Flying South
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Flying South, 2024
is available online by clicking HERE
Order Past Issues
Flying South #7 2020
Flying South #6 2019
Flying South #5 2018
Flying South #4 2017
Flying South #3 2016
Flying South #2 2015
Flying South #1 2014
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














Flying South at WSW booth, Bookmarks Festival and
book launch at Bookmarks Bookstore in Winston-Salem
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.
Submissions for 2024 are closed.
We will pause submissions that usually open up in May 2025 as we plan for a transition to a new editor. We look forward to continuing Flying South with a new competition for 2026.
Steve Lindahl, who has been the editor of Flying South for over nine years, is moving on to focus on his novel writing career, and so Flying South is taking a year off while we search for a new editor. Steve has done a tremendous job in compiling and organizing the judging and awards, as well as the printing and distribution of Flying South. He has upped the reputation of our signature literary competition and publication, and he has our heartfelt thanks for his long-time service and a job well done.
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.
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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.
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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.