Last Day to Submit to Prose Chapbook Contest!

The day has come! Today is the last day of our extended submission window for our prose chapbook contest. Please submit your chapbooks to us by 11:59pm TONIGHT, March 25th, 2026. You can check out our website for more submission details.

Chapbook Issue 28.3

For the 2026 Chapbook Competition, Iron Horse is seeking one of the following:

• a short collection of three to five stories,

• a short collection of three to five essays,

• a short collection of flash fiction,

• a short collection of flash essays,

• a novella,

• a long story told specifically in linked flash, or

• a long lyric essay (by lyric, we mean segmented, braided, or in a hermit crab shell).

We are not accepting hybrids or prose poetry for this competition. Submitted manuscripts must be between 40 - 56 pages, double-spaced (approx. 10,000 to 20,000 words). The winner receives a $1,000 honorarium, 15 free copies, and publication.

Please see our Submittable for more length and formatting details and submission guidelines.

Please reach out to us at ihlr.mail@gmail.com with any questions. We at IHLR are looking forward to reading your work!