These are contests, grants and fellowships for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and journalism, with prizes up to $65,000. A couple of deadlines are in September. – S. Kalekar
INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS
Story Street Writers: Hundred Word Horror fiction contest
This is their first annual Hundred Word Horrorfiction contest. It opens for entries on September 15 and runs through September 30. The submission form will be active during the submission period.
Value: $100; $25 for runners-up
Submission period: 15-30 September 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Camargo Core Program
This residency at Cassis, France is for artists (including writers, playwrights and translators) and scholars/thinkers, to think, create and connect. Applicants should have a publication and/or grant track record. They welcome spouses/partners and dependent minor children. Fellowships span 10 weeks.
Value: €350 per week (€3,500 for 10 weeks), basic coach class travel booked in advance (see guidelines)
Deadline: 1 October 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
Getty Scholar Grants
These are for researchers of all nationalities who are working in the arts, humanities, or social sciences, for established scholars and writers who have achieved distinction in their fields. Recipients can pursue their own projects free from academic obligations and make use of Getty collections. There are three-, six-, and nine-month residencies. The annual theme for this cycle is Repair. Also see the African American Art History Initiative Fellowship on the program page. Also see their FAQ.
Value: $21,500-65,000, residency
Deadline: 1 October 2024
Open for: Established scholars and writers
Details here and here.
Quarterly West Poetry and Prose Contests
Submissions for this poetry and prose (all prose: fiction, non-fiction, hybrid work, and texts that defy categorization) contest are fee-free for all writers on 1st and 2nd of October; after that, they have a fee-free submission option for writers of color through the submission period, which runs until 1st November for poetry, and until a submission cap is reached, for prose. There is a first and a second prize for both poetry and prose categories.
Value: $500 and $200 each, for poetry and prose
Deadline: Fee-free on 1st and 2nd October 2024 for all writers; after that, fee-free for BIPOC writers through the prize submission period (see guidelines)
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
(Quarterly West Magazine is also open to submissions of new media, translations, and book reviews year round – there’s no cash payment for these.)
American Antiquarian Society: Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers
These are fellowships for historical research by the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Massachusetts, for those who wish to produce “imaginative, non-formulaic works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history.” Typically, two Hearst Foundations Fellowships and two Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowships are awarded annually. Fellowship projects may include (but are not limited to) historical novels, documentary films, TV programs, radio broadcasts, plays, screenplays, illustration and other graphic arts, magazine or newspaper articles, and non-fiction works of history for a general audience, either for adults or for children.
Value: $2,000, residency
Deadline: 5 October 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here and here
The Furious Gazelle’s 2024 Halloween Writing Contest
The Furious Gazelle literary magazine wants submissions of Halloween-themed poetry, fiction, short plays, and creative non-fiction. Each writer can submit either one short story (max 3,000 words), one play (up to 10 pages), or up to three shorter pieces (any combination of flash pieces / poems is ok as long as they don’t exceed 3 submissions). Poems shouldn’t exceed two pages; flash pieces should be capped at 1,500 words each.
Value: $50; $5
Deadline: 6 October 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The McGraw Business Journalism Fellowship
The McGraw Fellowship provides editorial and financial support to journalists who need the time and resources to produce a significant investigative or enterprise story that provides fresh insight into an important business, financial or economic topic. They accept applications for text, photo, audio, or short-form video pieces, and they encourage proposals that take advantage of more than one storytelling form to create a multimedia package. This is not a residency Fellowship. All Fellows work from their own offices. It is open to anyone with at least five years professional experience in journalism (you do not have to be a business journalist to apply; many of their many of their previous Fellows have been generalists, or cover beats such as health care, education, environment, corporate accountability or inequality). Freelance journalists, as well as reporters and editors currently working at a news organization or a journalism non-profit, may apply. The application includes a story proposal. Generally, they do not accept book proposals. They consider proposals of interest to U.S. readers from both foreign and American journalists based abroad, as long as the work is published in English in a U.S.-based media outlet. They accept applications twice a year. The deadline to apply for Fall 2024 Fellowships is October 6, 2024. Applications for the Spring 2025 Fellowships will be due March 31, 2025. Also see their FAQ.
Value: Grants of up to $15,000
Deadline: 6 October 2024 (will also consider time-sensitive projects on a case-by-case basis outside of the deadline periods)
Open for: Anyone with at least five years of experience in journalism
Details here.
One Story: Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship
This is for an early-career writer of fiction who has not yet published a book and is not currently nor has ever been enrolled in an advanced degree program – see guidelines. “We are seeking writers whose work speaks to issues and experiences related to inhabiting bodies of difference. This means writing that centers, celebrates, or reclaims being marginalized through the lens of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, illness, disability, trauma, migration, displacement, dispossession, or imprisonment.” Apart from the $2,000 stipend and tuition to attend One Story’s week-long summer writers’ conference, it offers free tuition for all One Story online classes and programming; a full manuscript review & consultation with One Story Executive Editor Hannah Tinti (story collection or novel in progress up to 150 pages/35,000 words). A fiction writing sample of 3,000-5,000 words is part of the submission requirement.
Value: $2,000
Deadline: 9 October 2024
Open for: Early-career writer of fiction (see guidelines)
Details here.
(And, One Story will open for fiction submissions in the Fall; see here. Their One Teen Story Contest for teenagers will open on 27th September; see here.)
Poetic Justice Institute: Editor’s Prize for BIPOC writers
This is a prize for a poetry manuscript. While there is a submission fee for the general category, there is no fee for BIPOC writers. The suggested manuscript length is 50-100 pages (approximate). Apart from the cash prize, the winning volume will be published by Fordham Press.
Value: $1,000, publication
Deadline: 15 October 2024
Open for: Fee-free for BIPOC writers
Details here and here.
Eye Contact Award in Genre Flash Fiction
This is a prize for genre flash fiction by Eye Contact Magazine; for this cycle, they want a romance story of up to 1,000 words. The prize is sponsored by Seton Hill University and its MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction.
Value: “a cash prize (or gift card equivalent) of $250”
Deadline: 25 October 2024
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Preservation Foundation Essay Contest: Travel Nonfiction
They want essays, 1,000-5,000 words, by unpublished writers (see guidelines). They are currently reading for the Travel Nonfiction category – “Stories should be factual and true accounts of a trip taken by the author or a person or persons known by the author.” Please read the guidelines carefully; “contest runners-up and winners are expected to remain on the site for as long as the Preservation Foundation exists.”
Value: $200; $100
Deadline: 30 October 2024
Open for: All unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
The Society of Authors: The McKitterick Prize
This prize is for an author over the age of 40 for a debut fiction novel, published or self-published in the UK, or unpublished. The author must not have had a novel published before, barring works for children. For unpublished manuscripts, submit the first 30 pages.
Value: £4,000, £2,000
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Open for: Debut novelists over 40
Details here.
The Society of Authors: The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Awards
This award is for a short story of up to 5,000 words, published or unpublished. Applicants must have had at least one short story published or accepted for publication.
Value: £2,000, £1,000, £500
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Open for: UK, Ireland, or Commonwealth based authors
Details here.
(The Society of Authors also has other awards, including The Queen’s Knicker Awards for children’s picture books published in the UK; see all of SOA’s prizes here and grants here.)
The Open Notebook Early Career Fellowship Program
This is a global opportunity for early-career science journalists. The fellowship is remote and part-time. Fellows will pitch, report and write four articles for publication at The Open Notebook with the guidance of a mentor who will help shape story ideas, provide reporting and writing guidance, edit final copy, and offer career-development mentoring. Each fellow will receive a stipend. The fellowship is open to early-career science writers with less than three years of regular professional science writing experience. (Internships and student work do not count toward this requirement). Graduate students in the sciences who are interested in science writing are eligible. According to their website, they will open for applications by late September, and the deadline will be 31 October 2024.
Value: $6,000
Application period: Late September 2024 – 31 October 2024
Open for: Early-career science journalists
Details here.
The African Poetry Book Fund: Evaristo Prize for African Poetry
The African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) runs writing contests, and the deadline for the Evaristo Prize is in November. The Evaristo Prize for African Poetry was formerly called the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. It is for poets born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African, and who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published (self-published poetry books, chapbooks, and pamphlets are exempt). These poems, though, may have already been published. Writers need to submit 10 poems exactly, of up to 40 lines each. Only poems written in English can be considered, but they accept poems in translation too. In the case that the winning work is translated, a percentage of the prize money would be awarded to the translator. The submission category for this contest will open on Submittable during the submission period.
Value: £1,500
Submission period: 1 October to 1 November 2024
Open for: African poets
Details here (guidelines).
(See all the African Poetry Book Fund contests here.)
The Commonwealth Short Story Prize
This is a contest for writers from the Commonwealth, see the list of eligible countries here – send a piece of unpublished short fiction, in any genre, of 2,000-5,000 words. They take entries in several languages apart from English, as well as translated stories. There are regional prizes, and an overall winner.
Value: £5,000, regional prizes are £2,500 each
Deadline: 1 November 2024
Open for: Writers in Commonwealth countries
Details here.
Black Mountain Institute: Shearing Fellowship
This is a residential fellowship for emerging and distinguished writers who have published at least one book with a trade or literary press. Apart from the cash stipend, this fellowship includes: a semester-long letter of appointment; eligibility for health coverage; office space in the BMI offices on the campus of UNLV; free housing (fellows cover some utilities) in a unique and vibrant arts complex in the bustling district of downtown Las Vegas. While there are no formal teaching requirements, this is a working fellowship (see guidelines).
(They are associated with the International Cities of Refuge network, which serves as an umbrella organization and information clearinghouse for local asylum programs worldwide, which has a great resources page for artists at risk.)
Value: $46,500 over 9 months, residency
Deadline: 1 November 2024
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
This is an award for 12 emerging fiction writers for their debut short story published during a given calendar year in a literary magazine or cultural website. Submitted stories must be published in the calendar year prior to the corresponding awards ceremony (see FAQ – scroll down on the guidelines page).
Value: $2,000 each
Deadline: 1 November 2024
Open for: Debut published short stories
Details here and here.
Bennington College Young Writers Award
This is an international contest for young writers, and the categories are poetry (a group of three poems), fiction – a short story (1,500 words or fewer) or one-act play (run no more than 30 minutes of playing time), and nonfiction – a personal or academic essay (1,500 words or fewer). There are first, second, and third prizes in each of the three categories. Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington, ranging from $10,000 to $15,000 each year (see guidelines).
Value: $1,000, $500, $250 each in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry categories, and scholarships
Deadline: 1 November 2024
Open for: Students in 9th to 12th grades or secondary school (for international students)
Details here and here.
John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellowship
This is a cash award and a two-week residency at the Mission Hill Casitas in Tucson, Arizona. Writers with any type of literary project are welcome to apply, as are scholars working on Updike criticism. Multimedia projects will also be considered. A proposal and writing sample are part of the application (see guidelines).
Value: $1,000, residency
Deadline: 1 November 2024
Open for: All writers
Details here (scroll down for the Tucson Casitas Fellowship – the page also has details of all grants, scholarships, and awards by the John Updike Society.)
BONUS: Writers Omi Residency
This residency is at Ledig House, a couple of hours north of New York City. It has an impressive alumni list, including Booker, PEN/Faulkner Award and Commonwealth Prize winners. Guests may select a residency of one week to two months; about ten writers at a time gather to live and work in a rural setting overlooking the Catskill Mountains. There is no cash award. They also have a translation lab. Published writers and translators can apply. The application deadline is 15 October 2024. Details here.
BONUS: The Young Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
This is a prize for young UK writers for two categories, ages 11-15 and 16-19. They want historical fiction of 800-2,000 words. The fiction can be in any form – a story or an extract from a longer work, a poem or drama script, a fictional diary, letters, or reportage. The story can be set at any time in history, as long as it is an identifiable period before the author was born, in a world recognisably different from the present. They want mailed entries only. Winners get a £500 travel voucher, and their work published. The deadline is 31 October 2024. Details here.
(A few contests with later deadlines are:
— Cave Canem: Derricotte/Eady Prize: Their website says, “Since 2015, Cave Canem has collaborated with O, Miami to spotlight exceptional chapbook-length manuscripts by Black poets. The winner of the prize receives a $1000 award, publication of their manuscript by O, Miami Books, 10 copies of the chapbook, a residency in The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel in Miami, and a featured reading at the O, Miami Poetry Festival in April.” They will open for applications on 1st October, and the deadline is 6th November 2024; the Submittable portal will be active during the submission period. Details here. Cave Canem runs other prizes too, see here.
— ServiceScape Short Story Award: For this award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted. All applicants should submit a work of short fiction or non-fiction, 5,000 words or fewer. Read the guidelines carefully – they reserve the right to modify or terminate the contest at any time without prior notice. The winner gets $1,000, deadline 30 November 2024, and it is open for all writers. Details here.
— Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition: This is an international contest for novel manuscripts in the malice domestic genre, for writers who have never been the author of any published mystery novel. “Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story. Whatever violence is necessarily involved should be neither excessive nor gratuitously detailed, nor is there to be explicit sex. The suspects and the victims should know each other. There are a limited number of suspects, each of whom has a credible motive and reasonable opportunity to have committed the crime. The person who solves the crime is the central character. The “detective” is an amateur, or, if a professional (private investigator, police officer) is not hardboiled and is as fully developed as the other characters. The detective may find him or herself in serious peril, but he or she does not get beaten up to any serious extent. All of the cast represent themselves as individuals, rather than large impersonal institutions like a national government, the mafia, the CIA, etc.” The work must be at least 65,000 words. The prize is $10,000 advance against royalties, and the deadline is 30 November 2024. Details here. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition, which has a December deadline.
— One Teen Story Contest: This is a fiction contest for writers ages 13-19 by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest. The contest will open for submissions on 23 September, the deadline is 2 December 2024, and the prize is $500. See this page for details about this prize, and see One Story’s Submittable page for all open calls.)
CONTESTS FOR THE US/CANADA
(US writers should also see the American Antiquarian Society’s fellowships, and Canadian writers should see the awards for Commonwealth writers – the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Awards and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the international section.)
Changes Book Prize
The Changes Book Prize gives a cash award and publication for a poet’s first or second poetry manuscript of 48-96 pages – it is open to US residents who have not published (or committed to publishing) more than one book-length collection of poetry with a registered ISBN.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 1 October 2024
Open for: US residents, for a first or second poetry book
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. They have various deadlines through the year; the next one is in October. The opportunity will likely appear on their Submittable closer to the date. Writers do not have to be PEN members to apply.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline:1 October 2024
Open for: US writers
Details here.
(Some of PEN America’s other initiatives are open now, see their Submittable for details.)
Neal Peirce Foundation Journalism Travel Grants
These grants are for freelance and fully employed journalists to cover under-told stories about ways to make cities and their metro regions work better for all their people. The grants enable journalists to travel to cities within the U.S. to produce one or more stories for publication. And, “Reporters, writers, editors, and photographers working in print, online, radio, television and multimedia are eligible for travel grant awards if they have had stories published or aired in the previous 3 years. We especially welcome applicants early in their journalism careers or from backgrounds underrepresented in today’s news media.”
Value: Up to $1,500; will issue up to 7 grants
Deadline: 7 October 2024
Open for: Freelance and fully employed journalists
Details here and here.
Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship
This is for a poet of American birth, who is willing to spend a year outside the continent of North America. While many recent winners have been published poets, there is no requirement that applicants have previously published their work. Applications have to be mailed. One of the requirements is a poetry sample.
Value: Approximately $74,000 adjusted for inflation; if there are two winners, each will receive the full amount
Deadline: 15 October 2024 (must be received by this date)
Open for: Poets of American birth (see guidelines)
Details here (application instructions), here (FAQ – includes link to application form), and here (home page).
The Academy of American Poets: Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize
This is an opportunity for US poets. The Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize for “exceptional poems that help make real for readers the gravity of the vulnerable state of our environment at present.” Poems could also be submitted in Spanish but must be accompanied by an English translation. Entries must be uploaded to Submittable as .doc, .docx, or .pdf files; and for entries by Performance or Spoken Word poets, most audio formats are accepted. Send one poem.
Value: $1,000; $750; $500
Deadline: 1 November 2024.
Open for: US poets
Details here and here.
(See all of The Academy of American Poets’ prizes here.)
U.S. Naval Institute General Prize Essay Contest
This prize is for an essay of up to 3,000 words on rethinking how Sea Services will have to address national, strategic, and operational challenges in an era of intense global competition, and how they will have to fight – see guidelines for the theme details/suggestions. The contest is open to “all contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians”, according to their guidelines.
Value: $6,000, $3,000, $2,000
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Open for: “All contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians”
Details here.
(They also have a photo contest, with an end-September deadline.)
She Does the City: New Voices Fund
This fund is open to women, non-binary, and transgender writers, who have less than 20 bylines to their name and are Canadian residents, by She Does the City. “The New Voices Fund has been established to offer opportunities to talented writers who’ve not yet been discovered. If you love to write about the arts and entertainment, or have a compelling personal story to share, you’ve come to the right place. Chosen writers will receive a $200 honorarium.” Some of the topics they are interested in are: unique perspectives within Canada’s arts & entertainment industry; creative projects that inspire positive change; strong opinions, or emotional responses, to contemporary art and pop culture (recent films, TV series, plays, books, art exhibits).
Value: CAD200
Deadline: Unspecified
Open for: Emerging Canadian women, non-binary, and transgender writers (see guidelines)
Details here
(Also see She Does the City’s general pitch guide for freelancers here.)
CONTESTS FOR THE UK/IRELAND
(Writers should also seethe McKitterick Prize, the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Awards, and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in the international section.)
The Michael Marks Poetry Award
This is for a poetry pamphlet published or soon to be published in the UK (between 23 September 2023 and 27 September 2024). The judges will take into account the quality of the pamphlet as an object as well as the poetry, but the latter will be of most importance. The winning poet will receive a cash award, and a winner’s residential trip to Greece in association with the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies. Please note, an entry form has to be filled out, copies of the pamphlet must be mailed, and received by the deadline – see rules.
Value: £5,000
Deadline: 27 September 2024 (must be received by this date)
Open for: Poetry pamphlets published/soon to be published in the UK
Details here.
(Also see their prizes for pamphlet illustration and pamphlet publishers, on the Michael Marks Poetry Award guidelines page. They also run an environmental poem prize, the deadline for which has passed.)
The Society of Authors: The Eric Gregory Awards
These are for young UK poets. The work submitted may be a published or unpublished volume of poetry (up to 30 poems), drama-poems or belles-lettres. The prize purse for these awards is unspecified. “Winners may also be given the opportunity to take part in a free residency at Thomas Cottage, part of a historic farmhouse in the Lake District hamlet of Hartsop.”
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 31 October 2024
Open for: Poets who are British nationals or living in the UK/North Ireland aged 30 or under
Details here.
Society of Authors: Strachey Trust Grants This grant fund is open to all UK authors (see guidelines), who wish to access UK-based archives/collections. The author must be working on a specific full-length literary project which has a strong likelihood of publication. The Strachey Trust promotes access to, and availability of, manuscripts of use to historians, biographers, and other researchers, as well as assisting in the tracing of copyright holders.
Value: £500
Deadline: Ongoing
Open for: UK writers
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
