Here are 34 upcoming deadlines for submitting fiction, article pitches, and entering contests. All of these are paid opportunities. The deadlines are through January 3rd, 2022.
Almost all of these were previously listed in Freedom With Writing, or Authors Publish Magazine.
Be sure to subscribe to both publications (for free), so you can get early notifications about opportunities to get published.
Thanks to S. Kalekar for most of the listings in this article.
National Endowment for the Arts’ Translation Project Fellowship is open for submissions
These are for published translators in the US. The fellowship is for the translation of works of prose, poetry, or drama from other languages into English. They encourage translations of writers and of work that are not well represented in English translation. The proposed projects must be for creative translations of literary material into English.
Value: Up to $25,000
Open for: Published translators who are citizens or permanent residents of the US
Details here and here.
Deadline: January 12th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Atlas Obscura is Looking for Pitches
Atlas Obscura is “the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders.” They are looking for pitches for their book, Wild Life. The book is organized into about 8 chapters. Each chapter covers a different biome. They are currently looking for pitches for the Grasslands chapter. They are seeking pitches for entries (300 to 450-word writeups of interesting creatures in that biome); sidebars (700 to 1,000-word pieces that dig deep into broader phenomena); and interviews (500-word interviews with those who interact closely with nonhuman members of that biome). Rate is $350 for an entry, $800 for a sidebar, and $100 for an interview. If interested, send your pitches to wildlife@atlasobscura.com. To learn more, refer to this Twitter thread and this pitch guide.
Deadline: January 12th, 2022
— Fatima Saif
The John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest is open for submissions
This is for US high school students in grades 9 through 12. Essays must describe an act of political courage by a US elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F Kennedy was born. The official may have addressed an issue at the local, state, or national level. Essays should be 700-1,000 words and must quote at least five sources.
Value: $10,000, $3,000, $1,000 each for finalists, $100 each for semi-finalists
Open for: US high school students
Details here (also see tabs on the page for various details)
Deadline: January 14th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Solarpunk Magazine is open for submissions
This is another magazine that’s open for a short period in January. It is a new magazine, and they are reading solarpunk fiction, as well as poetry and non-fiction submissions for Issue 2. They’ve also announced their reading periods for 2022, including for themed issues, on their website. They have extensive guidelines – please read them before submitting.
Reading period: 1-14 January 2022
Length: 500-7,500 words for fiction
Pay: $0.08/word for stories, $40 per poem, and $75 per essay
Details here and here.
Deadline: January 14th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Cosmic Horror Monthly is open for submissions
Cosmic Horror Monthly will open for submissions of Cosmic Horror, Lovecraftian, Weird, and dark science fiction stories, original and reprints, for stories up to 5,000 words; pay is $0.03/word, and submissions will be open from 1st to 14th January 2022.
Deadline: January 14th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Ploughshares is open for submissions
There is a fee to submit online for non-subscribers, but postal submissions are free. They publish creative non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. Also look at their Solos, which accepts longer submissions, and Look2 essays, which are about underappreciated or overlooked writers, living or dead, anywhere in the world – there’s no fee to submit online for Look2 essays.
Length: Varies
Pay: $45/page, up to $450
Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Shenandoah is open for comics submissions; will open for poetry submissions in January
This literary magazine will be open for poetry submissions briefly, during 1-15 January 2022; send 3-5 poems. They read poetry submissions for “for power, surprise, intelligence, big-heartedness, craftiness, mystery, and risky strangeness.” They accept comic submissions all year. They also have submission periods for fiction and nonfiction. Pay is $100/ poem, and $100/1,000 words of prose up to $500. Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest is open for submissions
This magazine publishes work of interest to Jewish women. They like work with both feminist and Jewish content. Submit up to 3,000 words. The deadline has been extended to mid-January.
Value: $250
Open for: All writers
Details here
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
The Hillman Prize for Journalism is open for submissions (+ another grant)
This is for journalists who pursue investigative reporting and deep storytelling in service of the common good. Recipients exemplify reportorial excellence, storytelling skill, and social justice impact. The categories are: Book (bound volumes and ebooks), Newspaper Journalism (story or series/in print or online), Magazine Journalism (story or series/in print or online), Broadcast Journalism (story/series/documentary that has aired on television or radio), Web Journalism (story/series or multimedia that did not appear in print), and Opinion & Analysis Journalism (any medium) – includes all types of advocacy, opinion, commentary and analysis, normally short-form and/or frequent, regardless of medium; open to newspaper and magazine columnists, TV and radio presenters, podcasters, blogs, and bloggers. The US prize is open to all journalists and subjects globally but the work must have been primarily accessible to a US audience; the Canadian prize, too, is open to all journalists and subjects globally but the work must have been primarily accessible to a Canadian audience, and must have been published in Canada.
Value: $5,000 each
Deadline: 15 January for Canadian, 30 January 2022 for US entries
Open for: Journalists
Details here and here
(They also have Labor and Workforce Reporting Grants – they accept pitches on a rolling basis, and grants are up to $5,000.)
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Orion Magazine will soon open for pitches
Orion is a magazine of nature writing, as well as environmental and cultural concerns. Their next window for pitches will open in January. “During this period we’ll be open to pitches for our fall 2022 issue, which will reimagine the nature of our relationship with the land. Send us a few paragraphs describing a story you’d like to write about food, land ownership, or being consumed by the earth.” The pitch window is 1-15 January 2022. Please do not send pitches before 1st January. They do not publish fiction or poetry. Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Early American History is open for submissions
This prize is for an essay on early American history (up to 1826), not previously published, with preference being given to New England subjects. Essays should be 40-60 pages, and can be emailed or mailed.
Value: $2,500
Deadline: 15 January 2022 (postmarked)
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Paper Lanterns is open for submissions
This literary journal is ‘for all things to do with Teen and Young Adult Literature’. They publish flash and short fiction (up to 2,000 words), and poetry. They accept submissions from writers ages 13+ and writers under 16 will receive book vouchers instead of cash payment. Pay is €50 for flash fiction and poetry, and €75 for fiction. Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Ploughshares is open for submissions
Ploughshares literary magazine publishes essays in the Look2 essay series. “This series seeks to publish essays about underappreciated or overlooked writers. The Look2 essay should take stock of a writer’s entire oeuvre with the goal of bringing critical attention to the neglected writer and his or her relevance to a contemporary audience.
The writer can be living or dead and from anywhere in the world (if there are good English translations available). Essays should make note of biographical details that are pertinent to the writer’s work.” Ploughshares also publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry – there is a submission fee to submit work online, but there is no fee for postal submissions. For Look2 essays, there is no fee to submit online. Pay is $45/page, up to $450 for Ploughshares, including for Look2 essays. Details here and here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Adi Magazine is open for political fictions
Their website says this is “a new US-based literary journal rehumanizing policy.” They want short fiction for their winter 2022 issue. “We’re looking for short stories that examine lives impacted by policy and politics. This should be interpreted expansively and imaginatively. Please familiarize yourself with the range and spirit of our archives; Adi tends toward creative, experimental approaches to political writing, with a particular focus on those on the margins and in the global south. … We’re not interested in the drearily righteous; we want stories that unearth new worlds, that plumb interior lives alongside external conflicts, that satirize and fantasize, that disturb, beguile, challenge, surprise, ignite.” They also accept fiction translations/proposals (see guidelines).
Length: Unspecified
Pay: $200 for flash (up to 1,000 words); $500 for stories of 2,500 words or more
Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
The Reinvented Detective anthology is open for submissions
CAEZIK is a new SF/fantasy imprint of Arc Manor Books, an indie publisher, and they are reading submissions for a fiction anthology. Their guidelines say, “As we move forward into the age of information, what happens to our ideas of detection and crime? How do you handle it when your smart car blackmails you or you need to murder the downloaded personality of your enemy? What acts to enforce society’s norms and catch those violating them in the future? Will our definitions of crime — or punishment — change, and what new forms of either might appear?” Among the stories they hope to see are updated tropes like but not limited to the hardboiled detective, the police procedural, or the locked room mystery; kidnapped AIs, stolen memories and identities, virtual crimes vs physical ones; stories that experiment, astonish, and entertain.
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Deadline: January 15th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Jaggery is open for submissions
They publish fiction, essays & interviews, poetry, and reviews, as well as art & photography. The magazine “connects South Asian diasporic writers and homeland writers; we also welcome non-South Asians with a deep and thoughtful connection to South Asian countries, who bring their own intersecting perspectives to the conversation. (By South Asia we mean Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.) Our hope with Jaggery is to create a journal that offers the best writing by and about South Asians and their diaspora”, according to their guidelines.
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction; varies for other genres
Pay: $100 for fiction; $25 for other genres
Details here.
Deadline: January 17th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Discoveries 2022 prize is open for submissions
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 – send the first 10,000 words and a synopsis. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets literary representation.
Value: £5,000
Open for: UK- and Ireland-based women writers
Details here.
Deadline: January 17th, 2022
— S Kalekar
Planet Scumm Magazine is open for submissions
Submissions are open for issue #14 of Planet Scumm magazine, for Fall 2022 – they publish science fiction of all kinds, speculative fiction, weird fiction, and slipstream. Pay is $0.04/word for stories up to 5,000 words, as well as a contributor copy. Details here.
Deadline: January 17th, 2022
— S Kalekar
The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest is open for submissions
This contest is for registered undergraduate full-time Juniors or Seniors at accredited four-year colleges or universities in the US. 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. See guidelines for potential topics and issues.
Value: $10,000, $5,000, $3,000, two prizes of $1,000 each
Open for: Students in the US (see guidelines)
Details here.
Deadline: January 18th, 2022
Learning Pool’s Tall Tales Short Story Competition is open for submissions
This is a story contest for children. Writers ages 7-12 can enter. Their guidelines say, “We are asking you to write a short story of no more than 500 words based on a mythical character of your choice. Whether it’s a shy dragon or a surfing mermaid, a silly werewolf or a scary fairy, we want to read your story. If you’re feeling really creative, send us a picture of your character to bring your story to life.” There are two categories, for ages 7-9 and 10-12 years. Writers have to ask an adult to submit their stories on the contest website. Royalties will be donated to Make-a-Wish International.
Value: £200 for winners in each category, £100 for runners-up
Open for: Writers ages 7-12 years
Details here.
Deadline: January 21st, 2022
— S Kalekar
Curtis Brown Creative’s The New Beginnings Poetry Competition is open for submissions
This prize is for UK- and Ireland-based writers, and it celebrates the launch of their online poetry-writing course. The theme is ‘New Beginnings’, and writers can interpret it as they like. Poems should be up to 40 lines. Entrants must not have previously published a full collection of poetry with a traditional publisher.
Value: £500, online poetry writing course
Open for: UK- and Ireland-based poets
Details here.
Deadline: January 21st, 2022
— S Kalekar
SOHO Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award is open for submissions
This is the 40th anniversary of their playwriting award. They want a play, of at least one hour production time (usually 40 pages, though monologues may be shorter). Musicals and plays with songs are accepted, but will be judged on text alone. Also, “If you’ve never written before, that’s fine by us. What matters is that great stories are told – human, inspiring and urgent stories which can only exist in this moment.”
Value: £7,500, production
Open for: Any playwright who has had fewer than three professional productions and who lives in the UK or Republic of Ireland
Details here.
Deadline: January 21st, 2022
— S Kalekar
Modern Farmer is Seeking Pitches on the Future of Food and Farming
Modern Farmer is a quarterly magazine and website about agriculture and food. They are seeking pitches on the future of food and farming: “We’ve all read about (and perhaps even participated in) urban farming, vertical farming and plant-based meats. But what’s really next for agriculture? What will agriculture look like in 10, 15, 30 years? Will we be farming in Space? What can be grown in Antarctica? Will ancient methods of cultivation become the new standard? Will vegetables be grown in a lab or in the ground?” They are looking for reported features and profiles of 500 to 1,200 words. They will pay CAD $0.50 to $0.66 (USD $0.40 to $0.53) per word. Pitches should be sent to shelby@modfarmer.com. To learn more, refer to their editor’s Twitter thread and this page.
Deadline: January 22nd, 2022
— Fatima Saif
Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize is open for submissions
They want poetry from US poets whose poem best evokes a connection to place. “The prize interprets “place” in many ways: A place may possess historical, cultural, political, or personal importance, and may be literal, imaginary, or metaphorical.”
Value: $1,000
Open for: US poets
Details here.
Deadline: January 22nd, 2022
— S Kalekar