This year’s Arts & Letters Prizes mark a quarter century for the contest in which three decorated judges select a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. The deadline for the twenty-fifth annual contest is March 31. The prize awards $1,000 and publication in Arts & Letters, a journal that has attracted both emerging and established writers such as Donald Hall, Sonja Livingston, and Xu Xi. 

arts_letters_prizes.jpeg

Using only the online submission system, submit up to four poems of any length or up to 25 pages of prose with a $20 entry fee. All entries are considered for publication. Chelsea Rathburn will judge in poetry, Tiphanie Yanique will judge in fiction, and Beth Ann Fennelly will judge in nonfiction. Visit the website for more information.

Founded by Martin Lammon in 1999 and operating out of Georgia College & State University’s MFA program in creative writing ever since, Arts & Letters has for nearly a decade been headed by its second editor, Laura Newbern, who’s also an associate professor in English at GCSU and a recipient of the 2010 Writer’s Award from the Rona Jaffe Foundation. And for those wondering if this contest is the right fit, the editorial board welcomes both formal and experimental work—even writing that otherwise “defies classification”—so long as, in the board’s words, the submission “doesn’t try too hard to grab our attention, but rather guides it toward the human voice and its perpetual struggle into language.” If you’re still not sure, you might find inspiration in the judges’ latest book in their respective category; that is, Rathburn’s Still Life With Mother and Knife (LSU Press, 2019), Yanique’s How to Escape From a Leper Colony (Graywolf Press, 2010), and Fennelly’s Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs (Norton, 2017).

What more fitting time than the arrival of spring to imagine growing an audience for your writing? Fortunately there are a number of writing contests with a March 15 deadline to consider. Prizes include $15,000 for a debut novel published during the current year (six finalists receive $1,000 each); $10,000 for a novel-in-progress by a debut author (a first and second runner-up receive $3,000 and $2,000, respectively); and five prizes of $10,000, plus publication by one of five participating trade, university, or small press publishers, for poetry collections by U.S. poets. Nine other awards offer publication and prizes ranging from $500 to $3,000 for work in various genres. Best of luck!

Bellingham Review
Literary Awards 
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Bellingham Review are given annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The 49th Parallel Award for Poetry is given for a poem or group of poems. The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction is given for a short story or a work of flash fiction. The Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction is given for an essay or a work of flash nonfiction. All entries are considered for publication. English translations of works originally written in another language are accepted. Entry fee: $15. 

Broadside Lotus Press
Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award 
A prize of $500 and publication by Broadside Lotus Press is given annually for a poetry collection by an African American poet. Entry fee: None. 

The Center for Fiction
First Novel Prize
A prize of $15,000 is given annually for a debut novel by an American citizen published in the United States during the current year. Six finalists receive $1,000 each. Self-published works, books published exclusively in e-book editions, and novels previously published in other countries are not eligible. Small independent publishers may apply for a fee reduction. Entry fee: $100. 

Fourth Genre
Steinberg Memorial Essay Prize 
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Fourth Genre is given annually for an essay. Sarah Viren will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20. 

Indiana Review
Poetry and Creative Nonfiction Prizes 
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Indiana Review are given annually for a single poem and an essay. Entry fee: $20 (includes a subscription to Indiana Review).

James Jones Literary Society
First Novel Fellowship 
A prize of $10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. The first runner-up receives $3,000 and the second runner-up receives $2,000. Entry fee: $33. 

National Poetry Series
Open Competition 
Five prizes of $10,000 each and publication by participating trade, university, or small press publishers are given annually for poetry collections by U.S. poets. Entry fee: $35.

Prairie Schooner
Raz-Shumaker Book Prizes 
Two prizes of $3,000 each and publication by University of Nebraska Press are given annually for a poetry collection and a story collection. Kwame Dawes will judge. Entry fee: $25. 

Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation
Poetry Prize 
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. Sun Yung Shin will judge. Entry fee: $10. 

Trio House Press
Louise Bogan Award 
A prize of $1,000, publication by Trio House Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet living in the United States. Oliver de la Paz will judge. Entry fee: $25.

Trio House Press
Trio Award for First or Second Book 
A prize of $1,000, publication by Trio House Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a first or second poetry collection by a poet living in the United States. Jessica Q. Stark will judge. Entry fee: $25. 

Verse
Tomaž Šalamun Prize 
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Factory Hollow Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner also receives a monthlong residency in a private apartment at the Tomaž Šalamun Centre for Poetry in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in summer 2025. Prose poetry, hybrid works, and translations of works of poetry by living writers from any language into English (with the relevant permission) are also eligible. Shane McCrae will judge. Entry fee: $17 ($13 for students).

The Word Works
Washington Prize 
A prize of $1,500 and publication by the Word Works is given annually to a U.S. or Canadian poet for a poetry collection. 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.

Maggot, Humvee, Peg, Swap-Out, Baggy Eyes, Creaky, Fast Forward, Extra Eye. These are all nicknames of characters found in Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Demon Copperhead, whose title itself is the nickname of Damon Fields who narrates the coming-of-age story set in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia. In an early chapter of the book, Damon talks about how prominent nicknames are in his town and that even his mother no longer uses his real name. “Some name finds you, and you come running to it like a dog until the day you die and it goes in the paper along with your official name that everybody’s forgotten,” says Damon. Write a short story in which a group of characters have colorful nicknames for each other. Start with a list of names and consider the power dynamics at play for those who use and bestow the nicknames.

Poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers with work that illustrates “the wild woman spirit”—the creative agency and power women display in shaping the world—may want to consider submitting to TulipTree Publishing’s Wild Women Story Contest by March 8. The annual prize awards $1,000 and publication in TulipTree Review for a single poem, a short story, or an essay “whose main characters embody” this “feminine spirit.”

tuliptree_publishing.jpg

Submit up to five pages of poetry or up to 10,000 words of prose with a $20 entry fee. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

With an application period closing on International Women’s Day, the Wild Women Story Contest recognizes work that honors the convictions of feminist historian Stephanie Camp, who believed that “[w]omen’s history does not merely add to what we know; it changes what we know and how we know it.” A selection of poems, stories, and essays submitted to the prize are gathered in TulipTree Review’s annual Spring/Summer Wild Women Issue, and both the grand prize winner and one honorable mention are nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Last year’s nominees were fiction writer Amy Soscia for “Life on the Ledge” and essayist Hannah Hindley for “Heat Map.”