Each month we curate a list of contests, fellowships, and other writing opportunities with approaching deadlines. Opportunities will be posted in the month prior to their deadlines, so that you have ample time to submit your work or applications.

Fiction Contests

Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: October 1, 2019

Blue Lights Book Prize
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $2,000 + publication
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: October 31, 2019

Nonfiction Contests

River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $27
Deadline: October 31, 2019

Poetry Contests

Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship
Eligibility: All US-born poets (or with parent born in the US)
Prize: $60,500
Deadline: October 15, 2019

Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $3,000 + publication + 4-week residency
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: October 31, 2019

Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry
Eligibility: Female poets who have yet to publish a full-length book of poems
Prize: $1,000 + publication + residency
Deadline: October 31, 2019

APR/Honickman First Book Prize
Eligibility: U.S. writers who have not published a book-length collection of poems
Prize: $3,000 + publication
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: October 31, 2019

Multi-Genre Contests

American Literary Review Awards
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $15
Deadline: October 1, 2019

Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $5,000
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: October 1, 2019

Writing Fellowships & Residencies

Dora Maar Fellowship
Eligibility: Midcareer professionals in the arts and humanities
Prize: 1-3 month residency
Entry Fee: $20
Deadline: October 15, 2019