Stop by the NewPages Blog every Friday to find writing contests and calls for submissions from literary magazines, independent publishers, creative writing programs, and more, to help you figure out where to submit your work.
december magazine seeks submissions for our 2020 Curt Johnson Prose Awards in fiction and creative nonfiction. Judges: Dorothy Allison (fiction) & Brittney Cooper (nonfiction). Prizes each genre: $1,500 & publication (winner); $500 & publication (honorable mention). All finalists will be listed in the 2020 Fall/Winter awards issue. $20 entry fee includes a copy of the awards issue. Submit 1 story or essay up to 8,000 words from March 1 to May 1. For complete guidelines visit our website decembermag.org/2020-curt-johnson-prose-awards/.
Deadline: June 1, 2020
Lynx House Press seeks submissions of full-length poetry manuscripts for the annual Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry. The winner will receive $2,000 and publication. Entries must be at least 48 pages in length. The fee for submitting is $28, and includes a copy of a book from our catalog. Previous judges include James Tate, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dorianne Laux, Dara Wier, Melissa Kwasny, and Robert Wrigley. lynxhousepress.submittable.com/submit
Deadline: April 30, 2020
28th year, sponsored by Winning Writers and Duotrope. $8,000 in cash prizes, including two top awards of $3,000 each. Seeks short stories and essays up to 6,000 words each. Both published and unpublished work accepted. Fee per entry is $20. Final judge: Dennis Norris II, assisted by Lauren Singer Ledoux. Winning Writers is one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers” (Writer’s Digest). See guidelines, past winners, and enter online at winningwriters.com/tomstory.
The Red Wheelbarrow Review, formerly Red Savina Review (est. 2013), is open for submissions. The editors have a fresh focus in line with poet Rich Murphy’s concern that literature is in need of “prophetic voices now.” We seek poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction where word meets spirit in a commingling of the sacred and mundane. We have published writers such as Sharman Apt Russell, winner of the John Burroughs Medal; Rich Murphy, winner of the Gival Press Poetry Prize; Khanh Ha, winner of the Robert Watson Literary Prize; bestselling memoirist Gleah Powers; and many others. Submission guidelines at theredwheelbarrowreview.com/submissions/.
Deadline: March 31, 2020
First prize: $1,000. Second: $100. Three honorable mentions: $25 each. Entry fee: $8. We are open to any subject, style, genre, or length. What do we want? We don’t know until we see it! Simply send your best, most powerful, unpublished work by email or snail mail. All five finalists will be published online in the June/July 2020 issue of Gemini. Both new and experienced writers have won our contests. Over four dozen winners/finalists may be read online. All entries are read blind so everyone gets an equal chance. We look forward to reading your work! Enter at www.gemini-magazine.com/shortstorycomp.html.
Deadline: April 1, 2020
19th year. Free contest sponsored by Winning Writers and Duotrope. $2,250 in cash prizes, including a top prize of $1,000. Both published and unpublished work welcome. All entries that win cash prizes will be published on WinningWriters.com. Final judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer Ledoux. Winning Writers is one of “101 Best Websites for Writers” (Writer’s Digest). See guidelines, past winners, and submit one humor poem online at winningwriters.com/wergle.
The objective of Nzuri (meaning Beautiful/Fine in Swahili) is to promote the artistic, aesthetic, creative, and scholarly work consistent with the values and ideals of Umoja community. Additionally, we accept work responsive to the experience of the African and African-American diaspora. African American and other writers, digital media content creators, photographers, and artists are urged to submit their best work for consideration. Check out our current call for submissions for Nzuri‘s Spring 2020 issue at nzuriumojacommunity.submittable.com. See our current issue online at Nzurijournal.com.
Transference is now accepting submissions of poems translated from—or inspired by—poetry originally written in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Latin and Classical Greek, with accompanying commentary. Submissions relating to the theme of vision/seeing are especially welcome. For this issue we also welcome essays on the translation of poetry. Deadline: April 30. Read current and past issues online and submit at scholarworks.wmich.edu/transference/. Transference is peer-edited in a blind submission process. Published by the Department of World Languages and Literatures at Western Michigan University. Write to the editors at [email protected].
Deadline: March 29, 2020 The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our annual anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase ten writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. This year, the anthology contest will be judged by Rick Bass. We’re looking for your best work up to 7000 words. Please note you must not have published a novel-length work at the time of submission. mastersreview.com/anthology/
Chicken Soup for the Soul publishes inspirational true stories about ordinary people with extraordinary experiences. They are open to stories and poetry for upcoming anthologies. There is no fee and they are paying market. Learn more…
$2,000 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2020, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Best in Category winners will be published and receive $500 each. One of the three winners will receive The WSW President’s Favorite award and win an additional $500. All entries will be considered for publication. For full details, please visit our website: www.wswriters.org.
Every month, Prime Number Magazine (published by Press 53) offers a free contest, inviting writers to respond to a prompt in 53 words.
February’s prompt was: This month, the Kansas City Chiefs return to the Super Bowl after a fifty-year run of coming up short. Vegas will run the numbers and the 49ers will run the ball. Many expect the Chiefs to run the table. In this spirit, let’s run with the word that has the most dictionary definitions.
The winning story by Elizabeth Barton will appear in the next issue of Prime Number Magazine, releasing April 1.
You still have a couple weeks if you’d like to submit to the March 53-Word Contest (deadline March 21). This month’s prompt: On March 17, people everywhere, regardless of ancestry, will wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. Green can also mean someone is envious, sick, or inexperienced. Green fruit is not ripe. The Green Party protects our environment. And putting well on a green can lead to a pro golfer winning a lot of green.
Find full submission details, check out past winners, and see what’s up with the Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry & Short Fiction at the journal’s website.
petrichor is looking for code tomes & sign lines. Poetry and image, in whichever order works. Art & text? Shape poems? Digital code verse can hang too. Reading old issues might give you some ideas, but send us what we don’t have, what we’re missing. If you aren’t seeing enough you out there, send yourself here. petrichormag.com
The Hamilton Stone Review is open to submissions for issue number 42! Deadline to submit to this issue is March 22. There is no fee to submit. Learn more…
Cloudbank has extended the deadline for its Issue 14 writing contest to March 15. The extension is for poetry submissions only. $15 fee includes a two issue subscription. Learn more…
We’re the site your teacher warned you about! The no frills brown bag in your face thumb your nose online psychotropolis for the literarily insane. Get committed today! The infamous dude sextet is bustlin’, hustlin’, itchin’, and twitchin’ for QUALITY short fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, and screenplays that smell ripe and kick ass for our hopefully offensive upcoming Issue 6. If we like what you submit we’ll be all over you; if we don’t we promise to be gentle, especially if it’s your first time. See our Guidelines for details: fleasonthedog.com. Submissions open March 1-April 30.
Deadline: April 30, 2020
This anthology seeks to offer a channel for people under 22 to talk to older people about their experiences and concerns. We are looking for short stories, poetry, essay, memoir, from people under 22 discussing what worries you? What angers you, or delights you? In other words: what’s on your mind? Submit up to three poems, or one short story, essay, or memoir up to 5000-words. Art and graphic stories are more than welcome, but the book will in black and white. Everyone under 22 is welcome. We are especially interested in voices from undeserved communities too often left out of the discussion. www.flexiblepub.com/22_under_22
Jacar Press, A Community Active Press, publishes poetry chapbooks, full-length collections, anthologies, and an award-winning online magazine, One which features Pulitzer Prize winners and new poets from 6 continents. Book sales support progressive organizations, including groups that address racism, gender discrimination, immigration issues, women’s initiatives, violence and abuse, prisoner reintegration programs, and others. Jacar Press offers low-cost workshops featuring writers like Lynn Emanuel, Patricia Spears Jones, Dorianne Laux, Li-Young Lee, Marilyn Nelson, Ilya Kaminsky, etc. Chapbook and full-length contests open through April 30. Past judges have included Chana Bloch, Toi Derricotte, Hélène Cardona, Lola Haskins, Rickey Laurentiis, Dorianne Laux, Jamaal May, and others. jacarpress.com/submissions/#contests
The Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction is accepting submissions through March 14, 2020. Winner receives $2,000 and publication in the Fall issue of literary magazine Colorado Review. $15 fee to submit by mail or $17 via Submittable. Learn more…
June 1 is the deadline to submit essays to literary magazine The Fiddlehead‘s 2020 Creative Nonfiction Contest. The reading fee entitles entrants to a one-year subscription. This also includes the 75th anniversary issue. Winner receives $2,000 CAD and publication in the Autumn 2020 issue. Learn more..
The Raleigh Review has been publishing as an independent nonprofit for 10 years. They are currently open to submissions of fiction and poetry for their Fall 2020 issue. Submission deadline is March 31. They do charge a small fee. Learn more…
Online literary magazine Brilliant Flash Fiction is accepting entries to its Lost in the Library writing contest. Deadline to submit fiction on this theme is May 30. There is no fee to submit. Learn more…
Literary magazine Bellingham Review is open to fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for its annual awards. Deadline to enter work is March 15. $20-$30 fee; $1,000 first prize per genre. Learn more…
The Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop is accepting essays taking a “contemporary look at silences around class and caste systems that divide us.” The anthology will be co-edited by a collective of award-winning incarcerated writers.
Submissions for the anthology are open through April 3, 2020. There is no fee to submit. The anthology will be published by Coffee House Press. Learn more…
Independent publisher Tolsun Books is open to unsolicited manuscripts made from parts through May 31. These can be either full-length or chapbook-length. Poetry, short stories, essays, hybrids, translations, and more. $15 fee. Free submissions accepted on the 15th of every month. Learn more…
International literary magazine Palooka has been publishing featured, up-and-coming, established, and new writers, artists, and photographers for a decade. They are open to submissions for its journal and chapbook press year-round. They do charge a fee. Learn more…
Chicken Soup for the Soul is accepting nonfiction and poetry for its forthcoming anthology Listen to Your Dreams through February 28. There is no fee to submit. They are a paying market. Learn more…
Pittsburg State University and its literary magazine Emerald City are accepting submissions to the Cow Creek Poetry Chapbook Prize. Deadline to submit is May 15. Winner receives $1,000, publication, and 25 author copies. This year’s judge is Marcus Wicker. Learn more…
Gival Press is hosting three contests in 2020: the Gival Press Novel Award, the Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award, and the Gival Press Short Story Award. The Novel Award deadlines is May 30. The prize is $3k and book publication in 2021. The Oscar Wilde Award for the best LGBTQ poem deadline is June 27. The prize is $500 and online publication. The Short Story Award deadline is August 8. The Prize is $1,000 and online publication. For complete details on each contest, visit: www.Givalpress.Submittable.com.
Deadline: October 15, 2020 EVENT: A home for writers. A destination for readers. Now in its 49th year of publication, EVENT is an award-winning, internationally recognized literary magazine that inspires and nurtures writers, showcasing the best contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, notes on writing, and book reviews three times a year, with stunning cover art and illustration. We are now accepting submissions of 5,000 words or less to the annual EVENT Non-Fiction Contest. $3,000 in prizes, plus publication. Entries must be postmarked or submitted online by October 15, 2020. Visit www.eventmagazine.ca for exclusive online content, and to learn more about our unique Reading Service for Writers.
Submissions open for flash fiction of no more than 800 words and prose poems. Send unusual or lyrical pieces. Club Plum also seeks art: Please send one image only of pen-and-ink line art, pencil drawings, watercolor, experimental, impressionistic or abstract pieces, black-and-white or color. The editor will pass on photography. See clubplumliteraryjournal.com for details.
Haunted Waters Press is accepting submissions of fiction to the inaugural edition of Tin Can Literary Review. It is also accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, and flash to literary magazine From the Depths 18. They do charge a fee and are a paying market. Deadline is August 31. Learn more…
Fictional Café is a highly regarded online ‘zine, seven years old with 800 Coffee Club members in 47 countries. Fiction only, please, that titillates the readers’ senses and provokes their minds. Your short story or novel excerpt should be extremely well written with engaging characters and a unique, avant-garde, or unconventional plot. Visit our site and read some recent works on the pictorial slider. Join our Coffee Club, then review our submissions guidelines. If you’re exploring fiction’s boundaries, we’re interested in reading your work. www.fictionalcafe.com
Biannual online literary magazine The American Journal of Poetry is open to submissions! They seek bold, uncensored work for publication in their ninth volume due out in July. They do charge a $5 fee. Learn more…
New online literary magazine Red Tree Review is open to poetry for its first issue. There is no fee to submit. They accept submissions on a rolling basis. Learn more…
Fledgling online literary magazine Hole In The Head Review is open to submissions for its May 2020 issue. $4 fee. Poetry and visual art accepted. Learn more…
Liminal Press seeks poetry submissions from writers who are sexual-trauma survivors. There is no fee to submit. Works will be published in the anthology I Don’t Cry Anymore in Fall 2020. Artist, poet, and educator Flo Oy Wong will co-edit. Deadline to submit is March 31. Learn more…
Deadline: April 15, 2020
Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry: A poetry manuscript contest sponsored by The University of Utah Press and the University of Utah Department of English. $1000 cash prize plus publication for your poetry manuscript. Prize includes an additional $500 payment for travel and a reading in the University of Utah’s Guest Writers Series. See www.UofUpress.com/ali-poetry-prize for more details.
The NewPages Winter 2020 LitPak was mailed to colleges and universities with graduate and undergraduate writing programs and classes last week!
Featured in this LitPak are fliers from
Diode Editions
Elk River Writers Workshop
UNCG MFA in Creative Writing
Jackson Center for Creative Writing
The MFA at FAU/Swamp Ape Review
Killer Nashville
Summer Writers Institute at Washing University in St. Louis
Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop
Rattle
december
Nimrod
The Fiddlehead
Fourth Genre
Jacar Press
Gival Press
EVENT
Colorado Review
University of Utah Press
The Main Street Rag
St. Petersburg Review/Springhouse Journal
You can view the majority of the fliers included in this LitPak on our website. Feel free to download, print, and share. If you are interested in getting the next LitPak delivered straight to your doorstep, you can purchase a subscription here: npofficespace.com/litpak/subscription/.
The Awakenings Review is a literary magazine devoted to publishing works from writers who have some connection with mental illness. The connection can be their own, friends, or family members. Work does not need to be related to mental illness. Submissions accepted year-round. There is no fee. Learn more…
Literary magazine Jenny, run by students from Youngstown State University, seeks pieces on the theme of “revitalizing the small town” for Issue 18. Deadline to submit is March 1. Learn more…
Speckled Trout Review seeks poetry for their Spring 2020 issue. They love good storytelling. Deadline to submit is April 15. There is no fee. Learn more…
Online literary magazine Light and Dark seeks short stories for publication in issue 14. They particularly want work dealing in some way with the dichotomous nature of man. Deadline: March 15, 2020. $3 fee. They are a paying market. Learn more…
The MacGuffin is featuring formal poetical works in Volume 36, No. 3! We’ll take a look at any poem in an established metrical form, but save any free or blank verse for a different issue. Send up to five poems, listing their titles and forms in an email cover letter, using “Form Issue” in the subject line. Submissions also considered via post and Submittable (themacguffin.submittable.com/submit). Please send all work by April 1, 2020. Prose is still being considered for general publication in this issue. For more information, please see our website at www.schoolcraft.edu/macguffin or send us an email at [email protected].
Online literary magazine High Desert Journal is open to submissions. They are a “forum for literary, visual and journalistic artists to contribute a deeper understanding of the landscape and people of the interior West.”
Deadline to submit to their Spring 2020 issue is March 15. Learn more…
The Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University is hosting its 2020 Everything Change Climate Fiction Contest. There is no fee. Deadline to submit stories is April 15 11:59 PM Mountain Standard Time. Learn more…
The Helix Literary and Art Magazine, an undergraduate publication based in Central Connecticut, seeks compelling poetry, prose, and art for its Spring 2020 issue (online and in print). Any and all subject matters considered, but bonus points for topics that might be of interest to a college audience. Submit at helixmagazine.org/submission-guidelines/. Deadline: May 1.
Jewish Fiction .net, (www.jewishfiction.net) a prestigious literary journal, invites submissions for its Fall 2020 issue. We are the only English-language journal devoted exclusively to publishing Jewish fiction, and we showcase the finest contemporary Jewish-themed writing (either written in, or translated into, English) from around the world. In 9 years we have published 400 stories or novel excerpts, originally written in fifteen languages and on five continents, and we have readers in 140 countries. We’ve published such eminent authors as Elie Wiesel, Savyon Liebrecht, and Aharon Appelfeld, alongside many fine lesser-known writers. For submission details, please visit our Submissions page at www.jewishfiction.net/index.php/contactus/submission/.
Green Linden Press is currently open to chapbook-length poetry manuscripts. Chapbooks will be published in Fall 2020. Deadline to submit is March 20. There is a $12 reading fee to support their green mission. Learn more…
