Summer 2026 Contest: Exhilaration is the Breeze
Ends on
Have you ever been lost in the moment only to look up and find yourself in an unfamiliar place? Taking inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s poem “Exhilaration is the Breeze,” explore how you have been transported from one place to another. What feelings accompanied this experience? How did you manage this realization? Contemplate moments of dislocation and how you discovered where you were. Did you try to become “un-lost” or did someone find you? This summer, we are looking for submissions across all genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Visual Arts.
Literary submissions must be written in English and may not exceed specified word limits. Only include one essay, one poem, one piece of fiction, or one art piece per submission. If you include more than one piece, only the first one will be considered for evaluation. Any additional pieces must be submitted separately.
Word Count: 500–2,000 words.
Please submit works as a DOC, DOCX, or PDF file.
Visual art submissions should be submitted as JPEG files.
Do not include your name on or in any of the attachments.
Do not submit previously published work. Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please let us know if your piece has been accepted somewhere else.
Current Inscape staff members may not be considered for publication.
We do not accept pieces that invoke the name of deity as an expletive. We also ask that you refrain from submitting anything depicting gratuitous sexual, violent, or otherwise morally objectionable content.
Inscape celebrates original human creativity; in that spirit, submissions must be created by the author and/or artist and may not include any material generated by artificial intelligence.
Any submission that does not follow these guidelines will not be considered.