A Press 53 two-time Pushcart Prize-winning online publication

Issue 293, September-December 2026

Welcome to our largest offering of the year: our contest issue where we share winners of the Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry & Short Fiction; winners of our annual (and free) Prime 53 Poem Summer Challenge, where poets are challenges to try their skills with a poetry form invented in 2018 by Press 53 poetry editor Christopher Forrest and publisher and editor in chief Kevin Morgan Watson; and the winners of our monthly (and also free) 53-Word Story Contest for May, June, July, and August. Also in this issue you will find flash nonfiction selected by editor and award-winning flash nonfiction writer Shuly Xóchitl Cawood; poetry selected by guest editor Vaughn M. Watson; and short fiction selected by guest editor and former managing editor and co-founder of Prime Number Magazine Clifford Garstang.

Get ready to escape, but first this announcement:

The 2027 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction is now open for entries

We’re looking for an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Judged by Press 53 and Prime Number Magazine publisher & editor in chief Kevin Morgan Watson

First Prize: Publication, $1,000 and 53 copies

Deadline: December 31. Complete information here

Winners of the 2026
Prime Number Magazine Awards
for Poetry & Short Fiction

This competition runs yearly, January-March

Our Judges

**Poetry Judge: Terri Kirby Erickson**, author of eight poetry collections including *Night Talks: New & Selected Poems*

**Short Fiction Judge: Jodi Paloni**, author of award-winning *They Could Live with Themselves: Stories*

OUR 2026 WINNERS

Poetry First Prize ($1,000): “The Odds Are Against You and Me” by Justin Hunt

Short Fiction First Prize ($1,000): “A Wreck of a Place” by Alice Hatcher

“He Tells Me to||: Write about the Brain Injury that Took Away the Words to ||:” by Yiskah Rosenfeld

Short Fiction Runner-Up ($250): “The Laundry of Missing Things” by Hridoy Kundu

Short Fiction Runner-Up ($250): “Private Duties” by Madeleine Mysko

Winners of our FREE, monthly
53-Word Story Contest

A free, monthly writing competition. Join our email list to get your prompt on the first day of each month.
Write a 53-word story about (prompt)
Send your story by the fifteenth (15th) day of the month to 53wordstory@gmail.com

Get your prompt and have some fun!

May (a date): “Unforgettable and Magical” by Kenneth M. McRae

June (brief): “Mysteries” by Cate Rogers

July (a leaf): “A North Carolina Picker” by Lisa H. Owens

Winners of the
2026 Prime 53 Poem
Summer Challenge

A free, annual contest for writers around the world for a new poetry form that contains eleven lines, a rhyme pattern, and 53 syllables, judged by co-creator and Press 53 poetry editor Christopher Forrest

Flash Nonfiction selected by Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

Shuly Xóchitl Cawood is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning, winner of the Adrienne Bond Award for Poetry, and the flash essay collection What the Fortune Teller Would Have Said, winner of the Iron Horse Literary Review Prose Chapbook Contest. Shuly also leads writing workshops through Press 53’s High Road Fest Online, including the popular Let’s Write Together!, a one-hour lunchtime workshop at Noon Eastern on most Tuesdays.

“The Comfort in Being Forgotten” by Cash Whitney

Flash Nonfiction submissions are now open for Issue 307 (until we receive 79 submissions)

Editors' Selections for Poetry & Short Fiction

Each issue, we ask our guest editors to select their favorite poems or stories from those submitted during our open submission period. Submissions are free and only accepted through Submittable. Here are the guest editors and their selections for Issue 293, September-December 2026.

GUEST EDITOR FOR POETRY

Vaughn M. Watson

Guest Poetry Editor Vaughn M. Watson is a Pushcart Prize-nominated writer based in New York City. His poetry, fiction, and nonfiction have been published in literary journals as varied as Tahoma Literary Review, About Place, and The Common. His debut poetry collection, going out & being normal, was named Runner-Up for the 2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry.

GUEST EDITOR FOR SHORT FICTION

Clifford Garstang

Guest Short Fiction Editor Clifford Garstang is the co-founder and former managing editor of Prime Number Magazine. He is the author of the Press 53 story collections House of the Ancients and Other Stories; In an Uncharted Country; and What the Zhang Boys Know: A Novel in Stories, winner of the Library of Virginia Award for Fiction. He is also the editor of the three-volume anthology series from Press 53, Everywhere Stories: Short Fiction from a Small Planet.