Inspiration: Your Personal Memorial Day
Stuck in a writing rut? Want some inspiration?
Those living in the U.S. know Memorial Day, which is approaching soon, is meant to honor and mourn military personnel who died in service. It’s an important day of remembrance—but like many important days, it’s become commercialized as the unofficial start of summer and long weekends. That alone is good fodder for writing, isn’t it? A social loss of something sacred reduced to a day off and a barbecue.
But what is your own personal Memorial Day?
Not the holiday itself, but a day in your year—or a weekend, or a week—that holds deep meaning. Was it the day you finally took the leap and left the place you hated to do what you loved? What era did that mark in your personal history? Was it the best thing to happen to you? Or not quite what you imagined it to be?
Or perhaps it was a profound loss. How do you celebrate what was lost while mourning the fact that it’s gone? How do you honor its place in your life?
Grab your pen and start writing. Let it be sloppy, messy, riddled with mistakes—because all that matters is you are writing. And maybe, just maybe, you can find the strength to talk of things that always felt out of reach.
Time Marches On
Somehow May is half over with—didn’t it just begin? I know, I know, enough with the flying-time jokes, but they never seem to get old. Time always seems to speed up when we want it to slow down and drag when we wish it would fly. It’s Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in action—or at least, that’s how it feels.
While time marches on to the beat of its drum (which never seems steady enough for us), we march on too. Let’s keep submission goals going strong, shall we?
Submission Opportunities: 59 Ways to Share Your Work
Paid newsletter subscribers get early access to the majority of submission opportunities and upcoming events before they go live on our site. You’ll also receive our monthly eLitPak Newsletter, packed with even more opportunities and literary goodness. Consider subscribing or upgrading your subscription today!
Calls for Submissions
Don’t forget to check out our Guide to Submission Opportunities where you can get more information about these calls for submissions. And if you have young writers from elementary to high school age, don’t forget to check out the Young Writers Guide.
Magazine1. Issue 4. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, cross-genre, drama, graphic narratives, screenplays, translations, art, photography, audio, video. No fee ($5 tip jar option available). Payment: $40 Bookstore Gift Card. Deadline: May 24, 2025.
Black Fox Literary Magazine. Summer 2025 Issue. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Deadline: May 31, 2025.
Megacity Review. Volume 2. Fiction, nonfiction, art, photography. $10 fee. Payment: Selected contributors can be awarded up to $1,000. Extended Deadline: May 31, 2025.
The Pensieve. Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry. No Fee. Deadline: May 31, 2025. **Seeking work from emerging writers.**
Red Shoe Press. 2026 Oregon Poetry Contest: The Water Around Us. Poetry. No Fee. Deadline: May 31, 2025. *Open to residents of Oregon.*
Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. AMPLIFY — An Anthology by Black Poets, Indigenous Poets, and Other Poets of Color. Poetry. No fee. Deadline: May 31, 2025.
Superpresent. Discomfort-themed Issue. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, cross-genre, drama, graphic narratives, translations, art, photography, audio, video. No fee. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Poets in the Pines. Made from Midnight anthology. Fiction, poetry, cross-genre. No fee. Deadline: June 6, 2025.
Gold Man Review. Issue 15. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Deadline: June 15, 2025. *Must reside in Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, California, and Washington.*
Nobody’s Home: Modern Southern Folklore. Open Submission Period. Nonfiction, interviews, reviews. No fee. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Philly Poetry Chapbook Review. Poetry. No fee. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
#Ranger. Issue 11. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry cross-genre, art, audio, video. No fee. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
The Main Street Rag. North Coast Voices: A Poetry Anthology. Poetry. $3 fee. Payment: Copies. Deadline: September 1, 2025.
DuFrank Lit. Fiction. No fee. Submissions reopen July 1. Deadline: September 30, 2025.
Kings River Review. Fall 2025 Issue. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, translations, art. No fee. Deadline: October 15, 2025. *Must be a 2-year college student.*
Blue Mountain Review. Prose, poetry, music, visual art. $5 fee. Deadline: Year-round.
The Capra Review. Fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre, art, photography, video. No fee. Deadline: Year-round.
Changing Skies. Creative nonfiction, poetry, art. No fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Decolonial Passage. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Driftwood Press. Fiction, poetry, comics, visual art, novellas, poetry collections, comic collections, graphic novels. Fees vary. Paying market. Deadline: Year-round.
Fahmidan Journal. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Payment: $15. Deadline: Year-round.
Feels Blind Literary. Fiction, nonfiction, comics, cross-genre, graphic narratives, translations, art, photography. $3 fee (free submissions on Monday). Deadline: Rolling.
Hindsight Journal. Art, photography, creative nonfiction, poetry. No fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Jewish Fiction (formerly Jewish Fiction .net). Fiction, translation. No fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Kaleidoscope. Articles, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, book reviews, visual art. No fee. Payment: $10-$100. Deadline: Year-round.
New Verse News. Current events poetry. No fee. Deadline: Year-round.
Palooka. Chapbook manuscripts, fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, photography, graphic narratives, comic strips. $3 fee (magazine submissions); $8 fee (chapbook submissions). Payment: Copies. Deadline: Year-round.
Philly Poetry Chapbook Review. Poetry book/chapbook excerpts, interviews, reviews. No fee. Deadline: Year-round.
Pictura Journal. August 2025 Issue. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art. No fee (tip jar option). Payment: $5. Deadline: Rolling.
Stone Circle Review. Poetry. No fee. Deadline: Rolling.
Writing Contests
If you’d like a little more information on several of the contests below, don’t forget to follow our Guide to Submission Opportunities throughout the week. Find even more contests in our vetted Big List of Writing Contests. NewPages also vets and curates a list of contests for elementary through high school aged writers in our Young Writers Guide.
Santa Clara Review. Flash Takes Flight. Fiction, nonfiction. $10 fee. Prize: $200 and publication. Extended Deadline: May 16, 2025.
New Letters. Conger Beasley Jr. Award. Nonfiction. $24 fee. Prize: $2,500 and publication. Deadline: May 19, 2025.
New Letters. Patricia Cleary Miller Award. Poetry. $24 fee. Prize: $2,500 and publication. Deadline: May 19, 2025.
New Letters. Robert Day Award. Fiction. $24 fee. Prize: $2,500 and publication. Deadline: May 19, 2025.
Ploughshares. Emerging Writers Prize. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. $30 fee includes 1-year subscription (free for current subscribers). Prize/genre: $2,000, publication, and conversation with Aevitas Creative Management. Judges: R. O. Kwon, Joshua Bennett, Elisa Gabbert. Extended Deadline: May 22, 2025.
Livingston Press. Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse. Fiction. No fee. Prize: $500, book publication, and copies. Deadline: May 25, 2025.
Baltimore Review. Summer Contest. Flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry. $8 fee. Prize/category: $400 and publication. Judge: Pamela Painter. Deadline: May 31, 2025.
Sunspot Lit. Solar Flare Contest. Fiction, poetry, graphic novel, art. $5 fee. Prize: $100 and publication. Deadline: May 31, 2025.
What Book Press. Gronk Nicandro First Book Prize. Fiction, nonfiction. $25 fee. Prize: $500, publication, and 50 copies. Deadline: May 31, 2025.
Black Fox Literary Magazine. Spring Fox Tales Prize: Mixed Messages. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. $12 fee. Prize: $325 and print publication. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Salamander. 2025 Fiction Contest. Fiction. $20 fee. Prize: $1,000 and publication. Judge: Helen Phillips. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
L’Esprit Literary Review. 2025 Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose. Fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre. $10 fee (standard submission); $15 fee (expedited response). Grand Prize: $500 and publication. Deadline: June 8, 2025.
Boudin. 2025 Boudin Flash Fiction Chapbook Contest. Fiction. $15 fee. Prize: $1,000, 25 author copies, author-signing at AWP 2026, inclusion of one or more pieces in The McNeese Review 2026, promotion in monthly issues of Boudin, and 3-year subscription to The McNeese Review. Final Judge: Roxane Gay. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Catamaran Literary Reader. 2025 Catamaran Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets. Poetry. $45 fee. Prize: $1,000 and book publication. Judge: Mary Szybist. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
The MacGuffin. Poet Hunt 30. Poetry. $15 fee. Grand Prize: $500 and publication. Guest Judge: Darrel Alejandro Holnes. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
The Tusculum Review. 2025 Fiction Chapbook Prize. Fiction. $20 fee. Prize: $1,500 and publication. Judge: Jaime Cortez. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Burnside Review Press. Burnside Review Chapbook Contest. Poetry. $15 fee. Prize: $200, chapbook publication, 10 author copies. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Bellevue Literary Review. The Felice Buckvar Prize. Nonfiction. $20 fee. Prize: $1,000 and publication. Judge: Nicole Chung. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Bellevue Literary Review. The Goldenberg Prize. Fiction. $20 fee. Prize: $1,000 and publication. Judge: Joan Silber. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Bellevue Literary Review. The John & Eileen Allman Prize. Poetry. $20 fee. Prize: $1,000 and publication. Judge: Joan Silber. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Orison Books. 2025 Orison Chapbook Prize. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, drama. $15 fee. Prize: $300 and chapbook publication. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Driftwood Press. Adrift Chapbook Contest. Poetry. $25 fee. First Prize: $750, publication, 20 author copies. Judge: Matthew Olzmann. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
Driftwood Press. Adrift Short Story Contest. Fiction. $30 fee. First Prize: $500, publication, 5 anthology copies. Judge: Kelly Link. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
Swan Scythe Press. 2025 Poetry Chapbook Contest. Poetry. $18 fee. Prize: $200, publication, and 25 author copies. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Jerboa Lit. 500 Flash Fiction Contest. Fiction. $25 fee. First Prize: $1,000. Deadline: June 27 – 29, 2025.
Western Connecticut State University MFA. 2025 Housatonic Book Awards. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. $25 fee + processing. Prize: $1,000 honorarium & $500 travel stipend. Deadline: July 18, 2025.
Orison Books. 2025 Best Spiritual Literature Awards. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. $12 fee. Prize/genre: $500 and publication. Judges: Yehoshua November, Athena Dixon. Deadline: August 1, 2025.
Last Syllable. Book Awards in Poetry & Prose. Published full-length & chapbook-length books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry. $25 fee. Prize: $1,000, travel expenses, and headlining feature in the PLNU MA in Writing program’s Visiting Writer Series. Deadline: September 1, 2025.
Willow Springs Books. Spokane Prize for Short Fiction. Fiction. Entry fee. Prize: $2,000 and publication. Deadline: October 1, 2025.
Where to Submit Roundup: June 13, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: June 6, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: May 30, 2025
