Genre: Fiction

New Writers Awards

Great Lakes Colleges Association
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
May 25, 2025
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 the 13 GLCA colleges, each of which pays an honorarium of at least $500 to give readings, meet with students, and lead discussions and classes. Books published in 2024 and 2025 are eligible. Faculty members of the colleges will judge. Publishers may submit four copies of one book in each category by May 25. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Katherine Anne Porter Prize

University of North Texas Press
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 30, 2025
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 manuscript of 100 to 200 pages with a $25 entry fee by June 30 (fee-free submissions are accepted only on June 1). Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award

John D. Voelker Foundation 
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
May 31, 2025
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 for a short story or an essay that embodies an “implicit love of fly fishing…and the natural world in which it takes place.” Using only the online submission system, submit up to 3,000 words of prose with a $25 entry fee by May 31. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize

University of Pittsburgh Press
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
June 30, 2025
A prize of $15,000 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 of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in nationally distributed magazines or literary journals are eligible. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 150 to 300 pages by June 30. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

African Diaspora Award

Kinsman Quarterly
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
June 30, 2025
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Kinsman Quarterly is given annually for a group of poems, a short story, or an essay on a theme related to African culture or subculture. The winner will also have their work featured in the 2026 anthology Mosaic: Threads of African Prose & Poetry. Using only the online submission system, submit up to six poems totaling no more than 10 pages, a short story of 500 to 5,000 words, or an essay of up to 1,000 words with a $25 entry fee by June 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

National Book Awards

National Book Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$135
Deadline: 
June 6, 2025
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 States during the previous year. A $10,000 prize is also given for an English translation of a book of fiction or nonfiction by a living writer and translator published in the United States during the previous year. Finalists in all categories receive $1,000 each. Publishers may submit titles published or scheduled for publication between December 1, 2024, and November 30, 2025, for consideration via the online submission form with a $135 entry fee per title by May 14. Additionally, a digital copy and six hard copies (or bound galleys) of the books must be submitted to the judges and the National Book Foundation by June 6. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Prize in Flash Fiction

Lascaux Review
Entry Fee: 
$15
Deadline: 
June 30, 2025
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. Using only the online submission system, submit up to three stories of no more than 1,000 words each with a $15 entry fee by June 30. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Agents & Editors: The Complete Series

by
Jofie Ferrari-Adler, Michael Szczerban, M. Allen Cunningham, and Vivian Lee
4.16.25
A photo of Nicole Aragi, a Middle Eastern woman with tan skin. She wears square glasses and a turquoise shirt and has one hand in the pocket of her jeans. She stands inside her home and smiles faintly.

This series of interviews with over forty book editors, publishers, and agents offers a unique look at the past, present, and future of the book industry and what writers can do to thrive in today’s publishing world.  

Transformation Awards

Leeway Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
May 15, 2025
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 who have been creating art for social change for five or more years. Writers who have lived in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties for at least two years and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Submit a completed application form, which includes an artist information questionnaire, a list of relevant experience, and a statement demonstrating the applicant’s commitment to “art for social change work” by May 15. A panel of community-based artists will review applications and invite selected poets and writers to submit work for the second stage of the application process. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required application form and complete guidelines.

Q&A With Jennifer Acker of the Common

Caption: 

Jennifer Acker, founder and editor in chief of the Common, answers questions about the journal’s mission, slush piles, and her editorial process in this virtual event with Becky Tuch for the Lit Mag News Roundup. An interview with Acker about the Common’s fifteenth anniversary is featured in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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