Contributed by S. Kalekar

The competitions are for stories, poetry, essays, creative non-fiction and translations. Themes are as diverse as critical art writing, first loves, faith, children’s writing, writing on business and free trade, and on dramatic changes in one’s life; one of the major prizes is on translation to and from Arabic. Awards include cash and residencies; one of them also includes a round-trip ticket to Tokyo for the prize ceremony. Prizes are for many demographics of writers, and are for both unpublished and published work. The prize money ranges from $100 to $200,000.

For unpublished work

Yale University Press: David Charles Horn Prize

This prize is for an unpublished full-length play in English. No translations, musicals, adaptations or children’s plays.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 15 August 2017
Open for: All playwrights
Details here.

Literature Wales: Writers’ Bursaries and Mentoring

There are up to 20 fixed-sum bursaries for writers in Wales of £3,000 each, in various categories including one for writers under 25, and five unpublished writers. There are also Support Fund bursaries for writers with disabilities or mobility issues, to help them develop a work in progress. There are also mentoring schemes.
Value: Up to 20 bursaries of £3,000; Support Fund bursaries of £2,000; mentoring schemes
Deadline: 16 August 2017
Open for: Writers in Wales
Details here.

LaSalle Storyteller Award

This is for Washington State-based fiction writers. See guidelines for detailed eligibility and work sample requirements.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 28 August 2017
Open for: Fiction writers in Washington State
Details here.

World Congress of Faiths Essay Award

This award, for UK students, is for a 3,000-word essay titled ‘If one faith is true, does this mean all others are false?’
Value: £300
Deadline: 29 August 2017
Open for: Any undergraduate or postgraduate students at a UK university
Details here.

Lunch Ticket: Diana Woods Award in Creative Non-fiction

They publish creative non-fiction on any subject. Submit a piece of up to 5,000 words.
Value: $250
Deadline: 31 August 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Lunch Ticket: The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts

This award is for a translated work of up to 5,000 words. Include the original work with the translation, and a statement about the translation process.
Value: $200
Deadline: 31 August 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Gulf Coast: The Inaugural Tony Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing

This is for critical writing on art, of up to 1,500 words that is unpublished, or has been published in the last one year.
Value: $3,000; two prizes of $1,000
Deadline: 1 September 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Planet: Essay Competition

This is an essay contest for young writers on any subject by this Welsh magazine; submit a 1,500-2,000 word essay. Mailed submissions only.
Value: £200
Deadline: 1 September 2017
Open for: Writers under 30
Details here.

Cheshire Prize for Literature

The prize is for writing for 7-14-year-old children. Send a prose entry of up to 1,500 words or a poem of up to 100 lines.
Value: £2,000 and runners-up prizes of £750
Deadline: 1 September 2017
Open for: Residents of Cheshire, Warrington, Wirral and Halton including those who have ever lived, worked or studied in the area
Details here.

concīs: Pith of Prose and Poem Contest

This prize is for poems, prose poems, visual poems, flash/sudden/quick fictions, micro-essays or other prose. Up to 250 words of prose/prose poems, or 25 lines of poetry.
Value: $250, $150, $100, $50
Deadline: 1 September 2017
Open for: All writers and poets
Details here.

Japan Foreign Trade Council Essay Competition

Submit an essay on the topic ‘The Ideal Future Free Trade System – Tasks and Solutions’. Essays could be in English (2,000-4,000 words) or Japanese (5,000-10,000 characters). See guidelines for specified format sheet and tips on the essay.
Value: ¥1,000,000 (over $9,000); three prizes of ¥200,000 each; air tickets to Tokyo for the award ceremony
Deadline: 8 September 2017
Open for: All writers, particularly students, young researchers and business people
Details here.

Spruce Mountain Press: Past Loves Day Story Contest

This is for an essay, of up to 700 words, about a first love. The writing could be heart-warming or humorous, and should say how that person’s presence in your life changed you and how you experience the world. Winning stories will be posted on the Spruce Mountain Press website – anonymously, if the author wishes.

Value: $100, $75, $50
Deadline: 17 September 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Princeton University: Hodder Fellowship

This fellowship is for artists, including writers and poets, who show exceptional promise. Fellows spend an academic year at Princeton, and no teaching duties are attached; the fellowship provides them with studious leisure to undertake significant new work. Applicants usually have a first book published. See their guidelines for the writing sample and other requirements.
Value: $81,000, residency
Deadline: 19 September 2017
Open for: All writers; usually writers have had a first book published
Details here.

The Princeton Arts Fellowship

This prestigious fellowship is for early-career artists, including poets, novelists and playwrights. Fellows must teach one course each semester, but can take up an artistic assignment in lieu of a class.
Value: $81,000 per year; two-year residency
Deadline: 19 September 2017
Open for: All writers, except PhD holders from Princeton
Details here.

Real Simple: Life Lessons Essay Contest

Submit an essay, of up to 1,500 words, on this theme: What was the most dramatic change you ever had to make? Write about that one unavoidable change, and how it affected your life, in enduring ways.

Value: $3,000, $750, $500
Deadline: 19 September 2017
Open for: US residents
Details here.

Sunday Times EFG Short Story Awards

This is one of the most prestigious short story competitions in the world. The entry is for one short story, of up to 6,000 words.
Value: £30,000; five prizes of £1,000 each
Deadline: 28 September 2017
Open for: Writers with a publication record of creative writing in the UK or Ireland; see guidelines for details
Details here.

Lee & Low Books: New Voices Award for Authors of Color

Fiction, non-fiction or poetry manuscripts for 5-12-year-olds should address the needs of children of color. Themes could include non-traditional family structures and gender identities. Manuscripts should be up to 1,500 words. No stories with anthropomorphic animal characters. Unagented, hard copy submissions only.
Value: $1,000 and a publication contract; $500 for an Honor Award winner
Deadline: 30 September 2017
Open for: Writers of color resident in the US, who have not had a children’s picture book published
Details here.

Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest

This magazine publishes work of interest to Jewish women. Authors submitting fiction for this contest must remember the magazine’s tagline: “independent, Jewish and frankly feminist.” Submit up to 3,000 words.
Value: $250
Deadline: 30 September 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

Financial Times and McKinsey: The Bracken Bower Prize

This prize is for an essay/feature – a book proposal on the challenges and opportunities for growth by a young business writer. Write an essay or article of up to 5,000 words that conveys the argument, scope and style of a proposed full-length business book; include a description of the structure.
Value: £15,000
Deadline: 30 September 2017
Open for: All business writers under 35
Details here.

American Antiquarian Society: Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers

The Society is calling for applications for visiting fellowships for historical research by creative and performing artists, including writers and children’s writers, poets and journalists who wish to produce works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history. The award includes a stipend and a four-week residency at the Society at Worcester, Massachusetts. Send a writing sample of up to 25 pages.

Value: $1,850 (from which room fee of $500-700 will be deducted if scholars are staying on campus), and residency
Deadline: 5 October 2017
Open for: All writers
Details here.

For published work

Sh. Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding

This award honors translators and acknowledges their role in building bridges between nations and peoples of the world. There are various award categories of a whopping $100,000 each – for translations of work from Arabic to English, English to Arabic, Arabic to French, French to Arabic. There are also achievement awards for translation in specific languages from and into Arabic (Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Persian and Urdu). There is one lifetime achievement award. See guidelines about the nomination process, judging criteria and the periods from which works are eligible.
Value: Various awards of $100,000 each, and some second and third prizes of $60,000 and $40,000 each; one lifetime achievement award of $200,000
Deadline: 31 August 2017
Open for: All translators
Details here and here.

Young Lions Fiction Award

This award is for a novel or a collection of stories, published/to be published between January and December 2017. The book must be for adults.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 8 September 2017
Open for: Any US resident aged 35 or younger
Details here.

The TA First Translation Prize

This is for a debut literary translation into English, published in the UK between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. The entry must be a full-length prose work in any genre.
Value: £2,000, shared between the translator and their editor
Deadline: 15 September 2017
Open for: Books published in the UK – see guidelines for details
Details here.