NewPages Guide to Writing Contests
In the NewPages Guide to Submission Opportunities, find announcements of new and current writing contests, book contests, magazine contests, chapbook contests, broadside contests, and more. Looking for general calls for submissions from literary magazines, anthologies, presses and more? You can find them here.
Would you like to advertise a writing or book contest with NewPages? Learn more and submit your contest here.
Note: Descriptions provided by advertisers. NewPages does our best to vet all opportunities. If there is an issue, please contact us.
2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2024
$1,000 advance, publication by Press 53 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection, and 53 copies awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript of approximately 50-120 pages. If a Runner-Up is also selected: $500 advance, publication by Press 53 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection, and 25 copies. Poet must be 18 or older, living in the US or one of its territories. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo will judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Enter April 1 to July 31 via Submittable or by mail. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee: $30. Complete information at www.press53.com/award-for-poetry/.
Baltimore Review Summer Contest
Deadline: May 31, 2024
Baltimore Review Summer Contest – No theme! Flash fiction and CNF. Prose poems. One, two, or three works in a single submission, but no more than 1,000 words total. We want to wonder at how you abracadabra so few words into magic. We want to be amazed and maybe a little jealous of how you do that. $400 awarded in each category. All entries considered for publication, with payment for accepted work at our regular rate. $8 contest fee. Final judge: Kathy Flann. Deadline: May 31. Visit our site, read some of the fine work there, then submit: www.baltimorereview.org.
On the Hunt for $500 Poetry
Deadline: June 15, 2024
The MacGuffin’s Poet Hunt 29 awards a $500 grand prize and publication! Up to two Honorable Mentions also published. Guest Judge Michael Meyerhofer will make the final selections. Entrants receive one copy of the issue containing the selected poems. Send five poems per $15 entry fee. Include a cover page listing your contact info and poem titles. Successive pages should not include personally identifiable information to preserve the anonymous review process. Following the cover page, include your poems, beginning each poem on a new page. Enter via Submittable (themacguffin.submittable.com/submit); to enter by email or post, see full rules at www.schoolcraft.edu/macguffin/poet-hunt-contest.
The Orison Chapbook Prize
Deadline: July 1, 2024
The Orison Chapbook Prize is open for submissions through July 1. $300, a royalties contract, and 20 author copies are awarded for a manuscript of 20 – 45 pages in any literary genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, or hybrid). Judged by Orison Books founder and editor, Luke Hankins. Find complete guidelines here.
$2,100 in Prizes – Flying South 2024 Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: May 31, 2024
$2,100 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2024, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for this year’s contest. There will be three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. In each of the three categories the awards will be $400 for First Place, $200 for Second Place, and $100 for Third Place. Finalists will be awarded publication in Flying South. For full details, please visit our website: www.wswriters.org/flying-south.
Solar Flare Contest for Authors and Artists
Deadline: May 31, 2024
Solar Flare: $500 for Fiction, CNF, Poetry, Art, or Graphic Novel. A solar flare is short-lived but contains enormous energy. Sunspot Lit is looking for the single short story, novel or novella excerpt, artwork, graphic novel, or poem that provides a noteworthy flare of creative energy. Literary or genre works accepted. First prize: $500 plus publication. No restrictions on theme or category. Open: May 1 Close: May 31 Entry fee: $10 Enter as many times as you like through Submittable (one piece per submission). Simultaneous submissions accepted.
Salamander 2024 Fiction Contest
Deadline: June 1, 2024
Salamander’s annual fiction contest will accept submissions of short stories up to 30 pages or 7500 words from May 1 – June 1. First prize will win $1000 and publication; second prize is $500 and publication. Kevin Wilson will judge. Entry fee of $15 includes a one-year subscription. Find more information and enter at salamandermag.org/contests. Questions: [email protected].
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2024: $1,000 and Letterpress Broadside
Deadline: July 31, 2024
Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 2024: $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Judge is Kim Addonizio. Submit up to 3 original unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31. For complete guidelines, see redwheelbarrow.submittable.com.
Mentorship Program (Rising Seniors Only)
Deadline: May 25, 2024
Apply to the 2024 Daphne 4-week Online Mentorship Program! We will select 5-7 dedicated students to work with accomplished writers on a 1on1 basis. Our mentees have benefited greatly over the years. They’ve used the time to work on their existing body of work, getting it published by literary magazines, winning awards at Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, and eventually gaining acceptance to top colleges! Recent Daphne mentees have been accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and top creative writing programs, e.g., Iowa, Kenyon, Juniper, and Emerson! Program fee is $300 (waived for financially disadvantaged). www.thedaphnereview.org/mentorship-program-rising-seniors-only/
New Letters Literary Awards: $2,500 Prize + Publication
Deadline: May 20, 2024
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,500 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2024. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit www.newletters.org/submissions.
Swan Scythe Press Announces its 2024 Poetry Chapbook Contest!
Deadline: June 15, 2024
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2024 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2023 winner is Gail Wronsky for Some Disenfranchised Evening. For full guidelines, visit www.swanscythepress.com and swanscythepress.submittable.com/submit.
The 2024 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize Judged by Cole Swensen
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Loraine Williams Poetry Prize, judged this year by Cole Swensen, is an award for a single poem to be published in The Georgia Review. The winner will receive an honorarium of $1,500. Submissions to be considered must be sent in on Submittable by May 15 at 11:59pm EST or by regular mail postmarked by that time. All submitted poems will be considered for publication. For more information and entry requirements visit our website. thegeorgiareview.com/the-loraine-williams-poetry-prize/
Submit Your Poetry to the Cow Creek Chapbook Prize
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Cow Creek Chapbook Prize is a poetry chapbook contest brought to you by Pittsburg State University. We’re open to all styles and subjects. As long as the poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to see them. The winning poet will receive $1,000 and 25 author copies. The 2024 contest opens February 15 and closes May 15. This year’s judge is Traci Brimhall. Submit your chapbook at www.cowcreekchapbook.org.
International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition! Prize: $1000 and Publication.
Deadline: July 1, 2024
Small presses have potential for significant impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take this responsibility quite seriously. It is our responsibility to give marginalized groups the opportunity to establish literary legacies that feel rich and vast. Why? To sustain hope for the world to become a more loving, tolerable, and open space. It always begins with art. That is why we have launched the 2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. We would love for you to enter your manuscript! Prize: $1000 and publication in 2026. www.vineleavespress.com/international-voices-in-cnf.html
Driftwood Press Contest Deadlines Incoming
Deadline: July 15, 2024 (Adrift contests); Year-round (general submissions)
Driftwood Press is happy to share a plethora of submission opportunities for writers and artists! Our Adrift Short Fiction & Poetry Chapbook Contests, in which every work submitted is considered for publication as winner or runner-up, is ending soon! For our yearly print anthology, we are looking for poems, short stories, comics, and visual art that will wow our readers, accepted as both contest and normal submissions. We are a paying market, and our published writers also get to take part in bespoke interviews about their work! Driftwood is also on the hunt for amazing book-length titles to grow our catalogue, so if you have a novella, poetry collection, comic collection, or graphic novel manuscript, we would love to read it! Visit us here for our Submittable page, and we encourage you to follow us on social media (@driftwoodpress) to learn about even more submission opportunities!
2024 Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry seeks a full-length poetry collection of 48-90 pages and offers a cash prize of $1,000 as well as ten copies of the published book. All entries will first be read by Ghost Peach Press’s panel of editors and 2024 guest judge Leila Chatti will choose the winning collection from ten selected finalists. The entry fee of $22 goes entirely to support Ghost Peach Press operations. Further details can be found at ghostpeachpress.com/poetry/.
Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize: Submit Now!
Deadline: May 5, 2024
Leapfrog Press invites you to submit your manuscript to the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize. Winning titles will be published with Leapfrog Press; finalists receive $150 prize; semi-finalists and honourable mentions receive acknowledgement and listing on our website. The prize accepts previously unpublished fiction manuscripts (min 22,000 words) of novels, novellas, and short-story collections, with both adult and YA/Middle-Grade categories. There is a $35 entry fee. The prize is now open and has a closing date of May 5, 2024. More information and a link to submit can be found at leapfrogprize.org/contest/.
Force Majeure Flash Contest
Deadline: April 30, 2024
Force Majeure: a great and unexpected power. We’re seeking the best small things in any genre, any form. Flash is: under 1000 words & 5 pages, contains any combination of letters, marks, or images, and is inventive affectively, linguistically, formally. Send creative nonfiction, fiction, hybrids, experiments, dreams, fragments, wild things! $500 in prizes; fee $6, no-fee option; all entries considered for publication; all entrants receive prize issue. Full guidelines: stormcellar.submittable.com/submit/72759/.