These are contests, fellowships, and grants for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, and journalism. They’re roughly divided geographically. – S. Kalekar
INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS
African Poetry Book Fund: Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry
It is for poets born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African, and who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published (this includes self-published books if they were sold online, in stores, or at readings. Writers who have edited and published an anthology or a similar collection of other writers’ work remain eligible). Manuscripts have to be at least 50 pages long. Only poems written in English can be considered, but they accept poems in translation too. In the case that the winning work is translated, a percentage of the prize money would be awarded to the translator. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets publication from the University of Nebraska Press.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 1 December 2023
Open for:
Details here (guidelines) and here (Submittable).
(See all the African Poetry Book Fund contests here.)
The London Society: Love Letters to London
This is an international, themed contest, about London. “Tell us why you love this city. Write a Love Letter to London of up to 500 words. Entries are to be around the theme of “Love Letters to London of the Future” and can be about any aspect of London’s past, present or future. It can be reportage, an historical essay, a ‘think piece’, a spot of futurology, a work of fiction, a poem.” There are 4 categories: Aged 11 and under; 12-18 year olds; Open – all other entrants; and Poetry. Entries can have been published elsewhere but must fit the brief and have been written in 2023.
Value: £500, £250, and £100 each for Open and Poetry categories; £500, and 4 runners up prizes of £150 each for 11 and under, and 12-18 categories
Deadline: 1 December 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Ohio University: E.W. Scripps School of Journalism – 2024 Kiplinger Fellowship
This is an international journalism fellowship. “The Kiplinger Fellowship will be held April 14-20 at Ohio University and the Scripps School of Journalism. This upcoming fellowship will focus on the critical reporting topic of Immigration and Migration. If you are a working journalist with at least five years of experience covering this issue, please consider applying. The fellowship is made up of a combination of international and U.S. journalists. Kiplinger will pay all of your lodging and training for the week. We will cover most of your meals and a large percentage of your travel.”
Value: Unspecified; covers training, lodging, meals and some social events + travel stipend
Open for: Journalists in all media
Deadline: 2 December 2023
Details here.
J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards
These awards are given for non-fiction works in progress which deal with a topic of American political or social concern, to aid their completion. Writers must already have a contract with a US-based publisher. One of the application requirements is 50-75 pages from the work in progress. There is no fee for the work-in-progress award. The prizes are run by Columbia Journalism School – they also have other awards, which charge entry fees.
Value: $25,000
Deadline: 7 December 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here
Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition
This is an international contest for crime novel manuscripts, for writers who have never been the author of any published novel in any genre and are uncontracted. The writing should be no less than approximately 65,000 words. Authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance against royalties
Deadline: 15 December 2023
Open for: Unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here
International Women’s Media Foundation: Kim Wall Memorial Fund
This grant is for women or nonbinary journalists with one or more years of professional experience working in news media from anywhere in the world. “The IWMF’s Kim Wall Memorial Fund will provide $5,000 grants to journalists whose work embodies the spirit of Kim’s reporting. The grant will fund women or non-binary reporters covering subculture, broadly defined, and what Kim liked to call “the undercurrents of rebellion.”
Value: $5,000 each
Deadline: 17 December 2023
Open for: Women and nonbinary journalists
Details here.
(See more of IWMF’s programs/grants/awards here.)
The Writers College: My Writing Journey Competition
They want a 600-word piece on ‘The best writing tip I’ve ever received’. The contest is open to writers all over the world.
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Value: AUD200/£100
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Poetry Society of America: The Four Quartets Prize
This is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in America in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book in 2023. Poems in the sequence may have been published in different journals provided that they were published in 2023 and that brought together, they form a complete sequence. The minimum requirement is 14 pages of published poems unified by subject, form, and style. Entire books composed of a unified sequence, however long, are also welcome.Submissions will have to be mailed. Self-published work is not eligible. They have other upcoming awards also, though these have an entry fee, or do not have an application process.
Value: $1,000 for three finalists, an additional $20,000 for the winner
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest
This magazine publishes work of interest to Jewish women. They like work with both feminist and Jewish content. Submit fiction up to 3,000 words.
Value: $300
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here
The Caribbean Writer Prizes
Their website says, “The Caribbean Writer (TCW) has issued a call for submissions for Volume 38 under the 2024 theme: Legacies: Reckoning and Resolve. We inherit the legacies of our those who march before us, if not directly, some other way and so reckoning has become a way of life. Some suggests that what will save us is our resolve.
Contributors may submit works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, essays or one act plays which explore the ideas resonating within the region and its diaspora. The Caribbean should be central to the work, or the work should reflect a Caribbean heritage, experience or perspective.” Submissions are also eligible for various prizes (there is no separate application process): The Canute A. Brodhurst Prize of $600 for best short fiction; The Daily News Prize of $500 awarded to a resident of the US Virgin Islands or the British Virgin Islands; The Marvin E. Williams Literary Prize of $500 for a new or emerging writer; The Cecile deJongh Literary Prize of $500 for a Caribbean author whose work best expresses the spirit of the Caribbean; The Vincent Cooper Literary Prize of $300 awarded to a Caribbean author for exemplary writing in Caribbean Nation Language.
Value: $300-600
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
Kinsman Quarterly: Iridescence Award
This is an award for short stories and poetry by BIPOC authors. “Themes should include the supernatural, extraterrestrial, or the paranormal. Prizes include publication in the Iridescence anthology with cash awards up to $500. … Genres include, but are not limited to, fantasy, folk mythology, science fiction, and the paranormal.”
Value: $500, $250, $100; gift cards for finalists
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: BIPOC writers
Details here.
Meridians: The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award
Meridians is a literary magazine affiliated with Smiths College. This award is for short works – poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and play scripts. “The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award celebrates an author whose work embodies the lyrically powerful and historically engaged nature of Dr. Alexander’s writing. We aim for this award to highlight different forms of knowledge production that emerge from the artistic, political, and cultural advocacy undertaken by women of color nationally, transnationally, and globally.”
Value: $500
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
International Young Theatre Playwriting Contest
This prize is for bold and powerful plays for young audiences (no plays for children or adult audiences, or musicals), written in any official European language. Performance time for Category A is 60-120 minutes; for Category B, 30-60 minutes; for Category C, 10-30 minutes. They accept plays co-authored by more than one writer. The play must be a new and original piece of work. Writers of any age or nationality can enter the contest.
Value: €2,400 for Category A, €1,000 for Category B, €400 for Category C, and other non-cash prizes
Deadline: 31 December 20243
Open for: All playwrights
Details here.
Defenestrationism.net Lengthy Poem Contest
They are reading entries for a lengthy poem, of at least 120 lines and up to chapbook-length (see guidelines). It is best to divide it into parts or sections, though this is not a strict requirement. Poem cycles will be considered. Please note, the shortlisted poems will be posted on the website, which will be followed by fan voting.
Value: $300
Deadline: 1 January 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Leon Levy Centre for Biography: Biography Fellowships
These are four resident fellowships at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, to nonfiction writers working on biographies. preference in the award of fellowships is given to those who have not yet published a biography or received fellowships for the writing of a biography. They also welcome applications from published and accomplished writers who are undertaking their first biography. The Leon Levy Center for Biography does not award fellowships for memoirs, essays, plays, films, or fiction. One of the application requirements is a sample of the proposed biography, a maximum of 2,500 words. (Also see the Sloan Fellowship, given annually to a writer working on a biography of a figure in the field of science or technology.)
Value: $72,000, residency
Deadline: 4 January 2024
Open for: Writers working on biographies
Details here
San José State University: Center for Steinbeck Studies – The Steinbeck Fellows Program
This awards writers of any age and background a $15,000 fellowship to finish a significant writing project. Fellowships are currently offered in Creative Writing (excluding poetry) and Steinbeck Studies; Fellows may be appointed in many fields, including fiction, drama, creative non-fiction, and biography. The creative writing fellowship does not require that there be any direct connection between your work and Steinbeck’s. The emphasis of the program is on helping writers who have had some success but have not published extensively, and whose promising work would be aided by the financial support and sponsorship of the Center and the University’s creative writing program.
Value: Up to 6 fellowships of $15,000 each
Deadline: 5 January 2024
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here
Quantum Shorts Flash Fiction Contest
This is for Quantum-inspired flash fiction. “The challenge for writers is this: craft a story no longer than 1000 words that takes inspiration from quantum physics. The story must also incorporate the phrase “nobody said this was going to be easy”.”
Value: $1,500, $1,000, a People’s Choice prize of $500; $100 for shortlisted stories
Deadline: 8 January 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
FOR WRITERS IN US/CANADA
(Also see The Caribbean Writer Prizes, above.)
The New York Times Newsroom Fellowship Program
Their website says, “It is a yearlong program for up-and-coming journalists that replaced our newsroom’s summer internships in 2019. We believe the fellowship provides superior training, offers greater benefits for participants and our newsroom, and establishes relationships that will pay off for years to come. … The program is designed for journalists with some experience who are early in their careers, including recent college graduates.” Applicants must be eligible to work in the US. The position will be at their New York office, unless otherwise stated (see guidelines). Apart from a reporting fellowship, they have others, including photo editor, visual investigations, and more; see here.
Value: Approximately $79,000 (see here)
Deadline: 1 December 2023
Open for: Early-career journalists eligible to work in the US
Details here.
The Tony Quagliano Poetry Award
This biennial award “recognizes an accomplished poet with an outstanding body of innovative, cutting-edge work pushing the boundaries of poetic craft, such as experimental approaches to form and/or language. This award also recognizes a poet who contributes meaningfully to a literary community. Preference is given to poets with connection to Hawai‘i and/or the Pacific.” One of the submission requirements is 20 pages of poetry, published or unpublished; and writers must have had at least 25 poems published, to qualify. Applicants must be a resident of a US state or territory, and will be judged 75% on quality of published work and 25% on literary community involvement.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 1 December 2023
Open for: US writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest
This contest is for registered undergraduate full-time Juniors or Seniors at accredited four-year colleges or universities in the US in the Fall 2023 Semester. Students are invited to write an essay about an ethical issue they have encountered, and analyze what it has taught them about ethics, and themselves. “What challenges awaken your conscience?
Is it the conflicts in American society? An international crisis?
Maybe a difficult choice you currently face or a hard decision you had to make?”
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 29 December 2023
Open for: US students (see guidelines)
Details here.
The Lyric Magazine: College Poetry Contest
This is a contest open to undergraduates enrolled full time in an American or Canadian college or university. Poems must be original and unpublished, 39 lines or less, written in English in traditional forms, preferably with regular scansion and rhyme. Students can send up to three poems.
Value: $500, $200, $100
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: Undergraduates in an American or Canadian college or university
Details here
The AIIRA Writing Contest: How will AI change the landscape of your career within the next decade?
They want fiction or creative non-fiction (see guidelines), of up to 3,500 words, from US high schoolers. The theme is, “How will AI change the landscape of your career within the next decade?” Their website says, “Think of a career you’d like to have in the future. How might AI technology advance your field and help you perform your job within the next decade? What aspects or duties of your job may become irrelevant due to AI? Describe a day in the life of your job with AI as your new work partner.
Your submission can be either a creative nonfiction essay speculating on the changes your desired career may undergo or a fictional scene depicting what your desired job may look like in ten years.”
Value: $550, $400, $250
Deadline: 31 December 2023
Open for: US high schoolers
Details here and here.
Jack Hazard Fellowship
Their website says, “Jack Hazard Fellows are fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir writers who teach full time in an accredited high school in the United States. We provide a $5,000 award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer.”
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 4 January 2024
Open for:
Details here and here.
FOR WRITERS IN UK/IRELAND
Cove Park Residencies: The Loch Long Crime Writing Residency
Cove Park hosts residencies for artists and writers. Currently, they are accepting applications for the Loch Long Crime Writing Residency, which is a new, fully funded residency for Scotland-based writers developing new work in crime fiction. This two-week residency is scheduled to take place in March 2024. The writer should be developing new work in crime fiction, including but not limited to sub-genres such as psychological or legal thrillers, detective fiction, police procedurals, or private eye. It is for writers who have published, with a traditional publisher, at least one book.
Writers established in other genres but wishing to develop a crime writing project are also welcome to apply.
Value: £1,100 (£550 per week) and a travel allowance of up to £75
Deadline: 4 December 2023
Open for: Scotland-based writers
Details here.
Discoveries 2024
This prize is run by The Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown Literary Agency, and Curtis Brown Creative writing school. It is for UK- and Ireland-based women writers, for a novel-in-progress (adult fiction) – send the first 10,000 words and a synopsis. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets literary representation. There are also non-cash prizes for shortlisted and longlisted writers.
Value: £5,000
Deadline: 8 January 2024
Open for: UK- and Ireland-based women writers
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
