Here are the guidelines from Big Fiction:

The 2014 Knickerbocker Prize opens December 15

First- and second-place entries will receive $500 / $250 and publication in our contest issue. David James Poissant, author of The Heaven of Animals (Simon & Schuster, 2014), will judge.

GENERAL CONTEST RULES:
Submit your entry online between December 15, 2013 – March 15, 2014. All entries are considered for publication, and all participants will receive a copy of the contest issue. The winning entries will be announced on our website during May 2014, and will be published in the Summer/Fall contest issue. Finalists will be given priority consideration, but because of space, we can’t guarantee publication.
We welcome simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if your work is accepted elsewhere. Only previously unpublished work can be considered. Submit online through Submittable only (see link below). E-mailed submissions will not be considered.

PARTICULARS:

1. All entries must be single, self-contained works of fiction, between 8,000 and 30,000 words.
2. Please DO NOT include any identifying information on the manuscript itself.
3. Only literary fiction in English will be accepted. Sorry, no translations. (We’d love to publish a translation issue, just not this time.) No genre fiction or children’s, please.
4. The $20 contest fee includes a copy of the contest issue for all entrants.
5. International submissions in English are eligible for an additional $10 to help us cover postage.
6. Volunteers and staff of Big Fiction are not eligible.
7. Students, former students, and colleagues of the judge are not eligible.

Submit to Big Fiction Magazine

ABOUT OUR JUDGE:

David James Poissant is the author of The Heaven of Animals, a short story collection forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in March, 2014. His stories have appeared in The Atlantic, Playboy, One Story,Glimmer Train, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and in the Best New American Voices and New Stories from the South anthologies.

2013 Judge: Lauren Groff

2013 Winners: Steve Yates and Sandra Gail Lambert

Questions about these guidelines? E-mail us at info@bigfictionmagazine.com.