General Submissions
Accepted December 15, 2022 – April 30, 2023
Contest Submissions
Accepted May 1 – September 4, 2023
Sowell Emerging Writers Prize Submissions
Accepted August 1 – October 31, 2023
ARTerrain Submissions
Accepted Year-Round
Reviews Submissions
Currently not open for submissions.
Terrain.org welcomes submissions from new and experienced authors and artists alike. Our online journal accepts only the finest poetry, essays, fiction, articles, artwork, videos, and other contributions—material that reaches deep into the earth’s fiery core, or humanity’s incalculable core, and brings forth new insights and wisdom. We are seeking work in English (or translation) from around the world, and particularly Indigenous, Native, Black, Brown, and other historically marginalized and underrepresented voices. Please expect a response time of at least 12 weeks on general submissions, and please submit no more than once every six months. Beginning in 2023, we are now paying contributors a minimum of $25 and generally more, depending on available funding, genre, and length or number of contributions.
We are no longer accepting submissions for the Letter to America series and are currently not accepting submissions or queries for Reviews.
The Terrain.org submission period is open from:
- December 15 – April 30, 2023 for general submissions (no fee, 16-week review period generally; minimum $50 payment per accepted submission)
- May 1 – September 4, 2023 (Labor Day) for poetry, nonfiction, and fiction contest submissions ($20 fee for $1,000 prize in each genre, $200 to finalists)
- August 1 – October 31, 2023 for the inaugural Sowell Emerging Writers Prize for a book of nonfiction ($25 fee for $1,000 prize plus publication by Texas Tech University Press)
- Year-round for ARTerrain submissions (no fee, 12-week review period)
- Please query info@terrain.org for interviews, non-literary videos, and Unsprawl case studies.
If you need to withdraw all or part of your submission, please do so directly in Submittable.
Terrain.org Editor’s Prize
All contributions by writers of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and/or other marginalized communities whose contributions explore place particularly in the context of social, environmental, or climate justice are considered for our annual Editor’s Prize of $500 in Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction. Announcements are made in summer.