Archive November 2022

Resist the urge to buy more stuff this Black Friday, and invest the money you save in your writing: Apply to Poetry International’s annual C.P. Cavafy Poetry Prize, which comes with an award of $1,000 and publication in the magazine.

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Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems of any length with a $15 entry fee ($3 for each additional poem) by December 1. All entries are considered for publication. The editors will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Sylvie Baumgartel of Santa Fe won the 2021 C.P. Cavafy Prize for her poem “Stealth Bomber.” Poetry International editor in chief and contest judge Sandra Alcosser described what stood out to her about the poem: “Each line shines and cuts as the poet creates a conceit that moves between the military-industrial complex and equally complex family relationships."

Based at San Diego State University, Poetry International has been in circulation for more than twenty-five years and is among the most revered poetry magazines in the world. Each annual print issue includes poems in English and in translation. Contributors have included Kim Addonizio, Kwame Dawes, Seamus Heaney, Nicole Sealey, Tomas Tranströmer, Derek Walcott, and many others. Poetry International aims to publish work that is “strong and compelling and that highlights our shared humanity while inviting us into the diverse realities of people across the globe.”  

Submissions are still open for the 2023 Everett Southwest Literary Award, hosted by the University of Central Oklahoma Department of English! Offered biennially, the winner of this prize will receive $5,000 for an unpublished short story manuscript. The second-place and third-place winners will receive $3,000 and $1,000, respectively. All three writers will be invited to give a reading at the University of Central Oklahoma during their spring 2023 semester, public health guidelines allowing. Writers residing in or writing about Oklahoma, New Mexico, or Texas are eligible.

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Submit a PDF of a short story collection between 140 to 250 pages, a cover letter including a bio and contact information, and a complete list of publishing credits via e-mail with a $25 entry fee (to be mailed separately) by December 5. Guggenheim fellow and National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.  

With beginnings in 2006, this award honors the late Dr. Mark Allen Everett, an Oklahoma-based supporter of the arts and distinguished medical professional, through a donation from the Everett Family Foundation Fund. Previous judges of this competition include Sandra Cisneros, Allison Hedge Coke, and Brian Turner. Kelli Jo Ford had her debut novel-in-stories, Crooked Hallelujah, published by Grove Press a year after winning this award in 2019. The winners of the current submission period will be announced in spring 2023.  With beginnings in 2006, this award honors the late Dr. Mark Allen Everett, an Oklahoma-based supporter of the arts and distinguished medical professional, through a donation from the Everett Family Foundation Fund. Previous judges of this competition include Sandra Cisneros, Allison Hedge Coke, and Brian Turner. Kelli Jo Ford had her debut novel-in-stories, Crooked Hallelujah, published by Grove Press a year after winning this award in 2019. The winners of the current submission period will be announced in spring 2023.  

With the fall season underway and a new month around the corner, get a jump start on submitting to contests with deadlines of November 30 and December 1! These awards present opportunities for queer writers as well as debut poetry and prose writers, among others. Plus, one lucky poet will win $3,000, publication of their manuscript, and the chance to give a reading under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more and one is even free to enter. Onward, writers!  

Autumn House Press
Rising Writer Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Autumn House Press is given in alternating years for a debut work of poetry or fiction. The 2023 prize will be given for fiction. The winner will also receive a $500 grant for travel and book promotion. Matt Bell will judge. All finalists are considered for publication. Deadline: November 30. Entry fee: $25 (the submission fee may be waived in cases of financial need).

BOA Editions
A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions is given annually for a first book of poetry by a U.S. resident. Tina Chang will judge. Deadline: November 30. Entry fee: $25.

Langum Foundation
David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a book of historical fiction published during the current year. Self-published books are ineligible. Deadline: December 1. Entry fee: none.

Masters Review
Novel Excerpt Contest
A prize of $3,000, publication in Masters Review, and an agent consultation will be given annually for an excerpt of an unpublished novel or novel-in-progress showing “a sense of style, with a clear grasp on craft” by an emerging writer. Halley Dunne Parry of the Hamilburg Agency will offer the consultation for this contest cycle. Charmaine Craig will judge. Writers who have not published a book or who have published a book with a circulation of less than 5,000 are eligible. All entries will be considered for publication. Deadline: December 1. Entry fee: $20.

Meadowlark Press
Birdy Poetry Prize
A prize of $1,000, publication by Meadowlark Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: December 1. Entry fee: $25.

Quarter After Eight
Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest
A prize of $1,008.15 and publication in Quarter After Eight is given annually for a prose poem, a short short story, or a micro essay. Kirstin Valdez Quade will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: November 30. Entry fee: $15.

Red Hen Press
Quill Prose Award
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a story or essay collection, a novel, or a hybrid work of prose by a queer writer. Elizabeth Bradfield will judge. Deadline: November 30. Entry fee: $10.

Regal House Publishing
W.S. Porter Prize for Short Story Collections
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing is given annually for a story collection. The editors will judge. Deadline: December 1. Entry fee: $25.

Tadpole Press
100-Word Writing Contest
A prize of $1,000 will be given twice annually for a work of flash poetry or prose. Deadline: November 30. Entry fee: $10. 

Waywiser Press
Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize
A prize of $3,000 and publication by the Waywiser Press is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has published no more than one previous collection. The winner will also give a reading with the contest judge under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Deadline: December 1. Entry fee: $29.

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.

Nine writers have won the Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grant for 2022, the seventh year the foundation has offered the award. The $40,000 grants—which, unlike the Whiting Awards, writers must apply for—are meant to support multi-year book projects that exhibit both boldness of vision and evidence of sharply honed craft: “singularity of voice, arresting narrative vision, and in-depth research spread over multiple years,” as the foundation puts it.

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The winners are Atossa Araxia Abrahamian for The Hidden Globe, an investigation of special economic zones that exist outside the bounds of nation states, forthcoming from Riverhead; Emily Dufton for Addiction, Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and the War on Drugs, a history of the medication-assisted treatment for heroin addiction, forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press; Wes Enzinna for Impossible Paradise: Life, Death, and Home in a California Tent City, which probes the origins and consequences of American homelessness through the lens of an outdoor encampment in Oakland, forthcoming from Penguin Press; Ekow Eshun for The Strangers, a study of Black masculinity that mashes up memoir with biographies of culturally influential figures from the 19th century to the present day, forthcoming from Hamish Hamilton in the United Kingdom; Patricia Evangelista for Some People Need Killing, a mix of literary journalism and first-person narrative investigating President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs in the Phillipines, forthcoming from Random House; Brooke Jarvis for Invisible Apocalypse, a deep-dive into the disappearance of insects across the globe, forthcoming from Crown; May Jeong for The Life: Sex, Work, and Love in America, an intersectional exploration of the lives of sex workers, forthcoming from Atria; Mathelinda Nabugodi for The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive, a critique of Romantic poetry and its links to the Black Atlantic slave trade, forthcoming from Hamish Hamilton in the United Kingdom and Knopf in the United States; and Alejandra Oliva for Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration, which explores the U.S. immigration system as seen through the eyes of the author, who has worked as a translator for asylum seekers, forthcoming from Astra House.

Courtney Hodell, the Whiting Foundation’s director of literary programs, praised the grantees for having “the courage and freshness of vision to address consequential stories hiding in plain sight,” she said in a statement. “It’s our hope that the Foundation’s support will help these gifted writers delve into the most necessary places, whether that’s in the archives, on the street, or within our understanding.”

Each of the winning projects were reviewed by two first-round readers, who judged according to “substance, narrative skill, quality of research, and impact.” Sixteen finalists were then evaluated by a panel of four judges, who considered how the grant might support the development of the book. The anonymous readers and judges were experts in the field of each proposed book project.

For more than forty years, the Whiting Foundation has supported literature and the humanities through its programs and grants. The Whiting Awards annually awards ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama with $50,000 each, and the Whiting Literary Magazines Prizes help journals foster path-breaking writing with individual financial awards.

To learn more about the Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grant, visit the foundation’s website. Check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.