Patty Friedmann Writing Competition LMNL Arts Gold Star Program Gold Star

Each Spring, LMNL invites submissions to its annual writing competition. Formerly the Words & Music Writing Competition, due to a generous underwriter it has been rechristened the Patty Friedmann Writing Competition. Ours is a writing competition in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, public high school (all genres), and “Beyond the Bars” (a multi-genre competition for incarcerated juveniles), associated with the Words and Music writers’ conference that takes place in November each year. Entry fees from the competition are donated to the literacy project that runs the Words and Music writing conference, One Book One New Orleans. Winners in the poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction categories receive $1,000, and winners in the Public High School (all genre) and Beyond the Bars categories receive $500. Winners in all categories will be published in our 2026 LMNL Anthology and all runners-up, finalists, and all entrants will be considered for publication.

Beyond the Bars Temp Closed

This category is for submissions to our Beyond the Bars contest for juvenile victims of incarceration. If that does not describe you, please do not submit.

Submit three pieces in any genre (fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry), no longer than 15 pages total. No previously published work.

This year’s contest is judged by Henry Goldkamp.

Henry Goldkamp teaches writing and performance studies at Louisiana State University, hosts the reading series Splice, serves as associate editor of Tilted House, and acts as communications director for the New Orleans Poetry Festival. Books include Not My Circus (Ursus Americanus, 2025), JOY BUZZER: A Clown Show (Ricochet Editions, 2025), and Balloon Animal (Cloak, forthcoming 2026). More at henrygoldkamp.com.

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Creative Nonfiction Temp Closed

Submit one piece of creative nonfiction, no longer than 20 pages, double spaced, or 5,000 words total. No previously published work. Multiple entries allowed with multiple submission fees.

A limited number of fee waivers are available upon request. Please email [email protected] to obtain a fee waiver.

If you know the judge personally (current or former student within five years or think they will recognize your work) then please withhold your submission.

This year’s contest is judged by Anne Gisleson.

Anne Gisleson is the author of The Futilitarians: Our Year of Thinking, Drinking, Grieving and Reading (Little, Brown). Her publications include The Atlantic, The Smithsonian, The Los Angeles Times, Oxford American, and the anthologies Best American Nonrequired Reading and Airplane Reading. Her nonfiction book Wild Iris is forthcoming from LSU Press’ Louisiana True series. She teaches at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the UNO Creative Writing Workshop and is co-founder of the literary and visual arts non-profit Antenna.

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Fiction Temp Closed

Submit one short story, no longer than 20 double-spaced pages, or 5,000 words total. No previously published work. Multiple entries allowed with multiple submission fees.

A limited number of fee waivers are available upon request. Please email [email protected] to request one.

If you know the judge personally (current or former student within five years or think they will recognize your work) then please withhold your submission.

This year’s contest is judged by T Clark.

T Clark’s short story collection All This Want (and I Can’t Get None) comes out June 2026 with One World Books. Their fiction has appeared in American Short Fiction, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. A member of Intramural Theater Company, they live and write in New Orleans.

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High School (All Genres) Temp Closed

This category is for submissions to our Public High School (all genre) writing contest for public high school students. If that does not describe you, please do not submit.

Submit one short story or essay, no longer than 15 pages total, or 3 poems. No previously published work. Multiple entries are allowed.

Limited fee waivers are available. Please email [email protected] to request one.

This year’s contest is judged by Brad Richard.

Brad Richard is the author of Habitations (Portals Press, 2000), Motion Studies (The Word Works, 2011), Butcher’s Sugar (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2012), Parasite Kingdom (The Word Works, 2019), and Turned Earth (Louisiana State University Press, 2025). His 2022 chapbook, In Place, was chosen for the Robin Becker Series from Seven Kitchens Press. A second edition of Motion Studies, with additional poems and a foreword by Skye Jackson, was published by The Word Works in March, 2025. He has taught creative writing at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, The Willow School (whose creative writing program he founded and directed), Louisiana State University, and Tulane University, and for The Kenyon Review and New Orleans Writers Workshop. Series editor of the Hilary Tham Capital Collection from The Word Works, he lives, writes, and gardens in New Orleans.

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Poetry Temp Closed

Submit three poems, no longer than ten pages total. No previously published work. Multiple entries allowed with multiple submission fees.

A limited number of fee waivers are available. Please send an email to [email protected] to request one.

If you know the judge personally (current or former student within five years or think they will recognize your work) then please withhold your submission.

This year’s contest is judged by Tiana Nobile.

Tiana Nobile ??? is the author of Cleave (Hub City Press, 2021). She is a Korean American adoptee, member of the The Starlings Collective, and recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award. Her writing has appeared in Poetry Northwest, The New Republic, Lit Hub, and Southern Cultures, among others. She lives with her family in New Orleans, Louisiana. For more, visit www.tiananobile.com

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