Doris Betts Fiction Prize

Postmark Deadline: February 1 (annual)

The Doris Betts Fiction Prize awards the first-prize winner $250 and publication in the North Carolina Literary Review. Finalists will also be considered for publication in the NCLR.

Eligibility & Guidelines

• The competition is open to any writer who is a legal resident of North Carolina or a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network. North Carolina Literary Review subscribers with North Carolina connections (lives or has lived in NC) are also eligible.
• The competition is for short stories up to 6,000 words. One entry per writer. No novel excerpts.
• Submit stories electronically via the NCLR’s online submission process. For electronic submission instructions and to start the online submission process, go to: http://www.nclr.ecu.edu/submissions/submit-online.html.
• Names should not appear in the Word file of the story; authors will register with the NCLR’s online submission system, which will collect contact information and connect it to story submission.
• An entry fee must be mailed to the NCLR office (address below) by the postmark deadline (Feb. 1 each year, or Jan. 31 if Feb. 1 falls on a Sunday).
• You may pay the Network member/NCLR subscriber entry fee if you join NCWN or subscribe to the NCLR with your submission:

$10/NCWN members and/or NCLR subscribers
$20/nonmembers (must be a North Carolina resident)

• Checks for submission fee and/or Network membership should be made PAYABLE TO the North Carolina Writers’ Network (separate checks payable to NCLR only if purchasing a subscription).
• Mail checks or money orders to:

North Carolina Literary Review
ECU Mailstop 555 English
Greenville, NC 27858-4353

Names of winners and finalists will be announced to all who submit by April 1.

Winning story and select finalists will be published in the next year’s issue of the North Carolina Literary Review.

Questions may be directed to Liza Wieland, fiction editor of the North Carolina Literary Review, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .