@gmail.com with questions or accessibility requests.
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The Bakwin Award for Full-Length Prose is currently closed.
The latest winner is Tara Weinstein for her novel The Only Way Out Is Through, selected by Tiya Miles. For more previous winners, scroll to the bottom of this web page.
This award is for an unpublished full-length literary prose work of fiction or nonfiction, prioritizing manuscripts by authors that fit Blair's mission of publishing new and historically neglected voices.
Entries should be literary in nature. Novels, short story collections by a single author, memoirs, essay collections, and biographies are all acceptable (NO POETRY COLLECTIONS, PLEASE). Blair does NOT publish strict genre fiction (mystery, science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.), but we acknowledge that some elements of genre fiction may be present in literary fiction.
This contest is free to enter. There is a suggested donation of $25.00. Donation information will not be known to our team of readers nor the final judge. Submissions will be accepted through Submittable; no mailed submissions will be accepted.
DO NOT INCLUDE CONTACT INFORMATION anywhere in your manuscript file. Any manuscripts submitted with identifying information will be automatically declined. Use the cover letter field in Submittable to provide a short bio. If portions of your manuscript are previously published in journals or other outlets, you may include those acknowledgments in the cover letter field of Submittable. The manuscript as a whole should be unpublished.
Though you may have multiple manuscripts that fit this call, you may only submit one manuscript to this award.
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This award is for a book-length literary novel.
Submissions for the Lee Smith Novel Prize are currently closed.
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This prize will open September 15, 2025, and close on November 15 or after we reach our cap of 350 submissions.
The Wren Poetry Prize is for a first, second, or third full-length poetry collection.
Winners selected by Blair poetry editor Sandra Beasley.
Submittable link to come.
from the editor:
When I co-edited The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero poetry, I knew that the stories and myths shaped into poems did not end with that collection. To look at the world and ask the how’s and why’s about the universe is science; but to take it a step further and imagine what if is poetry. The Black poetic is multi-hyphenate and uses storytelling to pass down knowledge from generation to generation. This information used to be proof that we survived but has since evolved. It now shows the ways a community celebrates joy, moments of self-reflection, how family connects or disconnects with one another, and more importantly the radical imagination of an inclusive Black future. These dreams of the future can take place 10 years from now or even 100. Following the spirit of Sun Ra and Octavia Butler, and the poetic lineage of Nikki Giovanni, Afrofuturism can manifest in various ways and without limits. The word Polaris, also known as the North Star, is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. Harriet Tubman used the North Star as a guide and it’s the star that still watches over us. In the new Polaris Poetry Series, we want to see how Black futurity manifests in your poetic world.
Introducing
The Polaris Poetry Series
Edited by Cynthia Manick
Blair is proud to announce the Polaris Poetry Series, featuring collections of Afrofuturistic and Afrofuturism-adjacent poetry, in the vein of recent Blair collections such as The Future of Black (edited by Len Lawson, Cynthia Manick, and Gary Jackson) and The Opposite of Cruelty (by Steven Leyva). This new series is designed to provide a dedicated home for this innovative poetic style and to amplify the voices of strong Black poets. The series will be edited by Cynthia Manick, and collections will be chosen from among those submitted to Blair via Submittable (link to come). This series will open for submissions annually from July 1 through July 31.
Submissions should be a minimum of 65 pages of poems, with each new poem beginning on a new page. A list of acknowledgements for previously published poems can be included and does not count toward the page total. Submissions will be open from July 1-31, 2025, or until we reach our cap of 100 submissions. Submissions are free; donations are welcome. Selected manuscripts will receive a publishing contract and a $1,000 advance against royalties.
Contest Winners
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![Tara Weinstein, a white woman with shoulder-length brown curly hair wearing drop earrings, and a burgundy blouse, smiling, with a purple backdrop.]()
Tara Weinstein
Winner of the 2024 Bakwin Award for Full-Length Prose for her novel The Only Way Out Is Through.
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![A woman with short brown hair and glasses in an off-white blouse and a blurred green background]()
Kionna Walker LeMalle
Winner of the 2023 Lee Smith Novel Prize for her novel Behind the Waterline.
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Caitlin Scarano
Winner of the 2022 Wren Poetry Prize for their collection The Necessity of Wildfire.
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Maegan Poland
Winner of the 2021 Bakwin Award for her story collection What Makes You Think You’re Awake?
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Heather Frese
Winner of the 2020 Lee Smith Novel Prize for her novel The Baddest Girl on the Planet.
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May-lee Chai
Winner of the 2019 Bakwin Award for her story collection Useful Phrases for Immigrants.
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Donald Morrill
Winner of the 2018 Lee Smith Prize for his novel Beaut.
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Dana Koster
Winner of the 2017 Carolina Wren Press Poetry Prize for her collection, Binary Stars.
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Donna Miscolta
Winner of the 2016 Bakwin Award for Hola and Goodbye.
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Paulette Boudreaux
Winner of the 2015 Lee Smith Novel Prize for her novel Mulberry.
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Chantel Acevedo
Winner of the 2014 Bakwin Award for her novel A Falling Star.
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Charles Wyatt
Winner of the 2014 Carolina Wren Press Poetry Prize for his collection Goldberg Variations.
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L. Lamar Wilson
Winner of the 2013 Carolina Wren Press Poetry Prize for his collection Sacrilegion.
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Margaret Hermes
Winner of the 2012 Bakwin Award for Relative Strangers.
