FLYING SOUTH

Flying South Soars Again in 2026!
Submissions Open March 1 thru May 31

Flying South, 2024

is available online by clicking HERE

Links to past Issues at the bottom of the page.

2024 Category Winners

Creative Nonfiction

1st Place: Aborted Grief, by Rebecca Petzel

2nd Place: What Changes, What Remains the Same, by Karen Lucas

3rd Place: Glass Stars, by Vera Guertler

Fiction

1st Place: Piedmonters, by Mason Boyles

2nd Place: The Caretaker, by Rick Forbess

3rd Place: Strangers on a Train, by Emily Wilson

Poetry

1st Place: Again, by Jenny Bates

2nd Place: Sleeping on the Job, by Richard Taylor

3rd Place: Becoming South, by Jenny Bates

Finalists

Creative Nonfiction

Fiction

Big River, by Claire Thomas

Legacy, by Nancy Poling

My Nephew the Body of Water, by Marie Chambers

The Hammer, by Bryant Vielman

It's Called Spam, by C M Kelly

Sending It Through, by Emily Hall

Planespotting, by Mike Herndon

In Time You Will Understand, by Robert Wallace

Soldier's Salute, by Carol Luther

Mom's Feet, by Shannon Golden

Poetry

Iron Out, by Hugh Burke

About Time Stopping, by Hugh Burke

Spinal Column, by Hugh Burke

At the Stanford Mall, by Joyce Schmid

Fish Story, by Richard Band

About Bad News, by John J. Hohn

With March Comes Coyotes, by Mark MacAllister

Migratory, by Mark MacAllister

Roadside Zoo, by Mark MacAllister

Thursday Morning, by Will Martin

The Single Life, by Karen Jackson

The Bird Whisperer, by Susan Morse

A Poem Should Come Like This, by Susan Morse

What We Feed, by Morrow Dowdle

Sitting in my Sister's Living Room: A Miracle,

by Morrow Dowdle

Appaloosa, by Charles Gammon

See, by Charles Gammon

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Flying South at WSW booth, Bookmarks Festival and
book launch at Bookmarks Bookstore in Winston-Salem

Submissions will re-open March 1 - May 31, 2026. See submission guidelines and the link below for uploading your manuscript.

Submissions are accepted March 1 to May 31 annually. Entry is $15 to members; $25 for nonmembers. Winston-Salem Writers Board members are ineligible for entry. Please read the guidelines thoroughly.

What We're Looking For

● Read a past issue or two to get a sense of what we like.

● Each entry must be original and previously unpublished. Any work discovered not to be in compliance with either of these requirements will be ineligible for the monetary prizes and will be excluded from the issue. The author of such work will be banned from participation in future Flying South competitions for two years.

● Poetry – 3 poems, 10 pages max.

● Fiction – up to 5000 words; includes flash fiction, short stories, and novel excerpts.

● Nonfiction – up to 3500 words; includes memoir, essay, journal entries, and other creative nonfiction.

Use pseudonyms for identifiable names; you will have the opportunity to change those names prior to publication.

● Simultaneous submissions will be accepted, but you must notify us and withdraw from the contest if your work is accepted elsewhere. Submissions may not be withdrawn once contest winners are announced.

We cannot refund submission fees.

How to Submit

Use a standard font (Times New Roman preferred) in 12-pt. type with the title and page number on each page. For prose, double space. For poetry, single space; 3 poems count as one entry. Poems should be submitted in a single file with each poem clearly separated from the others.

In the cover letter for each entry, include your name, address, telephone, email address, category to which you’re submitting, word count, and title(s) of the submitted work. Your name and contact information should appear only in the cover letter — not in the manuscript, the title, or the file name. We disqualify entries that do not follow these instructions since submissions are read blind. (Entry fees are not refunded for disqualified entries.)

Name your file(s) with the title of the work. For example: An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge.docx.

Long titles may be shortened in the file name.

You can withdraw your submission prior to the announcement of the winners, but we cannot refund your

entry fees.

●

All entries will be considered for publication.

Winning submissions in each of the three categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry) will be awarded prizes of $400 for First Place, $200 for Second Place, and $100 for a total of $2,100 in prizes. All finalists will be accepted for publication and will receive one copy of the current issue of Flying South.

Winners will be announced on or about July 1 and will be notified by email. Cash prizes will be paid no later than August 1.

Authors retain copyright to the work(s) entered and published; Flying South is granted a one-time right to publish the work(s) in the current issue. By entering the contest, writers give Flying South permission to publish the entered work(s) in the current issue and to list the author’s name in the publication, on the Winston-Salem Writers’ website, and in press releases and other attendant publicity. Submissions may not be withdrawn once contest winners are announced.

Prizes and Rights

Howard Pearre – Fiction Editor

Howard Pearre lives in Winston-Salem, NC. He attended UNC Charlotte and Appalachian State University and retired after a career as a counselor and manager with NC Vocational Rehabilitation and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. His essays and fiction have appeared in Flying South, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Proud To Be, and other publications.

Donna Emmary – Creative Non-Fiction Editor

Donna is working on a collection of true short-short stories destined to become a memoir. Each story is confined to 1,000 words or less, which makes the selection of each description and phrase crucial. She is also the facilitator of the Winston-Salem Writers non-fiction critique group where members work to help each other become better at our craft.

Mary Hennessy - Poetry Editor

A nurse most of her adult life, Mary returned to school late and fell in with a community of generous, word-crazed people. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. One was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and included in the play "Deployed." One rode the R-bus line in Raleigh. Poetry is the only thing that makes sense to her anymore.