Meridian is an annual literary magazine produced at the University of Virginia in conjunction with the university’s MFA in Creative Writing Program, whose students serve as the magazine’s editors.
Founded in 1998, Meridian has featured the works of numerous Pulitzer Prize Winners, National Book Award Winners, and established writers including Charles Wright, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Seamus Heaney, Ann Beattie, George Garrett, Heather McHugh, Richard Bausch, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Cathy Song, and Eric Pankey.
But don’t let the big names fool you. As a magazine edited by early career writers, we value nothing more than showcasing tomorrow’s talent, often publishing a new author’s first story or poem. We welcome and carefully read every submission that comes our way.
Meridian poetry and prose has appeared in Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and New Stories from the South. Our stories have also been short-listed for the O. Henry Prize, and our fine authors and poets have gone on to win many awards.
Meridian also features regular author interviews, book reviews, photography, and artwork. The magazine’s current print run is about 300 issues, with an additional 2,000 people receiving an ePub version of the magazine.
Anything goes! Send us your micro fiction, hybrid bits, lyric essaylets, prose poems, short-short stories...whatever you call it, we want to read your vibrant, electric writing.
The winner of the Meridian Short Prose Prize will receive $250.00 and publication in our print magazine. All submissions, including those selected as finalists, will be considered for publication. For reference, we published three finalists in our 2020 issue.
Submit as many times as you like, but please only include one unpublished work of 1,000 words or fewer per submission. Entry fee is $6. All submissions will be read blind by our staff.
We can't wait to read your work!
Other Eligibility Rules:
- UVA undergraduate alumni who graduated after June 2016 are NOT eligible.
- UVA MFA students, UVA MFA alumni, and former Meridian staff are NOT eligible.
- Current UVA students, staff, and faculty are NOT eligible.
- Friends, relatives, and former teachers and students of current Meridian staff or its advisor are NOT eligible.
- Please do not submit if you have been selected as the winner of either Meridian's Short Prose Prize or Editors' Prize in the past.
This submission pool is for general fiction submissions. Please do not submit your work here if you intend to send it to Meridian's Short Prose Prize.
Each submission should contain only one unpublished story. While we welcome submissions of any length, please note that we rarely publish stories over 6,500 words. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your work immediately if it is accepted by another publication.
This submission pool is for our poetry submissions only. Please do not submit your work here if you intend to send it to Meridian's Short Prose Prize.
Each submission may include up to five unpublished poems, totaling no more than ten pages. Please submit all poems in a single file. Simultaneous submissions are encouraged, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
This submission pool is for nonfiction submissions only. Please do not submit your work here if you intend to send it to Meridian's Short Prose Prize.
Each submission should contain only one unpublished essay. While we welcome submissions of any length, please note that we rarely publish creative nonfiction pieces over 6,500 words. Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your work immediately if it is accepted by another publication.