Geist is the Canadian magazine of ideas and cuture—every issue brings together a sumptuous mix of fact + fiction, photography and comix, poetry, essays and reviews, and the weird and wonderful from the world of words. The Geist tone is intelligent, plain-talking, inclusive and offbeat. At the heart of our enterprise is the imaginary country that some of us inhabit from time to time, and which often has something to do with Canada.
Please read our updated submission guidelines before submitting.
Contests: We accept contest submissions from outside of Canada, with or without a Canadian connection.
Please format your manuscript as follows:
Word Count: insert word count at the top of the first page
Font: 12 point Times Roman
Line Space: 1.5
Margins: 1.25 inches
Page Numbers please, at the bottom right corner on every page
Include your street address in your cover letter.
Thank you for following these guidelines.
–The Editorial Team
Submit your entry to the 2026 Short Long-Distance Writing Contest by following the contest guidelines. Please make sure the cover letter field includes your name, mailing address, telephone number, email address, title of entry and a note about how you found out about the contest. Even though you have already entered this information when creating your Submittable account, we still need it to appear in the cover letter. Judging is blind, so please do not write your name on your entry. Deadline is June 19, 2026 at 11:59 PM PST. You will be asked to pay the entry fee before submitting your work. You can then enter the name of your submission and fill in the cover letter field, and then attach your entry.
Please only use this category if you have already submitted your first Short Long-Distance Writing Contest entry. This category should only be used for additional entries.
Those who attempt to use this category fraudulently will be disqualified. Please check our Short Long-Distance Contest FAQ or email geist@geist.com if you have any questions about entering the contest.