These contests pay from about $100 up to $25,000. None charge an entry fee. There is also a bonus contest at the end with no cash prize, for students. Deadlines are approaching quickly. – S. Kalekar
Douglas B. Rogers Conditions of a Free
Society Essay Competition
This competition is
meant to encourage undergraduate students in the US and Canada to join the
Center for Political and Economic Thought at Saint Vincent College in
discussing themes of Western Civilization such as individual freedom, limited
constitutional government, free market economics, and the philosophical and
moral foundations of America and the West. This year students are asked to
consider a particular passage from Adam Smith’s Theory
of Moral Sentiments and comment on the intellectual origins of
the quotation and its enduring significance for cultivating the virtues necessary
to sustain a free society (see guidelines).
Value: $2,000; $1,000; $500
Deadline: 10 January 2020
Open for: Undergraduate students in the US and Canada
Details here (scroll down).
Verity Bargate Award
This is Soho Theatre’s flagship new
writing award. The winning play will be produced in a full production on their
stages. It is open to any playwright who has had
fewer than three professional productions and who lives in the UK or Ireland.
The play must be no shorter than 60 minutes.
Value: £7,500
Deadline: 10 January 2020
Open for: UK writers
Details here.
Alternarratives
Nesta is an innovation foundation and they have launched a prize for
UK-based writers, for innovation in short-form storytelling. They want writers
to “think beyond the word document and
use all the tools we have at our disposal to tell stories in new and exciting
ways. In its pilot year, the prize will encourage storytellers to imagine how
short-form fiction could help re-engage young people at secondary school, aged
11-16, with the act of reading for pleasure.” Also, “This is a chance for
writers and creatives to consider the future of storytelling and make use of
new technologies or formats.
Proposals should be submitted for work that can be experienced in a conclusive
form within 10 minutes, consumable via a platform that is readily available,
such as a smartphone, tablet or computer. Works do not have to be digital but
we are excluding linear written documents in Word or equivalent. We want to
leave format/platform as open as possible to encourage lateral thinking about
story development.”
Value: £15,000; £1,000 R&D budget for 10
writers
Deadline: 13 January 2020
Open for: UK writers
Details here.
National Endowment for the Arts: Translation Project
Fellowship
These are for published
translators. 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: $12,500 or
$25,000
Deadline: 15 January 2020
Open for: Published translators who are citizens or permanent residents of the
US
Details here.
Walter Muir Whitehill Prize
in Early American History
This prize
is for an essay on early American history (see guidelines), not previously
published, with preference being given to New England subjects. Essays
should be 40-60 pages, and be mailed.
Value: $2,500
Deadline: 15 January 2020 (postmarked)
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
and here.
First Fandom Experience: The Cosmos Prize
Their
guidelines say, “Cosmos was an ambitious serial novel
orchestrated by the staff of Science Fiction Digest (later Fantasy Magazine)
beginning in June, 1933. The story of Cosmos spanned 17 chapters written by 16
different authors. Raymond A. Palmer drafted the plot outline and coordinated
the work of the writers. The young fanzine editor was able to convince many of
the prominent professionals of the day to participate. … The results — not
surprisingly — are a bit of a hash. Still, Cosmos represents an iconic
event in the early history of science fiction fandom, and deserves remembering.
Even more
than remembering, Cosmos deserves a better ending than it got. …
the final chapter utterly failed to capitalize on the potential of the
installments that preceded it. Penned by no-less an esteemed professional as
Edmond Hamilton, the concluding Chapter 17 — Armageddon in Space — seemed to
ignore much of what came before. …. The Cosmos Prize is
our attempt to right (or re-write) an historic tragedy.” Read the rules
carefully. Successful submissions will fit with the overall narrative
of Cosmos, bring the story to a compelling, meaningful, exciting
and/or evocative conclusion, capture the style and sensibility of science
fiction of the 1930s, show originality, coherence and strong expressive force,
and focus on replacing just the last chapter of Cosmos, Chapter 17.
Apart from cash prizes, the winners will also get merchandize.
Value: $300; $100; two prizes of $50
Deadline: 15 January 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Hektoen International Writing Contest:
Blood
They want an essay of under 1,600 words on the subject of Blood. The
contest honors the achievements of the Red Cross, locally, nationally, and
globally. Their guidelines say, “We will consider essays on pioneers in
hematology (such as Herrick, Minot, Murphy, Whipple, or Landsteiner), the
history of venesection, barber surgeons, the use of leeches, and vampires; as
well as historical aspects of blood transfusion, artificial blood, blood
groups, blood preservation and blood banks, blood in surgery, blood diseases
(such as pernicious anemia, sickle-cell disease, thalassemia, leukemias, and hemophilia),
and the history and work of the Red Cross.” Read the guidelines carefully
– submission of an article implies consent to publish in Hektoen
International. Entries must also include at least one image.
Value: $3,000; $800
Deadline: 15 January 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Hillman Prize for
Journalism
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 at least 20 minutes in total package length that has
aired on television or radio), Web Journalism
(story/series that did not appear in print) – open to blogs, photojournalism,
and other multimedia projects as well as text, 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. There is a Canadian
Hillman Prize and a US Hillman Prize – the US prize is open to all journalists
and subjects globally but the work must have been primarily accessible to a US
audience in 2019.
Value: $5,000 each
Deadline: 15 January for Canadian, 30 January 2020 for US entries
Open for: Journalists and bloggers
Details here.
Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize
This
prize is for the publication of a full-length poetry manuscript by an emerging
Latinx poet in the US. Applicants must neither have published, nor
committed to publish a book-length collection of poems (48 pages of poems or
more) with a registered ISBN, either in the US or abroad. There is no
restriction on theme or style. Manuscripts must be between 48 and 100 pages.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 15 January 2020
Open for: Emerging Latinx poets in the US
Details here.
Letras
Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize
This prize supports the publication of a second or third full-length
book of poems by a Latinx poet. The manuscript should be 48-100 pages.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 15 January 2020
Open for: Latinx poets living in the US
Details here.
The John F Kennedy
Profile in Courage Essay Contest
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 five finalists, $100 each for eight
semi-finalists
Deadline: 17 January 2020
Open for: US high school students (see here)
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 2019 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. See guidelines for potential topics and issues.
Value: $5,000, $2,500, $1,500, two prizes of $500 each
Deadline: 21 January 2020
Open for: Students in the US
Details here.
The Puchi Award
This is an award for a book manuscript. Their guidelines say, “The competition is open to books in any genre or form: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, novels, comics, picture books, essays, cookbooks, geography books, combinations of the above or any other type imaginable. We’re looking for one-of-a-kind book, or even a whole new kind of book.” Works may be written in any language, although a provisional translation into English of at least two pages must also be submitted. Writers can send as many works as they wish, as well as collaborative works (see FAQ).
Value: €8,000 advance
Deadline: 23 January 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Keats-Shelley Prize and the Young Romantics Prize
This is a contest on Romantic themes. For the Keats-Shelley Essay Prize, adult writers should respond creatively to the work of the Romantics; essays of up to 3,000 words may be on any aspect of the lives of the Romantics and their circles. There is also a poetry prize, which has an entry fee. For the Young Romantics Prize, poets aged 16-18 should submit poetry on the theme of Songbirds. For the Young Romantics essayist prize their guidelines say, “‘The world should listen now as I was listening then.’
PB Shelley (sort of)
How can the poetry
of PB Shelley and/or John Keats help us in our current climate crisis?
Your answer can take whatever form you choose: a literary critical essay, a
political comment piece, a polemic for your personal blog. But the article
should be no shorter than 750 words and no longer than 1000.”
Value: Total prize purse of £5,000
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: All poets and writers
Details here and here.
The Gollancz and Rivers of London BAME SFF Award
This is a new prize to support British BAME writers. Submit either a short
story, or the opening of a novel, of 5,000-10,000 words. Stories should be in
the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Apart from a cash prize, the
winner also gets mentoring and critique.
Value: £4,000, £2,000; £500 for five runners-up
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: British BAME writers
Details here.
BBC
International Radio Playwriting Competition
This is
for playwrights living outside the UK. There are two prizes, for those with
English as their first language and those with English as their second
language. Plays must be about 53 minutes long (9,000-10,000 words), and have 6
central characters. Entrants can enter individually or as part of a group.
Value: Two prizes of £2,500 each
and a trip to London
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: All writers living outside the UK (see guidelines)
Details here.
Arundel Festival Theatre Trail Writing Competition
This is an international playwriting contest. Plays should be between 30
and 40 minutes long, with practicable casting, props and effects and a maximum
of five performers. Writers living in the UK have to submit a hard copy,
overseas writers can send their plays by email.
Value: £250 for winning script; £200 for other
successful playwrights
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Imagine Little Tokyo
Short Story Contest
This is a short story contest
run by the Little Tokyo Historical Society in Los Angeles. Stories must use
Little Tokyo as a cultural setting, capturing the “spirit and sense” of the
historical neighbourhood, and can be set in the past, present, or future.
Stories can be in Japanese (5,000 ji or fewer) or English (up to 2,500
words). There are three categories: Youth (under 18s), Japanese, and English.
Value: $500 in each category
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Jerry Jazz Musician
Short Fiction Contest
This is the magazine’s 53rd short story
contest. Readers of this magazine are interested in music, social history,
literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the
counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. While the writing should
appeal to a reader with these interests, stories can be on any theme. Stories
should be up to 3,000 words, but up to 4,000 words will be considered.
Value: $100
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Caine Prize for African Writing
This is for a published short story
by an African writer (see guidelines), of 3,000-10,000 words. Submissions have
to be made by publishers only. Works published in translation are also
eligible. Works received after the deadline will be put forward to the next
year’s prize.
Value: £10,000, and £500 and travel expenses for up to five short-listed
candidates
Deadline: 31 January 2020
Open for: African writers
Details here.
Bonus:
Nick Kristof Win-a-Trip Contest
There is no cash prize for this contest, but this is a
great opportunity for students. Undergraduate and graduate university students
in the US are invited to apply for The New York Times 2020 Win-a-Trip contest with
two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof. The winner will
join him on a reporting trip to a country or region facing development
challenges. Their guidelines say, “In no more than 700 words, explain why we should pick you for
Win-a-Trip. Tell us about yourself and what you would bring to the reporting
and to readers.
You may also suggest where we should go and what you would like to write about for the NYT, and/or discuss your aspirations and what you would like to be doing in 10 years.”
Value: Reporting trip to a developing country/region
Deadline: 7 January 2020
Open for: US students
Details here and here.
Neukom Institute Literary Arts Awards
There are three awards; two for published/contracted books, and one for playwrights. Playwrights have to write to a prompt: What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world? Plays that have received full production are not eligible. The book awards are for speculative fiction and debut speculative fiction. Books published this year, up to 31 December 2019 are eligible.
Value: $5,000 each
Deadline: 31 December 2019
Open for: All playwrights, and writers with published speculative fiction works
Details here.
Tratts Fiction Award
This is for a short story manuscript by an
American writer. Writers must not have had a short story collection published
previously though individual stories may have been published in magazines
or anthologies. The manuscript length is 160-275 pages. There is no entry fee
this year.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 31 December 2019
Open for: US writers
Details here.
Shepton Mallet Snowdrop
Festival: 2020 Poetry Competition
This poetry contest does not
charge an entry fee for entrants aged up to 11 years and 12-17 years. There is
an entry fee for older poets. The theme of the contest is Snowdrops or the work
of James Allen (see rules for details).
Value: £70 for poets aged 12-17; £50
for poets up to 11 years
Deadline: 31 December 2019
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Stories of the Nature of Cities Prize for
Flash Fiction: City in a Wild Garden
They want short stories of up to
750 words, set in the present or future (near or far) and inspired by the
phrase ‘City in a wild garden’. Writers do not have to literally use this
phrase in their stories and may interpret liberally any of the words in the
phrase: city, wild, and garden. Their guidelines say, “Plot elements must
include cities, nature, and people. It has to be fiction (that is, a story, not
an essay)—any genre, from science fiction to magical realism—and can be about
anything: climate change; food security; utopias; wild nature; a love story; …
anything. … we are very interested in imagining cities in which nature and
people co-exist, cities in which the relationships between the human-made and
the natural are imagined differently.”
Value: $2,000; two
prizes of $1,000 each; three prizes of $500 each
Deadline: 1 January 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Fourteen Hills: Stacey
Doris Memorial Poetry Award
This is a poetry contest – send one poem of 3 to
10 pages. Their guidelines say, “Stacy Doris was a poet, translator, and
an Associate Professor in San Francisco State University’s Department of
Creative Writing, where she taught for ten years. … Doris created new worlds with
her unexpected poetics. Following upon her spirit of creative invention,
engaging wit and ingenious playfulness, discovery in construction, and radical
appropriations based on classical forms, pastiche, etc., and love, the Stacy
Doris Memorial Poetry Award is given to a poet with a truly inventive spirit.”
Works that do not win will be considered for publication in Fourteen Hills.
Value: $500
Deadline: 1 January 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Northern New England Review
Raven Prize in Creative Nonfiction
This creative non-fiction prize is for writers
living in the US – preference will be given to writers with a connection to
northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont). They want a true
story, imaginatively told, in up to 3,000 words.
Value: $500
Deadline: 1 January 2020
Open for: US writers
Details here.
Martha Heasley Cox
Center for Steinbeck Studies: Steinbeck Fellowships
These
are fellowships to help
writers complete a book project. Up to six Steinbeck Fellows are selected each
year from disciplines including fiction, creative non-fiction, biography,
drama, and Steinbeck studies.
Value: $15,000,
residency at San José State
University
Deadline: 2 January 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Minotaur Books: The
Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest
This
is for US and Canadian writers, for a first novel (manuscript) of mystery – in
which a serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story, and the emphasis
is on the solution rather than the details of the crime – of approximately
60,000 words. The story’s primary setting must be one or more
of the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico,
Oklahoma, Texas and/or Utah. Each manuscript will be assessed based on the
following criteria, weighted as indicated: publishable quality
of manuscript (60%); creativity (20%); and originality (20%). In the event of a
tie, the tie will be broken based on the higher score in the “publishable
quality of manuscript” category. Minotaur is an imprint of St Martin’s Press, which
is part of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance
against royalties
Deadline: 2 January 2020
Open for: US and Canadian writers
Details here.
St.
Martin’s Minotaur/ 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. The writing should be no less than 220 pages, or approximately
60,000 words. Minotaur is an imprint of St Martin’s Press, which
is part of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance
against royalties
Deadline: 3 January 2020
Open for: Unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
Author Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.