Four prizes of $10,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and young people’s literature written by U.S. writers and published in the United...
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.
National Book Foundation
Cash Prize: $10,000
Entry Fee: $135
Application Deadline: 5/13/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Trio House Press
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 5/15/26
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000, publication by Trio House Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a book of nonfiction by a writer living in the United States. Deborah Derrickson...
read moreLeeway Foundation
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 5/15/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Awards of $15,000 each are given annually to women, transgender, and/or gender-nonconforming poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area...
read moreNew Letters
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $24
Application Deadline: 5/18/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three prizes of $2,000 each and publication in New Letters are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Using only the online submission system, submit...
read moreGreat Lakes Colleges Association
Cash Prize: $500
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 5/25/26
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three prizes are given annually for first books by a poet, a fiction writer, and a creative nonfiction writer. The winners each receive an all-expenses-paid trip to several of...
read moreBridge Book Award
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 5/31/26
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Two prizes of up to $5,000 each are given annually for a book of fiction and a book of creative nonfiction by U.S. citizens or permanent residents published in the previous...
read moreMichigan Quarterly Review
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 5/31/26
Genre: Creative Nonfiction, Cross-Genre
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Michigan Quarterly Review is given annually for an essay or a work of nonfiction in hybrid form. Using only the online submission...
read moreJohn D. Voelker Foundation
Cash Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 5/31/26
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $2,500 and publication in American Fly Fisher as well as on the John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing websites is given annually...
read moreRestless Books
Cash Prize: $10,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 5/31/26
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $10,000 and publication by Restless Books is given annually for a debut book of fiction or nonfiction by a first-generation immigrant. The winner will also receive a...
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 morePEN 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 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 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 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...
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