Page Prize in Nonfiction

Winner receives $1,000, publication in our fall issue, and two copies of the journal. The prize is named in honor of our founder, William Page.

Submit Jan 1-31

This award, named for our founder, is for flash nonfiction. We accept original work that has not previously been published. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. You may submit as many entries as you would like, however, please limit your essay to 1,000 or fewer words. All submissions are read blind.
To submit, please use our online submissions portal via submittable, where you will find further guidelines. Each entry fee is $15. We abide by the CLMP code of ethics.
2026 Judge
SARAH PERRY (she/they) is a memoirist and essayist who writes about love, food culture, body image, trauma, gender-based violence, queerness, and the power dynamics that influence those concerns. She is the author of the memoir After the Eclipse: A Mother’s Murder, a Daughter’s Search, which was named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, a Poets & Writers Notable Nonfiction Debut, and a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick; and Sweet Nothings: Confessions of a Candy Lover, a memoir in 100 short essays that came out in February 2025 from Mariner/HarperCollins.
Perry teaches in the graduate program in Creative Writing at the Colorado State University. She was the 2019 McGee Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Davidson College, and will return in the role in spring 2026. They have also taught at Columbia University, the University of North Texas, Manhattanville College, The Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop, the Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y, and Catapult. Her writing has appeared in the Huffington Post, Off Assignment, Elle magazine, The Guardian, Literary Hub, and other outlets.
Perry has received the 2020-2022 Tulsa Artist Fellowship, the 2018 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, and fellowships from the Edward F. Albee Foundation, VCCA, Playa, and The Studios of Key West. She holds an M.F.A. in nonfiction from Columbia University. Her essay “In Praise of the Gas Station Pie,” published in Cake Zine, was nominated for a 2024 M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award and was an Honorable Mention in Best American Essays 2024, edited by Wesley Morris.
Perry is at work on two manuscripts: a sequel memoir titled The Book of Regrets and a work of true crime criticism called Two Daughters Were Away.
All forms and types of nonfiction (essay, lyrics, hybrid, multimodal, hermit-crab, braided, etc) are eligible for this prize, so long as they are fewer than 1,000 words, previously unpublished and original.
Work authored with the aid of Artificial Intelligence programs using Large Language Models is ineligible.
Previously published work and translations are ineligible
Simultaneous submissions accepted, as long as you notify us if the piece is accepted elsewhere. (No refunds will be issued for withdrawals.)
Current University of Memphis students are ineligible to submit. Students at the undergraduate and graduate level must have been out of school for more than five years to submit.
All current staff and volunteer readers of Pinch are ineligible. Staff members and volunteers who have not been part of the journal for at least five years are eligible.
Former students, relatives and friends of the contest judge are ineligible to submit.
Any entry that exceeds 1,000 words will be ruled ineligible and will not be read.
Disregarding these rules may result in disqualification; no refund will be offered.
Questions can be sent to editor+contest@pinchjournal.com
The contest editor, who does not read the submissions, will oversee the process.
The first round of readers are students and faculty at the University of Memphis. They all serve in positions on the masthead of Pinch.
Each contest entry is judged blind. To ensure that your entry is not disqualified, please title your entry the name of your essay and remove all identifying details from the document itself.
All entries are read and scored by two or more readers. Once all the entries have been read and scored, those submissions in the top twentieth percentile will be blind reviewed by the editorial team, who will choose ten finalists.
Finalists are sent to the contest judge, who will blind read the work, then make all final decisions with respect to the winner, runner-up and any honorable mentions.
Most judges include a paragraph explaining their choices. Such feedback will be shared with the winner, and/or runners up.
The winner and any runners-up and/or honorable mentions will be posted publicly to Pinch website before the end of May.
Requests to edit submissions may be made so long as they are BEFORE January 31. No requests made after that date will be honored. All edit requests should be made via Submittable.
Each entry should be a single file.
All identifying information should be removed from the file. Please double check the name of your file, the first page, and the header, which often include identifying information. We do understand that in nonfiction it can be difficult to erase all identifying details. Please avoid using last names in the text.
Do not include a cover page.
If the form allows, please use Times New Roman 12 point font and double space the text allowing for one-inch margins.
Due to the administrative demands of the University of Memphis, it can take several months after the award is announced to fully process payment to the winner.
For those who reside in the United States, the university requires a valid state issued or federal issued ID, and completion of a W9 form.
For those who reside outside the United States (who are not US Citizens) the university will require photo identification and banking information to complete a wire transfer. The wire transfer can take upward of six months to process.
Winners are responsible for all taxes on their prize monies.
Frequently Asked Questions
All contact with writers will be managed through Submittable or via our contest coordinator who can be reached at editor+contest@pinchjournal.com
We will accept multiple submissions, but each submission will incur the $15.00 entry fee.
We will accept submissions from domestic and international writers. Please note in the event that an international entry wins the contest, payment may take up to six months to complete.
We do not accept translations.
We will accept memoir excerpts so long as they stand alone as a complete essay with beginning, middle, and end.
The editors may offer publication, in a future issue of Pinch or in the Pinch Journal Online, to any entry submitted to the contest.
Every submission will be considered for publication in Pinch and the winner will receive $1,000 in addition to publication.
Announcements and interviews with past winners.

Pinch Literary Award in Fiction

Winner receives $2,000, publication in our fall issue, and two copies of the journal. The prize is supported by the Hohenberg Foundation.

Submit Feb 1-28

This award honors the best in original, previously unpublished poetry writing.
One poem will be selected from the entries and awarded $2,000, publication in Pinch, and two contributor copies.
Every submission will be considered for publication in Pinch or in PJO.
Each entry may contain up to SIX poems as long as the entire file does not exceed TWELVE pages.
To submit, please use our online submissions portal via submittable.
Each entry fee is $28. We follow the CLMP code of ethics.
2026 Judge
Natalie Shapero’s latest book is Stay Dead (2025), published in the U.S. by Copper Canyon Press and in the U.K. by Out-Spoken Press. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The London Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, The Nation, and elsewhere. She is the author of the previous poetry collections Popular Longing (2021), Hard Child (2017), and No Object (2013), and she has performed at The Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches writing at UC Irvine.
- Work must be original and unpublished.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.
- Please do not submit the same work to our general submissions that you also submit for the contest.
- Current University of Memphis students are ineligible to submit. Students at the undergraduate and graduate level must have been out of school for more than five years to submit.
- All current staff and volunteer readers of Pinch are ineligible. Staff members and volunteers who have not been part of the journal for at least five years are eligible.
- Former students, relatives and friends of the contest judge are ineligible to submit.
- Entries that include more than SIX poems, or exceed TWELVE pages will be disqualified.
- We will accept multiple submissions, but each submission will incur an additional entry fee. All submissions are read blind. All identifying information should be removed from the file. Please double check the name of your file, the first page, and the header, which often include identifying information.
- Work authored with the aid of Artificial Intelligence programs using Large Language Models is ineligible.
- Previously published work and translations are ineligible
- Simultaneous submissions accepted, as long as you notify us if the piece is accepted elsewhere. (No refunds will be issued for withdrawals.)
- Requests to edit submissions may be made so long as they are BEFORE March 31. No requests made after that date will be honored. All edit requests should be made via Submittable.
- We prefer you submit one document, which can contain up to SIX individual poems.
- Do not include a cover page.
- If the form allows, please use Times New Roman 12 point font and double space the text allowing for one-inch margins.
- Disregarding these rules may result in disqualification; no refund will be offered.
Questions can be sent to editor+contest@pinchjournal.com
The contest editor, who does not read the submissions, will oversee the process.
The first round of readers are students and faculty at the University of Memphis. They all serve in positions on the masthead of Pinch.
Each contest entry is judged blind. To ensure that your entry is not disqualified, please double check that your name appears nowhere in the document, title, header, etc.
All entries are read and scored by two or more readers. Once all the entries have been read and scored, those submissions in the top twentieth percentile will be blind reviewed by the editorial team, who will choose ten finalists.
Finalists are sent to the contest judge, who after blind reading them will make all final decisions with respect to the winner, runner-up and any honorable mentions.
Most judges include a paragraph explaining their choices. Such feedback will be shared with the winner, and/or runners up.
The winner and any runners-up and/or honorable mentions will be posted publicly to Pinch website during before the end of May.
Due to the administrative demands of the University of Memphis, it can take several months after the award is announced to fully process payment to the winner.
For those who reside in the United States, the university requires a valid state issued or federal issued ID, and completion of a W9 form.
For those who reside outside the United States (who are not US Citizens) the university will require photo identification and banking information to complete a wire transfer. The wire transfer can take upward of six months to process.
Winners are responsible for all taxes on their prize monies.
All contact with writers will be managed through Submittable.
We will accept submissions from domestic and international writers. Please note in the event that an international entry wins the contest, payment may take up to six months to complete.
The editors may offer publication, in a future issue of Pinch or in the Pinch Journal Online, to any entry submitted to the contest.
Announcements and interviews with previous winners of the Pinch Literary Award in Poetry

Pinch Literary Award in Poetry

Winner receives $2,000, publication in our fall issue, and two copies of the journal. The prize is supported by the Hohenberg Foundation.

Submit March 1-31

The Pinch Literary Award in Fiction recognizes the best short-form fiction writing.
One story will be selected from the entries and awarded $2,000, publication in Pinch, and two contributor copies.
Every submission will be considered for publication in Pinch or in PJO.
Entries that are longer than 4,000 words will be disqualified. You may include more than one story as long as you do not exceed the word count.
To submit, please use our online submissions portal via submittable.
Each entry fee is $28. We follow the CLMP code of ethics.
2026 Judge
K I R S T I N C H E N is the New York Times best-selling author of three novels. Her latest, Counterfeit, is a Reese Witherspoon book club pick, a Roxane Gay book club pick, and a New York Times Editors’ Choice. It has also been recommended by The Washington Post, People Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Vogue, Time, Oprah Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Parade, and more. Counterfeit has been translated into eight languages and is being adapted for the screen by Sony Pictures.
Her previous novels are Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners. Her next novel, Tech Wives, an exploration of the myth of genius tech founders—and the women who support them, is forthcoming.
She has received fellowships and awards from the Steinbeck Fellows Program, the American Library in Paris, Sewanee, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, the Toji Cultural Foundation, and the National Arts Council of Singapore. Her writing has appeared in The Cut, Real Simple, Literary Hub, Writer’s Digest, and Zyzzyva.
She has taught at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the University of San Francisco, Ashland University, and elsewhere. Born and raised in Singapore, she currently lives in New York City and San Francisco.
- Work must be original and unpublished.
- Simultaneous submissions are acceptable.
- Please do not submit the same work to our general submissions that you also submit for the contest.
- Current University of Memphis students are ineligible to submit. Students at the undergraduate and graduate level must have been out of school for more than five years to submit.
- All current staff and volunteer readers of Pinch are ineligible. Staff members and volunteers who have not been part of the journal for at least five years are eligible.
- Former students, relatives and friends of the contest judge are ineligible to submit.
- Entries that exceed 4,000 will be disqualified.
- We will accept multiple submissions, but each submission will incur an additional entry fee.
- All submissions are read blind. All identifying information should be removed from the file. Please double check the name of your file, the first page, and the header, which often include identifying information.
- Work authored with the aid of Artificial Intelligence programs using Large Language Models is ineligible.
- Previously published work and translations are ineligible
- Simultaneous submissions accepted, as long as you notify us if the piece is accepted elsewhere. (No refunds will be issued for withdrawals.)
- Requests to edit submissions may be made so long as they are BEFORE FEBRUARY 28. No requests made after that date will be honored. All edit requests should be made via Submittable.
- Do not include a cover page.
- If the form allows, please use Times New Roman 12 point font and double space the text allowing for one-inch margins.
- Disregarding these rules may result in disqualification; no refund will be offered.
Questions can be sent to editor+contest@pinchjournal.com
The contest editor, who does not read the submissions, will oversee the process.
The first round of readers are students and faculty at the University of Memphis. They all serve in positions on the masthead of Pinch.
Each contest entry is judged blind. To ensure that your entry is not disqualified, please double check that your name appears nowhere in the document, title, header, etc.
All entries are read and scored by two or more readers. Once all the entries have been read and scored, those submissions in the top twentieth percentile will be blind reviewed by the editorial team, who will choose ten finalists.
Finalists are sent to the contest judge, who after blind reading them will make all final decisions with respect to the winner, runner-up and any honorable mentions.
Most judges include a paragraph explaining their choices. Such feedback will be shared with the winner, and/or runners up.
The winner and any runners-up and/or honorable mentions will be posted publicly to Pinch website during before the end of May.
Due to the administrative demands of the University of Memphis, it can take several months after the award is announced to fully process payment to the winner.
For those who reside in the United States, the university requires a valid state issued or federal issued ID, and completion of a W9 form.
For those who reside outside the United States (who are not US Citizens) the university will require photo identification and banking information to complete a wire transfer. The wire transfer can take upward of six months to process.
Winners are responsible for all taxes on their prize monies.
All contact with writers will be managed through Submittable.
We will accept multiple submissions, but each submission will incur an additional entry fee.
We will accept submissions from domestic and international writers. Please note in the event that an international entry wins the contest, payment may take up to six months to complete.
We do not accept translations.
We will accept novel excerpts so long as they stand alone.
Current University of Memphis students are ineligible to submit. Students at the undergraduate and graduate level must have been out of school for more than five years to submit.
All current staff and volunteer readers of Pinch are ineligible. Staff members and volunteers who have not been part of the journal for at least five years are eligible.
Former students, relatives and friends of the contest judge are ineligible to submit.
The editors may offer publication, in a future issue of Pinch or in the Pinch Journal Online, to any entry submitted to the contest.ription
Announcements and interviews with previous winners of the Pinch Literary Award in Poetry