We’re so pleased to announce that our judge for this year’s Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize will be Rachel Khong, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Real Americans, the award-winning novel Goodbye, Vitamin, and the new story collection My Dear You, out from Knopf in April 2026. Khong lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches creative writing in a collective called The Dream Slide. The deadline to submit to the Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize is June 1, 2026.
In addition to publication and a $3,000 prize, in partnership with the Tasajillo Residency, we are excited to once again offer the winning writer an all-expenses-paid writing retreat at a beautiful, remote cabin on idyllic land that neighbors the Halifax Ranch, just outside of Austin in Kyle, Texas.
General Guidelines
— Submit your entry online between April 1, 2026, and June 1, 2026.
— The winner will receive a $3,000 prize and publication in an upcoming issue of American Short Fiction. In addition, the winner will receive a week-long all-expenses-paid writing retreat (optional—dates TBD) at the Tasajillo Residency, which neighbors the Halifax Ranch just outside of Austin in Kyle, Texas. The residency must be scheduled within a year after the winner is announced. All submitters will receive a copy of the prize issue.
— Please submit your $20 entry fee and your story through Submittable. We no longer accept submissions by post. International submissions in English are eligible. The entry fee covers one 6,500 word fiction submission.
— All entries must be single, self-contained works of fiction between 2,000-6,500 words. Please DO NOT include any identifying information on the manuscript itself.
— You may submit multiple entries. We accept only previously unpublished work. We do allow simultaneous submissions, but we ask that you notify us promptly of publication elsewhere.
Conflicts of Interest
Staff and volunteers currently affiliated with American Short Fiction are ineligible for consideration or publication. Additionally, students, former students, and colleagues of the judge are not eligible to enter. We ask that previous winners wait three years after their winning entry is published before entering again.
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About Rachel Khong
Rachel Khong is the author of Goodbye, Vitamin, winner of the California Book Award for First Fiction. Real Americans, her second novel, was a New York Times bestseller, and her new collection My Dear You will be published this April. In 2018, Khong founded The Ruby, a work and event space for women and nonbinary writers and artists in San Francisco’s Mission District. With friends, she teaches creative writing in a collective called The Dream Side. She lives in Los Angeles.
American Short Fiction is grateful to The Burdine Johnson Foundation for their grant in support of this prize.