Submitting to Boudin
Current McNeese State University students and employees are not eligible to submit. McNeese alumni are welcome to submit if it has been at least three years since they graduated.
Boudin’s Third Annual Pet Contest, April ’26
Do you hear those excited tails wagging? It’s time for Boudin’s annual pet writing contest! We want your best fiction about felines, poems about parakeets, creative nonfiction about camels, micros about manatees, and artwork about aardvarks. Invite the whole zoo! Man’s best friend takes many shapes and sizes, and we want to read all about yours no matter how many legs, tails, ears, or eyes they may have.
There is a $3 fee to submit. All proceeds will be donated to Lake Charles’ animal shelters, Hobo Hotel for Cats and Do Good Dogs. This contest will be judged by our 2025 winner and runner-up, Tara Flaherty Guy and Robin Michel. The 2026 winner and runner-up will, if they would like to, serve as judges for our 2027 contest. Our deadline for submission is March 25.
Fiction/CNF/hybrid submissions under 3,000 words. You may submit up to three poems/flash fictions on the same document. We are also open for visual art. You may submit more than once but will have to pay an entry fee for each new submission. Please include your full name and the genre of your work in the submitted document. Boudin takes previously unpublished work only.
Pride, June ’26
Pride is quickly approaching us, and it’s time that we find ways to celebrate the beauty and hope that can be found in the queer community! Boudin is looking for creative work that shows how and why you celebrate pride! We are currently looking for fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and visual art that celebrates Pride. Send us your best pieces that explore what it means to have hope and pride in the LGBTQIA+ community.
No Fee! Fiction/CNF/hybrid submissions under 3,000. You may submit up to three poems/microfictions (under 500 words). Please include your full name and the genre of your work in your cover letter. If multiple pieces are submitted, please attach them all in one document in one submission. Please limit submissions to four issues per calendar year. Boudin takes previously unpublished work only.
Boudin fine print
Please only submit original work. If your work borrows from or quotes another writer, please make explicit mention of this with your submission, giving full attribution to any material you’re using from another source. We do not accept any work that was written with the assistance of AI.
Please only submit new, previously-unpublished work.
Please limit your submissions to four issues per calendar year.
In all genres, we are particularly interested in seeing work from women, people of color, LGBTQ writers, non-binary writers, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups.
No material published in Boudin may be reprinted or reproduced, in whole or in part, without the permission of the authors. Writers retain all rights to their work. We ask for ourselves only that Boudin be credited with first publication. Unfortunately, we are not a paying market; contributors to Boudin will receive our thanks and the promise that we’ll promote your work.
We encourage you to simultaneously submit your work while it’s under consideration at Boudin. If your submission is accepted by another publication, please withdraw immediately through Submittable.
We look forward to seeing your work! Surprise us. Spice it up!
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To learn more about applying to McNeese State University’s Creative Writing MFA program, please visit Submissions for details.