Colorado Review occupies a distinguished place among American literary journals, with a history of publishing fiction that is formally assured and emotionally resonant. The journal's editorial stance is explicit: it seeks contemporary short stories, excludes flash fiction and genre work, and favors narratives that unfold across roughly 15 to 25 manuscript pages. This is not a venue for compressed forms or speculative excursions; it is a home for the fully realized short story, where character, language, and structure are given room to breathe. The journal compensates writers at a flat rate of $300 per story, a meaningful acknowledgment of labor in a landscape where payment is often nominal or absent. Submissions are capped at one story at a time, and writers whose work has appeared in the journal within the past two years are asked to refrain from submitting, a policy designed to keep the pages open to new voices rather than to a rotating cast of familiar contributors. There is no reading fee mentioned in the guidelines, though the submission portal may be hosted on a paid platform; writers should verify current submission mechanics on the journal's website. What the editors value is legible from their own guidance: familiarity with the journal's published fiction. They direct submitters to read selected stories online or to purchase sample issues, a request that is less about gatekeeping than about aesthetic alignment. Colorado Review does not publish toward a single school or style, but it does publish toward a standard of craft. The strongest submissions will demonstrate an understanding of that standard, not merely a desire to be published.