Glossy Planet: Bad Medicine with Editorial Commentary Gold Star Program Gold Star Fee: usd $25.00

This option is for writers who want to receive editorial feedback on their work. Our response to your submission will include a two feedback notes, about one paragraph each, from two experienced editors or readers. These notes will offer observations on what's working well, opportunities for revision, and how the work aligns with what we're drawn to publish. This feedback reflects the conversations our editors have when discussing submissions internally.

If you are submitting multiple pieces, use your cover letter to tell us which piece you would like feedback on. If this is not noted, we'll give feedback on the first piece in the document.

Please follow the same theme and guidelines for our Bad Medicine challenge.

The waiting room. The late-night emergency. The person who takes an Uber instead of paying for an ambulance. We’re seeking flash fiction, nonfiction, and poetry about health, sickness, disability, and the gap between the care we need and what we can access.

Write about chronic illness and what it means to live inside a body that requires ongoing negotiation. We’re also interested in prose and poetry about birth, death, and surviving the middle. Who continues to show up—nurses, community health workers, that one neighbor who brings over dinner on bad days—and who disappears when health becomes a burden? If health is wealth, what happens when we can’t afford the bill? If you’ve ever been frustrated about getting sick in a system that makes it expensive to get better, we want you to write about it.

We welcome writing of all genres and forms: flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and hybrid work. Three winners will be selected and published at the end of October. To get a sense of what we publish, read our past winners.

Prizes:

• First place: $1,000 and publication
• Second place: $200 and publication
• Third place: $100 and publication