Young Adult literature is a cutting-edge and captivating genre, beloved by authors who choose to write for teens. YA authors build mesmerizing worlds that fascinate young, curious minds. In turn, YA is devoured by its target audience—young people who crave excitement, adventure, love, and acceptance. Now, we are giving those most intrigued by these worlds a chance to create them.

We are thrilled to introduce Voyage’s latest contest: Young Adults Write YA, guest judged by Theodora Goss! If you’re a writer of young adult literature and age twenty-four or younger, we invite you to submit your original, unpublished YA writing for the chance to win the first-place prize of $1,000. Second- and third-place winners will receive $600 and $400, respectively. All three winners will be published by Voyage YA by Uncharted and their work will be considered by an agent. 

Here is what Theodora Goss has to say to submitters: 

What I'm looking for in these stories is YOU. Your voice. The things you think about and find interesting. Your perspective on the world. YA is a broad and innovative genre. There are all sorts of characters and places in it, and endlessly fascinating stories to tell. What story do YOU want to tell, that only you can tell in your own distinctive way? That's a story I look forward to reading.

Theodora Goss is the World Fantasy, Locus, and Mythopoeic Award-winning author of the Athena Club trilogy: The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl. Her published works also include the  short story and poetry collections In the Forest of Forgetting, Songs for Ophelia, Snow White Learns Witchcraft, and The Collected Enchantments as well as two-sided novella The Thorn and the Blossom. She has been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, and Shirley Jackson Awards, as well as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her writing has been translated into fifteen languages. She teaches literature and writing at Boston University. 

Young adults are invited to submit their short YA stories between December 1, 2023, and February 1, 2024.

Guidelines

• The deadline for entry is February 1, 2024. 
• All participants must be twenty-four years of age or younger.
• The $20 reading fee allows for the submission of one <5,000 word short story in English, in the YA genre. 
• Stories must be written primarily in English, but some code-switching is welcomed.
• We encourage multiple submissions, but each story should be submitted separately, each with a separate reading fee.
• Reprints are not eligible. If your story has been published anywhere else, even on a blog or social media, it will be automatically disqualified from the contest.
• If your story is a simultaneous submission, please withdraw immediately if it’s accepted elsewhere.
• Submissions should be double-spaced and use Times New Roman 12, or larger if needed.
• All submissions should include a cover letter, however brief, with your publication history, if applicable. 
• We do not accept anonymous submissions, but the judge will read the shortlist anonymized.
• Please include a content warning, if applicable. This information will not factor into whether your submission is accepted, but rather simply serve to safeguard our staff.
• AI-generated stories will be automatically disqualified.

Optional Editorial Feedback

Participants are invited to request a two-page editorial feedback letter about their submission for an extra fee of $69, or three editorial letters from three different editorial consultants for $179. These letters will provide the recipient with valuable and personalized input from a qualified editor. If your work is chosen for publication, no feedback will be given and your fee will be refunded.

Uncharted Magazine publishes Thriller/Mystery Short Stories from fiction writers of any background or experience. We are rolling horror stories into this category! We want stories that keep us up at night, afraid to turn the corner. Stories that take us into the resonant fear of looming monsters and haunting ghosts. We want stories that thrill us by keeping us on the edges of our seats, hearts pounding, wondering how it will end! Stories with characters who refuse to stay in the shadows! We want stories of mystery that make us search for answers, for reasons, for the things that happen in the shadows.
Guidelines:
All fiction categories are open year round and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Payment: We pay our authors $200 for original fiction! We pay by check or PayPal, according to the author's preference.
Word Count: Submitted stories should be between 1,000-5,000 words.
We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.
Writers may submit one story per submission. Please wait one month after our initial reply before submitting again.
Cover letters: Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. We do not need your mailing address.  Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including each story's title and word count is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. If necessary, please include a content warning to help protect our readers.
Format: double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 pt font. Word docs work best!
Response Times: Please allow us up to three months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner. We cannot offer personalized feedback on each story. If we say, “Send more,” however, it does mean that we hope to see something else from you.
We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.
Diversity Statement: We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason. We reserve the right not to publish works that dwell unnecessarily in or that are unchallenging of the discrimination categories listed above. We reserve the right to send back work unread and unevaluated if we find the work violates our vision of inclusivity and non-discrimination. This may result in banning individual works or writers from our submission queue.
Rights: Uncharted Magazine holds the first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Uncharted Magazine's first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Uncharted Magazine first.
Courtesy: Please refrain from withdrawing your submission to fix a typo or misspelling. These minor issues will not result in an automatic decline. We read submissions based on the value of the story, not the typing.
OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:
You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. We aim to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Uncharted Magazine.

Uncharted Magazine is excited to introduce a new submission category for publication in our magazine. We’re looking for stories that engage deeply with history. We want your characters to interact with infamous people of history, dwell deeply in past eras, and show us how the world used to operate and what lessons we can learn. We want history brought to life on our pages.

Guidelines:
All fiction categories are open year-round, and we do not charge any submission fees. We accept simultaneous submissions but ask that you inform us immediately and withdraw your work if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Payment: We pay our authors $200 for original fiction! We pay by check or PayPal, according to the author's preference.
Word Count: Submitted stories should be between 1,000-5,000 words.
We will also consider previously published fiction, as long as the writer retains the rights or second-publication rights can be obtained. We do not pay for reprints.
Writers may submit one story per submission. Please wait one month after our initial reply before submitting again.
Cover letters: Cover letters are optional, but it's nice to know who is submitting to us. We do not need your mailing address.  Please refrain from describing your stories. The work needs to speak for itself. Including each story's title and word count is helpful for more efficient consideration of your work. Please include a brief third-person biography statement. If necessary, please include a content warning to help protect our readers.
Format: double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12 pt font. Word docs work best!
Response Times: Please allow us up to three months to inform you if we have accepted your work for publication. You will usually hear from us much sooner. We cannot offer personalized feedback on each story. If we say, “Send more,” however, it does mean that we hope to see something else from you.
We consider submissions sent via Submittable. We are not open to email submissions and are not open to submissions sent via post.
Diversity Statement: We do not discriminate on the basis of age, ancestry, disability, family status, gender identity or expression, national origin, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, or for any other reason. We reserve the right not to publish works that dwell unnecessarily in or that are unchallenging of the discrimination categories listed above. We reserve the right to send back work unread and unevaluated if we find the work violates our vision of inclusivity and non-discrimination. This may result in banning individual works or writers from our submission queue.
Rights: Uncharted Magazine holds the first serial publication rights for three months after publication. Authors agree not to publish, nor authorize or permit the publication of, any part of the material for three months following Uncharted Magazine's first publication. For reprints, we ask for acknowledgment of its publication in Uncharted Magazine first.
Courtesy: Please refrain from withdrawing your submission to fix a typo or misspelling. These minor issues will not result in an automatic decline. We read submissions based on the value of the story, not the typing.
OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:
You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your piece. We will provide a global letter discussing the strengths of the writing and the recommended focus for revision. We aim to make our comments actionable and encouraging. These letters are written by editors and staff readers of Uncharted Magazine.

Uncharted is looking to add some talented new readers to our team! If you love the following genres:  Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Mystery, and Historical Fiction or experience across a wide spectrum of these genres., and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized or underrepresented writers are strongly encouraged to apply!

This position begins when accepted and involves a commitment for 6 months, though we are flexible. PLEASE NOTE: readerships are unpaid and on a strictly volunteer basis. If interested, please send a cover letter, resume, and at least one writing sample. We look forward to hearing from you!

*Cover letters should address your interest in the above genres, including favorite stories and/or writers. Please include any memberships.