Archive September 2022

Spooky season officially starts tomorrow, but don’t let fear stop you from submitting to River Teeth’s Book Prize by the Halloween deadline! Offered annually for a volume of creative nonfiction, the prize awards the winner $1,000 and publication by the University of New Mexico Press.

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Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of approximately 150 to 350 pages with a $27 entry fee, which includes a subscription to River Teeth, by October 31. Any style of literary nonfiction—including memoir, personal essays, and investigative reporting—is eligible. Natasha Trethewey, who served as U.S. poet laureate from 2012–2014 and is the author of Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir (Ecco, 2020), will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Previous winners of River Teeth’s Book Prize include Kevin Honold in 2019 for The Rock Cycle, Joan Frank in 2018 for Try to Get Lost: Essays on Travel and Place, and Debra Gwartney in 2017 for I Am a Stranger Here Myself.

Founded in 1999 at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, by professors Joe Mackall and Dan Lehman, River Teeth publishes essays, memoir, and literary journalism in a biannual print journal as well as online content, including reviews and a weekly web publication called “Beautiful Things,” which highlights the beauty found in daily life. In 2019, River Teeth moved to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, where it is led by senior editors Jill Christman and Mark Neely. Now retired from Ashland University, Mackall and Lehman remain as editors in chief of River Teeth.

Though the temperature outside is starting to drop, you can stoke the fires of your writing practice by submitting to contests with deadlines of October 15, 16, 17, and 18! Poets, there are multiple awards to win, including a prize of approximately $66,500 for a year of travel and study outside of North America, and $5,000 plus publication of a poetry collection by Alice James Books. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more and two are free to enter. Keep those literary fires burning!

Alice James Books
Alice James Award
A prize of $5,000 and publication by Alice James Books is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet residing in the United States. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: October 16. Entry fee: $30.

Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship
An award of approximately $66,500 is given annually to a U.S. poet for a year of travel and study outside of North America. Deadline: October 15. Entry fee: none.

Copper Nickel
Jake Adam York Prize
A prize of $2,000 and publication by Milkweed Editions is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. Amaud Jamaul Johnson will judge. Deadline: October 15. Entry fee: $25, which includes a subscription to Copper Nickel.

John Pollard Foundation
International Poetry Prize
A prize of €10,000 (approximately $10,732) is given annually for a debut poetry collection published during the current year. Deadline: October 18. Entry fee: none. 

Pulitzer Prizes
Prizes in Books
Six prizes of $15,000 each are given annually to honor books of poetry, fiction, general nonfiction, U. S. history, biography, and memoir or autobiography published in the United States during the current year. American authors only are eligible for the poetry, fiction, general nonfiction, biography, and memoir or autobiography categories. Deadline: October 17. Entry fee: $75.

San Diego Entertainment & Arts Guild
Steve Kowit Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in San Diego Poetry Annual is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also receive an invitation to read at an award ceremony in April 2023. Deadline: October 15. Entry fee: $15.

Silverfish Review Press
Gerald Cable Book Award
A prize of $1,000, publication by Silverfish Review Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a first poetry collection. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: October 15. Entry fee: $25, which includes a copy of the winning book.

TulipTree Publishing
Humor Story Contest
A prize of $1,000 and publication in the Fall/Winter issue of TulipTree Review is given annually for a humorous poem, story, or essay. Deadline: October 17. Entry fee: $20.

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

The deadline is approaching for the Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry, presented by the African Poetry Book Fund and in partnership with Prairie Schooner. Offered annually for a book of poetry written by an African poet and published during the previous year, the prize awards $1,000. Writers who were born in Africa, who are a national or a resident of an African country, or whose parents are African are eligible. Only collections written in English, including works of translation, will be considered.

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Authors and publishers may submit four copies (or unbound proofs) of a poetry collection of at least 48 pages published in 2021 by October 1. There is no entry fee. Gabeba Baderoon will judge. Visit the website for an entry form and complete guidelines.

Established in 2015, this Pan African Poetry Prize, named after the literary philanthropist Glenna Luschei, “is the only one of its kind in the world and aims to honor and promote African poetry.” The winner will be announced in January 2023. Please note that self-published books and books published by the African Poetry Book Fund are ineligible. Recent winners include Mangaliso Buzani (a naked bone), Koleka Putuma (Collective Amnesia), Juliane Okot Bitek (100 Days), and Rethabile Masilo (Waslap). Established in 2015, this Pan African Poetry Prize, named after the literary philanthropist Glenna Luschei, “is the only one of its kind in the world and aims to honor and promote African poetry.” The winner will be announced in January 2023. Please note that self-published books and books published by the African Poetry Book Fund are ineligible. Recent winners include Mangaliso Buzani (a naked bone), Koleka Putuma (Collective Amnesia), Juliane Okot Bitek (100 Days), and Rethabile Masilo (Waslap). 

With fall fast approaching, kickstart the new season by submitting to contests with a deadline of September 30. Prizes abound for writers of supernatural fiction, hybrid poetry collections, essays, translations, poems evoking the American South, and more. Awards range from $1,000 to $75,000, and two contests are even free to enter. May the autumnal equinox be in your favor!

Diode Editions
Poetry Book Contest
A prize of $1,500, publication by Diode Editions, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also have select poems from their book published in Diode Poetry Journal. Hybrid words, prose poetry, translations, and collaborative works are eligible. Entry fee: $20.

Dzanc Books
Short Story Collection Prize
A prize of $2,500 and publication by Dzanc Books is given annually for a story collection. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Ghost Story
Supernatural Fiction Award
A prize of $1,500, publication on the Ghost Story website and in the Ghost Story print anthology series, 21st Century Ghost Stories, is given twice yearly for a short story with a supernatural or magic realism theme. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $20.

Lascaux Review
Prize in Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for an essay. The winner and finalists will also be published on the Lascaux Review website and in the journal’s print annual. Previously published and unpublished essays are eligible. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $15.

New York Public Library
Cullman Center Fellowships
Fifteen fellowships are given annually to artists, academics, and creative writers, including poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators, whose work will benefit directly from access to the research collections at the New York Public Library. The fellows each receive $75,000, an office at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library’s main branch in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan, and full access to the library’s collections from September 2023 through May 2024. Fellows will be required to work on their projects at the Cullman Center for the duration of the fellowship. Writers currently enrolled in a graduate degree-granting program are ineligible. Entry fee: none.

Texas Review Press
X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize
A prize of $10,000, publication by Texas Review Press, and 20 author copies will be given annually for a poetry collection. Kimiko Hahn will judge. Entry fee: $28.

Texas Review Press
George Garrett Fiction Prize
A prize of $1,000, publication by Texas Review Press, and 20 author copies will be given annually for a short story collection or novel. Vi Khi Nao will judge. Entry fee: $28.

University of Arkansas Press
Miller Williams Poetry Prize
A prize of $5,000 and publication by University of Arkansas Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Patricia Smith will judge. Entry fee: $28.

University of Mississippi
Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry
A prize of $3,000 is given annually for a single poem that evokes the American South. The winner will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Oxford, Mississippi, for the awards ceremony in March 2023. Susan Kinsolving will judge. Entry fee: none. 

Winning Writers
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
Two prizes of $3,000 each, two-year gift certificates for membership to the literary database Duotrope, and publication on the Winning Writers website are given annually for a poem in any style and a poem that either rhymes or is written in a traditional style. Soma Mei Sheng Frazier and Michal “MJ” Jones will judge. Entry fee: $20.

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