Killer Nashville is the premier forum for all literature incorporating mystery, thriller, suspense, or true crime. They are accepting submissions to their annual awards for both published and unpublished works. Winners will be announced at the 2020 writers’ conference on August 22. Learn more…
NewPages Blog :: Writing Contests
Discover writing and book contests from literary magazines, independent publishers, university presses, creative writing programs, and more.
Contest :: Florida Loquat Festival 2020
The Florida Loquat Festival is seeking a page of poetry and prose for its annual writing contests. Work must have loquats as the subject or central theme. There is no fee to submit. Deadline to enter is March 6, 2020. Winner receives $100 and publication. Learn more…
Contest :: First Pages Prize 2020
With writing being embraced or rejected based on first paragraphs, the First Pages Prize has been established to encourage emerging writers. Besides the annual prize, there is also an awards event in Paris, France and year-round inspiration available on their website.
The 2020 Prize is open through February 16 (extended deadline). If writers submit by the normal February 2 deadline, the entry fee is $25. After the 2, the fee goes up to $35.
The prize is open to un-agented writers who must submit the first five pages of a fiction or creative nonfiction manuscript. $2,250 in cash awards, partial developmental editing, plus travel and accommodation to be in Paris, France for presentation events June 9-10.
This year’s judge is the award-winning author Sebastian Faulks, whose latest work Paris Echo was released June 2019.
CANCELLED :: Contest :: Stockholm Writers Prize 2020
The Stockholm Writers Festival is an annual event that takes place each spring in Stockholm, Sweden. They host the Stockholm Writers Prize to give emerging writers the time, space, and inspiration to focus on social-justice themed writing.
This year’s prize is open through Saturday, February 15 11:59 PM Central European Time. The winner receives a seven-day residency in Stockholm, Sweden from May 21 to 27 and $1,000 to be used towards travel expenses. Also included is a 1-1 meeting with an agent and individual feedback from the guest judge.
Writers must submit a creative writing sample (up to 1500 words) and a 1000-word personal statement on how they foresee their writing creating change, why this social justice issue matters to them, and how they can benefit from the residency.
**Updated 2/12/20: Stockholm Writers Festival cancelled this year’s contest and fees have been refunded.**
Iowa Review Announces 2020 Jeff Sharlet Award for Veterans
Literary magazine The Iowa Review hosts the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans. This writing contest is open to U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel. Writing can be in any genre and on any subject.
This year’s contest opens on May 1 and will be judged by Reginald McKnight, author of He Sleeps. The deadline to enter is May 31. First place receives $1,000 and publication in a forthcoming issue of Iowa Review. Second place receives $750 and three runners-up receive $500 each. Check out their site for full guidelines.
You can see the winners of the 2018 contest here: iowareview.org/blog/winners-fourth-veterans’-writing-contest. The 2018 winners were featured in the Spring 2019 issue.
This contest is made possible by a gift from the family of Jeff Sharlet (1942-69), a Vietnam veteran and antiwar writer and activist.
Nimrod Announces New Contest Deadline for Literary Awards
Literary magazine Nimrod has announced a new deadline for their annual Literary Awards. Instead of submissions being accepted through April 30, contest entries are now being accepted January 1 through April 1.
The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry award $2,000 and publication to the first prize winners.
Nimrod accepts both snail mail and online entries. The $20 reading fee includes a one-year subscription. Check out their website for full submission information: artsandsciences.utulsa.edu/nimrod/nimrod-literary-awards/.
Don’t forget to update your calendars, writers!
Updated :: 15th Annual Mudfish Poetry Prize
Literary magazine Mudfish has announced it is now accepting submissions for its 15th Mudfish Poetry Prize. This year’s judge is Erica Jong, American novelist, satirist, and poet.
Mudfish is accepting both snail mail and email entries to the contest. You can submit up to 3 poems for $20. $3 fee for each additional poem.
Mail entries to Mudfish, 184 Franklin St, Ground Fl., New York, NY 10013 or email to [email protected]. Deadline to enter is March 15. On March 5, Mudfish announced they are extending the contest deadline to May 15, 2020.
Winners of last year’s contest, judged by John Yau, can be read in Issue 21 which is now available for pre-order.
Contest :: The Southern Collective Experience Launches Women of Resilience Chapbook Contest
The Southern Collective Experience, home of quarterly literary magazine The Blue Mountain Review, launched a “women only” poetry chapbook contest this past November.
The Women of Resilience Chapbook Contest’s goal is “to highlight not only the struggle, but a way to the light” as “time and again, women have shown tremendous resilience while overcoming hardship, be it personal, marital, financial, parental, medical, addiction, and personal self worth. In fact, the caverns women navigate to ‘find the light’ are often deep, and brutal.”
The deadline to enter the contest is March 31 with winners announced on April 15. First prize is $200 and chapbook publication. The winner will be interviewed in the Summer 2020 issue of The Blue Mountain Review. There is a $25 fee.
The judge of this year’s contest is Melissa Studdard, author of four books including I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast and Six Weeks to Yehidah.
2019 Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction Winner
The featured fiction piece in the Fall 2019 issue of Colorado Review is the winner of this year’s Nelligan Prize for Short Fiction: Bryna Cofrin-Shaw’s “Loss and Damage.”
Joan Silber selected the winner, and says of her selection: “How many writers could turn a conference on climate change into a very smart tale of sexual intrigue? It has ideas (all too rare in fiction), irony so good it’s unexpected, and great characters.”
Pick up a copy of the latest issue of Colorado Review to take in this story and the rest of the quality work inside the issue, or check out the winning piece online.