About the Competition
<[>Each Summer, 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 $1000, 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.
Competition Rules
For complete instructions for each category and to submit, visit : https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/patty-friedmann-writing-competition-ydUF3
Judges will select winners from a group of finalists chosen by LMNL editors. All manuscripts, whether selected as finalists or not, are considered for publication.
Notice: We do not accept paper competition submissions.
Eligibility and Conflicts of Interest
The high school short story category is open only to students in public schools.
The Beyond the Bars category is open to juveniles throughout the United States who are incarcerated (whether in juvenile detention facilities, jails, prisons, or any other carceral facilities); who were 18 years old or younger as of January 1, 2025; and who can provide the name and email address of a teacher, counselor, or other educator who sponsors the entry. Beyond the Bars is open to writing in any genre, and is free to enter, but is limited to one entry per person. Any additional entries beyond the first entry per person will be disregarded.
Previous Words and Music Writing Contest winners are not eligible to enter the competition in the same genre in which they have won.
Current Words and Music Conference administrators, LMNL members, and LMNL staff are ineligible to enter the contest. Current or former students of the category judge are ineligible to enter the contest. Judges are instructed not to award the prize to entrants with whom they have had a personal or professional relationship. Even if they can't tell during the judging process, they have the right to change their decision if it turns out that the entrant is someone with whom there is any appearance of conflict of interest. Do NOT enter the contest if the judge is someone you know personally or have worked with professionally. Work is ineligible to win or be considered a runner-up for our contest if it has been accepted for publication elsewhere. No exceptions. Please withdraw work from our contest immediately if these conditions apply.