The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. Ours is the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.
| Sponsor and Award | Entry Fee | Genre |
Cash Prize |
Prize includes | Application Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Narrative Spring Story Contest A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second prize of... |
$22 | Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $2,500 | Publication | 7/31/13 |
|
Munster Literature Centre Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition A prize of €2,000 (approximately $2,600) and publication in Southword, an online literary journal published in Cork, Ireland, is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a... |
$0 | Fiction | $2,600 | Publication | 7/31/13 |
|
Omnidawn Publishing First/Second Book Prize A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. Donald Revell will judge. Submit a manuscript of 40 to 120 pages... |
$27 | Poetry | $3,000 | Publication | 6/30/13 |
|
Red Hen Press Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award A prize of $3,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Mark Doty will judge. Submit a manuscript of at least 48 pages with a $25 entry fee by August 31. Call or... |
$25 | Poetry | $3,000 | Publication | 8/31/13 |
|
Blue Mountain Center Richard J. Margolis Award A prize of $5,000 and a monthlong residency at the Blue Mountain Center, an artists colony in Blue Mountain Lake, New York, is given annually to a writer of nonfiction (including creative nonfiction with... |
$0 | Poetry, Creative Nonfiction | $5,000 | Residency | 7/1/13 |
|
Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards Grants of $5,000 are awarded biennially to Ohio poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers. Writers who have been residents of Ohio for one year prior to the application deadline and are not... |
$0 | Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $5,000 | 9/1/13 |