Submissions<\/a> for the contest will be open from June 1st to August 15th, 2026 11:59 PM.<\/span><\/p>\nThe winner of each genre (poetry and fiction) will receive $500, publication in a forthcoming issue of cream city review<\/em>, and an online feature on our website.<\/span><\/p>\nEntry:<\/strong><\/span>
$15 per entry.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nOne entry fee includes one free issue to our journal, which is normally $14. If you submit more than one entry, we\u2019ll upgrade you to a one-year subscription, normally $26.<\/span><\/p>\nYou may submit multiple times if there is a payment for each entry. <\/span><\/p>\nAll submitted work must be previously unpublished.<\/span><\/p>\nFour readers, including the editorial staff, from cream city review<\/em> will read through your submission, the 7-10 finalists will be forwarded to the judges for final decision.<\/span><\/p>\nPoetry Submission Guidelines:<\/strong><\/span>
\u2022 You may send up to four poems in a single document. (.doc, .docx, & .pdf are acceptable)<\/span>
\u2022 Please do not include your name anywhere in the submission<\/span>
\u2022 You may include a brief, 3rd person bio in the appropriate box in Submittable<\/span>
\u2022 Each entrant will receive a one-year subscription to ccr<\/em>\u00a0beginning with the issue featuring the contest winners<\/span><\/p>\nFiction Submission Guidelines:<\/strong><\/span>
\u2022 Please send us one short story of up to 6,000 words in a single document (.doc, .docx, & .pdf are acceptable)<\/span>
\u2022 Please do not include your name anywhere in the submission<\/span>
\u2022 You may include a brief, 3rd person bio in the appropriate box in Submittable<\/span>
\u2022 Each entrant will receive a one-year subscription to ccr<\/em>, beginning with the issue featuring the contest winners<\/span><\/p>\nEligibility:<\/em><\/span>
\u2022\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Any writer of any age, denomination or location is eligible to enter except:<\/span>
\u2022 Current students, faculty, and staff of UW-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin System are not eligible to enter the contest. If you have been affiliated with the university in the past, please wait three years after the affiliation to submit to the ccr<\/em> Summer Prizes.<\/span>
\u2022\u00a0 Past ccr<\/em>\u00a0contributors, please wait at least 2 years from date of publication before submitting to the contest.<\/span>
\u2022\u00a0 Previous winners and runner-ups may not submit to the prize. Previous finalists are eligible.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″]<\/p>\n
2026\u00a0cream city review <\/em>judges<\/strong><\/h1>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”17.3177px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_blurb title=”Fiction Judge: Aimee Bender” image=”https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/421\/2026\/05\/aimee-bender-photo.jpg” image_max_width=”92%” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ header_font=”|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_line_height=”1.3em” border_radii_image=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|10px||10px”]<\/p>\n
Aimee Bender is the author of six books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt<\/em> (1998) which was a NY Times<\/em> Notable Book, An Invisible Sign of My Own<\/em> (2000) which was an L.A. Times<\/em> pick of the year, Willful Creatures<\/em> (2005) which was nominated by The Believer<\/em> as one of the best books of the year, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake<\/em> (2010) which won the SCIBA award for best fiction, and an Alex Award, The Color Master,<\/em> a NY Times<\/em> Notable book for 2013, and her latest novel, The Butterfly<\/em> Lampshade, which came out in July 2020, and was longlisted for the PEN\/Jean Stein Award. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages.<\/p>\nHer short fiction has been published in Granta<\/em>, GQ<\/em>, Harper\u2019s<\/em>, Tin House<\/em>, McSweeney\u2019s<\/em>, The Paris Review<\/em>, and more, as well as heard on PRI\u2019s \u201cThis American Life\u201dand \u201cSelected Shorts\u201d.<\/p>\nShe lives in Los Angeles with her family, and teaches creative writing at USC.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_blurb title=”Poetry Judge: Heid E. Erdrich” image=”https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/421\/2026\/05\/heid-erdrich-photo.jpg” image_max_width=”49%” content_max_width=”549px” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ header_font=”|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_line_height=”1.3em” border_radii_image=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|10px||10px”]<\/p>\n
Author of nine books of poetry and prose\u00a0Heid E. Erdrich\u00a0<\/strong>is a curator and teacher. Erdrich edited the anthology\u00a0New Poets of Native Nations<\/em>\u00a0and co-edited the newly published\u00a0Boundless<\/em>:\u00a0Abundance in Native American Art and Literature<\/em>. She served as the inaugural Minneapolis Poet Laureate supported by an Academy of American Poets award. Erdrich held the 2025 James Welch Distinguished Visiting position at University of Montana Missoula. Erdrich\u2019s on-going project is Poetry Service Announcement (PoeS.A.) which promotes poetry as public art. She serves her communities through formal and informal mentorship, poetry interventions, and in activating collaborative response between communities.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.17.2″ text_orientation=”center”]<!– Link to the Cream City Review submission manager. —><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –><a target = _blank href="https:\/\/creamcityreview.submittable.com\/submit"><img src="\/\/manager.submittable.com\/Public\/Images\/submittable-submit-button.png" alt="submit" border="0" \/><\/a><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –><!– End link to submission manager –><!– [et_pb_line_break_holder] –>[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″]<\/p>\n
2025\u00a0cream city review <\/em>judges<\/strong><\/h1>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”17px|0px|18.151px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_blurb title=”Fiction Judge: Deesha Philyaw” image=”https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/421\/2025\/04\/Deesha-Philyaw-Headshot-1.jpeg” image_max_width=”92%” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ header_font=”|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_line_height=”1.3em” border_radii_image=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|10px||10px”] Deesha Philyaw\u2019s\u202fdebut short story collection,\u202fThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies<\/em>, won the 2021 PEN\/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020\/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art <\/span>Seidenbaum<\/span> Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Philyaw is a <\/span>Kimbilio<\/span> Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently at work developing TV shows based on her short fiction. Deesha\u2019s debut novel,\u202f<\/span><\/span>The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman<\/span><\/span><\/em>, is forthcoming from Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2026.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_blurb title=”Poetry Judge: MICHAEL CHANG” image=”https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/421\/2025\/04\/MCHANG.jpg” image_max_width=”49%” content_max_width=”549px” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ header_font=”|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_line_height=”1.3em” border_radii_image=”on|10px|10px|10px|10px” text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|10px||10px”] MICHAEL CHANG (they\/them) is the author of many volumes of poetry, including SYNTHETIC JUNGLE (Northwestern University Press, 2023), TOY SOLDIERS (Action, Spectacle, 2024), and THINGS A BRIGHT BOY CAN DO (Coach House Books, 2025). They won the Poetry Project’s Brannan Prize and edited Lambda <\/span>Literary’s<\/span> Emerge anthology. Their work has appeared in such publications as AGNI, the <\/span><\/span>American Poetry Review<\/span><\/span><\/em>, the <\/span><\/span>Harvard Review<\/span><\/span><\/em>, the <\/span><\/span>Iowa Review<\/span><\/span><\/em>, and POETRY. In Canada, their poems have appeared in the <\/span><\/span>Capilano Review<\/em>, Contemporary Verse 2<\/em><\/span><\/span> (CV2), the <\/span><\/span>Ex-Puritan<\/span><\/span><\/em>, the <\/span><\/span>Malahat Review<\/span><\/span><\/em>, PRISM <\/span><\/span>International<\/span><\/span><\/em>, and elsewhere. They live in Manhattan.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span> [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.14)” custom_padding=”50px|0px|50px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”on” custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″ text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|||30px”] cream city review 2026 Summer Prizes in Fiction and Poetry – Judged by Aimee Bender and Heid E. Erdrich! Submissions for the contest will be open from June 1st to August 15th, 2026 11:59 PM. The winner of each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37709,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"class_list":["post-15","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
SUMMER CONTEST - since '75<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/summer-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SUMMER CONTEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.14)” custom_padding=”50px|0px|50px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”on” custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″ text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|||30px”] cream city review 2026 Summer Prizes in Fiction and Poetry – Judged by Aimee Bender and Heid E. Erdrich! Submissions for the contest will be open from June 1st to August 15th, 2026 11:59 PM. The winner of each […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/summer-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"since '75\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T16:20:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/summer-contest\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/summer-contest\\\/\",\"name\":\"SUMMER CONTEST - since '75\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-16T00:08:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T16:20:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/summer-contest\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/summer-contest\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/summer-contest\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SUMMER CONTEST\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/\",\"name\":\"since '75\",\"description\":\"lit that floats to the top \",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/creamcityreview\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SUMMER CONTEST - since '75","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/creamcityreview\/summer-contest\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SUMMER CONTEST","og_description":"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.17.2″ background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.14)” custom_padding=”50px|0px|50px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row make_fullwidth=”on” custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.17.2″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.2″ text_orientation=”justified” custom_margin=”|||30px”] cream city review 2026 Summer Prizes in Fiction and Poetry – Judged by Aimee Bender and Heid E. Erdrich! Submissions for the contest will be open from June 1st to August 15th, 2026 11:59 PM. 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