CRAFT Dialogue Challenge 2025

CRAFT 2025 Dialogue Challenge

May 22 – June 1, 2025

$500 Awarded Add to Calendar

Back by boisterous popular demand—

Announcing the CRAFT 2025 Dialogue Challenge!

For this challenge, we’re asking writers to recreate the serendipity of overheard conversations: think loud arguments in quiet restaurants, hushed confessions in out-of-the-way coffee shops. Think eavesdropping and interloping, but in the name of art. The only catch—we want to read only the dialogue: no tags, no stage directions, no settings—no added context whatsoever. What we want instead—the subtext. Leave the broad interpretation of the specific moment up to the reader. Just capture what your characters most need to say on the page (and please do avoid any obviously expositional dialogue), and we will fill in the rest. Let the reader own the work (and pleasure) of building the world that surrounds this particular conversation.

For this challenge, we’ll consider scenes and excerpts, from 50 to 250 words, composed entirely of lines of dialogue. Don’t worry about presenting a full story or narrative arc. We’re interested in what dialogue can do here, in how it can reveal a relationship or even illuminate what’s not said. Remember, think subtext, not context. Check out last year’s winner for a prime example. For this opportunity, submit your choice of fiction or creative nonfiction—we’re seeking both! Each micro prose entry will cost $10, and multiple entries will be welcomed. Our editors will choose one winner to award $500 and publication.

GUIDELINES:

Submissions are open to all writers, emerging and experienced.
International submissions are allowed.
Please submit prose work primarily written in English, but some code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed.
We seek micro prose only for this challenge: please submit 50 to 250 words per entry.
Work may have been drafted prior to the challenge’s open, or within the ten-day window. Please revise and proofread carefully before submitting.
HINT: Previously written passages of dialogue might make an excellent starting point. Remember to remove dialogue tags, stage directions, and any other added context. How does your dialogue stand on its own? Revise, if necessary, for more interest, tension, vivacity, emotion, et cetera.
Submit polished prose only, please! We are not seeking lineated poetry, lists or listicles, or any accompanying artwork at this time. However, do feel free to experiment with the format of your dialogue-only submission. For instance, dispense with paragraph tabs or standard quotation marks if you find them unnecessary.
Submitted pieces must be creative, first and foremost, but may be fiction or nonfiction.
We review literary prose but are open to a variety of genres and styles—our only requirement is that you show excellence in your craft.
Submit previously unpublished work only—we do NOT review reprints (or even partial reprints) for challenges (including work posted on blogs, personal websites, social media, et cetera). Reprints will be automatically disqualified.
We allow simultaneous submissions—writers, please notify us and withdraw your submission if your piece is accepted for publication elsewhere.
We allow multiple submissions—please submit each piece as a separate submission accompanied by an entry fee.
If you need to edit your entry, you may do so, once, but only before the entry is assigned to a reader for consideration. Notify us immediately if you wish to “open for editing.”
This challenge requires a $10 entry fee per submission.
Please double-space your submission and use Times New Roman 12.
Include a brief cover letter with your publication history, if applicable, and any appropriate content warnings to help safeguard our reading staff.
We do not require anonymous submissions. The one grand-prize winner of this challenge will be chosen by our editorial staff. The winner will receive $500 and publication.
We hope to publish the winning piece in December 2025. Any piece already scheduled to be published before March 2026 should not be submitted at this time.
The winner will be asked to contribute an author’s note, or mini craft essay, that discusses their artistic choices in their piece. The note will be published with the winning work.
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.
Additionally, we do not tolerate discrimination in the writing we consider for publication: work we find discriminatory on any of the bases stated here will be declined without complete review.
Any AI-generated work submitted to this challenge will be immediately disqualified.
Unless you’ve already secured the necessary permissions, please do not include quoted song lyrics in your submitted work. Paraphrased lyrics are allowed, however, as are older lyrics that have already passed into the public domain.
Any work that does not adhere to these guidelines will be automatically disqualified. Submissions that include the prohibited dialogue tags, stage directions, or added context will be automatically disqualified.
We are always happy to help if you have questions. Email us: contact@craftliterary.com.

OPTIONAL EDITORIAL FEEDBACK:

You may choose to receive editorial feedback on your submission directly through the challenge’s submission form. We’ll provide marginal notes and a one-page summative letter, focusing on the strengths of the submission as well as our recommendations for development. While editorial feedback is inherently subjective, our suggestions are always actionable and encouraging. We aim to have feedback completed within twelve weeks of the close of the challenge. Should your piece win, no feedback will be offered and your fee will be refunded. Work that we critique is not eligible for future CRAFT challenges or contests, but can be revised and resubmitted for consideration in our general categories.