Genre: Fiction

Emerging Writer’s Contest

Ploughshares
Entry Fee: 
$30
Deadline: 
May 15, 2025
Three prizes of $2,000 each and publication in Ploughshares are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Each winner also receives a consultation with the literary agency Aevitas Creative Management. Writers who have not published a book or a chapbook with a print run of over 300 copies are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit three to five pages of poetry or up to 6,000 words of prose with a $30 entry fee (there is no entry fee for current subscribers), which includes a subscription to Ploughshares, by May 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Clay Reynolds Novella Prize

Texas Review Press
Entry Fee: 
$20
Deadline: 
March 31, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by Texas Review Press: The University Press of Sam Houston State University, and 10 author copies will be given annually for a novella. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 20,000 to 50,000 words with a $20 entry fee by March 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Annual Writing Competition

Writer’s Digest
Entry Fee: 
$20
Deadline: 
May 5, 2025
A prize of $5,000, an interview in Writer’s Digest, and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference is given annually for a single poem, a short story, or an essay (among other categories). Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication on the Writer’s Digest website are also given for a rhyming poem, a non-rhyming poem, a short story, and a personal essay. Using only the online submission system, submit a poem of up to 40 lines, a story of no more than 4,000 words, or an essay of up to 2,000 words by the early bird deadline of May 5. The entry fee for poetry is $20 ($15 for each additional poem); the entry fee for prose is $30 ($25 for each additional entry). Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Corruption and Consequence

The Time Is Now
2.19.25

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” wrote English Liberal historian and moralist Lord Acton in an 1887 letter to scholar and ecclesiastic Mandell Creighton about his concerns for political and religious leaders. This week write a short story that chronicles a character’s turn toward corruption after gaining a degree of power. You might decide to revolve the narrative around a lighthearted scenario with some humor, in which the corruption that results has relatively inconsequential stakes. Or you might set up a situation in which your character gains access or control over a significant position of authority, resulting in criminal behavior with far-reaching ripple effects. How do other characters respond to the newfound power of your main character?

Uplift Voices Fiction Award

Jaded Ibis Press
Entry Fee: 
$20
Deadline: 
April 15, 2025
A prize of $1,500, publication by Jaded Ibis Press, and 25 author copies will be given annually for a novel, a novel in stories, or a short story collection by an author who identifies as having a historically marginalized voice. The winner will also receive up to $550 from the publisher toward submission fees for other relevant writing contests that honor published books. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 50,000 to 80,000 words with a $20 entry fee by April 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

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