At Johnson County Library we love local authors. In support of our home-grown talent, we invite submissions of poetry, fiction, and essays.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Writers must be willing and able to travel to Johnson County to read their work
• Poetry limit: 60 lines or fewer (special project excepted)
• Prose limit: 1000 words (special projects excepted)
• Submissions must be previously unpublished
• Submission limit: one submission per category (one poem, one short story, one essay, one open)
• Please do not include identifying information on your submission. We're serious about this! No name in the document or even the file name. NO IDENTIFYING      INFORMATION!
• One short story, one essay, one poem, and one entry from an open category will be selected for publication on our Submissions & Spotlights page
• Runners up may be posted on our Submissions & Spotlights page 
• We reserve the right not to present an award
• Authors of selected works must be available to provide a reading in Johnson County, KS
• Authors of winning submissions will receive a $200 honorarium
• Johnson County Library staff are ineligible
• The committee selecting works is comprised of Johnson County Library Staff and community volunteers
• Looking for feedback before you submit? Try the Writing Lab at Brainfuse. It's free with your Johnson County Library card and PIN!

Check Writers | Johnson County Library for more information

Our contest prompt for September - December is Golazo!

Goal! Gol! Tor! Golazo!

The World Cup is coming to Kansas City in summer 2026, and something about it stirs something in you. A memory. A longing. A wild, impossible hope. Maybe it’s the roar of the crowd echoing through streets you know by heart. Maybe it’s the way a single Golazo!—a goal so stunning, so perfect, that it feels like the world has stopped turning—can crack open a moment and let something new in. 

Write from that place. Let it be a poem, a journal entry, a letter, a story told in fragments. You might be a player or a fan, a neighbor watching from your porch, or someone who hasn’t kicked a ball in years. Is your perfect shot to finally start that business, publish your masterpiece or join that recreation league you’ve been thinking about? Who are you when everything feels possible, even just for a second? What does your Golazo!—your breathtaking, against-the-odds moment—look like?

Poetry: 60 line limit

Prose: 1000 word limit

Our contest prompt for January - April is Architecture of Home

From Sears to Frank Loyd Wright, the physical architecture of home is constantly evolving and continues to evolve. Is home a new luxury apartment, a farm or homestead, or a cookie cutter in a subdivision?   

Is your home lousy with pet hair or immaculately tidy? Is it an echo chamber or does it ring loud with the laughter of children. Does your family extend beyond the nuclear or is it a tight-knit group of three?  

Tell us what your home is built of. What makes a house a home?

Please keep in mind: Poetry is limited to 60 lines or fewer. Do not include identifying information in your submission. Including identifying information will disqualify your submission.

Disclaimer

All submissions must be original work. By submitting, writers warrant and represent that the work is their own. Writers will retain copyright of their submissions. By providing original work, writers agree to allow and permit Johnson County Library the right to print, publish, showcase, reproduce and distribute the submissions. By submitting, writers agree to any and all editorial alterations and abridgments including, but not limited to, re-formatting, grammatical correction, and cropping. Johnson County Library reserves the right to incorporate and/or disseminate the submission in any form, including, but not limited to, in other publications, marketing, promotions, and other material both internal and external. (12/22/2020)