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***Please read our full submission guidelines, here, before submitting. ***
What we publish in Hippocampus Magazine
During our regular submission periods we accept the following:
- Personal Essays/Memoir Excerpts, max 4,000 words.
- Flash Creative Nonfiction, max 800 words.
Reviews, interviews, craft articles, and writing life articles by invitation/pitch to our editors directly, NOT via Submittable. Send to articles@hippocampusmagazine.com and we will forward to the right person.
Regular submissions come with a $3 submission fee. However, for those unable to cover the fee, we maintain a Submission Fund. To access the fund, contact us here.
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Dates & Deadlines: Submission Periods
We have two regular submission periods per year, which vary by category; please note we updated dates and duration in May 2025:
FALL
- Essay: Sept. 1 - Oct. 31
- Flash: Sept. 1 - Nov. 30
SPRING
- Essay: March 1 - April 30
- Flash: March 1 - May 31
What are we looking for in submissions?
True tales from your life. Honesty that possesses both the situation AND the story. Intensely personal experiences that reflect universal truths about what it means to be human. Firsthand accounts from the full spectrum of humanity – writers of all genders, backgrounds, experiences, lifestyles, and identities.
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What we publish elsewhere:
Our small press division Books by Hippocampus publishes book-length creative nonfiction, including:
- Memoirs
- Essay Collections
- Craft (of Writing) Books
Additionally, we occasionally publish themed anthologies, including through our The Way Things Were series.
Submission guidelines, as well as open anthology calls, are listed at our Books by Hippocampus submissions page.
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Reminder
Please read our full submission guidelines, here, before submitting.
In honor of the shortest month of the year which includes the loving-est day of the year, we’re holding our third annual We Love Short Shorts Contest for Flash Creative Nonfiction!
Throughout the month of February, we’re inviting flash nonfiction writers to submit short essays (aka flash CNF; aka micro memoir) of up to 250 words; there is no theme. (View previous year's winners and runner-ups here.)
Our winner and two runners-up will be featured in a special We Love Short Shorts section of our May-June 2026 issue.
Here’s a full look at the details:
- Word Limit: 250 (does not include title)
- No theme!
- Submission Fee: $5
- First Prize: $250, publication + opportunity to serve as opening reader for a future Stories on Sunday event
- Two Runners Up: $100 each + publication
- Submission Period: Feb. 1–28
- One entry per person
- Entries read by members of our flash team; winners selected by our flash editors
- Decisions will be sent to all entrants in mid- to late April
- All other aspects of our standard submissions apply, such as your filename and document being free of your name; please review our full guidelines here.
Any entries not chosen for a prize are still automatically considered for a future regular Hippocampus Magazine issue. We published two of these honorable mention essays last year. As with all accepted essays, we ask for one-time rights only.
Note: If you have a current submission under consideration at Hippocampus Magazine, you may still enter this contest.