Dear readers,

We’re excited to be back this fall and open again to submissions of all types (except for fiction; more on this below) starting tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 2. Please note that we will close to both essay and poetry submissions when we reach 50 subs in each category. We will stay open to other work through Nov. 15 when we close to all work for the year.

Tomorrow we also launch our 2025 Fall Flash Fiction Contest (open to work of any theme, 1,000 words and under)! We will close the contest on Oct. 3 or when we reach 75 entries — whichever comes first. During this contest period, we will not be open to regular fiction submissions. The winning writer will receive $600; the second place winner, $250; and the third place winner, $150. (Read about previous contests on our Contests page.)  To submit work to the contest, email a completed piece with the subject line, Fall Flash Fiction Contest. Find general rules on submitting work on our Submit page.

Especially exciting is our judge for the contest, writer Kelli Short Borges whose fiction has appeared in Fractured Lit, Moon City Review, Lost Balloon, BULL, and SoFloPoJo,, as well as been chosen for the Wigleaf Top 50 longlist and the 2024 and 2025 editions of Best Microfiction. At The Sunlight Press, we most recently featured her photography in July. We also nominated Kelli’s fiction, Undertow, for the 2024 Best of the Net anthology. Thank you in advance for being our judge, Kelli!

(Please note: We will reopen to regular fiction for two weeks when the contest period closes; stay tuned to our website and social media for that reopening date.)

In other news, we are wrapping up our review of remaining work submitted this summer. We will be in touch soon with any writer who hasn’t heard from us. Thanks to all for your patience. Reviewing work never stops here, and we periodically seek more volunteer readers. Right now we need more readers of fiction and essays. If interested, please email us at thesunlightpress@gmail.com.

As many of you may know, The Sunlight Press is a nonprofit literary journal. In November we will launch our fall campaign to raise funds for honorariums for artists.  All donations are tax-deductible and go directly toward artist payments (more on our Support page). Paying artists is the bedrock of our work and we couldn’t do it without the generosity of so many readers. Thank you for considering. More details coming soon on our fundraising campaign.

We look forward to reopening tomorrow and to reiterate, we will close to all essay and poetry subs when we reach 50 submissions in each genre; we will close to all work on Nov. 15; and we will publish our last post for the year on Weds., Dec. 17. When we reopen again on Monday, Jan 4, 2026, we will be 10 years old!

Happy fall,

Beth & Rudri
Founders and Editors