Happy August! With the start of a new month comes fresh submission opportunities and approaching deadlines. NewPages is here to help you keep your writing and submission goals going strong with our weekly roundup of submissions and a fresh writing prompt to help get your creative energy flowing again.
Inspiration Prompt: My Body is an I-sland
Have you ever heard of mapping the human body? Sure, in anatomy class it’s all about organs, bones, and systems. But what if we thought about it more poetically?
John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island,” but what if your body is one? How would you chart its terrain? Could your bones become mountain ranges, your scars ancient fault lines, your freckles scattered archipelagos?
Imagine your body as a living, breathing island. Who—or what—might inhabit it? Are there tribes in the nostril caverns at war with the cliff-dwellers of the nose tip? What myths and legends echo through the valleys of your spine?
If you’re visually inclined, try drawing your body as a map—not anatomically, but emotionally and imaginatively. Is your brain a bustling metropolis of ideas? Is your heart a volcanic crater, pulsing with heat and memory?
This week, we invite you to explore your inner geography. Write, draw, or dream your body into a world of its own.
Maybe your island isn’t pristine. Maybe it’s weathered, worn, and full of fault lines. But like a favorite leather jacket or a well-loved song, it’s broken in—not broken. It’s not old, just older (as Bon Jovi reminds us). And maybe that’s what makes it yours, makes it uniquely beautiful.
🎶 Need more of a creative spark? Listen to Bon Jovi’s “Just Older”!
Want even more writing prompts?
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When you’ve finished your piece, scroll down to explore 43 submission opportunities for writers of all genres. Whether you’re submitting poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid work, there’s a home waiting for your voice.
Submission Opportunities: 43 Ways to Share Your Work
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🌱 New to submitting? Check out our Guide to Submission Opportunities for further details on these calls and contests.
✏️ Have young writers at home? Don’t miss our Young Writers Guide for contests tailored to grades K–12.
August 2025
- About Place Journal Fall 2025: On Freedom | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, cross-genre, drama, graphic narratives, screenplays, interviews, reviews, translations, art, photography, audio, video | Free | Deadline: August 1, 2025
- The Nomad Review Fragility theme | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, comics, graphic narratives, reviews, interviews, art, photography | Free | Deadline: August 1, 2025
- Orison Books. Best Spiritual Literature Awards | Fee: $12 | Prize: $500 + publication | Deadline: August 1, 2025
- Radar Poetry 12 Annual Coniston Prize | Poetry | $20 fee | Prize: $1,000 and publication | Deadline: August 1, 2025
- Futurepoem 2025 Other Futures Award | poetry, cross-genre | $28 fee | Prize: $1,000 advance, standard royalty contract, publication, 25 author copies | Deadline August 15, 2025
- Inverted Syntax Aggrey & Tabbikha Prize for Poetry | Poetry, cross-genre | $20 fee | Prize: $500 and book publication | Deadline: August 15, 2025 | Open to Black poets and/or those part of the S.W.A.N.A diaspora
- Inverted Syntax Sublingua Prize for Poetry | Poetry, cross-genre | $20 fee | Prize: $500 and book publication | Deadline: August 15, 2025 | For female-identifying poets only
- Sunspot Lit | Novellette-length fiction, nonfiction, graphic novel, poetry | $10 fee | Deadline: August 15, 2025.
- Thorn & Bloom Issue 03: The Splinters We Carry | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, comics, graphic narratives | Free | Deadline: August 15, 2025
- Speckled Trout Review Summer 2025 Issue | Poetry | Free | Deadline: August 20, 2025
- The Headlight Review Anthony Grooms Prize in Fiction | Fiction | $18 fee | Prize: $750, chapbook publication, 20 copies | Judge: James E. Cherry | Deadline: August 31, 2025
- Inverted Syntax Fissured Tongue Volume VII | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art | $4 fee | Deadline: August 31, 2025
- Stepping Out: Writings on Infidelity anthology | fiction, nonfiction | Free | Proposal Deadline: August 31, 2025 | Draft Deadline: October 1, 2025
- Sunspot Lit Supernova | Very long-form fiction, nonfiction, graphic novel, poetry | $8 fee | Deadline: August 31, 2025.
September 2025
- The Main Street Rag: North Coast Voices. Poetry Anthology | Fee: $3 | Payment: copies | Deadline: September 1, 2025
- Last Syllable. Book Awards in Poetry & Prose | Fee: $25 | Prize: $1,000 + travel + Visiting Writer Series feature | Deadline: September 1, 2025
- Superpresent Fall 2025: TRUTH | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, drama/plays, comics, graphic narratives, translations, art, photography, audio, video | Free | Deadline: September 1, 2025
- The Branches Fall 2025 Issue: VOICE | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, graphic narratives, graphic novels, reviews, art, photography, audio, video | Free | Deadline: September 13, 2025.
- Sunspot Lit | fiction, nonfiction, graphic novel | $5 fee | Deadline: September 23, 2025
- The Big Book of Quantum Fiction | fiction, poetry, cross-genre, art, photography | Free | Payment: $24 and 1 contributor copy | Deadline: September 30, 2025
- DuFrank Lit. Fiction | Free | Deadline: September 30, 2025
- Livingston Press Open Reading Period | Novels, linked story collections, narrative poetry | Free | Deadline: September 30, 2025
- Sunspot Lit | flash, poetry, graphic novel, art | $5 fee | Deadline: September 30, 2025
October 2025
- The Missouri Review 35th Annual Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | $25 fee | Prize: $5,000 and publication awarded per genre | Deadline: October 1, 2025
- Willow Springs Surrealist Poetry Prize | Poetry | $15 fee | Prize: $1,000 and publication | Final Judge: Michael McGriff | Deadline: October 1, 2025
- Willow Springs Books. Spokane Prize for Short Fiction | Entry fee | Prize: $2,000 + publication | Deadline: October 1, 2025
- Kings River Review. Fall 2025 Issue (all genres + art) | Free | Must be a 2-year college student | Deadline: October 15, 2025
November 2025
- Black Fox Literary Magazine. Winter Issue | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | Free | |Deadline: November 30, 2025
- Blueline 2025 Open Reading Period | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, photography | Free | Payment: Copies | Deadline: November 30, 2025
Year-Round Opportunities
- Blue Mountain Review | Prose, poetry, music, visual art | Fee: $5
- The Capra Review | All genres + multimedia | Free
- Changing Skies | Creative nonfiction, poetry, art | Free
- Decolonial Passage | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | Free
- Driftwood Press | All genres + graphic works | Fees vary
- Fahmidan Journal | All genres | Free | Payment: $15
- Feels Blind Literary | All genres + comics | Fee: $3 (free on Mondays)
- Fiction on the Web Critique Service | Fiction | Fee varies
- Gambling the Aisle | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre | Free
- Hindsight Journal | Art, photography, nonfiction, poetry | Free
- Jewish Fiction | Fiction, translation | Free
- Kaleidoscope | Articles, fiction, poetry, reviews, visual art | Free | Payment: $10–$100
- New Verse News | Current-events poetry | Free
- Palooka | Magazine & chapbook submissions | Fee: $3 (magazine), $8 (chapbook) | Payment: copies
- Philly Poetry Chapbook Review | Excerpts, interviews, reviews | Free
- Pictura Journal | August 2025 Issue (all genres + art) | Free (tip jar) | Payment: $5
- Plant-Human Quarterly | Poetry, essays | Free
- Stone Circle Review | Poetry | Free
Ready to submit? Bookmark your favorites, mark your calendar, and good luck sharing your work!
Where to Submit Roundup: October 17, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: October 10, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: October 3, 2025
