Archive July 2022

It’s hot out there, folks! Stay cool—or cooler, anyway—indoors while applying to some contests with deadlines of August 8, 9, 15, and 20. Among the awards are a $3,000 prize for a poetry collection; a $1,500 prize for a poem and a short story; a $1,000 prize for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid-genre work; and $1,000 prizes for individual poems, works of flash fiction or nonfiction, and short stories. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more. Good luck!

Futurepoem Other Futures Award: A prize of $1,000, publication by Futurepoem, and 25 author copies is given annually for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or hybrid-genre work “that challenges conventions of genre and language, content, and form.” The editors will judge. Entry fee: $28.

Gival Press Short Story Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Gival Press website is given annually for a short story. Entry fee: $25.

Grayson Books Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Grayson Books is given annually for a poetry collection. John Sibley Williams will judge. Entry fee: $26.

Indiana Review’s 1/2 K Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Indiana Review is given annually for a poem or a work of flash fiction or creative nonfiction. Geffrey Davis will judge. All finalists will be considered for publication. Entry fee: $20 (which includes a subscription to Indiana Review); no fee for Black and/or Indigenous writers.

Kallisto Gaia Press Poetry and Short Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,500 each and publication in Ocotillo Review are given annually for a poem and a short story. Zoë Fay-Stindt will judge the Julia Darling Memorial Poetry Prize and Jen Knox will judge the Chester B. Himes Memorial Short Fiction Prize. Entry fee: $20.

Omnidawn Publishing Open Book Prize: A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 100 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Shane McCrae will judge. Entry fee: $27; for an additional $3, entrants will receive a book of their choice from the Omnidawn catalogue. 

TulipTree Publishing Stories That Need To Be Told Contest: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem, a short story, or an essay that “tells a story that needs to be told.” The winner will also receive a two-year subscription to the literary database Duotrope and publication in the annual Stories That Need to Be Told contest anthology. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.

There is still time to submit to the Granum Foundation Prizes! Awarded annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer to support the completion of a manuscript-in-progress, the Granum Foundation Prize offers $5,000; up to three finalists will receive $500 or more. A Translation Prize of $500 or more will also be awarded. There is no entry fee for either prize.

Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of approximately 12 poems or 25 pages of prose, along with a cover letter, project description, and a statement about how the grant will support your work, by August 2. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

The prizes are meant to provide practical support to writers who have demonstrated a “commitment to the literary arts” and can articulate the merits of their writing project, including their ability to complete it within a set timeframe. The money may be used to pay for tools of the trade—a computer, for example—or to defray the costs of writing residencies, editorial services, and more.

Welcoming applicants from all backgrounds, the Granum Foundation seeks to foster the growth of emerging writers. As the foundation’s website puts it: “We are placing bets on undiscovered writers from all walks of life who might never get the chance to complete their first books, or who change careers later in life to chase literary dreams, or who feel they have been excluded from traditional avenues of support.”

With July already underway, it’s never too soon to start submitting to contests with a deadline of July 31! These competitions offer unique awards such as two cases of Dogfish Head craft beer, a weeklong residency at the Anam Cara Writer’s Retreat in West Cork, Ireland, and 20 copies of a letterpress broadside of a winning poem, alongside cash prizes of at least $500. One contest even has no entry fee. Cheers, writers!

Connecticut Poetry Society Experimental Poetry Contest: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Connecticut River Review will be given annually for an innovative poem. Richard Deming will judge. Audio and video recordings are eligible. Entry fee: $15. 

Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales Dogfish Head Poetry Prize: A prize of $500, publication by Broadkill River Press, 10 author copies, and two cases of Dogfish Head craft beer are given annually for a poetry collection written by a poet living in Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., or West Virginia. The winner is expected to attend a reading and award ceremony at the Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware, on December 10. Lodging for a two-night stay at the Dogfish Inn in the beach town of Lewes, Delaware, is provided. Travel expenses are not included. Michael Glaser will judge. Entry fee: none. 

Hidden River Arts Hawk Mountain Short Story Collection Award: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Hidden River Press is given annually for a story collection. Entry fee: $20.

Howling Bird Press Book Contest: A prize of $2,500 and publication by Howling Bird Press is given in alternating years for a book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. The 2023 prize will be awarded in nonfiction. Memoirs, essay collections, and other creative nonfiction are eligible. Entry fee: $25.

Munster Literature Centre Seán O’Faoláin International Short Story Competition: A prize of €2,000 (approximately $2,178) and publication in Southword is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a weeklong residency at the Anam Cara Writer’s Retreat in West Cork and accommodation at the Cork International Short Story Festival. Entry fee: €19 (approximately $21).

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-place prize of $1,000 is also awarded. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $27.

New Millennium Writings Awards: Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication in New Millennium Writings and on the journal’s website are given twice yearly for a poem, a short story, a short short story, and an essay that have not appeared in a print publication with a circulation over 5,000. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.

Press 53 Award for Poetry: A prize of $1,000, publication by Press 53, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Tom Lombardo will judge. Entry fee: $30. 

Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Red Wheelbarrow is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also receive 20 copies of a letterpress broadside of the winning poem, printed by Gary Young at Greenhouse Review Press. Juan Felipe Herrera will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $15.

Sewanee Review Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction Contest: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Sewanee Review are given annually for a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Richie Hofmann will judge in poetry, Raven Leilani will judge in fiction, and Lisa Taddeo will judge in nonfiction. Entry fee: $30 (which includes a subscription to Sewanee Review).  

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

The 2022 Santa Fe Writers Project (SFWP) Book Award is still open for submissions! Offered biennially for a book of fiction or creative nonfiction, the prize awards $1,500 and publication by the Santa Fe Writers Project, a publisher with global distribution. Writers from all around the world are welcome to apply, though submitted manuscripts must be written in English. Unpublished and self-published work as well as prose published with a micro or small press that has not received marketing support are eligible. Winners will receive a full developmental edit, collaboration with an in-house copy editor, and the opportunity to work closely with SFWP’s layout and design team.

Using only the online submission system, submit a story collection, a novel, an essay collection, or a memoir of any length with a $30 entry fee by July 18. Deesha Philyaw, author of the award-winning short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines. 

An independent press founded in 1998, Santa Fe Writers Project challenges “the norms by embracing short stories, novellas, translations, reprints, and the avant-garde.” Started two years after the press began, the SFWP Book Award has previously been judged by writers including Carmen Maria Machado, Emily St. John Mandel, and Benjamin Percy. Recent contest winners are A.A. Balaskovits (Magic for Unlucky Girls), Lilly Dancyger (Negative Space), Wendy J. Fox (If the Ice Had Held), and Joseph Holt (Golden Heart Parade).