Talon Review seeks to publish new works by established and emerging writers.  We are interested in stories, essays, and poems that linger in the heart or mind long after the last word of the last sentence.

Here at Talon, we crave the piercing and unencumbered. Pieces that will sink its claws in the reader’s mind, so to speak. 

We want to expose the underbelly of our relevant humanity through vulnerable language. 

Give us concepts that rub together opposing ideologies. Capture the sense of self sparked within that uncomfortable friction. 

Combine words we’ve yet to encounter. Most of all, give us stories that, in a sense, can be a friend. 

Stories that hold our hand and make us feel a little less alone.

 Consider what connects us as humans regardless of race, class, gender, and culture. When submitting ask how your work satisfies this need, what makes it urgent, and why it demands an audience. 

Online publications putting forward exceptional short stories for Best of the Net.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

A targeted resource for short story placements with potential for Pushcart recognition.

Fiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Identifies publications that put forward outstanding online work for this respected digital anthology established in 2006.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

A comprehensive guide to journals that regularly nominate work for the Pushcart Prize.

Literary Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

These magazines have the fastest response times, so you won't be left hanging for months. No more endless waiting. Just, you know, regular waiting.

Literary Magazines with the Fastest Response Times

Digital publications nominating outstanding essays and creative nonfiction for Best of the Net.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Highlights publications that regularly put forward essays, memoirs, and other creative nonfiction for Pushcart consideration.

Nonfiction Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Online journals that specifically champion poetry for Best of the Net consideration.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for Best of the Net

Focuses specifically on poetry journals with established histories of Pushcart nominations.

Poetry Magazines That Nominate for the Pushcart Prize

Talon Review

General call

The Talon Review is affiliated with the University of North Florida's English department. Visit The Talon Review to learn more.
The Talon Review requests first-time worldwide online rights, nonexclusive reprint/anthology rights (including the right to republish accepted works in print or electronic media, and rights to use excerpts in our promotional materials. All other rights revert back to the authors upon publication. If the work is republished elsewhere, we ask that The Talon Review be noted as the first place of publication. Before submitting your work, please review the following guidelines. Failure to follow these guidelines may affect the chances of a submission being accepted.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We accept submissions through Submittable
You may submit to each genre one time during our reading periods (unless specified otherwise).
We do not accept works that have been previously published.
Simultaneous submissions are fine, but let us know immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere.
We require first publishing rights as well as the option to anthologize.
All accepted submissions are considered for nomination to literary awards, such as The Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Anthology. Contributors will be notified if their work is nominated.
We suggest taking a look at our previous issues to get an idea of the types of work we are interested in.
In your cover letter, please ﻿include a short bio no longer than 250 words in the third person. This could be who you are, where you’re from, what you like to do, or where you’ve been published before.
FICTION
You may submit up to three short stories in the same document.
Submissions should not exceed 3000 words or 12 pages and cannot be excerpts from novels or larger works.
Submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in manuscript format, and submitted as .docx files
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.
CREATIVE NONFICTION
You may submit up to three essays in the same document.
Submissions should not exceed 3000 words or 12 pages and cannot be excerpts from larger works.
Submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in manuscript format, and submitted as .docx files
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.
POETRY
You may submit up to four poems in the same document.
Submissions should not exceed six pages.
Submissions should be single-spaced.
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.
VIDEO / AUDIO SUBMISSIONS
This is a large and relatively free category. We only require that submissions have an audio or video component to them: these may include short films, video essays, cinepoems, spoken word poetry, song, dance, etc.
Video submissions should be submitted as YouTube or Vimeo links. Upload your .mp3 (audio) or .mp4 (video) to YouTube or Vimeo and then link it to us. Audio may also be submitted via links to Bandcamp or Soundcloud.
Videos MUST be ADA compliant. This means they must either have closed captioning or an accompanying transcript.
Submissions should not exceed 10 minutes.
Submissions require non-exclusive rights. We accept submissions available elsewhere (i.e. YouTube), though by submitting, you are recognizing The Talon Review as an additional platform/publisher. As well, you commit to providing a link back to The Talon Review.
Due to the nature of these submissions, they will not be included in Talon’s issues. Instead, they will be published on the front page of our website for a month and then stored in an accessible archive page.
VISUAL ART
Talon seeks a wide range of visual art entries–including but not limited to–drawing, photography, sequential art, and collage. We also consider photographic documentation of sculptural and time-based work.
Note about previous publications: with regards to Visual Art, Talon will consider pieces that have been shown as part of an exhibition, but not work that has appeared published as part of an anthology or literary journal.  If you have questions please reach out to the editors at talonreview@gmail.com.
If you are unsure if your work meets the expectations of Talon, please reach out!
Visual Art Submissions
You may submit up to 4 images- please note works that are part of a series are considered individual submissions.  For example if your work consists of 16 photographs, only 4 can be submitted for consideration.
For each image include the title of the work, year it was made, medium, and dimensions (HxWxD)
Files should be saved as high quality .png files (preferred) or .jpg files.
Files should be sized no larger than 3000 pixels on the longest edge and no smaller than 1200 pixels on the longest edge at 72 dpi.
Label your submissions:
01_LastName_ShortTitle_Year.png
02_LastName_ShortTitle_Year.png
03_LastName_ShortTitle_Year.png
04_LastName_ShortTitle_Year.png
Example: 01_Smith_Circles_2018.png.
Digital images should be high quality and representative of your artwork.  Images that are poor quality or digitally corrected so as to be misrepresentative of the artwork will not be considered.
In your cover letter please include a brief artist statement about the work you are submitting- 75-100 words maximum, in addition to a brief bio.
HYBRID
Please ensure that your submission does not exceed 8 pages.
We accept .png files, .docx files, or .jpg files of cross-genre submissions.
All rights to visual and intellectual media used should be owned by the author. If not, it is the author's responsibility to attain full copyright permission to use any intellectual property that is not their own prior to publication. We reserve the right to reject a submission on the basis of intellectual property infringement.
When digitally manipulating your traditional work, do so for the best image quality, but do not manipulate it to the point that it is misrepresented. That said, ensure any pictures/scans of traditional work are well- and evenly lit.
Ensure that your image files are named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.png. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.png.
THE CATCH
Submissions to The Catch newsletter are open to University of North Florida students.
Submissions to The Catch are only open during our reading periods.
The Catch accepts fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, interviews, and book reviews.
For fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry submissions, please refer to the guidelines listed under our general submissions.
For interviews and book reviews, submissions should not exceed 3000 words or 12 pages and should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in manuscript format, and submitted as .docx files
When submitting, please add “Catch Submission” to the submission title in Submittable, so we know your submission is for The Catch.
In your third-person bio, please share your year in school and what you’re studying at UNF.
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.
QUESTIONS? Check out our FAQs or shoot us an email at talonreview@gmail.com

Talon Review Vol. 3 Issue 6 - Multimedia

In honor and memory of Amy R. Wainright, a writing instructor at the University of North Florida from 1993 until 2013, the Department of English awards major prizes for the best undergraduate creative writing to eligible UNF students in four categories: short fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and scriptwriting. In each category, the annual prize is $1,000* and departmental recognition.           
Manuscripts must comply with all eligibility, format, and entry guidelines requirements.          
Eligibility        
1. You must be a Florida resident for tuition purposes and a fully enrolled undergraduate student (taking 12 credit hours each semester) with a minimum GPA of 2.5, graduating no sooner than Spring 2025. 2. Manuscripts must consist of original work(s) of which you are the sole author. 3. You may submit work that you have simultaneously submitted-but not that has been accepted-elsewhere for competition or publication. 4. After you click the submit button and choose your category, carefully follow format guidelines provided on the submission form. 5. Reminder: Names or other identifying information should not be on the manuscript. Please remove them or your submission will have to be disqualified.

Amy R. Wainright Awards for Creative Writing, 2025-2026

FICTION  

You may submit up to three short stories in the same document. 
Submissions should not exceed 3000 words or 12 pages and cannot be excerpts from novels or larger works.
Submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in manuscript format, and submitted as .docx files 
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.

Talon Review Submissions

CREATIVE NONFICTION  

You may submit up to three essays in the same document.
Submissions should not exceed 3000 words or 12 pages and cannot be excerpts from larger works.
Submissions should be double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, in manuscript format, and submitted as .docx files 
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.

POETRY  

You may submit up to four poems in the same document.
Submissions should not exceed six pages.
Submissions should be single-spaced.
Ensure that your manuscript is named appropriately, such as the following: LastName_ShortTitle_Year.docx. Example: Smith_Circles_2018.docx.

Visual Art
You may submit up to 4 images- please note works that are part of a series are considered individual submissions.  For example if your work consists of 16 photographs, only 4 can be submitted for consideration.   
For each image include the title of the work, year it was made, medium, and dimensions (HxWxD)
Files should be saved as high quality .png files (preferred) or .jpg files.  
Files should be sized no larger than 3000 pixels on the longest edge and no smaller than 1200 pixels on the longest edge at 72 dpi.

VIDEO / AUDIO SUBMISSIONS  

This is a large and relatively free category. We only require that submissions have an audio or video component to them: these may include short films, video essays, cinepoems, spoken word poetry, song, dance, etc. 
Video submissions should be submitted as YouTube or Vimeo links. Upload your .mp3 (audio) or .mp4 (video) to YouTube or Vimeo and then link it to us. Audio may also be submitted via links to Bandcamp or Soundcloud.
Videos MUST be ADA compliant. This means they must either have closed captioning or an accompanying transcript.
Submissions should not exceed 10 minutes.
Submissions require non-exclusive rights. We accept submissions available elsewhere (i.e. YouTube), though by submitting, you are recognizing The Talon Review as an additional platform/publisher. As well, you commit to providing a link back to The Talon Review.
Due to the nature of these submissions, they will not be included in Talon’s issues. Instead, they will be published on the front page of our website for a month and then stored in an accessible archive page.

Talon Review

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