Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
3.25.22

April’s first writing contest deadlines include several stellar book prizes for poets. Other opportunities include a writing fellowship for poets, a humor writing prize, and awards honoring short works of fiction and nonfiction. All of these contests have a deadline of April 1 and a cash prize of at least $1,000. Good luck!

Just Buffalo Literary Center Poetry Fellowship: A fellowship, which includes a stipend of $1,500 and a monthlong residency in Buffalo, will be given annually to a poet. The fellowship includes lodging at a private apartment for the month of August 2022 and an invitation to read at a Just Buffalo Literary Center event. Entry fee: $20.

Nimrod International Journal Literary Awards: Two prizes of $2,000 each and publication in Nimrod International Journal are given annually for a group of poems and a work of fiction. A runner-up in each category receives $1,000 and publication. The winners and runners-up will also participate in a virtual awards ceremony and conference in October. Entry fee: $20 entry fee (includes a subscription to Nimrod International Journal).

North American Review Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in North American Review will be given annually for an essay. Lyric essays, memoir, personal essays, and literary journalism are eligible. Lacy M. Johnson will judge. Entry fee: $23.

Orison Books Prizes in Poetry and Fiction: Two prizes of $1,500 each and publication by Orison Books are given annually for a poetry collection and a book of fiction. Rajiv Mohabir will judge in poetry and Tania James will judge in fiction. 

Saturnalia Books Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,500, publication by Saturnalia Books, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Roberto Tejada will judge. All entries will also be considered for the Editors Prize, which awards $1,000 and publication. Entry fee: $30.

Southeast Missouri State University Press Cowles Poetry Book Prize: A prize of $2,000, publication by Southeast Missouri State University Press, and 30 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Entry fee: $25.

Winning Writers Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest: A prize of $2,000, a two-year gift certificate for membership to the literary database Duotrope, and publication on the Winning Writers website is given annually for a humorous poem. A second-place prize of $500 is also awarded. Jendi Reiter will judge. Unpublished and previously published works are eligible. 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, and creative nonfiction. 

Resurrection

The Time Is Now
3.24.22

“Yes, I’m from rural Michigan. My people are those of TV dinners and bad luck. My landscape, silos, pissed-off cows, and the Elks Lodge Friday Fish Fry sign lighting up the night instead of the moon,” writes Diane Seuss in her commencement address to the Bennington Writing Seminars earlier this year, which was published on Literary Hub. “I invented myself, or a version of myself that could resurrect out of a cow pasture and become a poet. Unlikely, unlikely that I am here at all, and that you, indeed, are there,” she writes. Write an essay about your own “resurrection” into becoming a writer. What is the landscape you associate with home, and how does it influence your writing style?

What if?

The Time Is Now
3.23.22

In “The Art of Reading Philip Roth: Turning Sentences Around,” published in the September/October 2006 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, Andrew Furman provides an analysis of the prolific writer’s work and legacy. “[Roth] seemed to know early on that to be a thoughtful Jewish writer in the twentieth century was to pose a series of ‘What if’ questions,” writes Furman. “What if Kafka survived tuberculosis, and then the Nazi death camps?” or “What if Anne Frank survived typhus in Bergen-Belsen?” This week, write a short story based on a “What if” question. Whether through a historical figure or your own life, what alternate reality can you see through to fruition?

Happy Poem

The Time Is Now
3.22.22

“They say a poet / can never write a purely happy poem about a dog / greeting the sun and what it has done to rain,” writes Analicia Sotelo in her poem “Grace Among the Ferns” published in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. “I don’t know about that.” The poem is inspired by Sotelo’s dog Grace, who nuzzles her body through ferns on a sunny day, and how she seems to effortlessly enjoy the pleasures of springtime. Inspired by Sotelo’s poem, challenge yourself to write a joyful poem. Will your poem include a beloved pet?

Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize Accepting Submissions

G&A: The Contest Blog
3.18.22

Submissions are open for the Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize. Offered by North American Review to “recognize the finest essay writing,” the prize welcomes submissions across the spectrum of creative nonfiction subgenres. This includes personal essays and lyric essays, as well as work in modes such as nature writing, travel writing, and literary criticism, so long as the work has a “personal component.” The winning writer will receive $1,000. Lacy M. Johnson, whose most recent book is The Reckonings (Scribner, 2018), will judge.

Using only the online submission system, submit an essay of 500 to 8,500 words with a $23 entry fee by April 1. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

North American Review, the oldest literary magazine in the United States, was founded in Boston and is currently run by the University of Northern Iowa. Editors particularly invite submissions to the Terry Tempest Williams Prize that “push boundaries.” The 2021 winner of the contest was Kate McGunagle for “Passive Voice.”

Find a Writing Contest

The Grants & Awards database includes details about every writing contest we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it, making the Grants & Awards database the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Search the database

 

Celebrating Women

The Time Is Now
3.17.22

Last week, International Women’s Day was celebrated around the world, bringing attention to the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements of women as well as a call to action for gender equality. This year’s theme is “Break the Bias,” which aims to imagine a world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination, and encourages daily practice in one’s actions and thoughts. Inspired by this globally celebrated day, write an essay meditating on the women in your life who’ve helped you make personal strides. When cataloged, what are some patterns you notice?

Wanderings

The Time Is Now
3.16.22

“Under the wonderful influence of the painkillers coursing through me, I felt, in my iron-framed bed, like a balloonist floating weightless amidst the mountainous clouds towering on every side,” writes W. G. Sebald in Rings of Saturn, reprinted by New Directions in 2016 and translated from the German by Michael Hulse, in which an unnamed narrator speaks from a hospital bed about a trip he took walking across the landscape of Suffolk in England a year before. In the novel, Sebald’s narrator ruminates on a variety of subjects, including Rembrandt’s painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, the skull of seventeenth-century physician Thomas Browne, French novelist Gustave Flaubert’s relationship to sand, and the sudden death of his friend. Write a story in which the protagonist never physically moves, but mentally travels through a variety of seemingly disparate subjects. Be it art, world history, geography, or music, how do the anecdotes connect to your subject’s personal conflict?

Just Signal

The Time Is Now
3.15.22

“I don’t know about you, but for me, the last two years have put a strain on language,” says Ada Limón in an episode of The Slowdown, a podcast hosted by the poet featuring a curated poem. “For me, and maybe for many of us, the way we say I love you, is just by showing up. By being there, sometimes quietly, wordlessly, but there, in person, nonetheless,” she says while introducing the featured poem “Don’t Say Love Just Signal” by Tyree Daye. This week, write a poem about the ways love can be expressed physically, without words. When words aren’t enough, how does the body say more?

Upcoming Contest Deadlines

G&A: The Contest Blog
3.11.22

Celebrate the arrival of spring by applying to contests with a deadline of March 31. With many of these awards being offered to writers in multiple genres, there are ample opportunities for poets, fiction writers, and nonfiction writers alike. All contests offer a cash prize of $1,000 or more and two charge no entry fee. Dig in! 

A Public Space Writing Fellowships: Three six-month fellowships of $1,000 each are given annually to emerging fiction and nonfiction writers who have not published a full-length book. The fellows will work with the editors to prepare a piece for publication in A Public Space and will also have the opportunity to meet with publishing professionals and participate in a public reading. Entry fee: None.

Arts & Letters Prizes: Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Arts & Letters are given annually for a group of poems, a short story, and an essay. Allison Joseph will judge in poetry, Andrew Porter will judge in fiction, and Gayle Brandeis will judge in nonfiction. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $20.

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 or short stories. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $27.

Fish Publishing Poetry Prize: A prize of €1,000 (approximately $1,129) and publication in the Fish Publishing anthology is given annually for a single poem. The winner is also invited to read at the anthology launch event at the West Cork Literary Festival in July. Billy Collins will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: €14 (approximately $16) for online entries or €16 (approximately $18) for postal entries.

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. Jericho Brown will judge. Entry fee: $30.

Indiana Review Poetry and Fiction Prizes: Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Indiana Review are given annually for a poem and a story. Entry fee: $20 (which includes a subscription to Indiana Review).

Narrative Winter Story Contest: A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second-place prize of $1,000 is also awarded. The editors will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Entry fee: $27.  

Press 53 Prime Number Magazine Awards: Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Prime Number Magazine are given annually for a poem and a short story. Faith Shearin will judge in poetry and Jubal Tiner will judge in fiction. Entry fee: $15. 

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 2022 prize will be given in fiction. Writers who have not published a book of fiction in English are eligible. Entry fee: None. 

Trustees of the Robert Frost Farm Prize: 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. Allison Joseph will judge. Entry fee: $6 per poem.

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. 
 

About Suffering

The Time Is Now
3.10.22

In Elisa Gabbert’s essay “A Poem (and a Painting) About the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight,” published for the Close Read series, a digital initiative on the New York Times website, W. H. Auden’s poem “Musée des Beaux Arts” is analyzed in conjunction with paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, as conclusions are drawn about what the two famed artists had to say about a world on the verge of war. The poem slyly uses rhyme and ekphrasis to reveal how suffering occurs simultaneously while “someone is eating or opening a window / or just walking dully along,” however, Gabbert points out that this is not to be used as an excuse. “Moral absolution is available, the poem seems to say,” she writes. “That doesn’t mean we deserve it.” Inspired by Gabbert, write an essay using historical research and personal anecdotes about a work of literature or visual art that speaks to a troubling period in your life.

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