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Introducing

{ The Callo Literary Award }

Nulla is pleased to announce the inaugural Callo Literary Award, honoring exceptional new work in fiction and poetry.

Established in memory of Dominick Callo, a father, friend, artist, and writer whose work remained unfinished, the award celebrates the enduring value of creative work and the lives devoted to making it. Through this award, Nulla seeks to honor both the writers who continue that work in the belief that literature matters not because it is finished, but because it is an ongoing act of attention, imagination, and connection.

 

Each year, the Callo Literary Award will recognize writing that demonstrates discipline, ambition, emotional depth, and artistic excellence.

Award

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Poetry $500

Fiction $500

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Publication in Nulla's
Fall 2026 issue

Key Dates

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Opens

July 1, 2026

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Closes

August 31, 2026

Entry Fee

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 $15

Two winners will be selected: one in fiction and one in poetry. Each winner will receive a cash prize of $500 and publication in Nulla's Fall 2026 issue.

 

In addition, one runner-up in each category will be published alongside the winners. Finalists whose work is not selected for the award may also be considered for publication in a future issue of Nulla.

Details

Steffi Drewes
Poetry Judge

Steffi Drewes

Steffi Drewes is the author of the poetry collection Tell Me Every Anchor Every Arrow (Kelsey Street Press) and several chapbooks, including New Animal, Magnetic Forest, and Cartography Askew. Her writing has appeared in The Iowa Review, 6x6, the tiny journal, and Bennington Review, as well as exhibitions at the Berkeley Art Museum and the L.A. Times Festival of Books. She has received residencies from Ragdale Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and The Wassaic Project, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she works as a freelance writer and editor.

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Fiction Judge

Kyle McCarthy

Kyle McCarthy is the author of the novels Immersions (a Lit Hub Most Anticipated Book of 2026) and Everyone Knows How Much I Love You (an Amazon Book of the Month and one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of Summer). Her work has appeared in Best American Short Stories, n+1, NPR's Selected Shorts, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Meet Our Judges

Submissions

We accept poetry, prose, cross-genre.
Due to the volume of submissions we receive, response time will vary. 

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Submission Guidelines

  • We accept only previously unpublished work.

  • We accept simultaneous submissions but request to be informed as early as possible if a submission is accepted elsewhere.

  • Submissions must be completed through our online form. You may specify a link to a folder in Google Drive or Dropbox in the form on this page for large files.

  • By submitting your work to Nulla, you acknowledge that at no point was artificial intelligence used in the production of the art being considered for publication.

  • All contributions should be uploaded in a single .doc/.docx or .pdf document with a bio (up to 300 words) on the first page.

  • A maximum of three poems allowed per entry.

  • Fiction should be no more than 7,000 words. If submitting flash pieces, please submit no more than 3 pieces totaling no more than 7,000 words.

  • Multiple submissions allowed; each requires its own entry fee.

  • All publishing rights revert to the author upon publication.

  • Nulla requests acknowledgment and citation as the first publisher upon reprint in subsequent publications of all work that has appeared in its issues. 

  • To enter pay the entry fee below.  After paying the fee submit your entry in step 2. 

  • We accept major credit cards and Paypal.

We look forward to reading your work.

Step 1:
Pay the contest entry fee below

Step 2:
Submit your contest entry

Step 3:
Cross your fingers!

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