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— Writing Contests & Book Contests —

Deadline: Rolling
Every year, the University of Arkansas Press accepts submissions for the Miller Williams Poetry Series and from the books selected awards the $5,000 Miller Williams Poetry Prize in the following summer. For almost a quarter century the press has made this series the cornerstone of its work as a publisher of some of the country’s best poetry. The series is edited by Patricia Smith. The deadline for the 2022 Prize is September 30, 2020. For more information visit uapress.com.

Deadline: December 15, 2020
Submit your manuscript to Interim’s 3rd annual Test Site Poetry Contest! As our series title suggests, we’re looking for manuscripts that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. The winning book will demonstrate an ethos that considers the human condition in inclusive love and sympathy, while offering the same in consideration of the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. The winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.

Deadline: October 1
Winners in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction receive a $5,000 cash prize, publication, promotion, and a virtual event to be determined. Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction up to 8,500 words or up to 10 pages of poems. Regular entry fee: $25. All-Access entry fee: $30. Each entrant receives a one-year digital subscription to the Missouri Review (normal price $24) and the forthcoming digital short story anthology Strange Encounters, forthcoming from Missouri Review Books. (normal price $8.95). All-Access entrants receive full access to our ten-year digital archive. All entries considered for publication. Deadline: October 1. www.missourireview.com

Deadline: November 30
THE BOILER challenges you to submit flash/hybrid pieces under 800 words for this year’s prize. We welcome fragments, experiments, prose poems, flash essays/fiction. The only thing that matters is whether you can sustain our attention and craft a well-written, sleek, beautiful little thing. The deadline for submission is November 30. One winner will be published in our winter issue. A runner-up will be awarded $250 and also be offered publication. Additional finalists will be considered for our winter issue. Submission fee is $7. Close friends and colleagues should not submit.

Deadline: October 7, 2021
Embracing Our Differences is seeking submissions for an outdoor juried art exhibit featuring 50 billboard size images created by local, national, and international artists and writers. The combination of visual art and the written word adds a deeper dimension to the overall experience. The display reflects the artists' and writers' interpretations of the theme "enriching lives through diversity." The exhibit is displayed annually at Bayfront Park in downtown Sarasota and will be displayed from January 20 - April 1, 2021. A $1,000 award is given for "Best Quotation.”

Deadline: November 30, 2020
The Wishing Jewel Prize honors a manuscript that challenges expectations of genre, form, or mode while engaging the rich possibilities of lyrical expression. Named for an essay in Anne Carson's innovative book Plainwater, we look forward to work that questions the boundaries of what poems and books can be. Contest awards $1,000 and publication. All finalists considered for publication. Reading fee: various. For more information visit our Submissions Manager.

Deadline: October 31, 2020
Our third annual open book prize is accepting manuscripts. If you have a manuscript or know someone who does, please give us a shot. Open to any poet writing in English regardless of previous publication record, the prize seeks to represent the best contemporary writing in high quality editions of enduring value. Prospective entrants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Conduit, which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity. Previously unpublished manuscripts of 48-90 pages should be submitted through our Submittable page or via the USPS. Please visit www.conduit.org/book-prizes for details.

Deadline: September 30, 2020
18th year, sponsored by Winning Writers. Win $3,000 for a poem in any style and $3,000 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. Total prizes: $8,000. The top two winners will also receive two-year gift certificates from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value). Both published and unpublished work accepted. Winning entries published online. Fee: $15 per poem. Length limit: 250 lines. Judged by S. Mei Sheng Frazier, assisted by Jim DuBois. This contest is recommended by Reedsy as one of the best of 2020. See past winners, advice from the judge, and submit online at winningwriters.com/tompoetry.

Deadline: October 15, 2020
RHINO is open Sept. 1 – Oct. 15 for submissions for its annual Founders' Prize Poetry Contest. Guest judge will be Ed Roberson, author of numerous poetry collections and recipient of prizes including the Jackson Poetry Prize and the Stephen Henderson Critics Award for Achievement in Literature. Roberson is currently Artist-in-Residence at Northwestern University. Entry fee is $15 for up to 5 poems; first prize $500, two runners-up prizes $100 each. All submissions considered for publication in RHINO’s 2021 issue, and for $500 Editors' Prize. For 40+ years, RHINO’s award-winning annual print journal has featured stunning, eclectic work. Complete guidelines: rhinopoetry.org.

Deadline: September 30, 2020
Our biannual competition is now open for submissions. We want exciting, thought-provoking short stories incorporating a supernatural theme or element. Contemporary magic realism is more than welcome. $1,000 for the winner; two honorable mentions receive $250. October 31 online publication for all three, including custom illustration by noted British Folk Horror artist Andy Paciorek, plus print anthology publication in Volume II of 21st Century Ghost Stories due for publication in 2021. (Volume I was published in 2018 by Wyrd Harvest Press of Durham, U.K., and is available for purchase.) 1,500-10,000 words. Deadline: September 30. $20 submission fee. See our website for complete guidelines: www.theghoststory.com/tgs-fiction-award.

Deadline: December 31, 2020
Awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Reading Fee: $30. Award: $1,000 cash advance, publication, and fifty copies. Enter: Submit online with Submittable or by mail from September 1–December 31, 2020. Press 53 publisher and editor-in-chief Kevin Morgan Watson will serve as the only judge. Winner and finalists announced by May 1, 2021; advance review copies sent to major reviewers and outlets; publication in October 2021. Complete details at our website.

Deadline: October 5, 2020
Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize. Submissions open September 1, 2020. Judge Marcus Jackson will select one full-length manuscript for publication by Mad Creek Books, the trade imprint of The Ohio State University Press. In addition to publication under a standard book contract, the winner receives the Charles B. Wheeler prize of $2,500. A nonrefundable fee of $23.00 (or $11.50 for BIPOC poets) will be charged for each entry. All entrants receive a one-year subscription to The Journal. Visit our contest page for guidelines. (If it is a hardship to meet the entry fee, contact our editor () to discuss options.)

Deadline: Midnight on Halloween 2020
Raleigh Review is currently offering two contests. The RR Flash Fiction Prize is being judged by our esteemed Fiction team ($300 Grand Prize, $13 entry fee). Raleigh Review is also offering the Geri Digiorno Multi-Genre Prize with Dorianne Laux & Joseph Millar as the judges of the finalists. Think of our Digiorno Prize as a collage prize that includes at least two of the genres among poetry and/or visual art and/or flash nonfiction ($300 Grand Prize, $13 entry fee). Submissions close by midnight on Halloween. All entrants shall receive the prize print issue for free.