There are 35 contests, grants, and fellowships for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and for journalists and playwrights. The awards are up to $50,000. They are, very roughly, divided geographically. – S. Kalekar
PRIZES OPEN FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers
These three-month fellowships are to afford writers uninterrupted time to focus on their work at an apartment in Carson McCuller’s childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. A spouse or companion is welcome. The application includes a writing sample of up to 20 pages.
Value: $5,000, residency
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
If There’s Anyone Left micro fiction contest
This is a contest for marginalized writers only (people of color, the LGBTQ2S+ community, members of marginalized genders, and disabled and neurodiverse people). They want stories, of up to 500 words – science fiction, fantasy, *punk, horror, as long as it has an element of the speculative.
Value: $250, $100, $50
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: Marginalized writers
Details here.
Alpine Fellowship Prizes: Three prizes for creative writers
Apart from themed Poetry, Writing, and Theatre prizes detailed below, they also have a Visual Arts Prize, and an Academic Writing Prize. The theme for the 2022 symposium is Freedom. Applicants can enter more than one prize in a single year, but it must be with different pieces of work; one piece of work can only be entered once.
— Poetry Prize: This international prize is awarded for poetry on the Freedom theme. Writers can submit one poem or a collection, of up to 500 words. Winners and runners up will be invited to attend the symposium.
Value: £3,000
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here and here.
— Writing Prize: This international prize is awarded for the best piece of writing on the Freedom theme (up to 2,500 words in any genre except poetry), which is the theme of the 2022 Alpine Fellowship Annual Symposium. The winner and two runners-up will be invited to attend the symposium.
Value: £10,000, £3,000, £2,000
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
— Theatre Prize: This prize is awarded for the best play on the Freedom theme. It is aimed at encouraging theatre writers at the start of their careers to explore and challenge philosophical ideas using the dramatic form. Apart from the cash prize, the winner also gets a rehearsed reading at the Fellowship’s annual Symposium to which they will be invited to attend. Runners up will be invited to attend the symposium to exhibit their work. To apply, applicants must send: 1) A treatment of your idea in response to the theme; up to 500 words; 2) A sample of previous work of at least 10 pages; and 3) A 3-4 sample pages of your proposed script or a 1-2 detailed page synopsis of your story. The final piece must be 45 minutes in length and require no more than four actors.
Value: £3,000
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: All playwrights
Details here and here.
2022 ALTA Travel Fellowship
Each year, fellowships are awarded to emerging translators (someone who does not yet have a book-length work of translation published or under contract) to help them pay for hotel and travel expenses to the annual American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) conference. Part of the application requirement is up to 10 pages of translated work (poetry or prose – see guidelines). Among the fellowships is the Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellowship, which is preferentially awarded to an emerging translator of color or a translator working from an underrepresented Diaspora or stateless language. Also see ALTA’s other awards for published works, some of which do not charge a submission fee. Also, “Information about the upcoming conference format, and the format that the annual Travel Fellowships will take, is forthcoming.”
Value: $500-1,000 each
Deadline: 18 April 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here (scroll down).
Whiting Foundation: Creative Nonfiction Grant
Up to 10 grants will be awarded to writers of creative non-fiction books – projects must be under contract with a publisher in the US, UK, or Canada to be eligible. Contracts with self-publishing companies are not eligible. The subjects are history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, the sciences, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, graphic nonfiction, and personal essays, among other categories. It is intended for multiyear book projects requiring large amounts of deep and focused research, thinking, and writing, after significant work has been accomplished. The work should be intended for general, not academic, audiences. One of the application requirements is sample chapters, up to 25,000 words.
Value: $40,000 each
Deadline: 25 April 2022
Open for: Nonfiction books contracted with a publisher in the US, UK, or Canada
Details here and 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.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
This prize is for humor poetry. Submit a poem of up to 250 lines.
Value: $2,000 and a subscription to Duotrope; second prize of $500; 10 prizes of $100 each
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here.
The Fountain Essay Contest: Revival
They want an essay on the topic (post-Covid) ‘Revival’. See guidelines for details on the theme. Ideal length is 1,500-2,500 words. Read the FAQ carefully, any of the entries may be published, whether or not they win the prize.
Value: $1,000, $500, $300; two prizes of $150 each
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Robert Louis Stevenson Fable Competition
This is for writers globally – write a fable in up to 350 words, in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson; and they accept entries from minors as well as multiple entries. See the website for tips and examples of appropriate themes. Please read the guidelines carefully, all entrants grant the Robert Louis Stevenson Club the right to publish any entries. This project supports Scotland’s Year of Stories 2022.
Value: £500, £100
Deadline: 2 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Brilliant Flash Fiction: 2022 Writing Contest
They want a piece of flash fiction of up to 500 words. There is no theme.
Value: $200, $100, $50, $20
Deadline: 15 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
descant: Four prizes
descant is an annual journal published by Texas Christian University. Each year, they offer four awards: the $500 Frank O’Connor Award for fiction (for the best short story in an issue); the $250 Gary Wilson Award (for an outstanding story in an issue); the $500 Betsy Colquitt Award for poetry (for the best poem or series of poems by a single author in an issue); the $250 Baskerville Publishers Award (for an outstanding poem or poems by a single author in an issue. There is no application process or reading fee. All published submissions are eligible for prize consideration. Their current reading period is until 15 April.
Value: Four awards: $500 and $250 each for fiction and poetry
Deadline: 15 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Kingdoms in the Wild annual poetry prize
This is a poetry chapbook contest. They are looking for a manuscript of 15-30 poems from emerging poets.
Value: $250
Deadline: 17 April 2022
Open for: Those who have not yet published a poetry collection (excludes self-published chapbooks)
Details here.
Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation: Author of Tomorrow Award
This international contest is designed to find the adventure writers of the future. Writers must enter a piece of short fiction. The work must fall within what can be defined as adventure writing (see guidelines). There are three categories: for writers ages 16-21, 12-15, and under 11.
Value: £1,000 in the 16-21 group, £100 in the 12-15 group, £100 in the under-11 group
Deadline: 22 April 2022
Open for: All writers ages 21 and under
Details here.
Science Me a Story
This is an international contest which aims to promote the use of short stories as a tool to communicate science to children in a fun and engaging way. The contest has two categories: work in Spanish and in English. The story, real or fictional, must be conceived from the objective of scientific dissemination to primary school children (ages 6-12 years) through the use of the narrative technique, as prose or poem. The topic should be related to science, the scientific method, the research process and scientific discovery, everyday life of a scientist, and others alike. Prose must be 400 to 1, 700 words, and poems, 170 to 1,000 words.
Value: £200, £150, £100 for each category
Deadline: 24 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Keats-Shelley Prize Memorial Association: Two prizes
These are contests of poems and essays on Romantic themes.
— Keats-Shelley Essay Prize: Essays (up to 3,000 words) may be on any aspect of the writing and/or lives of the Romantics and their circles.
— Young Romantics Prize: For the poetry prize, poets aged 16-18 should submit poetry on the theme of ‘Elegy’, of up to 30 lines. For the Young Romantics essayist prize, writers have to choose between two themes/questions on their website, about the Romantics.
“Your response can take whatever form, mood or tone you choose: literary criticism, political commentary, personal essay, opinion piece, the script for a podcast. You can agree or disagree.” Entries must be 750-1,000 words, including quotations.
Value: Total prize purse of £5,000
Deadline: 24 April 2022
Open for: All writers for the Keats-Shelley essay prize; writers and poets ages 16-18 for the Young Romantics prize
Detail here and here.
Ayn Rand Institute: Two contests
These are international essay contests for students centred around Ayn Rand’s works: Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged. All runner-up prizes have more than one winner in each contest and category. The guidelines also say, “All entries become the property of the Ayn Rand Institute and will not be returned. Essays may be reproduced on our website and/or shared with third parties for purposes of marketing the contest.” The deadlines for the contests around Anthem (for 8th to 12th grade) and The Fountainhead (11th and 12th grade) are in April; the deadline for the contest around Atlas Shrugged (for 12th grade, undergraduate, and graduate students) is in September. Writers are to submit an essay on one of three specific topics centred around Ayn Rand’s novels, Anthem and The Fountainhead (click on ‘Topics’ under each for topics, and on ‘Rules’ for length guidelines).
Value: $2,000, $500, $100, $50, $25 for 8th-12th grade/Anthem; $5,000, $1,250, $250, $100, $25 for 11th-12th grade/The Fountainhead
Deadline: 28 April 2022
Open for: All students
Details here.
The Sunlight Press: Creative Nonfiction Contest
They want a piece of creative nonfiction, of 1,000 words or fewer. The contest will open on 1st April; it will close on 30th April, or when they receive 200 entries. (Do not send submissions before the contest entry date.)
Value: $500, $50
Submission period: 1 April-30 April 2022, or until filled
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Coastal Shelf: Two contests
They will be open for two contests with cash prizes starting 1st April; writers can send one fee-free submission for each contest. The FuPo Poetry Contest is for “funny and poignant” poems; and the Ceiling 250 Contest is for very short fiction or prose poetry under 250 words long. The prize is $500 for each contest, and non-winning entries will be considered for the journal, which pays $30. Also, regular submissions to this journal are usually charged, but they have some fee-free periods (they’re reading fee-free submissions for the journal till end-March).
Value: $500 for each contest
Fee-free submission period for contest: 1-30 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Baen Fantasy Award
They want short stories of up to 8,000 words. “It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open, e.g. epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, etc.” They want to see “Adventure fantasy with heroes you want to root for. Warriors either modern or medieval, who solve problems with their wits or with their weapons—and we have nothing against dragons, elves, dwarves, castles under siege, urban fantasy, damsels in distress, or damsels who inflict distress.”
Value: $0.08/word, and other prizes
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Preservation Foundation Contest: Non-fictional Animal Stories
This is an international contest for unpublished writers (see guidelines). Their upcoming deadline is for the non-fiction animal stories category: “Stories should be factual and true accounts of an encounter or encounters by the author with a wild animal or animals. These include, but are not limited to, birds, fish, butterflies, snails, lions, bears, turtles, wombats, etc., as long as it is not a pet.” Entries should be 1,000-10,000 words. They want all entries, regardless of whether or not they win, to be on their website as long as the Foundation exists (see guidelines). Also see contests in other genres, which will open for submissions later in the year.
Value: $200, $100
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: Unpublished writers
Details here
Intrepid Times Travel Writing Competition: Wrong Turns
This is a travel writing contest on the ‘wrong turns’ theme. “Write an original, factual, first-person travel story about a time you made a decision or took a risk while traveling that got you lost, landed you somewhere you didn’t intend, or led to a new discovery, realization, or connection.
Your story should be between 1000 and 1500 words. Editors will be looking for originality, voice, and a satisfying story that captures attention and makes use of imagery to pull the reader along at every step.”
Value: $150; $50
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
New England Crime Bake: Al Blanchard Award
This is a short story award. Their guidelines say it must be a crime story, of up to 5,000 words, by a New England author or have a New England setting if the author is not from New England. The story may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, and horror. (No torture/killing of children or animals.) Apart from the cash award, the winner also gets publication in Level Best Books’ Crime Fiction anthology, and admission to the Crime Bake Conference (though conference attendance is not a requirement). Writers can send up to two stories.
Value: $100
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: All writers
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. (They’re also open for a speculative fiction and poetry anthology until 31st March; the theme is Trianguation: Energy.)
Value: $200, $100, $50; and $50 for the Youth category winner
Deadline: 1 May 2022 for the contest
Open for: Non-professional writers (see guidelines)
Details here and 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.
(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— Fiyah 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 on 15th May 2022;
— Drue Heinz Literature Prize, for previously published writers of short fiction, submission period 1 May-30 June 2022. The prize is for a short story collection, or for two or more novellas, and the award is $15,000.)
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN US AND CANADA
(Non-fiction writers should also see the Whiting Foundation: Creative Nonfiction Grant, and Cuban writers should see the CINTAS Foundation: Fellowship in Creative Writing; both are in the international section above. And US-based poets aged 21-31 years should also keep an eye out for Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, worth $25,800 – these are usually announced in March. A note on their website says the 2022 dates will be announced soon.)
The Great American Think-Off
This is an essay contest for US-based writers. This year the theme is, “2022 Question: Which should be more important: personal choice or social responsibility?” Their website says, “The Great American Think-Off is an exhibition of civil disagreement between powerful ideas that connect to your life at the gut level. … People of all ages and backgrounds are encouraged to submit an essay of no more than 750 words for a chance to win one of four $500 cash prizes and participate in the live debate to ultimately answer the question, determined by audience vote. … The debate is held each year on the second Saturday in June.
Writers are encouraged to ground their essays in personal experience rather than philosophical abstraction. Each year, four writers will be selected as finalists and invited to debate the question on the second Saturday in June in New York Mills, MN. Costs for winners’ travel, food, and lodging will be covered by the Cultural Center.”
Value: $500 for four writers, and other prizes – see above
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: US-based writers
Details here and here.
Maya Angelou Book Award
This award is for a work has demonstrated a commitment to social justice. It is for books published in 2021, or scheduled to be published until November 2022. The award alternates between poetry and fiction, and for this cycle, books of fiction are eligible. Entrants must be available for a two-week reading tour at partnering educational institutions in Missouri (virtually or in person – see guidelines).
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: US writers
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. Various deadlines are listed for 2022, and the next one is 1st April. Other deadlines are in June, August, October, and December. Writers do not have to be PEN members to apply.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here.
The Creative Capital Awards
These are for US-based artists, and they’ll will be accepting applications for different disciplines each year. The cycle for 2023 includes literature (fiction, poetry, non-fiction, genre-defying literary work, and socially engaged and/or sustainable text-based practices). The theme is ‘Wild Futures: Art, Culture, Impact’. The awards are “designed to assist artists who are working at the vanguard of their fields, or who have ideas to propel their artistic practices forward”. They accept proposals from collaborators, as well. They have extensive guidelines. For this cycle they’ll also accept applications for performing arts (including sound and multimedia performance, and more), and technology (including digital art, gaming, interdisciplinary arts, and more). They will award 50 fellowships per cycle.
Value: $50,000 each, and an additional set of services
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: US writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
League of Canadian Poets: Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize
This is a poetry prize for Canadian youth; there are two categories, the Junior (grades 7-9) and Senior (grades 10-12), with three prizes in each category. Writers can submit one poem, up to one page long. Homeschooled students are welcome to submit.
Value: CAD400, CAD350, CAD300
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: Canadian youth
Details here.
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.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN UK AND IRELAND
(Non-fiction writers should also see the Whiting Foundation: Creative Nonfiction Grant in the international section above.)
The Orwell Society Dystopian Fiction Prize
The Orwell Society is organising its seventh annual short story competition for current students (both BA and MA) at British universities. They want dystopian narratives of up to 3,000 words. The judges will be looking for the narrative which best follows in the tradition set by Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four and which Orwell is most likely to have admired.
Value: £500
Deadline: 1 April 2022
Open for: Current students (both BA and MA) at British universities
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for The Orwell Society / NUJ Young Journalist’s Award 2022, for young UK-based journalists/student journalists – the deadline is 8 April 2022.)
ETPEP Award for Playwriting
This award, by Experienced Theatre Practitioners Early Playwriting Trust and Finborough Theatre, is open to UK residents of any age who have not had a play professionally produced, and who have worked front of house, in administrative roles, on stage, backstage, lighting, design etc. or in a creative capacity in theatre for at least two years, either now or in the past – and who also write plays. It is intended to target and encourage those who are currently working or have worked in theatre but who are new to playwriting, and therefore, the award is not open to those who have worked in any capacity in a literary department, a literary agency, theatre critics, or those who ever have undertaken paid script reading work (see guidelines). Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets rehearsal workshop, staged reading performance, and other opportunities.
Value: £8,000; £400 each for ten runners-up
Deadline: 30 April 2022
Open for: New UK playwrights who have worked in theatre (see guidelines)
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.