NewPages Guide to Writing Contests
In the NewPages Guide to Submission Opportunities, find announcements of new and current writing contests, book contests, magazine contests, chapbook contests, broadside contests, and more. Looking for general calls for submissions from literary magazines, anthologies, presses and more? You can find them here.
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Writers Over 50: 2024 Passager Poetry Contest
Extended Deadline: April 30, 2024
Passager, a nonprofit literary press for writers over 50, is accepting submissions for its annual poetry contest. The winning poet receives $1000, publication of several poems and a featured interview in the upcoming issue of Passager journal. Honorable mentions are published. The reading fee includes a 1-year subscription to Passager. Send up to 5 poems, a cover letter, bio, and $20 reading fee. Full guidelines at passagerbooks.com. Passager seeks diverse voices that disrupt stereotypes about aging and celebrate the creativity and passion as we age. Writers of color are encouraged to submit.
Swan Scythe Press Announces its 2024 Poetry Chapbook Contest!
Deadline: June 15, 2024
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2024 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2023 winner is Gail Wronsky for Some Disenfranchised Evening. For full guidelines, visit www.swanscythepress.com and swanscythepress.submittable.com/submit.
The 2024 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize Judged by Cole Swensen
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Loraine Williams Poetry Prize, judged this year by Cole Swensen, is an award for a single poem to be published in The Georgia Review. The winner will receive an honorarium of $1,500. Submissions to be considered must be sent in on Submittable by May 15 at 11:59pm EST or by regular mail postmarked by that time. All submitted poems will be considered for publication. For more information and entry requirements visit our website. thegeorgiareview.com/the-loraine-williams-poetry-prize/
Submit Your Poetry to the Cow Creek Chapbook Prize
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Cow Creek Chapbook Prize is a poetry chapbook contest brought to you by Pittsburg State University. We’re open to all styles and subjects. As long as the poems challenge and capture the imagination, we want to see them. The winning poet will receive $1,000 and 25 author copies. The 2024 contest opens February 15 and closes May 15. This year’s judge is Traci Brimhall. Submit your chapbook at www.cowcreekchapbook.org.
International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition! Prize: $1000 and Publication.
Deadline: July 1, 2024
Small presses have potential for significant impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take this responsibility quite seriously. It is our responsibility to give marginalized groups the opportunity to establish literary legacies that feel rich and vast. Why? To sustain hope for the world to become a more loving, tolerable, and open space. It always begins with art. That is why we have launched the 2025 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. We would love for you to enter your manuscript! Prize: $1000 and publication in 2026. www.vineleavespress.com/international-voices-in-cnf.html
Driftwood Press Contest Deadlines Incoming
Deadline: July 15, 2024 (Adrift contests); Year-round (general submissions)
Driftwood Press is happy to share a plethora of submission opportunities for writers and artists! Our Adrift Short Fiction & Poetry Chapbook Contests, in which every work submitted is considered for publication as winner or runner-up, is ending soon! For our yearly print anthology, we are looking for poems, short stories, comics, and visual art that will wow our readers, accepted as both contest and normal submissions. We are a paying market, and our published writers also get to take part in bespoke interviews about their work! Driftwood is also on the hunt for amazing book-length titles to grow our catalogue, so if you have a novella, poetry collection, comic collection, or graphic novel manuscript, we would love to read it! Visit us here for our Submittable page, and we encourage you to follow us on social media (@driftwoodpress) to learn about even more submission opportunities!
2024 Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry
Deadline: May 15, 2024
The Ghost Peach Press Prize in Poetry seeks a full-length poetry collection of 48-90 pages and offers a cash prize of $1,000 as well as ten copies of the published book. All entries will first be read by Ghost Peach Press’s panel of editors and 2024 guest judge Leila Chatti will choose the winning collection from ten selected finalists. The entry fee of $22 goes entirely to support Ghost Peach Press operations. Further details can be found at ghostpeachpress.com/poetry/.
Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize: Submit Now!
Deadline: May 5, 2024
Leapfrog Press invites you to submit your manuscript to the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize. Winning titles will be published with Leapfrog Press; finalists receive $150 prize; semi-finalists and honourable mentions receive acknowledgement and listing on our website. The prize accepts previously unpublished fiction manuscripts (min 22,000 words) of novels, novellas, and short-story collections, with both adult and YA/Middle-Grade categories. There is a $35 entry fee. The prize is now open and has a closing date of May 5, 2024. More information and a link to submit can be found at leapfrogprize.org/contest/.
2025 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2024
$1,000 advance, publication by Press 53 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection, and 53 copies awarded to an outstanding, unpublished poetry manuscript of approximately 50-120 pages. If a Runner-Up is also selected: $500 advance, publication by Press 53 as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection, and 25 copies. Poet must be 18 or older, living in the US or one of its territories. Press 53 Poetry Series Editor Tom Lombardo will judge. Prizes awarded upon publication. Enter April 1 to July 31 via Submittable or by mail. Winner and finalists announced by November 1. Reading fee: $30. Complete information at www.press53.com/award-for-poetry/.
Goldilocks Zone: $500 plus Publication
Deadline: April 30, 2024
Authors and artists eligible. Sunspot Lit is looking for the perfect combination of craft and appeal. The contest is open to stories, CNF, novel or novella excerpts, artwork, graphic novels, and poems. Literary and genre works accepted. Runners-up and finalists are offered publication. No restrictions on theme or category. Maximum of 2,500 words for short stories or nonfiction, 24 lines for poetry, and 8 pages for graphic novels, scripts, or screenplays. Opens April 1. Closes April 30. Entry fee: $10. Enter as many times as you like through Submittable or Duotrope, but only one piece per submission. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
Baltimore Review Summer Contest
Deadline: May 31, 2024
Baltimore Review Summer Contest – No theme! Flash fiction and CNF. Prose poems. One, two, or three works in a single submission, but no more than 1,000 words total. We want to wonder at how you abracadabra so few words into magic. We want to be amazed and maybe a little jealous of how you do that. $400 awarded in each category. All entries considered for publication, with payment for accepted work at our regular rate. $8 contest fee. Final judge: Kathy Flann. Deadline: May 31. Visit our site, read some of the fine work there, then submit: www.baltimorereview.org.
On the Hunt for $500 Poetry
Deadline: June 15, 2024
The MacGuffin’s Poet Hunt 29 awards a $500 grand prize and publication! Up to two Honorable Mentions also published. Guest Judge Michael Meyerhofer will make the final selections. Entrants receive one copy of the issue containing the selected poems. Send five poems per $15 entry fee. Include a cover page listing your contact info and poem titles. Successive pages should not include personally identifiable information to preserve the anonymous review process. Following the cover page, include your poems, beginning each poem on a new page. Enter via Submittable (themacguffin.submittable.com/submit); to enter by email or post, see full rules at www.schoolcraft.edu/macguffin/poet-hunt-contest.
Force Majeure Flash Contest
Deadline: April 30, 2024
Force Majeure: a great and unexpected power. We’re seeking the best small things in any genre, any form. Flash is: under 1000 words & 5 pages, contains any combination of letters, marks, or images, and is inventive affectively, linguistically, formally. Send creative nonfiction, fiction, hybrids, experiments, dreams, fragments, wild things! $500 in prizes; fee $6, no-fee option; all entries considered for publication; all entrants receive prize issue. Full guidelines: stormcellar.submittable.com/submit/72759/.
$2,100 in Prizes – Flying South 2024 Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction Contest
Deadline: May 31, 2024
$2,100 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2024, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for this year’s contest. There will be three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. In each of the three categories the awards will be $400 for First Place, $200 for Second Place, and $100 for Third Place. Finalists will be awarded publication in Flying South. For full details, please visit our website: www.wswriters.org/flying-south.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
Deadline: May 1, 2024
32nd year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,500 for the best story and $3,500 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $300 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $22. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Mina Manchester. Learn more at winningwriters.com/tomstorynpc24.
LIGHT Magazine Seeks Art, Letters, Stories, & Poetry
Deadline: May 1, 2024
Leaders Igniting Generational Healing and Transformation (LIGHT) is calling for submissions for Issue 4 of LIGHT Magazine, a literary magazine in public health. The spaces and places in our lives play an important role in creating, shaping, and sustaining the quality of our health. What role does, or could, our space- or place-health relationship look like? Can engaging with the identity of our spaces and places help us understand our health? Using art, letters, stories, and poetry, tell us: how might we create healthy spaces and places for all? Prize money (1st: $500, 2nd: $375, 3rd: $125) will be given to the top three contestants of each category. Visit our website to learn more and to submit via Submittable.
New Letters Literary Awards: $2,500 Prize + Publication
Deadline: May 20, 2024
New Letters invites you to submit a short story, essay, or poems to the New Letters Literary Awards. Winners in each genre receive $2,500 and publication in New Letters. All entries are considered for publication and must be unpublished. Winners will be announced mid-September 2024. Essay and fiction entries may not exceed 8,000 words; poetry entries may contain one to six poems. Multiple entries are welcome. For complete guidelines, visit www.newletters.org/submissions.
Paul Nemser Book Prize
Deadline: April 15, 2024
Submit to the Paul Nemser Poetry Book Prize by Lily Poetry Review Books. Open through April 15, 2024. Award of $500 and publication. Previous winners Max Heinegg, Meghan Sterling, and Shari Caplan. lilypoetryreview.submittable.com/submit
The Creative Writing NZ Short Story Prize
Deadline: April 30, 2024
The Creative Writing NZ Short Story Prize is open for international entries until 30th April 2024. Entries can be any theme or genre but must not exceed 3,000 words. They should also be written in English. 1st prize is $1,000, a free creative writing course and publication on our site. Entry fee is $9. The final judge is Lucie Brownlee. Find all the details here.