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 (e.g. January 2017 Calls for Submissions is posted in December; all opportunities will have January deadlines).
If you would like a contest, grant, fellowship, residency, or workshop to be added to our next Submissions post, please contact us. Include a link to your submission guidelines and the information we include in all our listings: deadline, entry fee, and prize.
Fiction Contests
Aura Estrada Short Story Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,500 + publication
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: October 1, 2017
Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: October 2, 2017
New Visions Award (Middle Grade/Young Adult)
Eligibility: Writers of color who are residents of the United States and have not previously had a middle grade or young adult novel published
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Deadline: October 31, 2017
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: October 31, 2017
Nonfiction Contests
River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Book Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publcation
Entry fee: $27
Deadline: October 15, 2017
Eligibility: Writers with a meaningful Pittsburgh connection
Prize: $10,000 + publication
Deadline: October 23, 2017
Poetry Contests
Amy Lowell Traveling Poetry Scholarship
Eligibility: All US-born poets (or with parent born in the US)
Prize: $58,000
Deadline: October 15, 2017
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $3,000 + publication + 4-week residency
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: October 31, 2017
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
Deadline: October 31, 2017
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, 2017
Multi-Genre Contests
American Literary Review Awards
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $15
Deadline: October 1, 2017
Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $5,000
Entry fee: $22
Deadline: October 2, 2017
Writing Fellowships & Residencies
Spillways Artist & Writer Residency
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + 2-week residency in New Orleans
Entry fee: $45
Deadline: October 4, 2017
Eligibility: Midcareer professionals in the arts and humanities
Prize: 1-3 month residency
Entry Fee: $20
Deadline: October 15, 2017
Eligibility: Writers who have not yet been published
Prize: $1,000 + 6-month editorial support (from APS editors to prepare a piece for publication in the magazine)
Deadline: October 15, 2017
Members, for more information on lit mag submissions, check out our how-to guides: Lit Mag Submissions 101 and Escape the Slush Pile
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