These contests/fellowships are for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and journalism. The awards range from a few dollars and go up to $100,000. A few of the calls are themed. A couple of the deadlines are in April. The contests are divided, very roughly, geographically. – S. Kalekar
INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS
O’Shaughnessy Fellowships and Grants
The O’Shaughnessy fellowships are for people in various disciplines worldwide, including creative ones; this includes writers and journalists. It is “a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. … The Fellowships and Grants aim to support individuals of the highest calibre, working on projects that can positively impact the world. This can mean scientific-technical breakthroughs that propel our understanding of our world; creating art, sculptures, music or any other form of art that moves people and outlasts our lifetime or building tools that can help people.” And, “We only require that you have a strong portfolio of proof of work”. “Fellows receive $100,000 to work on any project they choose with and support from OSV’s network of founders, investors, and experts.” They accept applications as well as nominations. This year, they have also started a sister grants program, which awards $10,000 each. There is no separate application process for the grants program; winners will be selected on the basis of their fellowship application form. The next steps, for shortlisted individuals, will be group discussions and individual interviews (see guidelines). The fellowships were started last year; you can learn more about past fellows and their projects here. They plan to award 10 fellowships and 20 grants each year.
Value: $100,000 each for the fellowships; $10,000 each for the grants
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: Writers and journalists worldwide, as well as people in other disciplines
Details here, here, and here. PRISM International: Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V Short Forms
They want submissions from Canada and across the world. While submissions in most categories are charged, submissions for Black and Indigenous writers are free. They want flash fiction and nonfiction, hybrid forms and experimental work of up to 300 words (including the title).
Value: $500, $150, $50
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Open for: Free entries for Black and Indigenous writers (see Submittable)
Details here.
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.
Bacopa Literary Review Writing Contest
This is an international contest, and writers can submit to one category. Apart from prizes in fiction, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction, 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.
Value: $200, $100 in each of the six categories
Deadline: 2 May 2024
Details here.
Casa Africa: Essay contest
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: 2 May 2024
Details here.
(See all of Casa Africa’s awards/contests here.)
On the Premises Mini Contest
This is a themed contest; they want a story of 25-50 words. “For this mini-contest, tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which a hat of some kind matters to the story. We’re going with the fairly traditional definition of “hat” for this one. Scarves, hijabs, earmuffs, wigs, hoods, and other head coverings do not qualify. I’m going to say that even helmets don’t qualify. Caps are okay; they’re an informal hat. The judges will not care if anyone wears the hat in the story, so that’s up to you.”
Value: $35, $25, $15
Deadline: 3 May 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Singapore Unbound: Singapore Poetry Contest
This is an international poetry contest. They are looking for poems that use the word “interrogation” in imaginative ways.
Value: $300, $200, $100
Deadline: 6 May 2024
Open for: All poets
Details here.
(See all their contests, fee-free and fee-based, here. See Singapore Unbound’s submission call for Asian writers here.)
Pulp Asylum Fiction Contest
The editor wants drabbles for this contest (stories of exactly 100 words, not counting the title or byline). “The theme for this contest is rebirth/renewal. Your entry should connect with this theme in some way. For this contest, I will be considering drabbles that fall into the following genres: crime, mystery, horror, suspense, fantasy, science fiction, western, or just plain weird.”
Value: $10
Deadline: 15 May 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Dream Foundry Emerging Writers Contest
This is a contest for emerging writers of speculative fiction (it is for writers who are relatively new to paid or incoming-earning publication of speculative short fiction in English; please check detailed eligibility rules on their website). Send a speculative fiction story of up to 10,000 words. They want short speculative fiction only (science fiction, fantasy, weird fiction, etc.); do not send stories that have no speculative element. Submission is via a form on their website.
Value: $1,000, $500, $200
Deadline: 27 May 2024
Open for: Emerging writers of speculative fiction
Details here.
The Irene Adler Prize
The competition is now open to women worldwide, commencing or continuing to pursue a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution in 2024-25. Applications include a 500-word essay on one of these five topics on the website:
— Which story in the news in 2023 impacted you the most and why?
— Write about a place – either human-made or natural – and show why it means a lot to you.
— What do you think our world will look like in 2074?
— Tennis star Billie Jean King said: “Champions keep on playing until they get it right.” Tell a story that exemplifies this statement.
— What motivates you?
The prize is intended to be applied to educational expenses such as tuition fees – please see the rules.
Value: $1,000; two prizes of $250 each
Deadline: 30 May 2024
Open for: Women writers worldwide – see above
Details here (download 2024 submission guidelines and rules).
Speculative Literature Foundation Grants: Older Writers Grant
They have some upcoming reading periods for grants. The one open now is their Older Writers Grant, for a writer who is 50 years of age or older at the time of grant application, and is intended to assist such writers who are just starting to work at a professional level. The writing application sample could be of fiction, poetry, drama, or creative nonfiction, of speculative literature. A writing sample (up to 10 pages of poetry, 10 pages of drama, or 5,000 words of fiction or creative nonfiction — if sending a segment of a novel, novella, or novelette, include a one-page synopsis as well) is part of the application.
Value: $1,000
Application period: 1-31 May 2024
Open for: All speculative fiction writers above 50
Details here.
(They also have other grants application periods coming up later – Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants during July; Working Class Writers Grant during September; Gulliver Travel Research Grant during November; A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian and Diaspora writers in January 2025. Links to all Speculative Literature Foundation grants can be found here.)
Humane Education Network: A Voice for Animals
This is an international essay contest for students in two categories: for 14-15-year-olds, and for 16-18-year-olds. The essay themes include mistreatment of one animal species, the preservation of one endangered species, and more (see guidelines). Participants must currently be attending middle or high school, or be home-schooled, and less than 19 years of age (see guidelines). Entries can be essays, essays with photos, or videos. They have extensive guidelines. Also, “We reserve the right to adjust the number of prizes and the amounts of the prizes based on the entries received.”
Value: Total prize purse up to $5,900
Deadline: 31 May 2024
Open for: All 14 to 18 year old students
Details here.
The Black Orchid Novella Award
This is an international contest for novellas (15,000-20,000 words) that confirm to the tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series (see guidelines). They should focus on the deductive skills of the sleuth. They are not looking for derivatives of the Nero Wolfe series, or the milieu. Submission is via a form.
Value: $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Deadline: 31 May 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here (also download the flyer from here.)
Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
This is an international fiction contest. While the story should appeal to the audience of this magazine, all themes will be considered. Their readers have interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. Ideally, stories should not exceed 3,000 words, but those up to 4,000 words will be considered.
Value: $150
Deadline: 31 May 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Heron’s Nest: Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards
This poetry contest is run by The Heron’s Nest, a quarterly online journal of haiku. Submit up to 2 haiku for this contest.
Value: $200, $100, $50
Deadline: 1 June 2024
Open for: All poets
Details here
Fitzcarraldo Editions: 2024 Novel Prize
This is a biennial international prize for a literary fiction manuscript of at least 30,000 words. The competition is open to published and unpublished writers around the world. Writers based in Africa and Europe should submit to Fitzcarraldo Editions. Writers based in the Americas should submit via New Directions; writers based in Asia and Australasia should submit to Giramondo.
Value: $10,000 advance
Deadline: 1 June 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Africa Institute: Global Africa Translation Fellowship
The fellowship welcomes applications from across the Global South for a grant to complete translations of works from the African continent and its diaspora, into English or Arabic. This is a non-residential fellowship. Projects may be retranslations of old, classic texts, previously untranslated works, poetry, prose, or critical theory collections. The project may be a work-in-progress, or a new project feasible for completion within the timeframe of the grant. Application includes a translation sample.
Deadline: 1 June 2024
Value: $1,000-5,000
Open for: Translators in the Global South
Details here.
Defenestration.net Short Story Contest
They want a short story which should include an incident of defenestration – the art or –ism of throwing people out of windows. This need not be literal. Their team defines such an incident as follows – “a sudden, immediate, even violent shift, change, or seismical event between the beginning and the end.” There will voting by four judges for this contest, with fan voting counting as an additional judge vote.
Value: $75, two runner-up prizes of $30 each
Deadline: 2 June 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Poetry Bulletin Submission Fee Support
This is a confidential, poet-to-poet fee support for “Poets who cannot otherwise afford to submit their manuscripts to publishers. Poets who face barriers of time, access, or energy. Poets who have historically been underrepresented.” They cover submission fees for poetry chapbooks and full-length poetry manuscripts only. They grant a maximum of three submissions per poet.
Value: Submission fee for poetry chapbooks/full length poetry manuscripts
Deadline: Rolling
Open for: See above
Details here.
A couple of contests with later deadlines:
— Soho Theatre – The Verity Bargate Award: This playwriting award is for UK and Ireland based playwrights. They want a play written for the stage. Submissions should be at least one hour in performance time. As a general rule of thumb, 10,000 words will correspond to one hour. Submissions must be unproduced, with a maximum of three rehearsed readings or equivalent development allowed before submission. The winning play will get £8,000, full production, and more. The deadline is 17 June 2024. Details here.
— Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors: This is a climate fiction contest from Fix, Grit’s solutions lab. They want stories of 2,500-5,000 words. “Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world.” They have detailed guidelines on the kind of stories they want, please read them carefully. Additionally, “We are also partnering with Oregon State University’s Spring Creek Project, which will offer the winning writer (or a runner-up, in the case the winner cannot accept) the opportunity to participate in its Environmental Writing Fellowship and Residency, including a writing residency at the Cabin at Shotpouch Creek for the winner to spend up to four weeks in residence to continue their climate writing project. The Fellow will receive a $3,000 honorarium from Spring Creek Project.” The prizes for the short story contest are $3,000, $2,000, $1,000; and $300 each for nine winners. The deadline is 24 June 2024, and it is open for all writers. Details here and here.
— The Fountain Essay Contest: Where is Home – They want an essay on the topic, ‘Where is Home’. See guidelines for details on the theme. Ideal length is 1,500-2,500 words. Also, “There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry.” Please read the terms carefully, any of the entries may be published in any medium, whether or not they win the prize. The prizes are $1,000, $500, $300, two prizes of $150 each, and the deadline is 30 June 2024. Details here and here.
WRITERS IN THE US/CANADA
(Also see the CINTAS Foundation Fellowship for Cuban writers, PRISM International: Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V Short Forms for Canadian and international writers, and Fitzcarraldo Editions: 2024 Novel Prize in the international section above.)
Fund for Investigative Journalism Seed Grants
Fund for Investigative Journalism are accepting applications for “seed” grants for early reporting. Grants are for preliminary reporting for specific projects, and cover early reporting that can lead to full investigative projects. Journalists who receive seed funding can apply for full grants (up to $10,000) once they conduct the preliminary reporting and secure a commitment from a media outlet to publish or broadcast the story. Freelance journalists and those who are not in full-time staff roles at a media outlet can apply. Stories must be investigative in nature (meaning they uncover wrongdoing that was previously hidden or unknown), and journalists must be U.S.-based or working on a story with a very strong U.S. angle.
Value: $1,000-2,500
Deadline: 10 May 2024
Open for: US-based freelance journalists (or those working on a story with a strong US angle)
Details here.
(They have listed all the grant and seed grant deadlines on their website; the Spring deadline for regular grants of up to $10,000 is 29 April 2024; details here.)
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.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 15 May 2024
Open for: US writers
Details here.
Academy of American Poets: James Laughlin Award
This is for a second full-length poetry manuscript by a US poet, contracted by a publisher. Manuscripts have to be 48-100 pages long. Translations and new editions of previously published books are not eligible. Apart from a cash prize, the poet also receives an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.
Value: $5,000, residency
Deadline: 15 May 2024
Open for: US poets (see guidelines)
Details here.
(See all the Academy of American Poets’ prizes here.)
RBC PEN Canada 2024 New Voices Award
This is a prize for new Canadian writers, ages 17 and over. Their website says, “The annual award supports and celebrates emerging talent in Canadian literature. Unpublished writers are encouraged to submit short stories, creative nonfiction, journalism, and poetry.” Please see the contest page for word count and other guidelines. See the jury announcement here. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets mentorship.
Value: CAD3,000
Deadline: 19 May 2024
Open for: New Canadian writers
Details here.
The Bard Fiction Prize
This is an annual fiction prize for young US-based writers. Their website says, “The Bard Fiction Prize is awarded to a promising emerging writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. In addition to a $30,000 cash award, the winner receives an appointment as writer in residence at Bard College for one semester, without the expectation that he or she teach traditional courses. The recipient gives at least one public lecture and meets informally with students.” Also, “To apply, candidates should write a cover letter explaining the project they plan to work on while at Bard and submit a CV, along with three copies of the published book they feel best represents their work. No manuscripts will be accepted.”
Value: $30,000, residency
Deadline: 1 June 2024
Open for: Young US writers
Details here.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN UK AND IRELAND
(Also see Fitzcarraldo Editions: 2024 Novel Prize and Soho Theatre – The Verity Bargate Award in the international section, above.)
The Future Bookshelf: Mo Siewcharran Prize
This is an award for unagented and unpublished BAME writers in the UK. For this cycle, they say, “For 2024, the prize will be hosted by Hodderscape, an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton, and we are looking for fiction writing in the genre of the moment: fantasy.” And, “Entry requirements are a synopsis of the plot of the novel of up to 700 words and no more than 10,000 words from the start of the book to be submitted by 1st May 2024. … The novel must sit firmly in the fantasy genre (this can include romantasy, cosy fantasy, dark academia, epic fantasy, low fantasy, contemporary fantasy, portal fantasy etc.) and is open to books aimed at young adults and adults.” Apart from the cash prizes, there are various non-cash prizes, including a meeting with literary agents. “The winner’s entry will also be taken forward to a Hodder & Stoughton’s acquisitions meeting and considered for full publication with a competitive advance against royalties. Hodder & Stoughton does not guarantee that the winner will be offered a publishing contract.”
Value: £2,500, £1,500
Deadline: 1 May 2024
Open for: BAME writers in the UK
Details here.
RTÉ Short Story Competition
This is a fiction contest from RTÉ Radio 1, for those who live in Ireland, or have an Irish passport. Stories must be 1,800-2,000 words (see rules). All 10 winning/shortlisted stories will be broadcast. Also, “Shortlisted stories will be recorded, published and broadcast exactly as submitted beyond obvious typographical errors, without any opportunity for further revision from you.”
Value: €5,000, €4,000 and €3,000; the other shortlisted authors will each receive €250
Deadline: 10 May 2024
Open for: Ireland-based/Irish authors
Details here, here, here, and here.
Creative Future Writers’ Award
This is an award for underrepresented writers in the UK, for fiction, creative non-fiction (prose up to 2,000 words) and poetry (up to 50 lines). Writers can submit one piece of writing. Apart from cash prizes, winners also get various non-cash prizes, like mentorship. The theme for this year is ‘Reveal’; they also say, “The theme is a creative prompt, not a requirement.”
Value: £75, £50, £25 (more about the prizes here.)
Deadline: 19 May 2024 (postal submissions must be received by 20th May.)
Open for: Underrepresented writers in the UK
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
