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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
The Writer’s Center McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize A prize of $500 is given annually to honor a first novel by a U.S. author published during the previous year. Submit three copies of a novel published in 2011 by July 15. There is no entry fee. Call or... |
$0 | Fiction | $500 | 7/15/12 | |
|
Pushcart Press Editors’ Book Award A prize of $1,000 is given occasionally for a fiction or creative nonfiction manuscript that has been submitted to but not accepted by a commercial publisher. The award recognizes “worthy manuscripts... |
$0 | Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $1,000 | 11/15/12 | |
|
Pushcart Press Pushcart Prizes Publication in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is awarded annually for poetry, fiction, and essays published by literary magazines or small presses in the current year. Editors may... |
$0 | Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | Publication | 12/1/12 | |
|
University of East Anglia Charles Pick South Asian Fellowship A six-month fellowship at the University of East Anglia, which includes a stipend of 10,000 euros (approximately $16,000), is given annually to an unpublished fiction writer or creative nonfiction writer... |
$0 | Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $16,000 | Residency | 1/31/13 |
|
Washington College Hodson-Brown Fellowship A fellowship, which includes a stipend of $20,000, will be given annually to a writer of nonfiction (including creative nonfiction) working on a book relating to the literature, history, culture, or art... |
$0 | Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $20,000 | 3/15/13 | |
|
Dana Awards Literary Competition Four prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for an unpublished group of poems, a short story, a novel or novel-in-progress, and an essay. Submit five poems of no more than 100 lines each with a $15... |
$15 | Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction | $1,000 | 10/31/12 |