CONTEST DEADLINE: JUNE 15

FIRST PRIZE: $1,000 + publication in Room

SECOND PRIZE: $250 + publication in Room

THIRD PLACE: $100 + publication on Room's website

ENTRY FEES AND PRICING

All submissions include a one-year subscription to Room and our contest fees are the same as our regular subscription prices (your fees go right into making our magazine; we source our prize money and judge honorariums from other sources)

Entry fees include shipping and are based on the address associated with your Submittable account, as this is where your subscription will be shipped: 

• If you reside in Canada: $39 CAD
• If you reside in the US: $49 CAD
• If you reside outside North America: $59 CAD
• Additional entries are $7 CAD and do not come with another subscription. You must submit an initial entry before submitting an additional entry. If you submit an additional entry without first submitting an initial entry, your additional entry may be disqualified without refund.
• Under "Fee," select the correct payment amount from the drop-down menu. You must choose the appropriate submission fee option, or your piece may be disqualified. No refunds are provided for selecting the incorrect fee option. 

CONTEST RULES & GUIDELINES

• We accept entries up to 3500 words. Please double-space all submissions. 
• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
• You can only upload ONE document (.pdf, .doc, or .docx preferred; can also accept .rtf) per submission on Submittable, so you must submit your entire submission in one file. 
• Submissions must be anonymous—please do not include your name or personal details anywhere in your document, including the file name. You will have a chance to include your contact information on the Submittable form. Cover letters and bios are not necessary and will not be forwarded to the judge.
• Each entry must be original and unpublished.
• We accept simultaneous submissions, but if your submission is accepted elsewhere, please notify us and withdraw your submission immediately. 
• Room's contests are open to women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people. We specifically encourage writers with overlapping under-represented identities to submit their work.
• Previously commissioned Room writers are disqualified from entering the contest.
• Any submission that does not meet these guidelines will be disqualified. The submission fee is non-refundable. 
• Please direct any questions or concerns to contests@roommagazine.com.  

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.
 

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Before submitting, please read about us to see if your work fits within Room’s mandate.
• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

     ________  

This form is for "Canadian writers." Please use this form if you live within Canadian territories and provinces, or are a Canadian resident who lives overseas. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form.

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

  _______

This form is for international writers. 

If you reside in Canada, or are a Canadian residing overseas, please use this "Fiction" form instead. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form. Please note that this link will stop working when we hit our submission limit, and will not reopen until out next issue. 

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

 This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

   _______

 This form is for "Canadian writers." Please use this form if you live within Canadian territories and provinces, or are a Canadian resident who lives overseas. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form.

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

 This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept submissions upto 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.
• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us and withdraw your piece immediately.
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

   _______

This form is for international writers. 

If you reside in Canada, or are a Canadian residing overseas, please use this "Creative Non-Fiction" form instead. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form. Please note that this link will stop working when we hit our submission limit, and will not reopen until out next issue. 

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

 This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept upto 5 poems, submitted in a single file. Please start each poem on a new page. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us using Submittable's 'message' function (preferred) or at submissions@roommagazine.com.   
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

 ________
 

This form is for "Canadian writers." Please use this form if you live within Canadian territories and provinces, or are a Canadian resident who lives overseas. Since our eligibility for national and local grants depends on a majority of our published content being Canadian, we kindly request that only Canadian writers use this form.

If this isn't you, please use the "Poetry (US and International)" form instead. Please note that this link will stop working when we hit our submission limit, and will not reopen until out next issue. 

Fill Room with laughter for the one and only “Humour” issue! Genocides, heat waves, floods, fascism, an ongoing mass disabling event:the world is burning and it’s no laughing matter. But humour can be a weapon, a coping mechanism, a sacred instinct that keeps us alive and living amid the most devastating conditions. We laugh to not cry. We laugh to critique. We laugh to remind ourselves that we aren’t powerless. We laugh to offer tenderness to a room, to ward off despair, to open our chests and lower our shoulders—so we can be brave. We laugh to play, to remind ourselves we still can.  

Send us works that uplift to role of laughter in resistance, break comedic genres, explore the uses and limits of irony, upend white supremacist and ableist origins of standup—tongue-in-cheek, deadpan, alive-pan, cringe, unbelievable, absurd. Reinvent tragicomedy. Insist on the transformative power of the pun. Break open the anatomy of a meme. Send us stories about your favourite inside jokes, the funniest member of your family, the importance of play and improvisation in survival, fighting back, and building a new world. Make us believe again in the blithering power ofsatire in a world that satirizes itself.Make us roll on the floor spitting out our drinks, until we cry.

Edited by Jane Shi, Sadie Graham, Tara Preissl, and Gitanjali Bal

 This issue has a rolling submissions period. Submissions will close once our submission limit is reached, and will not open again until our next issue.

Guidelines:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online)
• We accept upto 5 poems, submitted in a single file. Please start each poem on a new page. 
• We gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify us using Submittable's 'message' function (preferred) or at submissions@roommagazine.com.   
• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from us considering the first one (Note: You may enter our contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

 ________

This form is for international writers.