Poetry, CNF, and Graphic Essays.

So good you can taste it.

General Submissions

General submissions are open May 1st through June 30th for CNF and Poetry. Graphic Essays are open year round.


Sweet does not accept AI generated writing or art at this time.

James Miller

Rais Tuluka

Ella Shively

Cal Freeman

Michael Akuchie

Sierra Hixon

Sher Ting Chim

Chloe Hanson

Josh Luckenbach

Gwenyth Wheat

Jonathan Fletcher

Click here to see the Winner, Runners Up and the Finalists from the 2026 Poetry Contest.

Click here to see the Winner and Finalists from the 2025 Karen Kao Creative Nonfiction Flash Essay Contest.

Winner

Judge's Comments:

First Place: Linda Dove – “Scheherazade Finishes”

“Scheherazade Finishes” brilliantly maps the classic storyteller’s endless yarn onto our own daily lives. Just as the doomed bride-to-be staves off her fate each day by inventing another cliffhanger, we too save ourselves with the stories we tell. Every day’s to-do list is a talisman against death as we try to make it to tomorrow, where love might live. This is a poem to know by heart, and recite on one of those long nights.

Runners Up

Finalists

Sweet Connections: Lori Barrett

Several times a month we connect with our contributors showing where they have been, where they are now, and what’s up for the future. Name:...

Diabetic Gumdrops by Ephraim Scott Sommers

While haunting certainly has a negative connotation, I believe that you, in Diabetic Gumdrops, show another, more nuanced angle to this conversation. In your collection, haunting is the body’s reminder to care — for the speaker to care for themselves and accept care from others.

Interviews

Remembering Karen Kao: Frans Verhagen

Interview with Karen Kao’s husband, Frans Verhagen​ CS: Do you have a story that comes to mind when thinking about what the writing process meant...

Featured Piece

Anna Leahy

My Grandmother's Body When the funeral director comes to retrieve my grandmother’s body, a nighttime response to my aunt’s inevitable call, he wears his funeral-director suit. He leaves the...

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Announcements

2026 SWEET POETRY CONTEST RESULTS

SWEET POETRY CONTEST 2026 RESULTS “A Duplex for Nerve Root Signature”—Sarah Carey So much skill in this beautiful poem! The duplex form is difficult to master,...

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Contests

Karen Kao Flash Contest Results 2025

The editors of Sweet are so pleased to announce the winner for 2025 Karen Kao Creative Nonfiction Flash Essay contest. Winner Kimberly Kearns for "The...

Flash Contest Results 2024

We apologize for the delay in announcing the winners of this contest. While notifying the winners, we learned that our winner, Karen Kao passed...

Poetry Contest Results 2023

Sweet is thrilled to announce the results of our 2023 Poetry Contest! Judge Andrew Grace has selected the top three poems below of the ten...

More to read
pieces from past issues

Poetry

Lesley Wheeler

Amelia Martens

Jad Josey

Casey Reiland

Michele Sharpe

Kristian O’Hare

 Heather Truett

Lisa Rhoades

Barbara Daniels

CNF

Graphic Essays

Nance VanWinckel

Mary Collins

Mary Collins

Bethany Jarmul

Gregg Williard

Ciera McElroy

Karen Donovan

Amy Wright