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.
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2024 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing
Deadline: January 31, 2024
Submissions are now being accepted for the 11th Saroyan Prize. The awards, co-sponsored by Stanford Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation, are intended to encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan legacy of originality, vitality, and stylistic innovation. Two prizes of $5,000 each are given for works of fiction and nonfiction. Writers who have published four books or more are ineligible. Submit five copies of your work published between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023, with a $50 entry fee by January 31, 2024. Visit our website for complete eligibility and submission details: saroyanprize.sites.stanford.edu.
Interim Poetics: The Test Site Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 15, 2023
Interim will choose two winning books for the series—one title publicized as the winner of The Test Site Poetry Series and the other as the Betsy Joiner Flanagan Award in Poetry. Both winners will receive a $1,000 award and their books will be published by the University of Nevada Press. Submit by December 15, 2023. www.interimpoetics.org/test-site-poetry-series
Driftwood Press In-House Contests + Additional Submission Opportunities
Deadline: January 15, 2024 (In-House Contests)
Driftwood Press is happy to share a plethora of submission opportunities for writers and artists! Our In-House Short Fiction & Poem 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 with innovative language and strong craft. 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!
The Twin Bill’s Second Annual Baseball Lit Contest
Deadline: December 30, 2023
The Twin Bill, a baseball literary journal, is open for submissions for their annual contest for best baseball fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. The winner in each category will receive $100 and an engraved baseball trophy. The runners-up will receive $50 and will be published in our January 31 issue. Each piece will be professionally illustrated. Contest submissions are $10 and will be considered for both the contest and the Opening Day issue. thetwinbill.com/submissions/
Writer Advice Seeks Micro Fiction
Deadline: December 2, 2023
Writer Advice seeks Micro Fiction for a new contest, which ends December 2 at 9 pm PT. We’re open to micros, including “dribbles” (exactly 50 words), “drabbles” (exactly 100 words), and any fiction (or fictionalized but true experience) up to 500 words. Labels don’t matter. Content does. We ask for $5 to help defray the cost of prizes and an additional $10 if you’d like individualized feedback. We’ll post up to 15 pieces, which means you’ll earn $20 or more for each piece published. Additional details and tips for success are explained at writeradvice.com/latest-contest-information/.
Baltimore Review Winter Contest
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Baltimore Review Winter 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: Marion Winik. Deadline: November 30. Visit our site, read some of the fine work there, then submit: www.baltimorereview.org.
Seeking Submissions for Poetry Chapbook Prize
Deadline: December 31, 2023
The winner of The Headlight Review’s 2024 Poetry Chapbook Prize Contest will receive publication (a perfectly bound book with a full color or black/white cover), an award of $500, and 25 copies of the book. A list of finalists will be announced sixty days after the close of submissions. All manuscripts will be judged blindly. The finalists who make it through the first round will be judged by esteemed poet Valerie A. Smith.
Global Essay Contest – Sense Of Place – $1500 in prizes + publication!
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Enter The Upper New Review “A Sense of Place” Global Essay Contest. The Essay Contest is open to anyone 13 years or older anywhere on Earth, with Youth and Adult Divisions and 2000 or 6000 word length categories. $1500 total prize purse, including multiple $200 awards for Youth and Adult categories, with three $200 awards across the entire contest. Contest reading event and webinar in February 2024. Winning essays will be published. All essays entered are considered for publication, regardless of contest outcome. Contest entry fee: Youth $10, Adult $25. Submission deadline is Nov 30. Visit uppernew.submittable.com/submit.
2024 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Deadline: December 31, 2023
The 2024 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction will be awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Reading Fee: $30. Award: $1,000 cash advance, publication, and 53 copies. To Enter: Submit online with Submittable or by mail from September 1–December 31, 2023. Press 53 short fiction editor Claire V. Foxx will serve as the only judge. Winner and finalists announced by May 1, 2024; advance review copies sent to major reviewers and outlets; publication in May 2025. Complete details at www.Press53.com/award-for-short-fiction.
2023 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1, 2023
The 7th annual Jane Underwood Poetry Prize is accepting submissions. The prizewinner will receive an award of $500, online publication of the winning poem, and an invitation to do a featured reading. For a fee of $15, submit one entry of up to three poems. The prize is awarded for a single poem. This year’s final judge is Craig Santos Perez. Full guidelines can be found at www.writingsalons.com/awards-resources/jane-underwood-poetry-prize/.