These are contests/grants/fellowships for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, up to $50,000. They are divided, very roughly, by geography. Most of the deadlines are in April, while a couple of the deadlines are in March. – S. Kalekar
INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS
A Public Space Writing Fellowship
“Writers who have not yet contracted to publish a book are invited to apply to the 2024 Writing Fellowships. Submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are welcome. Three fellowships will be awarded.” The fellowship aims to “seek out and support writers who embrace risk in their work and their own singular vision.” One of the submission requirements is a writing sample; one unpublished piece (for prose, a limit of 6,000 words; for poetry, up to 15 pages). If selected, the submitted manuscript is the piece that will be published in the magazine.
Value: $1,000, mentorship, other non-cash prizes
Deadline: 31 March 2024
Open for: Writers who have not yet contracted to publish a book with a US publisher (see guidelines)
Details here and here.
Terrain.org Editor’s Prize
This magazine focuses on place, climate, and justice. They publish fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by all writers, and pay a minimum of $50. Also, “All accepted submissions by writers of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and/or other marginalized communities whose contributions explore place particularly in the context of social, environmental, or climate justice are considered for our annual Editor’s Prize of $500 per genre.”
Value: $500 each for fiction, non-fiction, poetry
Deadline: 31 March 2024 for general submissions of fiction and non-fiction, general poetry closed (other calls open till later – see guidelines)
Open for: Underrepresented writers (see above)
Details here
The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers
These three-month fellowships are to afford writers uninterrupted time to focus on their work at an apartment in Carson McCuller’s childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. A spouse or companion is welcome. The application includes a writing sample of up to 20 pages.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (scroll down to Academic Opportunities and click on Fellowships).
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
This prize is for humor poetry. Submit a poem of up to 250 lines.
Value: $2,000 and a two-year subscription to Duotrope; $500; $250; 10 prizes of $100 each
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Open for: All poets
Details here.
The Mike Resnick Memorial Award
This award is sponsored by Galaxy’s Edge magazine and Dragon Con. They want a science fiction story by a new writer (who has not been paid a per-word rate of 6 cents a word or more or received a payment for any single work of fiction totaling more than $50). Send stories up to 7,499 words. Writers do not need to be members of Dragon Con.
Value: $250, $100, $50
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Open for: New writers
Details here (scroll down), here, and here.
The Hurston/Wright Crossover Award
This is a non-fiction award, and is open for Black writers only who have never published a book. It “honors probing, provocative, and original new voices in literary nonfiction. Named after the most common dribbling move in basketball, the Crossover Award, aims to highlight an unconventional winner who writes across genres and can effectively crossover between writing styles and techniques. The name also speaks to the potential of the award winner to transition from obscurity to the spotlight. This award will celebrate one writer who contributes a unique perspective to the literary nonfiction landscape.” Send up to 20 pages of literary non-fiction. Submissions may be stand-alone essays or excerpts from a book in progress.
Value: $2,000, other non-cash prizes
Deadline: 2 April 2024
Open for: Unpublished Black writers
Details here. (Their Submittable has other opportunities listed too, please be sure to submit to the correct category.)
Fabula Press Short Story Competition
This is a fiction contest; they want stories of 2,500-7,000 words. Regarding the kind of stories they want, they say, “There is no theme to the contest. We are not picky about genre either. What we are looking for is exceptional writing, so a Chekovian piece of truth and drama, a Poesque tale of horror, or a work of science fiction in the nature of Connie Willis’ Firewatch hold a similar appeal for us. Chick Lit, Young Adult, and Hard Science Fiction do not work for us, though, given the nature of the anthology.” They have a fee-free submission window, and they also have paid submissions (see guidelines). Please see their note about anthology inclusions for both free and paid entries.
Value: $500, $250, $100
Deadline (for fee-free submissions): 3 April 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here, here, and here.
Bacopa Literary Review Writing Contest
This is an international contest, and writers can submit to one category. Apart from prizes in fiction, creative nonfiction, and flash fiction, they have three poetry prizes: formal poetry, free verse poetry, and visual poetry. Please see the guidelines for submission requirements in the category you wish to submit. They also request for works on the Censorship theme, though they will accept works on any theme.
Value: $200, $100 in each of the six categories
Deadline: 4 April 2024
Details here and here.
Casa Africa: Purorrelato micro-story contest
They have two contests for those writing in English; Purorrelato, a micro-story contest, with a deadline in April, and an essay contest, with a deadline in May. For their micro-story contest,they want stories that are related to Africa in some way. Stories can be in Spanish, English, French or Portuguese, with a maximum length of 1500 characters (not words) including spaces and excluding the title.
Value: €750, €375, €225
Deadline: 16 April 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
(See all of Casa Africa’s awards/contests here.)
International Women’s Media Foundation Grants
International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) has several grants/awards for women and non-binary journalists; some of them are open now, including (but not limited to) the international Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship for women, non-binary, and gender non-confirming journalists committed to human rights and social justice reporting (deadline 21 April 2024); international Howard G. Buffet Fund for Women Journalists (rolling deadline); and US-based Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender People (rolling deadline).
Value: Varies
Deadline: Varies
Open for: Women and non-binary journalists
Details here.
(Click on IWMF’s Opportunities and Awards tabs on this page for more.)
Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grants
Grants of $40,000 each will be awarded to writers of creative non-fiction books – projects that were under contract with a publisher in the US, UK, or Canada. It is intended for multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing, after significant work has been accomplished.
Value: $40,000 each
Deadline: 23 April 2024
Open for: Projects that were under contract with a publisher in the US, UK, or Canada
Details here.
The Baen Fantasy Adventure Award
They want stories in all fantasy genres and pay $0.08/word for work up to 8,000 words. “It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open, e.g. epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, etc.”
Value: $0.08/word
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation: Author of Tomorrow Award
This international contest is designed to find the adventure writers of the future. Writers must enter a piece of short fiction. The work must fall within what can be defined as adventure writing (see guidelines). There are three categories: for writers ages 16-21, 12-15, and under 11.
Value: £1,000 in the 16-21 group, £250 in the 12-15 group, £100 in the under-11 group
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: All writers ages 21 and under
Details here.
Preservation Foundation Contest: Non-fictional Animal Stories
This is an international contest for unpublished writers (see guidelines). Their upcoming deadline is for the non-fiction animal stories category: “Stories should be factual and true accounts of an encounter or encounters by the author with a wild animal or animals. These include, but are not limited to, birds, fish, butterflies, snails, lions, bears, turtles, wombats, etc., as long as it is not a pet.” Entries should be 1,000-5,000 words. They want all entries, regardless of whether or not they win, to be on their website as long as the Foundation exists (see guidelines). Also see contests in other genres, which will have deadlines later in the year.
Value: $200, $100
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: Unpublished writers
Details here.
New England Crime Bake: Al Blanchard Award
This is a short story award. Their guidelines say it must be a crime story, of up to 5,000 words, by a New England author or have a New England setting if the author is not from New England (the New England states are Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island). The story may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, and horror. (No torture/killing of children or animals.) Apart from the cash award, the winner also gets publication in Level Best Books’ Crime Fiction anthology, and admission to the Crime Bake Conference (conference attendance is not a requirement).
Value: $100
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
CNO Naval History Essay Contest – Professional Historian
This is an international contest. Their website says, “The CNO invites entrants to submit essays that apply lessons from throughout naval history to solving today’s Navy challenges.” See guidelines for details on the theme. Essays have to be up to 3,500 words. This contest is open to: US and international professional historians (including history museum curators, archivists, history teachers/professors, persons with history-related doctoral degrees; authors of books on naval history (not including self-published works); civilians who have published articles in an established historical or naval journal or magazine.
Value: $5,000, $2,500
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: See above
Details here and here.
(They invite essays for various other prizes as well – see this page for an overview, and this page links to all their contests.)
Waterston Desert Writing Prize
This prize is for a proposed book of literary non-fiction that illustrates artistic excellence, sensitivity to place, and desert literacy – with the desert both as subject and setting. Writing samples about deserts and natural settings are more likely to be reviewed favorably. Apart from the cash award, there is also a residency at PLAYA at Summer Lake and a reading and reception at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.
Value: $3,000, residency
Deadline: 1 May 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
CINTAS Foundation: Fellowship in Creative Writing for Cuban Writers
This is a creative writing fellowship for writers having Cuban citizenship or direct lineage (having a Cuban parent or grandparent). Applications can be in English or Spanish; one of the submission requirements is a writing sample (see guidelines). Fellows who are not U.S. citizens and who are living abroad must provide a U.S. taxpayer identification number when they accept the fellowship to receive payment. The foundation also offers fellowships for other disciplines (click the ‘Fellowships’ tab on the page).
Value: $25,000
Deadline: 1 May 2024
Open for: Writers having Cuban citizenship or direct lineage
Details here.
Casa Africa: Essay contest
They have two contests for those writing in English; a micro-story contest, with a deadline in April, and an essay contest, with a deadline in May. Their essay contest is on the theme of intra-African immigration; “The vast majority of African mobility takes place between the borders of the African continent itself. Although many people associate the term migrations with citizens of the neighbouring continent and an irregular, dramatic arrival in Europe, in precarious boats or by jumping the fences of Ceuta or Melilla, African citizens usually prefer to move within their own countries, normally in circular migration processes in the heat of labour and economic opportunities.” They invite submissions from academics and experts. Essays, of 15,000-20,000 words, can be in Spanish, English, French or Portuguese.
Value: €2,000
Deadline: 2nd May 2024
Details here.
(See all of Casa Africa’s awards/contests here.)
A couple of contests with later deadlines:
— ABA Journal / Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction: This is a fiction contest for US writers (see guidelines). The ABA Journal is the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. Send a story of up to 5,000 words that illuminates the role of the law and/or lawyers in modern society. The prize is $5,000, and the deadline is 15 May 2024, details here.
— Drue Heinz Literature Prize: This is for previously published writers of short fiction (see guidelines), and the submission period is 1 May-30 June 2024. The prize is for a short story collection, or for two or more novellas, and the award is $15,000. Details here, here, and here (Submittable – the link for this prize will open on 1 May).
FOR WRITERS IN THE US AND CANADA
(Also see the Hurston/Wright Crossover Award for Black writers, International Women’s Media Foundation Grants – they have some grants for US-based journalists; Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grants; New England Crime Bake: Al Blanchard Award; CNO Naval History Essay Contest,and all their contests; CINTAS Foundation Fellowship in Creative Writing for Cuban writers; and ABA Journal / Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction. All are in the international section, above.)
Maya Angelou Book Award
This award, for US writers, is for a work has demonstrated a commitment to social justice. It is for books published in 2023, or scheduled to be published until November 2024. The award alternates between poetry and fiction, and for this cycle, books of fiction (both novels and short story collections) are eligible. Entrants must be available for a two-week reading tour at partnering educational institutions in Missouri (see guidelines). Entries have to be made by publishers only, not writers.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Open for: US writers
Details here.
PEN America: US Writers Aid Initiative
This is intended to assist fiction and non-fiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists. To be eligible, applicants must be based in the United States, be professional writers, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation. Various deadlines are listed for 2024, and the next one is 1st April. Other deadlines are in July and October. Writers do not have to be PEN members to apply.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline:1 April 2024
Open for: US writers
Details here.
The Great American Think-Off
This is an essay contest for US-based writers. This year the theme is, “Is freedom of speech worth the cost?” Their website says, “The Great American Think-Off is an exhibition of civil disagreement between powerful ideas that connect to your life at the gut level. … People of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to submit an essay of no more than 750 words for a chance to win one of four $500 cash prizes and participate in the live debate to ultimately answer the question, determined by audience vote. … The debate is held each year on the second Saturday in June.
Writers are encouraged to ground their essays in personal experience rather than philosophical abstraction. Each year, four writers will be selected as finalists and invited to debate the question on the second Saturday in June in New York Mills, MN. Costs for winners’ travel, food, and lodging will be covered by the Cultural Center.”
Value: $500 for four writers, and other prizes – see above
Deadline: 1 April 2024
Open for: US-based writers
Details here and here.
Creative Capital Awards
This award is for artists in various disciplines, including literature (including poetry, fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and socially engaged and/or sustainable literature-based practices) and performing arts (includes playwriting). The deadline to send initial proposals (Round 1) is 4th April 2024; “In Round I, you will be asked to provide demographic information; project discipline and sub disciplines; a project title and description; answers to six questions about your project; and a resume and artist website (if applicable) through our application portal.” They also accept proposals from collaborators. They have extensive guidelines. And, “Award amounts range from $15,000 up to $50,000 per project. Creative Capital grants are structured so that the artist(s) may draw down the funds over a multi-year period. Creative Capital plans to award approximately 50 individual artists across a range of disciplines, demographics, and geographic locations.”
Value: $15,000-$50,000
Deadline: 4 April 2024
Open for: US artists (see guidelines)
Details here.
Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships
These are fellowships for US poets laureate. They are for poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions and to support them in creating new work, as well as to enable them to undertake projects that enrich the lives of their neighbors, including youth, through poetry activities. There are some eligibility requirements, including: appointed as an official poet laureate of a state, city, county, U.S. territory, or Tribal nation by a Governor, State Arts or Humanities Council, State Poet Laureate Commission, Tribe President, Mayor, City Council, City Poet Laureate Commission, City Arts Board, County Arts Board, or a city’s public library system; your service as poet laureate, carried out in good community standing, occurring sometime between January 31, 2024 and June 30, 2025; and published one or more full-length poetry collection(s) and/or chapbook(s) or substantial history of public spoken word performances. Some of the submission requirements are a poetry sample, and a description of your proposed civic project(s), including a timeline for the project(s) you would conduct, that engages youth and/or addresses important statewide or local issues.
Value: $50,000 (see guidelines)
Deadline: 8 April 2024
Open for: US poets laureate
Details here and here.
(Also see other awards by the Academy of American Poets on their Submittable here – they have both fee-based and fee-free awards.)
Poetry Foundation: Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships
These grants, which will open for applications in early March, are for US poets ages 21-31 years. Applicants have to register on their online portal. Poets can also apply for alternative formats to submit applications. One of the application requirements is a writing sample, up to 10 pages of poetry. The application period will open on 4th March 2024.
Value: $27,000
Deadline: 15th April 2024 (deadline to apply for alternative formats is 1st April, and deadline to register on the online portal is 8th April – see guidelines).
Open for: US writers
Details here.
(See all of Poetry Foundation’s grants and awards for individuals here. And Poetry Magazine’s Submittable is here.)
Fund for Investigative Journalism Grants
Their regular grants are for articles by US journalists that break new ground and expose wrongdoing – such as corruption, malfeasance, or abuse of power – in the public and private sectors. FIJ encourages proposals written for ethnic media as well as those submitted by journalists of color. “The Fund provides grants for print and online articles, television and radio stories, documentaries, podcasts, and books.” Also, “foreign-based story proposals must come from US-based reporters or have a strong US angle involving American citizens, government, or business; all stories must be published in English, in a media outlet in the United States.”
Value: Up to $10,000
Deadline: 29 April 2024
Open for: U.S.-based journalists or those working on a story with a strong U.S. angle
Details here.
(And, Fund for Investigative Journalism is also accepting applications for “seed” grants for early reporting of $1,000 to $2,500, the deadline is 10 May 2024; journalists must be U.S.-based or working on a story with a strong U.S. angle; details here.)
Sleeping Bear Press: Own Voices, Own Stories Award
This award is for children’s picture book manuscripts written by new authors from historically marginalized groups in the US. “Submitted children’s stories should speak to the authentic experiences and perspectives of BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ communities with the purpose of engaging readers in narratives that reflect underrepresented voices and communities. Consistent with our dedication to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, those stories should both inspire and empower readers. Submissions should be for ages 4 through 10 and may be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Text must come in at under 1,300 words (not including backmatter or ancillary material). Only stories with human protagonists will be considered. … Only projects and authors who have not had a previously traditionally published children’s book will be considered.”
Value: $2,000, publishing contract
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: US writers who are BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+
Details here.
League of Canadian Poets: Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize
This is a poetry prize for Canadian youth; there are two categories, the Junior (grades 7-9) and Senior (grades 10-12), with three prizes in each category. Writers can submit one poem, up to one page long. Homeschooled students are welcome to submit.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: Canadian youth
Details here. (This page also has details of all the League of Canadian Poets’ prizes.)
FOR WRITERS IN THE UK AND IRELAND
(Also see Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grants in the international section, above.)
The Orwell Society/NUJ Young Journalist’s Award
This is an opportunity for young UK-based journalists/those studying journalism in the UK (your birth should be after 1994). Send “an arts review on a subject of your choice (e.g. book, film, play, art exhibition, etc) of no fewer than 600 and no more than 700 words. Your review should include a headline and an indication of the target audience/publication.
OR a column on a political subject of your choice of no fewer than 600 and no more than 700 words. Your column should include a headline and an indication of the target audience/publication.” Also send “a reflection of no fewer than 250 and no more than 300 words, on how your review or column is informed by Orwell’s influence.”
Value: £1,500 for winners, £500 for runners-up
Deadline: 7 April 2024
Open for: Young UK-based journalists
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
