Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Stories That Need to Be Told Contest

TulipTree Publishing
Entry Fee: 
$20
Deadline: 
August 9, 2025
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem, a short story, or an essay that responds to the following prompt: “What if the only way to save yourself from this reality is to write yourself a new one?” The winner also receives a two-year subscription to the literary database Duotrope and publication in the annual Stories That Need to Be Told anthology. E-mail a poem of up to five pages or a story or essay of up to 10,000 words with a $20 entry fee (sent via postal mail or PayPal) by August 9. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Literary Awards

Dogwood
Entry Fee: 
$12
Deadline: 
September 5, 2025
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Dogwood are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Using only the online submission system, submit up to three poems totaling no more than 10 pages or up to 22 pages of prose with a $12 entry fee by September 5. Writers who are incarcerated may submit to the contest free of charge via postal mail or the Dogwood website. All submissions are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Housatonic Book Awards

Western Connecticut State University
Entry Fee: 
$25
Deadline: 
July 18, 2025
Three prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in the previous year. The winners also receive $500 in travel expenses and a hotel stay to give a reading and teach a master class at Western Connecticut State University’s low-residency MFA program. Using only the online submission system, submit a PDF of a book published in 2024 with a $25 entry fee by July 18. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Other Futures Award

Futurepoem
Entry Fee: 
$28
Deadline: 
August 15, 2025
A prize of $1,000, publication by Futurepoem, and 25 author copies is given annually for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid work “that challenges conventions of genre and language, content and form.” The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of up to 200 pages with a $28 entry fee (or a sliding-scale fee of $9 or $18 based on financial need) from July 15 to August 15. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Granum Foundation Prizes

Granum Foundation
Entry Fee: 
$0
Deadline: 
August 1, 2025
A prize of $5,000 is given annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer to support the completion of a manuscript-in-progress. Up to three finalists are awarded at least $500 each. A Translation Prize of at least $1,500 is also given. Using only the online submission system, submit 12 poems or a prose sample of up to 25 pages by August 1. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for the required entry form and complete guidelines.

Andrea Long Chu: Authority

Caption: 

In this Center for Fiction event, author and critic Andrea Long Chu reads from her essay collection Authority (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025) and talks about the inherent contradictions in the way people discuss and disagree about art, and traces the political and intellectual history of literary criticism in a conversation with Arielle Angel.

Genre: 
Creative Nonfiction
Tags: 
Andrea Long Chu
Authority
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Center for Fiction
Arielle Angel
2025

Rehearsing

The Time Is Now
6.12.25

In the comedic documentary series The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder helps ordinary people rehearse difficult conversations they may be dreading by creating precisely replicated environments and hiring actors to prepare for each scenario. The elaborate sets include a fully functioning bar with patrons, a household with a child actor, and an exact reproduction of a Houston airport terminal. Compose a personal essay about a necessary conversation that has been weighing on you and write out several vignettes exploring potential ways the exchange might play out given your knowledge of your own mindset as well as the person you’re confronting. Consider incorporating thoughts about how some reactions or behaviors may be impossible to predict. How might this rehearsal of sorts help calm your nerves or provide an understanding of your own social tendencies?

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