On Monday we announced that our 2016 Non-Fiction Contest, judged by Rachel Rose, is now open for submissions, and we here at PRISM have a little more news to share with our writers and readers this week.

Introducing The Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize and The Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction

These two new competitions will be replacing our annual poetry and fiction contests with separate deadlines for each. Poets should submit by October 15th, 2016 with winners being showcased in the following spring issue (55.3). Writers of short fiction should have their stories in by January 15, 2017 as the winners will be appearing in the summer issue (55.4).

Both competitions will offer $1,500 to the first place winner along with cash prizes to the two runners-up. Both are now open for submissions!

For full contest details please visit our Contests Page. Check back and keep an eye out for judges’ announcements in the near future.

A Note On Jacob Zilber

Jacob Zilber was a renowned writer, respected teacher and mentor. In 1965, Jacob helped Earle Birney form the Department of Creative Writing, one of the very first such departments in North America and the very first of its kind in Canada. He also co-founded PRISM international and was a longtime editor of the magazine. Jacob passed away on August 21st, 2012. Read more about Jacob Zilber here.