A prize of €3,000 (approximately $3,508) is given annually for a short story. A second-place prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,169) is also given. The winners will be published...
read moreWriting Contests, Grants & Awards
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.
PEN America
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 6/15/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Two grants of $5,000 each are given annually for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works-in-progress “by immigrant and refugee writers, recognizing that the literature of...
read morePEN America
Cash Prize: $4,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 6/15/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Translation
Ten grants of $4,000 each are given annually to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that have not previously appeared in...
read morePEN America
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 6/15/26
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Two grants of $15,000 each are given annually for nonfiction works-in-progress that “use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.” Using only the...
read moreTusculum Review
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 6/15/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Tusculum Review is given annually for a collection of poems, a short story, or an essay in alternating years. The winner’s work is...
read moreNew American Press
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 6/15/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,500, publication by New American Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a book of fiction. Keith Rosson will judge. Using only the online submission...
read moreArtist Trust
Cash Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 6/22/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Grants of $2,500 each are given annually to poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers who are residents of Washington State. Students enrolled in a degree-granting program...
read moreUniversity of North Texas Press
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 6/30/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of North Texas Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Using only the online submission system, submit a...
read moreLascaux Review
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 6/30/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and online publication in Lascaux Review is given annually for a work of flash fiction. Previously published or unpublished stories are eligible....
read moreTRP
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $28
Application Deadline: 6/30/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $2,000, publication by TRP: The University Press of Sam Houston State University, and 10 author copies is given annually for a short story collection or novel. Using...
read moreWashington Writers’ Publishing House
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $28
Application Deadline: 6/30/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Two prizes of $1,500 each, publication by Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and 25 author copies are given annually for a poetry collection and a short story collection or...
read moreBrooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival
Cash Prize: $1,750
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 7/1/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,750, publication in Pree and New York Carib News, as well as on the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival (BCLF) website, and an...
read moreThe Story Prize
Cash Prize: $20,000
Entry Fee: $75
Application Deadline: 7/1/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $20,000 is given annually for a story or novella collection written in English and published in the United States in the current year. Two runners-up receive $5,000...
read moreBellevue Literary Review
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 7/1/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Bellevue Literary Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay about health, healing, illness, the...
read moreFarrar, Straus and Giroux
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 7/3/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $15,000 is given annually to an emerging poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer from an underrepresented community who has not published and is not...
read moreStony Brook Southampton
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 7/14/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a short story by a current undergraduate college student. The winner also receives a full scholarship to attend the Southampton Writers...
read moreGhost Story
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 7/15/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Ghost Story website is given biannually for a work of flash fiction with a supernatural or magical realist theme. The editors...
read moreMunster Literature Centre
Cash Prize: $2,350
Entry Fee: $22
Application Deadline: 7/31/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of €2,000 (approximately $2,350) and publication in Southword is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a four-night stay at a hotel to...
read moreLos Angeles Review
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 7/31/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Los Angeles Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, a work of flash fiction, and an essay. Using only the...
read moreAnthology Magazine
Cash Prize: $1,179
Entry Fee: $21
Application Deadline: 7/31/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,179) and publication in Anthology Magazine is given annually for a short story. Submit a story of no more than 1,500 words with an...
read moreThe Center For Fiction
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 7/31/26
Genre: Fiction
Nine fellowships of $5,000 each, a one-year membership to the Center for Fiction, and a year of access to the Writers Studio writing space are given annually to fiction writers...
read moreUniversity of Pittsburgh Press
Cash Prize: $25,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 7/31/26
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $25,000 and publication by University of Pittsburgh Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Writers who have published at least one previous book...
read moreGranum Foundation
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 8/1/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $5,000 is given annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer to support the completion of a manuscript-in-progress. Up to three finalists are...
read moreBlack Warrior Review
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 8/1/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Black Warrior Review are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Using only the online submission system...
read moreDelaware Division of the Arts
Cash Prize: $8,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 8/3/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Established Professional Fellowships of $8,000 each and Emerging Professional Fellowships of $5,000 each are given annually to poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction...
read more