Hello Iron Pen 2026 Contestants:
Thank you all very much for participating in the fastest writing contest in the Midwest! We appreciate your writing courage & quick imagination, and we look forward to seeing all of your terrific submissions.
Before we get to the prompt (which will also be available via phone on the MWC’s outgoing voice message at 309-732-7330, via the Iron Pen page on the MWC website, and on our Facebook page), a few guidelines and other important bits of information:
MWC Press is doing a special online sale for the holidays–all of the below titles (including the entire Foster-Stahl Chapbook Series to date) are only $5 (+shipping) through 12/31/25!
St. Ambrose University College of Arts and Sciences, Galvin Fine Arts, and the Midwest Writing Center (MWC) are partnering on a series of events and a publication around the theme of “Adaptation.”
For this project, we are looking for submissions of poetry (30 lines max.) and flash prose (fiction or nonfiction, 500 words max.). Submission open September 15, and close on December 1 (see complete guidelines below). MWC will select the strongest works (approx. 20-30) for publication in an anthology, to be published by MWC Press in April 2026. All contributors to the anthology will receive $100 to their work in addition to two copies of the anthology, and the opportunity to record their work for a podcast. Selections will be announced in early January 2026.
Then, all contributors will have the opportunity to read their work during the “Speak Your Peace” event at Galvin Fine Arts on Friday, January 30, 2026 where they will have a chance to win up to $500 in a contest decided by audience members. Contributors will have the opportunity to record their works for a podcast prior to the event, and the event will be recorded live.
The anthology will be published in April 2025, and the contributors will be invited to read at a release event at Galvin Fine Arts (date TBA), where the first 100 people in attendance will receive a free copy of the anthology.