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BLR Literary Prizes

Bellevue Literary Review

The BLR Prizes award outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. Winners are published in the spring issue of Bellevue Literary Review. For each genre, first prize is $1000 and honorable mention is $300.

Fiction: We seek character-driven fiction with original voices and strong settings. We do not publish genre fiction (romance, sci-fi, horror). We have only occasionally published flash fiction. While we are always interested in creative explorations in style, we do lean toward classic short stories.

Nonfiction: We are looking for essays that reach beyond the standard ‘illness narrative’ to develop a topic in an engaging and original manner. Incorporate engaging and creative analysis that allows anecdotes to serve a larger purpose. (Please, no academic discourses or works with footnotes. )

Poetry: We encourage poems that are accessible to a wide audience. Characteristics we look for are vivid writing, strong narrative, and rendering the familiar new. We encourage you to peruse back issues in our archive to get a sense of our ethos.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Clear Fit with BLR’s Thematic Focus

BLR specializes in work about health, illness, the body, healing, the mind, and related human experiences academic-accelerator.com+8blreview.org+8bellevueliteraryreview.submittable.com+8.

Fiction should be character-driven with strong settings; they don’t accept romance, sci-fi, horror, or most flash fiction blreview.org+2blreview.org+2bellevueliteraryreview.submittable.com+2.

Nonfiction requires fresh takes beyond standard illness narratives—use anecdotes to serve broader themes, and avoid academic style or footnotes blreview.org+1blreview.org+1.

Poetry should be accessible, vivid, often narrative, and offer new perspectives on familiar subjects academic-accelerator.com+3blreview.org+3blreview.org+3.

✍️ 2. High Literary Quality & Originality

BLR prizes value original voices, strong narrative arcs, and emotional depth duotrope.com+5blreview.org+5bellevueliteraryreview.submittable.com+5.

They lean toward classic short-story style but remain open to creative stylistic experimentation—while maintaining clarity

📄 3. Unpublished Work & Blind Review Process

Submissions must be previously unpublished in print or online (outside personal blogs) .

BLR uses blind peer review—no identifying info should appear in your manuscript .

✅ 4. Adherence to Submission Guidelines

Prose: Fiction/nonfiction up to 5,000 words (optimal 2,000–4,000 words) .

Poetry: Submit up to three individual poems .

Use standard formatting, and follow their guidelines meticulously—simultaneous submissions are allowed, but notify if accepted .

💵 5. Payment & Fees

BLR pays $150 for prose, $75 for poetry upon publication .

Fees: $5 general submission; $20 contest entries when open .

Fee waivers or no-fee routes are offered to current subscribers or for hardship cases .

⚖️ 6. Competitive Selectivity

Prose acceptance rates hover around 2–3% (based on Duotrope user reports), with responses taking ~65–140 days .

The annual BLR Prizes are highly competitive, with zero acceptances reported in some Duotrope data so far .

🛠️ 7. Strategy & Best Practices

Read recent issues and winning prize stories to understand BLR’s tone and style.

Target your narrative: Ensure each anecdote or vignette serves the central theme.

Craft vivid imagery with clarity—avoid overly abstract or academic language.

Polish with patience: BLR reviewers respond slowly; aim for polished drafts well ahead of deadlines.

🧾 Summary Table

✅ Predictor	Description
Thematic fit	Health/body/mind focus; no genre clichés
Literary excellence	Strong characters, vivid settings, fresh voice
Unpublished & blind	Follows strict prior-publication rules
Formatting & length	Prose ≤5k words (ideal 2–4k); up to 3 poems
Fee structure	$5–$20, waived for subscribers/hardship
Selectivity	~2% acceptance for general; contests even tighter
Editorial alignment	Read issues to match style and tone

Specialties

Global Health

Public Health

Others

Eligibility Requirements

Submissions for BLR Prizes are open until July 1, 2025.

We happily consider simultaneous submissions, but please inform us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.

Manuscripts can only be accepted electronically via Submittable.

Fiction/nonfiction word max is 5,000 words (though most of our published prose is in the range of 2,000-4,000 words.) Please submit no more than three poems. Each poem should be on a separate page within a single document.

Do not put your name or other identifying information on the manuscript document (or in the filename) so that the submissions can be read blindly. No cover letter needed.

Students/friends/colleagues/relations of a judge are not permitted to enter submissions to that judge’s genre.

There is a $20 fee per contest submission. Contest submission qualifies you for a 50% discount on a BLR subscription. (The fee helps BLR fund the contest and the journal, but if it’s a hardship for you, please contact us.)

Winners from each genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction) receive $1000. Honorable mentions from each genre receive $300.

Winners will be published in BLR Issue 50 in Spring 2026.

All contest submissions are automatically considered for general publication as well. (No need to submit in both categories!)

All submissions must be of previously unpublished work.* BLR acquires First North American rights, and the right to reprint in anthologies and online. After publication, all other rights revert to the author and the work may be reprinted as long as appropriate acknowledgement to BLR is made.

Contest winners are usually announced in November. Decisions for the rest of Issue 50 will be made by the end of the year.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Bellevue Literary Review

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: 149 East 23rd Street, #1516 New York, NY 10010 info [at] BLReview.org

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