G&A: The Contest Blog

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Tomorrow may be April Fools’ Day, but these contests with deadlines of April 13, 14, and 15 are no joke! Prizes include five $25,800 fellowships from the Poetry Foundation; $1,500 and publication for a single poem or group of poems, a short story, or an essay; a weeklong residency at an Italian castle for a short fiction writer; and more. All contests offer an award of at least $1,000, and one has no entry fee. Good luck, writers!

Desperate Literature
Short Fiction Prize

A prize of €1,500 (approximately $1,581), a weeklong residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation’s castle in the Umbria region of Italy, and publication in Desperate Literature’s prize anthology is given annually for a work of short fiction. Winners will also receive a consultation with literary agent Charlotte Seymour (Johnson & Alcock Literary Agency), an editorial meeting with the Literary Consultancy, and the opportunity to give readings at Desperate Literature in Madrid and Burley Fisher Books in London. Mariana Enríquez, Ottessa Moshfegh, and Tiffany Tsao will judge. Deadline: April 15. Entry fee: €20 (approximately $21) for first entry, €10 (approximately $11) for each additional entry, with a maximum of five entries per person.

Florida Review
Editor’s Prizes

Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Florida Review are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: April 15. Entry fee: $25, which includes a subscription to Florida Review.

New Ohio Review
Literary Prizes

Three prizes of $1,500 each and publication in New Ohio Review are given annually for a poem or group of poems, a short story, and an essay. All entries are considered for publication. Deadline: April 15. Entry fee: $22, which includes a subscription to New Ohio Review.

Omnidawn Publishing
Single Poem Contest

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. The winner also receives 10 copies of a letterpress broadside of the winning poem. Nathalie Khankan will judge. Deadline: April 13. Entry fee: $25 ($15 for each additional poem).

Poetry Foundation
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships

Five fellowships of $25,800 each are given annually to U.S. poets between the ages of 21 and 31. Deadline: April 14. Entry fee: none.

Spoon River Poetry Review
Editors’ Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Spoon River Poetry Review, prefaced by a judge’s introduction, is given annually for a single poem. Multilingual submissions accompanied by translations are eligible. Deadline: April 15. Entry fee: $20, which includes a subscription to Spoon River Poetry Review.

University of Arkansas Press
Etel Adnan Poetry Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Arkansas Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection by a writer of Arab heritage. Series editors Hayan Charara and Fady Joudah will judge. Deadline: April 15. Entry fee: $25.

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.

Whiting Award Winners Announced

At a ceremony held this evening at the New-York Historical Society in New York City, the Whiting Foundation announced the ten winners of the 2023 Whiting Awards. The awards, now in their thirty-eighth year, celebrate exceptional emerging literary talent. Each winning writer receives a prize of $50,000 in support of their work.

This year’s winners are poets Tommye Blount and Ama Codjoe; poet and dramatist Emma Wippermann; fiction writers Marcia Douglas, Sidik Fofana, and Carribean Fragoza; nonfiction writers Linda Kinstler and Stephania Taladrid; dramatist Mia Chung; and graphic novelist R. Kikuo Johnson, who is the first graphic novelist to be recognized with the award.

The winners will read together at an event at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, March 30 at 6:30PM. The event is free and open to the public and will also be livestreamed.

“Every year we look to the new Whiting Award winners, writing fearlessly at the edge of imagination, to reveal the pathways of our thought and our acts before we know them ourselves,” said the foundation’s director of literary programs Courtney Hodell in a press release. “The prize is meant to create a space of ease in which such transforming work can be made.”

Since its inception in 1985, the Whiting Awards have bestowed a total of $9.5 million on 370 celebrated writers. For many recipients, this financial support enables a “first chance to devote themselves to their own writing, or to take bold new risks in their work.” Previous winners include such luminaries as poets Don Mee Choi, Roger Reeves, and Ocean Vuong; fiction writers Denis Johnson, Ling Ma, Sigrid Nunez, and Colson Whitehead; nonfiction writers Elif Batuman and Jia Tolentino; and playwright Tony Kushner.

There is no application process for the Whiting Awards. Recipients are nominated by a rotating pool of writers, editors, professors, critics, and others working in the literary or dramatic arts. Final selections are made by a panel of “recognized writers, literary scholars, and editors.” The Whiting Foundation’s other initiatives include the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grants, which support the development of researched nonfiction books and are open for applications through April 25.

Deadline Nears for Orison Books’ Prizes in Poetry and Fiction

Do you have a poetry or fiction manuscript in need of a home? Try submitting to Orison Books’ Prizes in Poetry and Fiction, which offer $1,500 for a book in each genre and publication by the press.

Using only the online submission system, submit a poetry manuscript of 50 to 100 pages or a novel, novella, or collection of short stories or flash fiction of at least 30,000 words with a $25 entry fee by April 1. Pádraig Ó Tuama will judge in poetry and David Heska Wanbli Weiden will judge in fiction. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Last year’s winner of the Orison Poetry Prize was Hussain Ahmed for Blue Exodus. Judge Rajiv Mohabir said the collection’s “lines ask the reader to interrogate all things in new vocabularies of anguish, born from the inheritor of a war—still being fought in the muscle memory of the people who lived through it.” M. C. Benner Dixon was the winner of last year’s Orison Fiction Prize for her novel, The Height of the Land. Judge Tania James called the book “a refreshing approach to the post-apocalyptic novel, showing us both the possibilities of collective action and the power of a single dissenting voice.”

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Orison Books is a nonprofit literary press interested in writing that engages “the life of the spirit.” Taking its name from the archaic word for “prayer,” Orison seeks writers who “call us to meditate and contemplate, rather than asking us to adopt any ideology or set of propositions.”

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Celebrate the upcoming first day of spring by submitting to contests with a March 31 deadline! Opportunities abound for poets, fiction writers, creative nonfiction writers, and translators. Don’t miss the chance to apply for six-month fellowships with A Public Space or to win $10,000 for a debut book of nonfiction by a first-generation immigrant or $5,000 for a manuscript of narrative poetry. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more and four are free to enter. May your writing bloom this springtime!

A Public Space
Writing Fellowships

Three six-month fellowships of $1,000 each are given annually to emerging poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers who “embrace risk in their work” and have not published a full-length book. The fellows will work with the editors to prepare a piece for publication in A Public Space, receive complimentary access to all A Public Space master classes during the fellowship year, and will also have the opportunity to meet with publishing professionals and participate in a public reading. Entry fee: none.

Banipal Trust for Arab Literature
Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation

A prize of £3,000 (approximately $3,665) is given annually for a book of poetry or fiction translated from Arabic into English and published for the first time in English during the previous year. Translations of Arabic works of poetry or fiction originally published in 1967 or later are eligible. Entry fee: none.

Black Lawrence Press
Hudson Prize

A prize of $1,000, publication by Black Lawrence Press, and 10 author copies is given annually for a collection of poems, short stories, essays, or hybrid work. Collections including multilingual text are welcome, but the primary written language must be English. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $27.

Elixir Press
Antivenom Poetry Award

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Elixir Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. John Estes will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $30.

Four Way Books
Levis Prize in Poetry

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Four Way Books is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also be invited to participate in readings either virtually or in person in New York City, as public health guidelines allow. Diane Seuss will judge. Entry fee: $30.

Gemini Magazine
Short Story Contest

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gemini Magazine is given annually for a short story. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $8.

Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature
Paul Engle Prize

A prize of $20,000 is given annually to a writer “who, like Paul Engle, represents a pioneering spirit in the world of literature through writing, editing, publishing, or teaching, and whose active participation in the larger issues of the day has contributed to the betterment of the world through the literary arts.” Poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers are eligible. Self-nominations are not allowed. Entry fee: none.

Laura Boss Poetry Foundation
Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award

A prize of $5,000, publication by New York Quarterly Books, and 25 author copies will be given annually for a manuscript of narrative poetry. The winner and finalists are invited to give a reading in Paterson, New Jersey, in partnership with the Poetry Center of Passaic County Community College. José Antonio Rodríguez will judge. Entry fee: $25 (which may be waived for those experiencing financial hardship).

Restless Books
Prize for New Immigrant Writing

A prize of $10,000 and publication by Restless Books is given in alternating years for a debut book of fiction or nonfiction by a first-generation immigrant. The 2023 prize will be given in nonfiction. Writers who have not published a book of nonfiction in English are eligible. Entry fee: none.

Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm
Frost Farm Prize for Metrical Poetry

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem written in metrical verse. The winner also receives a scholarship to attend and give a reading at the Frost Farm Poetry Conference in Derry, New Hampshire, in June. Alfred Nicol will judge. Entry fee: $6. 

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.

Deadline Approaches for the National Poetry Series Open Competition

With only a few more days left before the deadline, don’t miss the opportunity to submit to the annual National Poetry Series Open Competition. Five U.S. poets will receive $10,000 each and publication of their collections by participating trade, university, or small press publishers. The 2023 publishers are Beacon Press, Ecco, Milkweed Editions, Penguin Books, and University of Georgia Press. Residents of the United States and American citizens living abroad are eligible to apply.

Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of a suggested length of 48 to 64 pages with a $35 entry fee by March 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines. Finalists will be notified around May 31, around which time their manuscripts will be shared with five judges for further consideration. The competition winners will be notified around August 31, and all finalists will be informed of their status at that time.  

The National Poetry Series literary awards program seeks to “support poetry and increase the audience for poetry by heightening its visibility among readers,” as well as “give American poets, of all ethnic and racial groups, gender, religion, and poetic style, access to publishing outlets not ordinarily available to them.” Members of the Board of Directors include Natalie Diaz, Daniel Halpern, Cathy Park Hong, Imani Perry, Tracy K. Smith, and Natasha Trethewey. Recent winners include Adrienne Chung (Organs of Little Importance, Penguin Books), Olatunde Osinaike (Tender Headed, Akashic Books), Tennison S. Black (Survival Strategies, University of Georgia Press), Courtney Bush (I Love Information, Milkweed Editions), and Alisha Dietzman (Sweet Movie, Beacon Press).

Deadline Nears for the Journal Non/Fiction Prize

About a week remains before submissions are due for the Journal Non/Fiction Prize. The literary magazine of the Ohio State University MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Journal, will select one full-length collection of short prose to be published by Mad Creek Books, the trade imprint of Ohio State University Press, and offer a cash prize of $1,500. Emerging and established writers of fiction and creative nonfiction are eligible.

Using only the online submission system, submit a collection of short stories, essays, or novellas (or a combination thereof) of 150 to 350 pages with a $23 entry fee ($11.50 for BIPOC writers), which includes a subscription to the Journal, by March 11. Michelle Herman, cofounder of the MFA program at Ohio State University, will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Last year’s winner was Rebecca Bernard for her story collection, Our Sister Who Will Not Die. “If Mary Gaitskill’s Bad Behavior and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Homesick for Another World had a lovechild, it would be Our Sister Who Will Not Die,” Nick White, author of How to Survive a Summer, wrote of the book. “Wild and subversive in the very best ways, these stories had me by the throat.”

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

February may be the shortest month, but there is still plenty of time to submit to contests with a deadline of February 28. Prizes include $5,500 for a poetry collection and a story collection, $5,000 for a single work of prose characterized by “daring formal and aesthetic innovations,” and $2,500 for a self-published poetry e-book and a fiction e-book by an African American writer. All awards have a cash prize of $1,000 or more. Go forth and prosper, writers!

Association of Writers & Writing Programs
Award Series

Two prizes of $5,500 each and publication by a participating press are given annually for a poetry collection and a story collection. In addition, two prizes of $2,500 each and publication by a participating press are given annually for a novel and a book of creative nonfiction. For the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, the University of Pittsburgh Press will publish the winning collection. For the Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, Red Hen Press will publish the winning collection. For the AWP Prize for the Novel, the University of Nebraska Press will publish the winning novel. For the Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction, the University of Georgia Press will publish the winning book. Entry fee: $30 ($20 for AWP members).

Austin Community College
Balcones Prizes

Two prizes of $1,500 each are given annually for a poetry collection and a book of fiction published during the previous year. Translated works are also eligible. Entry fee: $25 for poetry and $30 for fiction. 

Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Self-Publishing Literary Awards

Two prizes of $2,500 each are given annually for a poetry e-book and a fiction e-book by an African American writer self-published in the United States during the previous year. The awards honor books that depict “cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora.” Entry fee: none.

Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Janus Prize

A prize of $5,000 and publication in Chautauqua is given annually for a single work of fiction or nonfiction by an emerging writer displaying “daring formal and aesthetic innovations that upset and reorder readers’ imaginations.” The winner will also give a lecture during the summer 2023 season of the Chautauqua Institution. Writers who have not published a book of over 15,000 words and/or 100 pages in any prose genre are eligible. Entry fee: $20.

Fish Publishing
Flash Fiction Prize

A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,035) and publication in the Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a short short story. The winner is also invited to give a reading at the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2023. Kit de Waal will judge. Entry fee: $14. 

Minds Shine Bright
Confidence Competition

A prize of $1,600 AUD (approximately $1,031) and publication in the Confidence Minds Shine Bright anthology will be given annually for works of poetry or fiction exploring the theme of confidence. Entry fee: $3.

Omnidawn Publishing
First/Second Poetry Book Contest

A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 20 author copies is given annually for a first or second poetry collection. Sawako Nakayasu will judge. Entry fee: $35.

Poetry Northwest
James Welch Prize for Indigenous Poets

Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Poetry Northwest are given annually for a single poem by an Indigenous poet. The winners will also receive an all-expenses-paid trip to read with the judge in the fall of 2023. Writers who have published no more than one full-length book and who are community-recognized members of tribal nations within the United States and its territories are eligible. Heid E. Erdrich will judge. Entry fee: none.

Red Hen Press
Women’s Prose Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Red Hen Press is given annually for a book of fiction or nonfiction by a writer who identifies as a woman. Cai Emmons will judge. Entry fee: $25

Tupelo Press
Snowbound Chapbook Award

A prize of $1,000, publication by Tupelo Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $25.

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.

Submissions Now Open for the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant

Calling all nonfiction writers! Submissions have recently opened for the 2023 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant. Up to ten grants of $40,000 each will be given to prose writers with book-length works-in-progress. Intended for multiyear book projects that are at “a crucial point mid-process,” these grants recognize that “works of deeply researched and imaginatively composed nonfiction require significant time and resources.” Works of history, biography, memoir, philosophy, food or travel writing, graphic nonfiction, and personal essays, among other categories of work, are eligible. Manuscripts must be under contract with a U.S., U.K., or Canadian publishing company by April 25. In acknowledgment of the additional obstacles many BIPOC writers face in securing institutional resources for such projects, writers of color are especially encouraged to apply.

Using only the online submission system, submit up to 25,000 words of the book-in-progress; the original proposal to publishers that led to the contract; a signed contract; a statement of progress; a plan for the use of funds; a list of grants, fellowships, or other funding received for the book-in-progress; a résumé; and a letter of support from the book’s editor or publisher by April 25. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Past grantees include Sarah M. Broom (The Yellow House), Meghan O’Rourke (The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness), Akash Kapur (Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia), Albert Samaha (Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate), and Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty). For the eighth cycle of these grants, the foundation will host online information sessions on February 22 and March 23 at 12PM ET to answer questions about, and offer guidance on the application process. The 2023 grantees will be announced in the fall. Past grantees include Sarah M. Broom (The Yellow House), Meghan O’Rourke (The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness), Akash Kapur (Better to Have Gone: Love, Death, and the Quest for Utopia), Albert Samaha (Concepcion: Conquest, Colonialism, and an Immigrant Family’s Fate), and Chloé Cooper Jones (Easy Beauty). For the eighth cycle of these grants, the foundation will host online information sessions on February 22 and March 23 at 12PM ET to answer questions about, and offer guidance on the application process. The 2023 grantees will be announced in the fall. 

Submissions Open for the Mo Habib Translation Prize

The deadline is approaching for the inaugural Mo Habib Translation Prize in Persian Literature, collaboratively established by the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at University of Washington, the Mo Habib Memorial Foundation, and Deep Vellum Publishing. A $10,000 prize and publication by Deep Vellum will be awarded for a Persian novel or short story collection translated into English. Submissions of modern works of fiction from Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and their diaspora are eligible. $2,000 will be given when the winner is announced in July, and the remaining $8,000 will be given once the winning translation is submitted in full by May 2024.

Using only the online submission system, submit a sample of no more than 20 pages of the proposed translation, in both the original language and in English, as well as a curriculum vitae of up to three pages, a cover letter, and proof of copyrights (if applicable) by March 1. There is no entry fee. Anna Learn, Shelley Fairweather-Vega, and Siamak Vossoughi will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Named after Mohammad Habib, a structural engineer and project manager originally from Tehran who attended the University of Washington, the prize “seeks to expand the readership of Persian literature in English, beyond academic audiences.” Prize partner Deep Vellum is a literary nonprofit in Dallas that aims to publish literature that “fosters cross-cultural dialogue, breaks down barriers between communities, and promotes empathy.” As of 2020, approximately half of their titles were international works. Named after Mohammad Habib, a structural engineer and project manager originally from Tehran who attended the University of Washington, the prize “seeks to expand the readership of Persian literature in English, beyond academic audiences.” Prize partner Deep Vellum is a literary nonprofit in Dallas that aims to publish literature that “fosters cross-cultural dialogue, breaks down barriers between communities, and promotes empathy.” As of 2020, approximately half of their titles were international works. 

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

Give your writing a little love the day after Valentine’s Day, and submit to contests with a February 15 deadline. Prizes include $3,000 for a first or second poetry collection or a work that intersects with poetry, including hybrid text, speculative prose, and translation; $1,500 for a group of poems; and $2,000 for a work of fiction. All awards have a cash prize of $1,000 or more, and four have no entry fee. Good luck, writers!

Academy of American Poets
Ambroggio Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Arizona Press is given annually for a poetry collection originally written in Spanish by a living writer and translated into English. Achy Obejas will judge. Entry fee: none. 

Academy of American Poets
Harold Morton Landon Translation Award

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the United States during the previous year. Anna Deeny Morales will judge. Entry fee: none.

Airlie Press
Airlie Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Airlie Press is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Arrowsmith Press
Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published in English during the previous year by a writer who is not a citizen of the United States. Poets who are living in the United States as green card holders are among those eligible. Poets whose work appears in translation into English are also eligible. Canisia Lubrin will judge. Entry fee: $20.

Center for African American Poetry and Poetics/Autumn House Press
Book Prize

A prize of $3,000 and publication by Autumn House Press is given annually for a first or second poetry collection or a work that intersects with poetry, including hybrid text, speculative prose, and translation, by a writer of African descent. Nicole Sealey will judge. Entry fee: none.

Furious Flower Poetry Center
Furious Flower Poetry Prize

A prize of $1,500 and publication in Obsidian, the literary journal of Illinois State University, is given annually for a group of poems. The winner also receives a $500 honorarium to give a reading at James Madison University (either virtually or in person, as public health guidelines allow). Poets who have published no more than one collection of poetry are eligible. Evie Shockley will judge. Entry fee: $15.

New American Press
New American Poetry Prize

A prize of $1,500, publication by New American Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Jamaica Baldwin will judge. Writers of any citizenship working anywhere in the world are eligible, though the work should presume English-language readers. Entry fee: $25.

Sarabande Books
Morton and McCarthy Prizes

Two prizes of $2,000 each and publication by Sarabande Books are given annually for collections of poetry and fiction. Entry fee: $29.

Syracuse University Press
Veterans Writing Award

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Syracuse University Press is given biennially in alternating years for either a debut fiction or a debut nonfiction manuscript written by a U.S. veteran, active-duty personnel in any branch of the U.S. military, or the immediate family member of a veteran or active-duty personnel. The 2023 award will be given in nonfiction. Anuradha Bhagwati will judge. Entry fee: none.

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.

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