May is winding down, and the garden is in full swing—along with the critters who think your hard work is their personal salad bar. While NewPages can’t help you fend off deer, rabbits, or rogue field mice, we can supply a fresh dose of writing inspiration and a bounty of submission opportunities to keep your creative goals thriving.
✨ Heads up! June is just around the corner, and that means new deadlines are blooming. Be sure to check out our freshly updated Big List of Writing Contests—to help you plan your next round of submissions.
Writing Prompt: Deerstruction!
It never fails, does it? You sweat and toil—planting, fertilizing, watering, pruning—only to have your efforts thwarted by a gang of majestic, yet maddening, garden invaders: DEER. Or maybe it’s rabbits. Or field mice. Any adorable pest that turns your hard work into a buffet, razing carefully tended flowers, herbs, shrubs, and veggies to the ground… or yanking up plants with what feels like spite, only to spit them out.
Can you channel that frustration into a poem, story, essay, or hybrid piece? Or maybe it’s a metaphor for the writing process itself: you labor over your words, only to have readers or editors tear through your work in unexpected—and sometimes painful—ways, deconstructing your carefully crafted creation.
Use this prompt to spark something new—and then scroll down to explore this week’s submission opportunities.
Submission Opportunities: 50+ 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.
May 2025
- Black Fox Literary Magazine. Summer 2025 Issue. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | Free | Deadline: May 31, 2025
- Megacity Review. Volume 2. Fiction, nonfiction, art, photography | Fee: $10 | Up to $1,000 award | Extended Deadline: May 31, 2025
- Red Shoe Press. 2026 Oregon Poetry Contest: The Water Around Us | Poetry | Free | Deadline: May 31, 2025 (Oregon residents only)
- Sheila-Na-Gig Editions. AMPLIFY Anthology by BIPOC Poets | Poetry | Free | Deadline: May 31, 2025
- Baltimore Review. Summer Contest (flash fiction, flash nonfiction, prose poetry) | Fee: $8 | Prize: $400 + publication | Judge: Pamela Painter | Deadline: May 31, 2025
- Sunspot Lit. Solar Flare Contest (fiction, poetry, graphic novel, art) | Fee: $5 | Prize: $100 + publication | Deadline: May 31, 2025
- What Book Press. Gronk Nicandro First Book Prize | Fiction, nonfiction | Fee: $25 | Prize: $500 + publication + 50 copies | Deadline: May 31, 2025
June 2025
- Superpresent. Discomfort-Themed Issue (all genres + multimedia) | Free | Deadline: June 1, 2025
- Black Fox Literary Magazine. Spring Fox Tales Prize: Mixed Messages | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | Fee: $12 | Prize: $325 + print pub | Deadline: June 1, 2025
- Salamander. 2025 Fiction Contest | Fiction | Fee: $20 | Prize: $1,000 + publication | Judge: Helen Phillips | Deadline: June 1, 2025
- Poets in the Pines. Made from Midnight Anthology | Fiction, poetry, cross-genre | Free | Deadline: June 6, 2025
- L’Esprit Literary Review. Clarissa Dalloway Prize for Short Prose | Fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre | Fee: $10 ($15 expedited) | Prize: $500 + publication | Deadline: June 8, 2025
- Gold Man Review. Issue 15 | Fiction, nonfiction, poetry | Free | Deadline: June 15, 2025 (West Coast residents only)
- Nobody’s Home: Modern Southern Folklore. Nonfiction, interviews, reviews | Free | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- Philly Poetry Chapbook Review. Poetry | Free | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- Boudin. 2025 Flash Fiction Chapbook Contest | Fee: $15 | Prize: $1,000 + 25 copies + AWP signing + McNeese Review inclusion + 3-yr subscription | Judge: Roxane Gay | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- Catamaran Literary Reader. Poetry Prize for West Coast Poets | Fee: $45 | Prize: $1,000 + book publication | Judge: Mary Szybist | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- The MacGuffin. Poet Hunt 30 | Poetry | Fee: $15 | Prize: $500 + publication | Judge: Darrel Alejandro Holnes | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- The Tusculum Review. Fiction Chapbook Prize | Fiction | Fee: $20 | Prize: $1,500 + publication | Judge: Jaime Cortez | Deadline: June 15, 2025
- Burnside Review Press. Chapbook Contest | Poetry | Fee: $15 | Prize: $200 + chapbook + 10 copies | Deadline: June 30, 2025
- Jerboa Lit. 500 Flash Fiction Contest | Fiction | Fee: $25 | Prize: $1,000 | June 27–29, 2025
July 2025
- #Ranger. Issue 11 | All genres + multimedia | Free | Deadline: July 15, 2025
- Bellevue Literary Review.
- Felice Buckvar Prize (Nonfiction) | Fee: $20 | Prize: $1,000 + publication | Judge: Nicole Chung | Deadline: July 1, 2025
- Goldenberg Prize (Fiction) | Fee: $20 | Prize: $1,000 + publication | Judge: Joan Silber | Deadline: July 1, 2025
- John & Eileen Allman Prize (Poetry) | Fee: $20 | Prize: $1,000 + publication | Judge: Joan Silber | Deadline: July 1, 2025
- Orison Books. Orison Chapbook Prize | Fee: $15 | Prize: $300 + chapbook | Deadline: July 1, 2025
- Driftwood Press.
- Adrift Chapbook Contest (Poetry) | Fee: $25 | Prize: $750 + publication + 20 copies | Judge: Matthew Olzmann | Deadline: July 15, 2025
- Adrift Short Story Contest (Fiction) | Fee: $30 | Prize: $500 + print copies | Judge: Kelly Link | Deadline: July 15, 2025
- WCSU MFA: Housatonic Book Awards. All genres | Fee: $25 + processing | Prize: $1,000 honorarium + $500 travel stipend | Deadline: July 18, 2025
September & Beyond
- 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
- DuFrank Lit. Fiction | Free | Submissions reopen July 1 | Deadline: September 30, 2025
- Kings River Review. Fall 2025 Issue (all genres + art) | Free | Must be a 2-year college student | Deadline: October 15, 2025
- Orison Books. Best Spiritual Literature Awards | Fee: $12 | Prize: $500 + publication | Deadline: August 1, 2025
- Willow Springs Books. Spokane Prize for Short Fiction | Entry fee | Prize: $2,000 + publication | Deadline: October 1, 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)
- 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
- 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 3, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: September 26, 2025
Where to Submit Roundup: September 19, 2025
