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These are prizes/grants for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays, screenwriting, and journalism, and the awards are up to $20,000. They’re loosely divided by geography. – S. Kalekar
PRIZES OPEN FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
The Orchards Poetry Journal: Grantchester Award
This poetry journal has announced new award. In each issue, two poems will be eligible for The Grantchester Award. Regarding submissions they say, “While we encourage rhymed verse in traditional forms, we also accept finely wrought free verse.” Send up to 3 poems, preferably unpublished.
Value: $50, $30
Deadline: 1 May 2022 for the July issue
Open for: All poets
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 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
CINTAS Foundation: Fellowship in Creative Writing
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. 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 – architecture & design, music composition, and visual arts (click the ‘Fellowships’ tab on top of the page).
Value: $20,000
Deadline: 1 May 2022
Open for: Writers having Cuban citizenship or direct lineage
Details here.
Queer Sci Fi: Clarity
They want to see science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, or horror LGBTQIA stories of up to 300 words on the theme of Clarity. Their guidelines say, “The whole world is murky right now. Covid waves, climate change, and right-wing pollution of our airwaves have made even truth suspect and subject to dispute. What we need most is clarity. Clarity about the world around us and the path forward.
Tell us about clarity in all its forms and the difference it can make on your characters, the culture, and the world, for better or worse.
Value: $75, $50, $25
Deadline: 1 May 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Mike Resnick Memorial Award for Short Fiction
This award is for a science fiction short story, up to 7,499 words, by a new author – one who has not had any work published (including short stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels in paper, digital or audio form) that has been paid a per-word rate of 6 cents a word or more or received a payment for any single work of fiction totaling more than $50. The prize is sponsored by Galaxy’s Edge magazine and Dragon Con.
Value: $250, $100, $50
Deadline: 1 May 2022
Open for: New writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
2022 Parsec Ink Short Story Competition: Hearth, Song, and Table
They want short speculative fiction (up to 3,500 words) on the theme. “The theme for this year is “Hearth, Song, and Table.” We ask that author try and incorporate at least two of the three concepts into their speculative work. While this certainly seems to lend itself to fantasy, we can see many ways to twist the wholesome sounding prompt towards horror. Likewise, with a bit of creative interpretation, there are plenty of science fiction stories to be told with this theme!” There is also a Youth category, for those aged up to 19 years, or currently enrolled in high school.
Value: $200, $100, $50; and $50 for the Youth category winner
Deadline: 1 May 2022
Open for: Non-professional writers (see guidelines)
Details here and here.
Reel One Entertainment: Write a Romcom Competition
Headquartered in Montreal with offices in London and Los Angeles, Reel One is a distributor of commercial television films and series – you can read more about them here. Their contest is for emerging screenwriters worldwide. “We want your fun, romantic and feel-good TV movie ideas for a love story our audiences worldwide are sure to fall for.” There are two stages. For Stage 1, submit a 2-page treatment for your romcom idea; for Stage 2, successful applicants from Stage 1 will be invited to submit an outline. Please read their rules carefully – the Winner Selection section outlines what kind of stories they are looking for; also, the winner must be available to work with their development executives, with the intention of greenlighting to production.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 2 May 2022 (for Stage 1)
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors
This is a climate fiction contest from Fix, Grit’s solutions lab. This is their second annual contest, and they want hopeful cli-fi stories. “Stories must be set anytime between today and the year 2200, and show a path to a clean, green, and just future. We especially want to read — and share — narratives that center solutions from the communities most impacted by climate change and stories that envision what a truly equitable, decolonized society could look like. In 3,000 to 5,000 words, show us the world you dream of building.”
Value: $3,000, $2,000, $1,000; $300 each for nine winners
Deadline: 5 May 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
FIYAH Grants
These are grants for Black writers and editors of speculative fiction; they have a number of grants, of up to $1,000. Applications for the Rest, Craft, and Study grants close mid-May.
Value: Up to $1,000
Deadline: 15 May 2022
Open for: Black writers and editors
Details here.
Roadrunner Review High School Contest
They accept work from students, for the journal as well as their poetry and prose contests. They’re open for their international High School Student Contest, and the winner in each category gets $100 and publication.
Value: $100 in each category
Deadline: 15 May 2022
Open for: High school students
Details here and here.
Singapore Unbound: Singapore Poetry Contest
This is an international poetry contest. “We are looking for poems that use the chiming words “time” and “regime” together or separately in imaginative ways. The words must be used as they are, although different forms of the words (pluralized, adjectival, etc.) may appear elsewhere in the poem. Submissions may be on any theme, but they will be judged for the creative use of the words “time” and “regime,” as much as they will be for overall excellence.”
Value: $300, $200, $100
Deadline: 16 May 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here.
(They also want creative writing for their magazine from Asian writers, and pay $100. They’re open for a fee-based poetry manuscript prize, as well, from Asian writers.)
Bacopa Literary Review Writing Contest
This is an international contest, and writers can submit to one category. Apart from prizes in fiction, creative nonfiction, and humor, 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
Submission period: 25 April-23 May 2022
Details 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 5,000 words will be considered.
Value: $100
Deadline: 31 May 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
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 poetry, fiction, drama, or creative non-fiction, 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 2022
Open for: All speculative fiction writers above 50
Details here.
(They also have other grants application periods coming up, later in the year – Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants during July; Working Class Writers Grant during September; and Gulliver Travel Research Grant during November. Details of all Speculative Literature Foundation grants can be found here.)
The Black Orchid Novella Award
They want novellas (15,000-20,000 words) that confirm to the tradition of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series. They should focus on the deductive skills of the sleuth. Their guidelines also say, “We need to stress that a novella is not a padded short story. A novella needs to be as tight and fast-paced as a short story or a novel. Authors need to ensure that the story they want to tell is properly sized for whatever format they choose.” They are not looking for derivatives of the Nero Wolfe series, or the milieu. They accept mailed submissions only.
Value: $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Deadline: 31 May 2022 (postmarked)
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Owl Canyon Press Essay Contest
This is an international prize for the best essay of at least 2,000 words about some aspect of Marc Jampole’s experimental literary work, The Brothers Silver. Potential topics include but are not to “point of view issues, use of language, relationship to Jampole’s poetry, comparison to other novelists or literary trends, textual readings, social criticism in the novel, images of Judaism and other religions, significance to contemporary literature, and symbolism in the novel. Papers in foreign languages must be submitted with an English translation.” And apart from the cash prize of $5,000, an additional $1,000 will be awarded to the winner if their essay is published in an eligible publication (see guidelines); authors of any other entry published in an eligible publication will receive $300.
Value: $5,000 + potential $1,000; $300
Deadline: 31 May 2022
Open for: All writers
Details 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 on 31 January 2022 The contest is also open for those for whom English is a second language. Entries can be essays, essays with photos, or videos. They have extensive guidelines.
Value: Total prize purse up to $5,900; individual prizes of up to $500
Deadline: 31 May 2022
Open for: All 14 to 18 year old students
Details here.
CNO Naval History Essay Contest – Professional Historian
This is an international contest. Their website says, “The Chief of Naval Operations invites entrants to submit an essay that applies lessons from throughout naval history to establishing and maintaining (US) maritime superiority in an era of great power competition.” See guidelines for details on the theme. Essays have to be up to 3,500 words. This contest is open to: US and international professional historians (including history museum curators, archivists, history teachers/professors, persons with history-related doctoral degrees; authors of books on naval history (not including self-published works); civilians who have published articles in an established historical or naval journal or magazine.
Value: $5,000, $2,500
Deadline: 31 May 2022
Open for: See above
Details here.
(They have essays in various other categories as well: Rising Historian, Coast Guard, and Enlisted Prize – see this page for details.)
PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants
This international grant is to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or drama that have not previously appeared in English in print or have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation. Works should be translations-in-progress, as the grant aims to provide support for completion. The works must be translated into English. Projects may have up to two translators. There are various submission requirements, including a translation sample of 8-10 pages.
Value: $2,000-4,000
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship
This is for an author of children’s or young-adult fiction. The fellowship is for helping writers whose work is of high literary caliber and is designed to assist a writer at a crucial moment in his or her career to complete a book-length fiction work-in-progress. Applicants must have already published one work for children or young adults that was warmly received by literary critics, but whose work has not yet attracted a broad readership.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: Published YA/children’s writers (by a US trade publisher)
Details here and here.
PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History
These grants are for literary works of nonfiction that use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. They are to help maintain or complete ongoing projects. Oral history must be a significant portion of the work and its research. Writers have to send in writing samples and transcripts as part of the application.
Value: Two grants of $15,000 each
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
Atlanta Review: Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets
The Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets solicits poems from college-age students, aged 18-23, on any subject or style. Poems with an international focus are especially welcomed, but all poems must be written in English. Students may submit up to two poems (40 lines or fewer for each poem). A letter of recommendation from a teacher or other person well-acquainted with the student’s writing must accompany the poem(s). The recommendation letter should affirm that these poems are the student’s original work.
Value: $100
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: College-age poets (18-23 years)
Details here.
(They’re also open for another contest, for all writers – it has an entry fee.)
Sapiens Plurum Short Fiction Contest: Inventing Beautiful Futures
Sapiens Plurum conducts an annual short fiction contest, opening on Earth Day of each year. The theme is ‘Inventing Beautiful Futures’: “Even within the harmful elements of nature and society there is an innate potential that can be harnessed into something beneficial or even beautiful. Technology can be the tool or catalyst for that transformation. Tell us a story about how you see this story unfold.
Your story should be consonant with the Sapiens Plurum mission: to inspire us — the first species that can intentionally impact its own evolution — to aspire beyond what was humanly possible.” Submissions should be 1,500-3,000 words.
Value: $1,000, $500, $300
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
The Novel Prize
The Novel Prize is an award for a novel of literary fiction (at least 30,000 words) managed by the three publishers working in collaboration, with Fitzcarraldo Editions reading submissions from Africa and Europe, Giramondo from Asia and Australasia, and New Directions from the Americas. Apart from the cash prize, the novel will get simultaneous publication in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and in North America. The prize rewards novels which explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative in style.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here (and see the publisher/submission links for various regions above).
A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest; this international contest by the greeting card company is open to all poets, and writers can enter as often as they like. The prizes are $350, $200, and $100. The deadline is 30 June 2022.
— The Ann Petry Award; this is for a work of previously unpublished prose, either a novel or a collection of short stories or novellas, with a 25,000-word minimum (approximately 150 pages) by a Black writer. The award is a residency, $3,000, and publication. The deadline is 31 July 2022.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN US AND CANADA
(Also see the CNO Naval History Contest, and the CINTAS Foundation Fellowship in the international section above; and the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, in the UK/Ireland section below.)
Grist: Six fellowships
Grist announced six fellowships for early-career journalists on Twitter, and employees can work remotely from anywhere in the US. “We’re looking for six fellows! These six-month, PAID positions are geared toward early-career journalists located anywhere in the U.S. with a passion for environmental and climate reporting.” They’re looking for an Environment Justice Fellow, a Climate Solutions Fellow, a Data Fellow, an Indigenous Affairs Fellow, a Midwest Fellow, and a News Fellow.
Value: $3,334/month for six months for each fellowship
Deadline: 13 May 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here and here (scroll down).
Fund for Investigative Journalism Grants
They are open for regular grants, and for expedited grants, as well (see guidelines). These are for articles by US journalists that break new ground and expose wrongdoing – such as corruption, malfeasance, or abuse of power – in the public and private sectors. FIJ encourages proposals written for ethnic media as well as those submitted by journalists of color. Also, “To be considered, foreign-based story proposals must come from US-based reporters or have a strong US angle involving American citizens, government, or business; all stories must be published in English, in a media outlet in the United States.”
Value: Up to $10,000
Deadline: 2 May 2022
Open for: US-based journalists and writers; and see guidelines for foreign-based proposals
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 2022
Open for: US poets (see guidelines)
Details here.
ABA Journal/Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction
The ABA Journal is the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. They want short stories (up to 5,000 words) that illuminate the role of the law and/of lawyers in modern society. This contest is for US citizens or legal permanent residents.
Value: $3,000
Deadline: 15 May 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here.
The Irene Adler Prize
The scholarship is for a woman pursuing a degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution in the US or Canada. Applications include a 500-word essay on one of these three topics on the website.
–Which story from your life best illustrates why writing is important to you?
–If you could embark on an adventure anywhere in the world, what would it be?
–What is a mystery that you’d love to solve via your writing?
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 30 May 2022
Open for: US or Canadian citizens
Details here (download 2022 submission guidelines).
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. Various deadlines are listed for 2022, and the next one is 1st June. Other deadlines are in August, October, and December. Writers do not have to be PEN members to apply.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 1 June 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN UK AND IRELAND
Reader’s Digest 100-word Story Competition
They want stories of exactly 100 words. The contest celebrates the 100th anniversary of Reader’s Digest. There are three categories—one for adults and two for schools: one for children aged 12–18 and one for children under 12. Multiple entries are allowed per person. Please note, the winner is chosen by online voting.
Value: £1,000 for the winner in the adult category; book vouchers for winners in the other categories
Deadline: 1 May for adults; 20 May 2022 for children’s categories
Open for: UK writers
Details here.
Creative Future Writers’ Award
This is an award for underrepresented writers in the UK, for fiction (up to 2,000 words) and poetry (up to 50 lines). Writers can submit one piece of writing in one category (poetry or fiction) or one in each category. Apart from cash prizes, winners also get various non-cash prizes, like mentorship.
Value: £100, £75, £50, £25
Deadline: 22 May 2022
Open for: Underrepresented writers in the UK
Details here.
The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting
This is for anyone residing in the UK or Ireland or British Overseas Territory or with a British Forces Post Office address, and some playwrights from other countries. They want a play script of 1 hour or above. Their guidelines also say, “An International Award of £8,000 – open to international playwrights invited to anonymously apply via our named international partners” (see guidelines – the partners are certain theatres in the US, Canada, and Australia). Value: First prize £16,000, Judges’ Award of £8,000, Original New Voice Award of £8,000, an International Award of £8,000
Deadline: 6 June 2022
Open for: UK playwrights; some international playwrights (see guidelines)
Details here.
Faber Children’s: Faber and Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize
This is for undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators. Entrants must be of black, Asian or minority ethnic background and UK- or Ireland-based. For writers, they want a maximum of 5,000 words of text (no minimum word count). Also, “it does not have to be a short story (though those are welcome too!)
We do strongly advise you to complete your work insofar as you can, even if you do not enter the whole manuscript: after the ceremony agents will request the full manuscript, so in order to get the most out of the prize, it is best to have the whole manuscript ready to go.” Entries must be text or artwork for children.
Value: £1,500 each for a writer and an illustrator, and mentorship
Deadline: 17 June 2022
Open for: UK BAME writers
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
