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49 Writing Contests You Can Submit to Now (December - January 2023)
by Writing Workshops Staff
A year ago
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Find 49 excellent writing contests below with deadlines between December 2022 and January 2023. Polish your manuscript and submit it to one of these great writing contests (and, if you're looking for a class in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, or screenwriting, we've got you covered).
Waywiser Press
Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $3,000
Entry Fee: $29
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $3,000 and publication by the Waywiser Press is given annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has published no more than one previous collection. The winner...
Five Points
James Dickey Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Five Points is given annually for a group of poems. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit up to...
Langum Foundation
David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a book of historical fiction published during the current year. Publishers or authors may submit two copies of a book (or galleys)...
Poetry International
C.P. Cavafy Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Poetry International is given annually for a single poem. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit up...
Regal House Publishing
W.S. Porter Prize for Short Story Collections
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing is given annually for a story collection. The editors will judge. Submit a manuscript of 100 to 350 pages with a $25...
African Poetry Book Fund
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Nebraska Press in conjunction with Amalion Press is given annually for a debut poetry collection by an African poet. Writers...
Masters Review
Novel Excerpt Contest
Cash Prize: $3,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $3,000, publication in Masters Review, and an agent consultation will be given annually for an excerpt of an unpublished novel or novel-in-progress showing “a...
Pushcart Press
Pushcart Prizes
Cash Prize:
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Publication in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is awarded annually for works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction published by literary magazines or...
Slipstream Press
Poetry Chapbook Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Slipstream Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The editors will judge. Submit a manuscript of up to 40 pages...
Meadowlark Press
Birdy Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/1/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Meadowlark Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript...
Story
Story Foundation Prize
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/15/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Story is given annually for a short story. Using only the online submission system, submit a short story of no more than 10,000...
Essay Press/University of Washington Bothell
Book Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 12/15/22
Genre: Poetry, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Essay Press will be given annually for lyric essays, prose poems, and works of experimental biography and autobiography that “challenge the...
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
Writing Fellowships
Cash Prize: $8,000
Entry Fee: $50
Application Deadline: 12/15/22
Fellowships for a seven-month residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are given annually to four poets and four fiction writers who have not...
Longleaf Press
Book Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $27
Application Deadline: 12/15/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Longleaf Press, and 25 author copies will be given annually for a poetry collection. The winner will also be invited to give a virtual reading...
Center for Book Arts
Poetry Chapbook Contest
Cash Prize: $500
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 12/15/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $500 and letterpress publication by the Center for Book Arts is given annually for a poetry chapbook. The winner will also receive 10 copies of their chapbook and an...
Virginia Commonwealth University
Cabell First Novelist Award
Cash Prize: $3,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/30/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of at least $3,000 is given annually for a debut novel published during the current year. The winner and two additional guest panelists (usually the winner’s agent and...
Codhill Press
Pauline Uchmanowicz Poetry Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 12/30/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Codhill Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. James Sherwood will judge. Submit a manuscript of 48 to 70...
Poetry Society of America
Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Poetry Society of America website is given annually for a group of poems from a manuscript-in-progress. Wayne Miller will judge. Using...
Cleveland Foundation
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Cash Prize: $10,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three to four prizes of $10,000 each are given annually for a poetry collection, a book of fiction, and a book of nonfiction (including creative nonfiction) published during...
Omnidawn Publishing
Fabulist Fiction Chapbook/Novelette Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $18
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 20 author copies is given annually for a work of fabulist fiction. Michelle Ruiz Keil will judge. Using only the...
Lascaux Review
Prize in Short Fiction
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Lascaux Review is given annually for a short story. Using only the online submission system, submit a story of up to 10,000 words...
Kallisto Gaia Press
Acacia Fiction Prize
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Kallisto Gaia Press is given annually for a collection of short works of fiction. Lesley Bannatyne will judge. Using only the online...
American Library Association
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a novel published in the current year that is set in a period when the United States was at war. Publishers or authors may submit seven...
Crosswinds
Poetry Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Crosswinds is given annually for a single poem. Alexandria Peary will judge. Submit up to three poems of no more than 60 lines each...
Michigan Quarterly Review
Jesmyn Ward Prize in Fiction
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $2,000 and publication in Michigan Quarterly Review will be given annually for a short story. Desiree Cooper will judge. Using only the online submission...
Kallisto Gaia Press
Saguaro Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,500 and publication by Kallisto Gaia Press is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Austin Smith will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit 28 to...
Boulevard
Short Fiction Contest for Emerging Writers
Cash Prize: $1,500
Entry Fee: $16
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Boulevard is given annually for a short story by a writer who has not published a nationally distributed book. The editors will...
Burnside Review Press
Book Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000, publication by Burnside Review Press, and 10 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Jaswinder Bolina will judge. Using only the online...
Press 53
Award for Short Fiction
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $1,000, publication by Press 53, and 50 author copies is given annually for a story collection. Claire V. Foxx will judge. Submit a manuscript of 100 to 250 pages...
The Moth
Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $6,128
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of €6,000 (approximately $6,128) and publication in the Moth is given annually for a single poem. Three runner-up prizes of €1,000 (approximately $1,021) each...
Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Literary Awards
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Four prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for a poetry collection, a first novel, a book of fiction, and a book of nonfiction (including creative nonfiction) by African...
Poetry Society of America
Robert H. Winner Memorial Award
Cash Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $2,500 and publication on the Poetry Society of America website is given annually to a poet over 40 who has published no more than one book. Nuar Alsadir will judge...
Ohio University Press
Hollis Summers Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Ohio University Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Jennifer Kwon Dobbs will judge. Using only the online submission system,...
LitMag
Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction
Cash Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction
A prize of $2,500 and publication in LitMag is given annually for a short story. The winner will have their work reviewed by agents from Bankoff Collaborative, the Bent...
Florida Review
Jeanne Leiby Memorial Chapbook Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Florida Review is given annually for a chapbook of short fiction, short nonfiction, or graphic narrative. Submit a manuscript of up...
Tupelo Press
Dorset Prize
Cash Prize: $9,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $9,000, publication by Tupelo Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner also receives the option of either a weeklong...
Before Columbus Foundation
American Book Awards
Cash Prize:
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Awards are given annually for books published in the United States during the current year to recognize “outstanding literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s...
Poetry Society of America
Four Quartets Prize
Cash Prize: $20,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 12/31/22
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $20,000 is given annually for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in the United States in a print or online journal, a chapbook, or a book during the...
Mississippi Review
Mississippi Review Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 1/1/23
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Three prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Mississippi Review are given annually for a single poem, a short story, and an essay. Current or former University of...
North Carolina Writers’ Network
Jacobs/Jones African American Literary Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 1/2/23
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a short story or an essay that “seeks to convey the rich and varied existence of Black North Carolinians.” The winning entry is...
Gemini Magazine
Poetry Open
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $9
Application Deadline: 1/3/23
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gemini Magazine is given annually for a single poem. The editors will judge. Submit up to three poems of any length with a $9 entry...
San José State University
Steinbeck Fellowships in Creative Writing
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 1/3/23
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Six yearlong residencies at San José State University in San José, California, which include a stipend of $15,000 each, are given annually to fiction writers and creative...
Leon Levy Center for Biography
Leon Levy Biography Fellowships
Cash Prize: $72,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 1/4/23
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Four fellowships of $72,000, writing space at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, access to research facilities, and research assistance from a graduate student are...
New Literary Project
Jack Hazard Fellowships
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 1/9/23
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Nine fellowships of $5,000 each will be given annually to high school teachers working on an ongoing fiction, creative nonfiction, or memoir project. Full-time instructors at...
Winter Anthology
Writing Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $11
Application Deadline: 1/10/23
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Winter Anthology is given annually for a group of poems, a story, a novel excerpt, or an essay. Ann Lauterbach will judge. Using...
National Endowment for the Arts
Translation Projects Fellowship
Cash Prize: $25,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 1/12/23
Genre: Poetry
Around 20 grants of up to $25,000 each are given annually to translators of poetry and prose from any language into English. Applicants must have published, alone or in...
92NY Unterberg Poetry Center
Discovery Poetry Contest
Cash Prize: $500
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 1/13/23
Genre: Poetry
Four prizes of $500 each and publication in Paris Review Daily are given annually for a group of poems. Winners also receive lodging and travel expenses to give a reading at...
French-American Foundation
Translation Prize
Cash Prize: $10,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 1/13/23
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Two prizes of $10,000 each are given annually for translations from French into English of a book of fiction and a book of nonfiction (including creative nonfiction) published...
Colorado Review
Colorado Prize for Poetry
Cash Prize: $2,500
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 1/14/23
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $2,500 and publication by the Center for Literary Publishing is given annually for a poetry collection. Felicia Zamora will judge. Submit a manuscript of 48 to 100...
Poetry Society of Virginia
North American Book Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $36
Application Deadline: 1/15/23
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published during the previous year. The winner is also invited to read at the organization’s annual Spring Poetry...
Asheville Poetry Review
William Matthews Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 1/15/23
Genre: Poetry
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Asheville Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem. The winner is also invited to give a reading at Malaprop’s Bookstore in...
Ellen Meloy Fund
Desert Writers Award
Cash Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 1/15/23
Genre: Creative Nonfiction
A prize of $5,000 is given annually to enable a creative nonfiction writer “whose work reflects the spirit and passions for the desert embodied in Ellen Meloy’s writing” to...
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