These are contests for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and journalism, with prizes up to $30,000. They are loosely divided geographically. Deadlines are approaching quickly; a couple of the deadlines are in April. – S. Kalekar
CONTESTS OPEN FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
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. They also request for works on the Censorship theme, though they will accept works on any theme.
Value: $200, $100 in each of the six categories
Deadline: 30 April 2023
Details here.
Queer Sci Fi: Rise
They want to see science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, or horror LGBTQIA stories of up to 300 words on the theme of Rise. They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully.
Value: $100, $75, $50
Deadline: 1 May 2023
Open for: All writers
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 2023
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, photography, and visual arts (click the ‘Fellowships’ tab on the page).
Value: $20,000
Deadline: 1 May 2023
Open for: Writers having Cuban citizenship or direct lineage
Details here.
PRISM International: Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V Short Forms
They want submissions from Canada and across the world. While submissions in most categories are charged, submissions for Black and Indigenous writers are free. They want flash fiction and nonfiction, hybrid forms and experimental work of up to 300 words (including the title).
Value: $500, $150, $50
Deadline: 1 May 2023
Open for: Free entries for Black and Indigenous writers (see Submittable)
Details here.
Parsec Ink: Preserve of Purge
They’re open for fiction submission from new writers (see guidelines) for a contest, on the Preserve or Purge theme. Send stories up to 3,500 words.
Value: $200, $100, $50; $50 prize in the Youth category
Deadline: 1 May 2023
Details here and here.
On the Premises Mini Contest: Unicorn
They want writers to “tell, show, or evoke a complete story between 25 and 50 words long in which the word “unicorn” (singular, not plural) is used” exactly once.
Value: $35, $25, $15
Deadline: 5 May 2023
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 1,000-5,000 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 have deadlines later in the year.
Value: $200, $100
Deadline: 7 May 2023
Open for: Unpublished writers
Details here.
Limp Wrist Glitter Bomb Award
Limp Wrist’s Glitter Bomb Award (GBA) is an annual poetry contest, open for submissions by LGBTQIA+/non-binary poets and their allies. The award is for one poem by a poet of any stage of her/his/their career. A submission may include 3 poems with each poem being a max of 2 pages and a submission being a max of 6 pages. Apart from a cash prize and publication, the winner also gets a feature spot in the Wild & Precious Life Series.
Value: $600; $50 for honorable mentions
Deadline: 11 May 2023
Open for: LGBTQIA+/non-binary poets and their allies
Details here.
Singapore Unbound: Singapore Poetry Contest
This is an international poetry contest. “We are looking for poems that use the word “snail” in imaginative ways. The poems may be on any theme (they do not have to be about snails, although they can be), but they will be judged for the creative use of the word “snail” as much as they will be for overall excellence.”
Value: $300, $200, $100
Deadline: 15 May 2023
Open for: All poets
Details here and 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. 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); there is an optional theme for 2023, about local issues. Participants must currently be attending middle or high school, or be home-schooled, and less than 19 years of age (see guidelines). Entries can be essays, essays with photos, or videos. They have extensive guidelines. Also, “We reserve the right to adjust the number of prizes and the amounts of the prizes based on the entries received.”
Value: Total prize purse up to $5,900; individual prizes of up to $500
Deadline: 21 May 2023
Open for: All 14 to 18 year old students
Details here.
Livingston Press Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse
This is a new annual prize run by Livingston Press, affiliated with the University of Alabama. It is for a novel-in-verse, and the recommended length is 90-160 pages.
Value: $500, standard contract, 20 copies
Deadline: 25 May 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
The Irene Adler Prize
The competition is now open to women worldwide, commencing or continuing to pursue a bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution in 2023-24. (Earlier, it was for US- and Canada-based women writers.) Applications include a 500-word essay on one of these five topics on the website:
— Write your journalistic take on a real-life story that has not gotten the attention it deserves – as either an opinion column or a news report.
— Maya Angelou said: “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” Tell a story about a time when you put that philosophy into action in your life.
— Write about the funniest thing that has ever happened to you.
— Name the book that has had the greatest impact on your life and describe how it affected you.
— Write a fictional story about a meaningful episode in someone’s life.
The prize is intended to be applied to educational expenses such as tuition fees – please see the rules.
Value: $1,000; two prizes of $250 each
Deadline: 30 May 2023
Open for: Women writers worldwide – see above
Details here (download 2023 submission guidelines and rules).
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 2023
Open for: All speculative fiction writers above 50
Details here.
(They also have other grants application periods coming up later – Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants during July; Working Class Writers Grant during September; Gulliver Travel Research Grant during November; A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian and Diaspora writers in January 2024. Links to all Speculative Literature Foundation grants can be found here.)
failed haiku – a journal of English Senryu: H. Gene Murtha Memorial Senryu Contest
This is a senryu contest, and writers can also send previously published work, with some exceptions. Work sent outside of the submission period will be deleted unread.
Value: $50; two prizes of $25 each
Submission period: 21-31 May 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here (download the submission guidelines / rules).
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 online and mailed submissions.
Value: $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
Deadline: 31 May 2023 (digitally dated or postmarked)
Open for: All writers
Details here, here, and here.
The Fountain Essay Contest: How to focus in an era of distractions
They want an essay on the topic, ‘How to focus in an era of distractions’. See guidelines for details on the theme. Ideal length is 1,500-2,500 words. Also, “There is no age limit or a condition to fulfill for entry.” 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: 31 May 2023
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 4,000 words will be considered.
Value: $150
Deadline: 31 May 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here.
CNO Naval History Essay Contest – Professional Historian
This is an international contest. Their website says, “The CNO invites entrants to submit essays that apply lessons from throughout naval history to solving today’s Navy challenges.” 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 2023
Open for: See above
Details here and here.
(They invite essays for various other prizes as well: Rising Historian, Coast Guard, and CVO Naval History – Midshipmen and Cadets – see this page for an overview, and this page links to all their contests.)
The Africa Institute: Global Africa Translation Fellowship
The fellowship welcomes applications from across the Global South for a grant to complete translations of works from the African continent and its diaspora, into English or Arabic. This is a non-residential fellowship. Projects may be retranslations of old, classic texts, previously untranslated works, poetry, prose, or critical theory collections. The project may be a work-in-progress, or a new project feasible for completion within the timeframe of the grant. Application includes a translation sample.
Deadline: 1 June 2023
Value: $1,000-5,000
Open for: Translators in the Global South
Details here.
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 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
(There is also the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature, and candidates will be chosen from the PEN/Heim Grant applicant pool; the grant is $5,000. Details 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 2023
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 2023
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
The OFIC Press Prize
This prize will be awarded to up to 2 novels and up to 3-4 novellas. They will publish novels as standalone books in 2024, and novellas will be compiled into an anthology. “We’re looking for manuscripts that don’t really fit in a traditional publishing category, maybe because they’re too romance-y for general or literary fiction, and not romance-y enough for romance. Or maybe there’s just a truly tasteless amount of smut. What we value most is an earnest portrayal of character, interesting relationship dynamics, and well-crafted prose that prioritizes clarity and voice.” And, “Novellas can be 12,000 to 50,000 words; novels are over 50,000. While we have no upper limit, know that anything over 150k is going to be a really hard sell.” Please read the note about physical print distribution and contributor copies.
Value: $1,000 each for novels, $250 each for novellas
Deadline: 1 June 2023
Open for: All writers
Details here (scroll down) and here.
(And general submissions for OFIC Magazine are open until 30 April 2023.)
The Forum Essay Prize: Courageous Arts
This is an essay prize from Oxford Academic / Oxford University Press and is open to all researchers, whether early-career or established, on the Courageous Arts theme. “We are looking for bold, visionary and persuasive essays that use academic research to pursue innovative questions. … The topic may be addressed from the perspective of any of the literatures (including literary linguistics, translation and comparative literature approaches) normally covered by the journal: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Please note that material of a predominantly social science or sociological nature falls outside our scope.
We are seeking submissions that focus on literature, film, art, or other cultural outputs that manifest courage in their content or form and/or which provoke us to be courageous in how we read, write, research and teach in our discipline(s).” The winning essay will also get published in an issue of Forum for Modern Language Studies.
Value: £500
Deadline: 1 June 2023
Open for: All researchers
Details here.
A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors: This is a climate fiction contest from Fix, Grit’s solutions lab. “We’re looking for stories of 3,000 to 5,000 words that envision the next 180 years of climate progress — roughly seven generations – imagining intersectional worlds of abundance, adaptation, reform, and hope.” They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. The prizes are $3,000, $2,000, $1,000; and $300 each for nine winners. The deadline is 13 June 2023, and it is open for all writers. Details here and here.
— Sapiens Plurum Short Fiction Contest: Building Communities in the Face of Climate Change: Sapiens Plurum conducts an annual short fiction contest, opening on Earth Day of each year. The theme is ‘Building Communities in the Face of Climate Change’. They have detailed guidelines, including, “We invite stories that explore how we can use science and technology to build resilient communities in a rapidly changing world. We are most interested in the ways that science and technology can help us to ride out the coming storms, especially in communities already under stress.” Submissions should be 1,500-3,000 words. The prizes are $1,000, $500, and $300. The deadline is 15 June 2023, and it is open for all writers. Details here and 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. The prizes are £1,500 and £500 each for a writer and an illustrator, and mentorship. The deadline is 30 June 2023. Details here and here.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN US AND CANADA
(Also see the CINTAS Foundation Fellowship for Cuban writers, PRISM International: Grouse Grind Lit Prize for V Short Forms, the CNO Naval History Essay Contest, the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship in the international section above.)
RBC PEN Canada 2023 New Voices Award
This is a prize for new Canadian writers, ages 17 and over. Their website says, “PEN Canada is now accepting original English language submissions for the RBC PEN Canada 2023 New Voices Award. The annual award aims to encourage new writing and to provide a space where unpublished Canadian writers can submit short stories, creative nonfiction, journalism, and poetry.” Please see the contest page for word count and other guidelines. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets mentorship.
Value: CAD3,000
Deadline: 5 May 2023
Open for: New Canadian writers
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 2023
Open for: US poets (see guidelines)
Details here.
ABA Journal / Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction
This is a fiction contest for US writers (see guidelines). The ABA Journal is the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. Send a story of up to 5,000 words that illuminates the role of the law and/or lawyers in modern society.
Value: $5,000
Deadline: 15 May 2023
Open for: US writers
Details here.
Fund for Investigative Journalism Grants
Their regular grants 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. “The Fund provides grants for print and online articles, television and radio stories, documentaries, podcasts, and books.” Also, “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: 31 May 2023
Open for: US journalists and writers
Details here.
(Also see the FIJ “Seed” Grants for Early Reporting, and FIJ Emergency Grant: Threats to Democracy in the US on that page.)
The Bard Fiction Prize
This is an annual fiction prize for young US-based writers. Their website says, “The Bard Fiction Prize is awarded to a promising emerging writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. In addition to a $30,000 cash award, the winner receives an appointment as writer in residence at Bard College for one semester, without the expectation that he or she teach traditional courses. The recipient gives at least one public lecture and meets informally with students.” Also, “To apply, candidates should write a cover letter explaining the project they plan to work on while at Bard and submit a CV, along with three copies of the published book they feel best represents their work. No manuscripts will be accepted.”
Value: $30,000, residency
Deadline: 1 June 2023
Open for: Young US writers
Details here.
PRIZES FOR WRITERS IN UK AND IRELAND
(Also see the Faber Children’s: Faber and Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize in the ‘Contests with later deadlines’ section.)
The Space Crone Prize
This is a prize for speculative and science short fiction and is open to UK-based entrants who identify as one or more of: women, intersex, non-binary, agender, genderfluid and trans. The prize invites short fiction that speculates about questions about difference and gender. “The special one-off prize, established by Silver Press in collaboration with The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust, celebrates the publication of Space Crone by Ursula K. Le Guin” (a selection of essays). Apart from the cash prize, the winner also gets a mentoring session.
Value: £1,000
Deadline: 30 April 2023
Open for: See above
Details here.
The Future Bookshelf: Mo Siewcharran Prize
This is an award for BAME writers in the UK and for this cycle, they are looking for a picture book manuscript for 3-5-year-olds. Their website says, “Hachette UK’s The Future Bookshelf is running the Mo Siewcharran Prize for its fourth year to help discover unpublished fiction writers from Black, Asian, mixed heritage and minority ethnic backgrounds.” The manuscript must be 500-700 words. Apart from the cash prizes, there are various non-cash prizes, including a meeting with literary agents. And, “The winner’s entry will also be taken forward to an Hachette Children’s Group acquisitions meeting and considered for full publication with a competitive advance against royalties. Hachette Children’s Group does not guarantee that the winner will be offered a publishing contract.”
Value: £2,500, £1,500
Deadline: 8 May 2023
Open for: BAME writers in the UK
Details here.
Creative Future Writers’ Award
This is an award for underrepresented writers in the UK, for fiction, creative non-fiction (prose up to 2,000 words) and poetry (up to 50 lines). Writers can submit one piece of writing. Apart from cash prizes, winners also get various non-cash prizes, like mentorship. The theme for their 10th award is ‘X’ and you can read more about it here.
Value: £75, £50, £25 (more about the prizes here.)
Deadline: 14 May 2023 (postal submissions must be received by 15th May.)
Open for: Underrepresented writers in the UK
Details here.
RTÉ Short Story Competition
This is a fiction contest from RTÉ Radio 1, for those who live in Ireland, or have an Irish passport. Stories must be 1,800-2,000 words. All 10 winning/shortlisted stories will be broadcast. Also, “Shortlisted stories will be recorded, published and broadcast exactly as submitted beyond obvious typographical errors, without any opportunity for further revision from you.”
Value: €5,000, €4,000 and €3,000; the other shortlisted authors will each receive a fee of €250
Deadline: 26 May 2023
Open for: Ireland-based/Irish authors
Details here.
The Jenny Brown Associates Over 50 Award
This is an award for all unpublished and unrepresented writers resident in the UK aged 50 and above. One of the submission requirements is the first 5,000 words of your debut novel. They will not consider science fiction, horror, or fantasy. Apart from a cash prize, the winner will receive a placement on a residential writing course at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre. Runners-up will receive tailored mentoring sessions. Please send your submissions only during the reading period.
Value: £1,000
Reading period: 1-31 May 2023
Open for: Unpublished and unrepresented UK writers aged 50 and above
Details here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
