Osprey
Fiction
Award
Osprey is an important totem animal. They take their time positioning themselves just right over a river, waiting for the right moment to dive for the fish that are their prey. Osprey plunge into this alien world of water, something outside their usual comfort zone, to sieze their prize.
Osprey's advice for you is to take the plunge, go beyond your known comfort zone into the unknown where lies the thing you seek.
Submission Window: CLOSED
Submission Window Open:
September 1st - October 31st, 2024
Previous Winners
2015 Michael Olin-Hitt for Messiah Complex & Other Stories
2019 Peter Edward Burg for The Yellow Field
2020 Andrea Dejean for Sphinx
2021 N/A
2022 N/A
2023 You?
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We are looking for vibrant fiction (Novels, Novellas, Short Story collections, etc) and are open to any genre and everything from a short story or short story/ micro-fiction/flash fiction collection).
We have a penchant for works which draw us into the story and the characters, we listen for the voice of the work. We like humor and mystery, conflict, yes / glorification of war or violence, no.
Although we lean towards enjoying more rural based works, urbanity and society and culture are a part of our built environment, and more and more, a topic which gains increasing relevance to ourselves and our readers. We like place-based narratives and works of literary human ecology, spiritual rather than religious, works based in our humanity, whether in the past or the present . . . or the future, for that matter (yes we would love to see good quality sci-fi.)
Osprey Fiction Award winners and authors whose manuscripts are accepted for publication will have the opportunity to enter into a publishing contract making them eligible for 5 free initial author copies of the work, generous percentage of royalties on future regular MSRP retail sales, and discounted author copies at 40% - 50%..
All submissions must be received before midnight, October 31st, 2023
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Manuscripts must meet the following minimum requirements:
No limitations on length or style.
Original works (including title pages, table of contents, author bio or acknowledgment pages). Please acknowledge any previous publication of individual stories or pieces or any source material quoted.
No artwork aside from drawings or maps or charts that can be rendered either in b&w or a few simple colors. Our financial ability to print and reproduce color photographs or detailed artwork in a cost effective marketing ability does not match our quality standards at this point, although we would love to expand into lovely quality photo books one day. Baby steps.
Artwork for covers etc will be discussed later and we will always consider your art or work with an artist whose work you feel compliments your writing. We also love creating our own covers and will retain the right to steer the quality and content in a way we feel is best for the publication.
Electronic submissions only please. Submitted via submission form to the right. Use a file name that begins with "OSPREY SUBMISSION: [title of your work]"
Manuscript content should be in English, to include translated works, bilingual or multilingual script.
In a simple font common to MS Word, with a preference for Times New Roman, Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma or Verdana set at either 12 or 14 pt.
Due to the length of manuscripts for such submissions, and the time necessary to read and digest longer works, $25 reading fee must be included with each submission and received by contest deadline.
Reading fees and submissions must be received prior to midnight, October 31st, 2023.
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