Driftwood Press | Adrift Short Story Contest

The 2025 Adrift Short Story Contest

Results

We are excited to announce Matthew Rickart's "Brother Blood" as the winner of our eighth Adrift Short Story Contest! Here's what our guest judge, Kelly Link, had to say...

“I would have been pleased to come across 'Brother Blood' under any circumstances, and am delighted to be able to introduce it to other readers. Loss, mystery, and community are not uncommon subjects in narrative, but Matthew Rickart has written a story that, from the title onwards, never went the way I might have expected, but always went somewhere deeper, somewhere stranger, somewhere richer. I loved it."

We would also like to congratulate the runner-ups below, all of whose stories will be published in our 2027 Anthology alongside the winner.

"Alligator" by Audrey Fierberg
"Mockingbird" by Danielle Barr
"En Fetu" by Sophie Nunberg

Further finalists include...

"Sinkers" by Nicholas Otte
"Babyteeth" by Ruby Rorty
"Di-o-ra-ma" by Brinson Leigh Kresge

Lastly, we want to extend our warmest gratitude to everyone who submitted to the contest, including the nine additional semi-finalists and thirty-two quarter-finalists. There were hundreds of wonderful short stories sent in, and many of them deserve—and will find—publication; this year's contest was one of our most competitive. We are ecstatic to continue to publish works of literary fiction that forefront language and take narrative, structural, and thematic risks, and the support of our community of readers and submitters is continually cherished and appreciated.

Timeline

Submissions will be open from March 1st 2025 to July 31st 2025.
Stories are considered by Driftwood editing staff (no outside readers); guest judge reads finalists.
Throughout the process, readers will be notified if their story is passed on or reaches the finalist pool. This often results in a quicker response than other contests, where writers often have to wait until everything has been decided.
The winner will be announced in November 2025.
The winning short story will be published in the 2027 anthology.

Guidelines

Fiction only.
1,000-6,000 word limit.
A standard, 12-point font is preferred.
The work must not have been previously published.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but
please withdraw the work if the story has been
accepted elsewhere.
Submit works written in English only, no translations.
Please submit your manuscript in a .doc, .docx, or PDF format.
We read submissions blind, so please do not include your name, email, or any identifying characteristics on the manuscript itself.
Submission fee is $30.00 USD. Each submitter will receive a free copy of a Driftwood Press fiction title of their choosing in the mail.

Awards

The winner will receive $500 dollars and five copies of the anthology in which the story appears. The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published alongside the story.
If a runner-up is chosen, their work will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $200, and five copies of the issue in which their work appears.

Past Contest Winners

Guest Judge

Kelly Link is the author of The Book of Love, a national bestseller that was longlisted for The Center for Fiction Fiction First Novel Prize; White Cat, Black Dog, a finalist for The Kirkus Prize; Get in Trouble, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in fiction; Magic for Beginners; Stranger Things Happen; and Pretty Monsters. Her short stories have been published in The Best American Short Stories and Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards. She is a MacArthur “Genius” fellow and has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the co-founder of Small Beer Press and co-edits the occasional zine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. She is also the co-owner of Book Moon, an independent bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts.