Wendy’s Subway is pleased to announce the 2026 Book Prize for full-length manuscripts. Manuscripts selected for this award are published as part of the Passage Series, which features books by emerging writers and artists whose work manifests in innovative, hybrid, and cross-genre forms that imagine new possibilities and expressions of the poetic, the political, and the social.
The author will publish a book with Wendy’s Subway within 18 months, and receive an honorarium of $1,250 and 25 author copies.
Deadline and Announcement
Submissions will be accepted through July 24, 2026 at 11:59pm EST. The selected book will be announced in September 2026.
Guest Judge
Brandon Shimoda is the author of several books of poetry and prose, most recently The Afterlife Is Letting Go (City Lights, 2024), recipient of the Colorado Book Award; Hydra Medusa (Nightboat Books, 2023); and The Grave on the Wall (City Lights, 2019), recipient of the PEN Open Book Award. He co-edited, with Brynn Saito, the first full-length anthology of Japanese American poetry, The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration (Haymarket Books, 2025), which also includes work by Japanese and Okinawan Canadians; and co-edited, with Thom Donovan, To look at the sea is to become what one is: An Etel Adnan Reader (Nightboat Books, 2014). He curates the Hiroshima Library, an itinerant reading room/collection of books on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which is currently installed at Colorado College, where he also teaches (creative writing and Asian American literature).
Eligibility
The call is open to writers at any stage of their career. Writers may be based anywhere. Wendy’s Subway is committed to a publishing practice that amplifies marginalized and underrepresented writers.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but should the manuscript be accepted for publication elsewhere, we ask that you notify us as soon as possible and withdraw your Submittable application.
Format and Guidelines
Please submit a manuscript of 40 pages or more of original work. While excerpts from the manuscript may have been previously published (as chapbooks, online, or in journals and anthologies, for instance), the manuscript as a whole should reflect a new and unpublished work. Your manuscript may include visual art and illustrations, but please note any pre-designed manuscripts will undergo a significant design process if selected. Collaborations are accepted. While experimental approaches to translation will be considered, one-to-one translations of another author’s writing are not eligible.
Our submission review process is not anonymous. Your manuscript should include: page numbers, a title page, a table of contents, and acknowledgments of previous publication, if applicable. Please also include a one-paragraph biographical statement in the submission form. You may only submit one manuscript for consideration. You will not have the opportunity to make any edits or revisions to your manuscript in Submittable once it has been submitted. The selected author will engage in an editorial process with the Wendy’s Subway editorial team once the manuscript has been accepted.
We encourage applicants to familiarize themselves with our program and with the Passage Series to learn more about our work before submitting.
Conflict of Interest
Wendy’s Subway abides by the Code of Ethics developed by the Community of Literary Magazines and Publishers (see below). We are committed to fairly and ethically evaluating each and every submission. A group of external readers and Wendy's Subway staff will review all applications before the judge selects a manuscript from the 10 finalists. Close friends, relatives, colleagues, and students (past and present) of the judge are not eligible to submit.
CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believe that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage.
How to Submit
Please submit online using our Submittable page. No hard copies accepted. There is an entry fee of $20.
The $20 submission fee assists our small press in supporting publishing costs and writer honoraria. We recognize that not everyone can afford this expense at this time, and are committed to making this call as accessible as possible. Please email publishing@wendyssubway.com using the subject line “Book Prize Waiver” to make a request for a fee waiver if this expense presents a hardship for you.
You can write to us at publishing@wendyssubway.com with any questions about your eligibility or the application process.
The Carolyn Bush Award aims to support innovative, hybrid, and cross-genre work that contributes to expanding the discourses and practices of poetry. Manuscripts selected for this award are published as part of the Passage Series, which assembles books by emerging writers and artists that imagine new possibilities and expressions of the poetic, the political, and the social.
This award honors the life and work of Wendy’s Subway co-founder Carolyn Bush and seeks to provide in-depth editorial and professional support to an emerging writer in her name.
The author will publish a book with Wendy’s Subway within 18 months, and receive an honorarium of $1,250 and 25 author copies. Crucial to the award is the editorial support provided to develop and complete the manuscript for publication. During the 18-month award period, Wendy's Subway editors will work closely with the author to provide a unique support structure and opportunities for creative and professional development. This includes:
- One-on-one consultations with an external mentor who will offer substantial feedback and guidance on the manuscript at key stages in addition to the publisher’s editorial process.
- Professional development opportunities tailored to the author’s specific needs and interests, including but not limited to building strategies for residency and fellowship applications, crafting personal statements, submitting to journals and magazines, undertaking successful marketing and publicity campaigns, and envisioning programmatic presentations of their work.
- Free enrollment in three workshops at Wendy’s Subway.
- “Contributor” membership at Wendy’s Subway, with key-holding access to our reading room in Brooklyn, which carries a library collection of over 4,000 titles, and a subscription to receive all titles published during the award period.
Wendy’s Subway is committed to a publishing practice that amplifies marginalized and underrepresented writers. The Carolyn Bush Award aims to encourage an emerging writer to follow and develop their work and envision a future for their practice with confidence and an abundance of support.
Deadline and Announcement
Submissions will be accepted through July 24, 2026 at 11:59pm EST. The award recipient will be announced in September 2026.
About this Award
This award has been established in honor of founding member of Wendy’s Subway, Carolyn Bush (1990–2016). In honoring Carolyn and continuing her legacy, we seek to acknowledge her fiercely particular approach to learning, writing, and collaborating. Carolyn chose her own path and followed her own schedule. She was wary of formal education but sought out workshops, reading groups, and informal collectives where learning is enacted relationally, as a form of exchange and intimacy. She engaged mentors but was skeptical of received wisdom of any kind. Her library included poetry and fiction, mystical and religious texts, feminist theory and biography, and idiosyncratic curricula including a collection of texts on the limits of language itself. The poetry and essays she left us are densely allusive, hybrid in forms, galvanized by her concern with social and political justice, and alive with the curiosity and irreverence for which she was famous and beloved. She loved truth-tellers and was one.
Judges
The Wendy’s Subway Carolyn Bush Award Editorial Committee, composed of Wendy’s Subway staff and community members: Harris Bauer, Corinne Butta, Sanjana Iyer, Juwon Jun, Gabriel Kruis, Michael Valinsky, and Rachel Valinsky.
Eligibility
This award is intended for emerging writers residing in New York City. We welcome submissions from female-identifying, genderqueer, non-conforming, non-binary, and trans writers.
Simultaneous Submissions
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but should the manuscript be accepted for publication elsewhere, we ask that you notify us as soon as possible and withdraw your Submittable application.
Format and Guidelines
We seek in-progress manuscripts of 20 pages in length to be considered for the Carolyn Bush Award. Your manuscript may include visual art and illustrations, but please note that any pre-designed manuscripts will undergo a significant design process if selected. While experimental approaches to translation will be considered, one-to-one translations of another author’s writing are not eligible.
The manuscript need not be complete at the time of application. While excerpts from the manuscript may have been previously published (as chapbooks, in journals, for instance), the manuscript as a whole should reflect a new and unpublished work.
Please include page numbers, a title page, a table of contents, and acknowledgments listing previous publications (if applicable). You may only submit one manuscript for consideration. You will not have the opportunity to make any edits or revisions to your manuscript in Submittable once it has been submitted.
Applications also consist of a 500-word written reflection about your work, including the current status of the manuscript, how you see it developing, and how you think you will benefit from this opportunity with Wendy’s Subway. We encourage applicants to familiarize themselves with our program and with the Passage Series to learn more about our work before submitting.
Conflict of Interest
Wendy’s Subway abides by the Code of Ethics developed by the Community of Literary Magazines and Publishers (see below). We are committed to fairly and ethically evaluating each and every submission. Close friends, relatives, colleagues, and students (past and present) of any of the judges are not eligible to submit.
CLMP’s community of independent literary publishers believe that ethical contests serve our shared goal: to connect writers and readers by publishing exceptional writing. We believe that intent to act ethically, clarity of guidelines, and transparency of process form the foundation of an ethical contest. To that end, we agree to 1) conduct our contests as ethically as possible and to address any unethical behavior on the part of our readers, judges, or editors; 2) to provide clear and specific contest guidelines—defining conflict of interest for all parties involved; and 3) to make the mechanics of our selection process available to the public. This Code recognizes that different contest models produce different results, but that each model can be run ethically. We have adopted this Code to reinforce our integrity and dedication as a publishing community and to ensure that our contests contribute to a vibrant literary heritage. beloved.
How to Submit
Please submit online using our Submittable page. No hard copies accepted. There is an entry fee of $15.
The $15 submission fee assists our small press support publishing costs and writer honoraria. We recognize that not everyone can afford this expense at this time, and are committed to making the contest as accessible as possible. Please email publishing@wendyssubway.com using the subject line “CBA Fee Waiver” to make a request for a fee waiver if this expense presents a hardship for you.
You can write to us at publishing@wendyssubway.com with any questions about your eligibility or the application process.