Contests – Page Turner Magazine

Enter your original visual artwork that captures the spirit of genre fiction for a chance to be featured on the cover of Page Turner Magazine.

Fill out our Submissions Form (for general submissions, contests, and art) or our Emerson Alumni Form (for the alumni contest only)! Make sure to title your copy with the name of the contest and your work’s title!

2023–2024 Academic Year Contests

Late-night competition craving? You’ve come to the right place.
PTM runs a plethora of contests for both writing and art each academic year for any and every genre. The winner and runner-ups of each contest are published online and in our Spring print issue.

To submit your work for a contest: Fill out our Submissions Form (for general submissions, contests, and art) or our Emerson Alumni Form (for the alumni contest only)! Make sure to title your copy with the name of the contest and your work’s title!

What we’re looking for:

We want contest submissions (1,500 words max) of potent prose that grabs the reader by the lapels, slingshots them through crackling tension, and lands them, disheveled, excited, and breathless, at a riveting end.

Genre Contest Schedule:

During the time frames listed below, we’ll accept flash fiction pieces (1,500 words max) from Emerson students, staff, and alumni that are based on the corresponding themes.

Genre Contests (1,500 words max):

Fantasy “Untimely Portal”: Sept. 18–Oct.4
- Prompt: Write a story in which a magical creature stumbles upon a portal that takes them to the human world.
Horror “Who’s Scary Now?”: Oct. 7–23
- Prompt: Write a story using gothic elements where the villain is the main character.
Sci-Fi “A Future in Your Past”: Oct. 14–30
- Prompt: Write a piece of historical fiction that utilizes futuristic technology.
Thriller “The Worst All-Nighter”: Oct. 25–Nov. 10
- Prompt: Write a story in which a character must race to the dawn to complete their task.
Mystery “Legal Crime”: Jan. 14–30
- Prompt: Write a mystery story in which nothing illegal happens.
Romance “Happily Ever After?”: Jan. 20–Feb. 5
- Prompt: Write a story where a wedding erupts into chaos, but still manages to end in a happily ever after.

Other Contests (7,500 words max):

Trope Contest: Jan 14–Feb. 19
- Title: “Is It Really Cliche?”
- Prompt: To highlight how tropes are an integral part of genre, pick an infamous trope and put your own original spin on it.
- Word max = 7,500
Cover Art Contest: Sept. 18–Feb. 11
- Note: see the Submissions page for more details.
  - Convey the spirit of genre fiction (subjective, but that is the goal)
  - We accept both digital files & high-resolution scans
  - FULL COLOR
  - Size= no larger than A4 (230 mm x 297 mm or 8.268 in x 11.693 in)
  - Bleed= 0.125 in
  - At least 300 ppi
  - Saved as a .jpeg file
Emerson Alumni Contest: Sept. 18–Feb. 8
Any-Genre Contest (AKA PART 1: Stories) (word max= 7,500): Sept. 18–Nov. 1
- Prompt: Write a story which ends, either literally or metaphorically, in the same place it began.
Illustration Contest (AKA PART 2: Illustration) “An End to the Beginning”: Jan. 14–Feb. 20
- Create an illustration for our Any-Genre Contest Winner, McKayla Gates’ “A Torch, a Wolf, a Death“