List Of Writing Contests
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A free list of writing contests for creative writers. These listings are organized by deadline and include themes (if any), entry fees, prizes, and URLs. Advertisers are not affiliated with Writer's Relief.
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| Deadline: | 5/24/2013 |
| Submit to: | Migraine Poetry Contest. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | None |
| First Prize: | Publication. |
| Type: | Poetry (60 lines MAX, no more than 80 characters per line (including spaces and punctuation). Please make special note of the 80 characters per line. This means LINES, not paragraphs.) |
| URL: | Migraine Poetry Contest |
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| Deadline: | 5/24/2013 |
| Submit to: | The Whidbey Writers Emerging Writers Getaway Contest. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $25 |
| First Prize: | Andrea Hurst Literary Management provides a full read/critique, one week retreat to a Smoky Mountains cabin (valued at $2,000), $300 cash prize, and more! |
| Type: | Synopsis (2 pages) and novel query (25 pages MAX) |
| URL: | The Whidbey Writers Emerging Writers Getaway Contest |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | 2013 FIELD Poetry Prize. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $28 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (50 to 80 pages) |
| URL: | 2013 FIELD Poetry Prize |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Baltimore Review. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $10 |
| First Prize: | $300 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (3 poems, 3 pages MAX), short stories, and creative nonfiction (3,000 words MAX). MUST BE on theme of Threes. |
| URL: | Baltimore Review |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Booth Story Prize. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Short stories (500 to 7,500 words) |
| URL: | Booth Story Prize |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Boroughs 2013 Contest. Your submission MUST include a two-paragraph synopsis of your story. Email Address |
| Entry Fee: | None |
| First Prize: | Cover art specifically tailored to the story, a blog tour promoting your novella, a critique by our Editor-in-Chief of a full-length manuscript submissions to Boroughs with a turn-around time of two months, and 75% of the story’s net royalties |
| Type: | Novella (25,000 to 40,000 words) inspired by a song |
| URL: | Boroughs 2013 Contest |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Connecticut Poetry Award, CPS, PO Box 270554, West Hartford, CT 06127 |
| Entry Fee: | $15 |
| First Prize: | $400 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (3 poems MAX, 80 lines MAX) |
| URL: | Connecticut Poetry Award |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Creative Nonfiction, Attn: Sustainability, 5501 Walnut Street, Suite 202, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. Or send online. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $10,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Essays (4,000 words MAX) on the topic of "Sustainability" |
| URL: | Creative Nonfiction |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers. |
| Entry Fee: | $15 |
| First Prize: | $1,500 plus publication |
| Type: | Short stories (12,000 words MAX). Open only to all writers whose fiction has not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000. (No stories intended for child audiences, please.) |
| URL: | Glimmer Train |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | Rannu Fund Award. Submit via email, pasted-in text only. Email Address |
| Entry Fee: | $10 for one entry in *either* fiction or poetry, $15 for one entry in *both* fiction and poetry. |
| First Prize: | $500 per genre |
| Type: | Fiction (7,000 words MAX) and poetry (5 poems, 10 pages MAX). Speculative literature: sci-fi, fantasy, steampunk, cyberpunk, horror, etc. |
| URL: | Rannu Fund Award |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | The Aldrich Press Poetry Book Award. Email Address |
| Entry Fee: | $15 |
| First Prize: | A print publication, 12% royalties off Amazon sales, $200, and 50 free books (a retail value of $700). |
| Type: | Poetry (50 to 130 pages) |
| URL: | The Aldrich Press Poetry Book Award |
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| Deadline: | 5/31/2013 |
| Submit to: | The Backwaters Prize. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $25 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (60 to 85 pages) |
| URL: | The Backwaters Prize |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | Fineline Competition. Mid-American Review, Department of English, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403. Or send online. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $10 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Prose poems, short shorts, and anything in between (500 words MAX) |
| URL: | Fineline Competition |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | Gazing Grain Press Contest. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $16 |
| First Prize: | Publication, 20% of print run, and invitation to read at the 2013 Fall for the Book literary festival in Fairfax, VA (accommodation and travel within the continental United States will be paid). |
| Type: | Poetry (15 to 25 pages MAX). Only feminist poetry. |
| URL: | Gazing Grain Press Contest |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | Pressgang. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $25 |
| First Prize: | $1,200 plus publication |
| Type: | Prose collection (50,000 words/book-length) |
| URL: | Pressgang |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | Robert Pesich, Editor, Swan Scythe Press 1468 Mallard Way, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. |
| Entry Fee: | $17 |
| First Prize: | $200 plus 25 copies |
| Type: | Poetry (20 to 32 pages) |
| URL: | Swan Scythe Press |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, Attn: Writer in Residence, PO Box 2222, Oak Park, IL 60303-2222.
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| Entry Fee: | None |
| First Prize: | A year-long program designed to give writers what they most need in order to create great work: space and inspiration. |
| Type: | Novel |
| URL: | The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park's Writer in Residence |
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| Deadline: | 6/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | Tiferet Writing Contest. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $400 per genre |
| Type: | Poetry (6 poems MAX), short stories, and prose (20 pages MAX). |
| URL: | Tiferet Writing Contest |
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| Deadline: | 6/3/2013 |
| Submit to: | The MacGuffin/Poet Hunt Contest, Schoolcraft College, 18600 Haggerty Road, Livonia, MI 48152 |
| Entry Fee: | $15 |
| First Prize: | $500 |
| Type: | Poetry (3 poems MAX) |
| URL: | The MacGuffin’s National Poet Hunt Contest |
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| Deadline: | 6/15/2013 |
| Submit to: | Aquillrelle Contest. Send via email attachment. Specific email guidelines and how to pay on URL. Email Address |
| Entry Fee: | $5 per poem |
| First Prize: | $1,000 |
| Type: | Poetry (10 to 15 lines per poem) |
| URL: | Aquillrelle Contest |
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| Deadline: | 6/15/2013 |
| Submit to: | Blue Light Press Poetry Prize, 1563 - 45th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122 |
| Entry Fee: | $10 |
| First Prize: | $100 plus 50 copies |
| Type: | Poetry (10 - 24 pages MAX) |
| URL: | Blue Light Press Poetry Prize |
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| Deadline: | 6/15/2013 |
| Submit to: | Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $10 |
| First Prize: | $2,000 plus publication and invitation to awards dinner |
| Type: | Short stories (8,000 words MAX) |
| URL: | Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction |
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| Deadline: | 6/15/2013 |
| Submit to: | Nicole Louise Reid, Editor, RopeWalk Press, University of Southern Indiana, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, IN 47712. Or send online. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $1,000, plus publication and 25 copies |
| Type: | Fiction (45 pages MAX) |
| URL: | RopeWalk Press |
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| Deadline: | 6/15/2013 |
| Submit to: | Southern Poetry Review, Guy Owen Prize, Dept. of Languages, Literature and Philosophy, Armstrong Atlantic State University, 11935 Abercorn Street, Savannah, GA 31419-1997 |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (5 poems, 10 pages MAX) |
| URL: | Guy Owen Prize |
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| Deadline: | 6/30/2013 |
| Submit to: | Drue Heinz Literature Prize, University of Pittsburgh Press, 3400 Forbes Avenue, Eureka Building, Fifth Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 |
| Entry Fee: | None |
| First Prize: | $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. |
| Type: | Short stories (150 to 300 pages MAX), one or more novellas (130 pages MAX); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. |
| URL: | Drue Heinz Literature Prize |
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| Deadline: | 6/30/2013 |
| Submit to: | L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest, PO Box 1630, Los Angeles, CA 90078 |
| Entry Fee: | None |
| First Prize: | $1,000 |
| Type: | Fiction (17,000 words MAX). MUST HAVE fantasy, sci-fi, or horror topics. |
| URL: | L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest |
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| Deadline: | 7/1/2013 |
| Submit to: | BLR Literary Prize. Submission Link |
| Entry Fee: | $15 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (up to 3 poems, 5 pages MAX) or prose (5,000 words MAX) |
| URL: | BLR Literary Prize |
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| Deadline: | 9/30/2013 |
| Submit to: | Thomas Morton Memorial Prize. Online Form |
| Entry Fee: | $10 CAD |
| First Prize: | $600 for poetry, $900 for fiction, plus publication in The Puritan and a prize package of books from various Canadian publishers |
| Type: | Poetry (3 poems MAX) and fiction (12,000 words MAX). |
| URL: | Thomas Morton Memorial Prize |
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| Deadline: | 5/1/2014 |
| Submit to: | Blas Falconer, Acquisitions Editor. Zone 3 Press, First Book Award for Poetry, Austin Peay State University, P.O. Box 4565, Clarksville, TN 37044 |
| Entry Fee: | $20 |
| First Prize: | $1,000 plus publication |
| Type: | Poetry (48 to 80 pages MAX) |
| URL: | Zone 3 Press--First Book Award for Poetry |
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A free list of writing contests for creative writers, compiled and updated regularly by Writer’s Relief. This easy-to-skim writing contest list is developed for all levels of writers. You’ll find competitions for poetry, short stories, flash fiction, personal essays, creative nonfiction, fiction, memoir, novels, poetry collections, chapbooks, books of all kinds, and more. Some of these writing contests are free (no entry fee, aka “no fee contests”) and some of them require an entry fee. Prizes often include publication (online or in print) and also some monetary award. Writers must look into and research these writing contests prior to entering them. We hope you enjoy our free writing contests list, and we encourage writers to share these listings with their friends. Learn how you can advertise your writing contest with us and reach our subscribers.