2025 Short Prose Contest

The Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose

L'Esprit Literary Review 

Guest Judged by Diane Josefowicz

L'Esprit seeks short prose of exceptional vision and skill. $500 and publication in the journal awarded to the winner; $100 and publication to Second Place. All entries receive a digital copy of Issue Six and are considered for publication. $10 entry fee.

The 2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose will be awarded to the best piece of fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work under 5,000 words. There are no other requirements; we’ll simply be looking for the best writing we can find, true to the journal’s mission of publishing risk-adept, language-driven writing crafted in a revolutionary spirit. We welcome pieces that challenge convention in form, style, and/or content, and which invite us to think differently about the world.

While we are inspired by Virginia Woolf and the 100th anniversary of Mrs Dalloway, submissions do not need to relate to Woolf or the novel directly.

In the first round of judging, the L'Esprit team will assemble a shortlist based on technical-mechanical skill, acuity in blending verisimilar narrative elements with robust narrational architecture, and prosody. Shortlist announcements will be made on a rolling basis. At the close of submissions, the L'Esprit Editors will select from the shortlist a group of finalists to be sent to the Guest Judge. Shortlist, Finalists, and any Honorable Mentions will be announced permanently on the journal website. All entries will be considered for paid publication in the journal.

We have two options for entrance. A $10 fee includes a complimentary digital copy of L'Esprit Issue Six, featuring writing from Nataliya Deleva, Yara Zgheib, Colm O’Shea, and 2025 Leopold Bloom Prize Winner Art O'Connor, among many more. This high-resolution version is optimized for reading on tablets and other devices, allowing the issue to be experienced as designed, immersive and rich.

A $15 fee includes the digital copy of Issue Six plus an Expedited Response; we will prioritize your submission and reply with a decision about the shortlist phase within three days. This option may be ideal for those who are planning to submit their piece elsewhere and would especially benefit from a quick response.

We accept simultaneous submissions; please let us know right away if a piece has been offered elsewhere. Likewise, multiple submissions are welcome, with an individual submission and payment for each piece.

All proceeds help support the journal and pay contributors.

L'Esprit does not discriminate based on the background, education, or identity of those who send work to us. All work is evaluated solely on merit, without regard for any other consideration whatsoever. We encourage those of all backgrounds and experiences to send in their work, and look for writing exploring the range of the human condition.  

Please include the following with each submission:  

• A third-person bio, to be used as the contributor’s note should your work be accepted.
• Social media handles (Bluesky and Instagram), if you’d like to be promoted online.
• An optional cover letter to introduce the work, yourself, provide some context to your submission; please note that this in no way impacts the likelihood of publication.
• Finally, we would appreciate knowing how you found the journal (social, ad listing, database search, reference, etc).  

See our complete guidelines on our website.  

Thank you for your support of fearless writing.

Diane Josefowicz is a writer, editor, historian, and translator. Her books include Ready, Set, Oh: A Novel, published in 2022 by Flexible Press, L’Air du Temps (1985)published in 2024 by Regal House, Guardians & Saints: Stories, forthcoming in October from Cornerstone Press, and, with historian Jed Buchwald, two histories of French Egyptology, both published by Princeton University Press. Her next novel, The Great Houses of Pill Hill, will be published in 2026 by Soho Press. Her translations of writing by the French poet Anna de Noailles (1876-1933) have appeared in L’Esprit and Exacting Clam. She is a senior editor of translation at The Adroit Journal, books editor at Necessary Fiction, and managing editor of the Victorian Web, the internet's oldest and largest website devoted to Victoriana. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island and New York City.