Contests

Writing contests provide steps up for a writer – especially a struggling writer. A portfolio that contains contest wins means more than many clips. Can’t afford the entry fees? Consider entering one contest a quarter or something more amiable to your pocketbook. A few are free. Contests provide prizes, prestige and usually publication with many offering book contracts. Denouncing contests from your writing repertoire is like discounting an entire genre or refusing to eat yellow vegetables. You’re giving up something valuable that may serve you and your career well.

NOTE: To have your group’s contest posted, email hope@chopeclark.com with the link to the contest. It must pay a minimum of a $200 first prize, not take all rights for entering, and charge an entry fee of five percent or less. 

PEN PARENTIS WRITING FELLOWSHIP FOR NEW PARENTS
https://penparentis.org/fellowship/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 17, 2026. One talented writer who is the parent of at least one child under 10 years old will receive $2000 to further their writing career, a year of mentorship, and will be offered the opportunity to read their winning story online at a Pen Parentis Literary Salon in Fall 2026. The second prize and third prize will receive $500 and $250. Submit a new, never-published fiction story-any genre, on any subject-of up to 440 words.

DEAR ALIENS
https://www.dearaliens.net/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 14, 2026. The aliens are coming. They asked us for just one item: a written document from humanity to read before they arrive. Should we share a history of humanity? An introduction to your family? A science fiction story? A description of a sunset? A narrative from your life? A joke? Giving $2,000 USD to the best submission. Second and third place get $250 each. Physically mail in your writing to be received by the due date (before May 15). (NOTE: This is a first time contest so no track record.)

LAURA BOSS POETRY FOUNDATION
https://laurabosspoetryfoundation.org/award
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. This fee may be waived for entrants experiencing financial hardship. Email laurabosspoetryfoundation@gmail.com to request. Submit up to 10 poems, not to exceed 10 pages total, with each poem starting on a new page. Semi-finalists will be notified June 1 and asked to submit full manuscripts (70-90 pages) by June 30. The winner receives publication by New York Quarterly Books, 25 author copies, $5,000 prize, a release reading at The Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson. Five finalists receive $100 prize and a reading in Paterson, NJ.

THE RIALTO NATURE & PLACE POETRY COMPETITION
https://www.therialto.co.uk/pages/nature-poetry-competition/
£7 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 1, 2026. Poems are invited that deal with any aspect of nature and place. 1st prize – £1000. 2nd prize – £500. 3rd prize – £250. Poems must have a title and must be no more than 40 lines. Some free entries available for writers on low or supported incomes.

FLORIDA REVIEW EDITOR’S PRIZE
https://cah.ucf.edu/floridareview/2026/02/05/2026-editors-prizes-open-for-submission/
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 15, 2026. Editor’s Prizes in Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Poetry. Each winner receives publication in The Florida Review and $1,000 upon publication. Entry fee includes subscription to The Florida Review. Prose limited to 9000 words. Poetry limited to five poems.

CLAIRE HARRIS POETRY PRIZE
https://gooselane.com/pages/claire-harris-poetry-prize-submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Eligible writers include Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada who are writers from Black, Indigenous, or other racialized communities and who have not previously published a book-length collection of poetry. (Poets who have published a chapbook, but not yet a book-length collection, are eligible to apply). Manuscripts should be book-length works of poetry, i.e., approximately 48-100 pages. The prize includes a cash award of $1,000, a contract for the publication of the collection under the icehouse poetry imprint in the following year (2027), and public readings in at least three Canadian cities.

FOLEY POETRY CONTEST
https://americamedia.submittable.com/submit
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Each entrant is asked to submit one poem of 45 lines or fewer. Poems should not be under consideration elsewhere. Poems may address any topic. The winning poem will be announced in early June and published in the print edition of America. The cash prize is $1,000. Three runners-up will also be published in subsequent issues.

PARSEC SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://parsec-sff.org/short-story-contest/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The 2026 Contest theme is “Metamorphosis.” No minimum, no more than 3500 words. Stories will be judged on writing quality and effective use of the contest theme. The contest is open to non-professional writers who have not met the eligibility requirements for SFWA Full Membership. Writers meeting the SFWA Associate level of membership are eligible to submit to the contest. Submitting to the contest implies consent for printing in the Confluence program book and publication in a short story contest ebook that will be distributed to Parsec members. First-place receives $200 and publication in the Confluence program book and 2026 short story contest ebook. Second-place receives $100 and publication in 2026 short story contest ebook. Third-place receives $50 and publication in 2026 short story contest ebook. Youth Story Prize receives $50 and publication in 2026 short story contest ebook.

THE ILSE SCHWEPCKE PRIZE FOR WOMEN’S TRAVEL WRITING
https://societyofauthors.org/prizes/other-prizes/ilse-schwepcke-prize/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. This prize is for non-fiction, prose works of travel writing and not open to fiction or poetry. The winning author will receive £5,000. Entries must be written in English and not translated works. Submissions must be made by an established commercial publisher.

EYE CONTACT AWARD IN FLASH FICTION
https://sites.google.com/setonhill.edu/eyecontact/guidelines/genre-flash-fiction-prize
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Eye Contact is a college literary magazine. Theme: Symphony. Genre: Fantasy. Submit the best genre story that lands 1000 words or less. All stories meeting the criteria for the award will be considered for publication and may receive special mention as runners-up. First prize $250.

ANN PETRY AWARD
https://redhen.org/ann-petry-award/
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Ann Petry Award is for a work of previously unpublished prose, either a novel or a collection of short stories or novellas, with a minimum of 150 pages, by a Black writer. Grand prize $3000, publication by Red Hen Press.

RIVER HERON REVIEW POETRY PRIZE
https://www.riverheronreview.com/the-rhr-poetry-contest
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2026. The River Heron Poetry Prize awards the winning poet $500 and four finalists $100 each, a Zoom reading, plus publication. Poets may submit up to 3 poems.

WRITER’S DIGEST SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK AWARDS
https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/self-published-book-awards
$100 ENTRY FEE. Early deadline April 1, 2026. One Grand Prize winner will receive $10,000, an interview with them in Writer’s Digest (March/April 2027 issue) and on WritersDigest.com,  paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, including a special trophy presentation at the keynote, a coveted pitch opportunity where the winner will receive one on one attention from editors or agents, and publication of an excerpt from their winning book on WritersDigest.com. One First Prize winner in each category will receive $1,000, their name and the winning book’s title published in Writer’s Digest (March/April 2027 issue) and on WritersDigest.com.

COPPICE PRIZE
https://www.redbudwriting.org/coppice-prize-2026
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Coppice Prize is an annual short story competition run by the Redbud Writing Project. Every year, we invite writers around the world to submit a short story, up to 4000 words. The contest is open to writers who identify as belonging to marginalized or under-represented groups (e.g. cultural identity, income level of your family, racial identity, gender identity, disability, or something else). Winners and the finalist receive review and feedback from a literary agent. Winners also receive $600 (first place), $300 (second place) and $100 (third place).

THE CATERPILLAR POETRY PRIZE
https://www.themothmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=9454&page=60
€16 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize is an annual prize for  unpublished poems written by adults for children aged 7–11. 1st prize €1,000 plus a week at The Moth Retreat in Ireland. 2nd prize €500. 3rd prize €250. The winning poems will be published in the Irish Times online.

WILD LOT PRESS
https://wildlotpress.com/submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline May 31 2026. Wild Lot Press, with the assistance of the Pennsylvania Creative Entrepreneur Accelerator Program (CEAP), is publishing an illustrated nonfiction anthology book about night, with the working title Nightness: Ruminations on the Darker Side of Day. We’re looking for essays/creative nonfiction of any length, from snippets and passing anecdotes to longform opuses, that take keen interest in what happens between dusk and dawn in the wild spaces of our world, or better still, in the liminal spaces that bridge the human-centric, built world and the extra-human margins that encircle us. The winning essay will receive a prize of $250; all selected contributors will receive free copies.

THE DESPERATE LITERATURE PRIZE FOR SHORT FICTION
https://degrootfoundation.org/competitions/desperate-literature-short-fiction-prize/
€20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 19 2026. First Prize €2000, a week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, a consultation with Literary Agent Charlotte Seymour from Johnson & Alcock,  manuscript assessment with The Literary Consultancy. Runner-up Prizes €1000 (two prizes available). Shortlisted will be published in a limited edition book and launched at the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize Salon, Madrid. Limit 2000 words of fiction.

WRITERS ONLINE FICTION PRIZE
https://www.writers-online.co.uk/writing-competitions/writing-grand-prize-2026-win-1-000-cash
£17.50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline June 30, 2026. Win a whopping £1,000 for short fiction in any style and on any theme, up to 2,000 words.

THE HUDSON PRIZE
https://blacklawrencepress.com/submissions-and-contests/the-hudson-prize/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or prose (short stories or essays). Novels are not eligible for this prize. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes awarded on publication. Manuscripts should be 45-95 pages in length (poetry) or 120-280 pages in length (prose).

TOM GRASS PRIZE
https://www.tomgrassprize.com/entry-and-prizes-2026
ENTRY FEE FREE TO FFEBRUARY 28. ENTRY FEE £15 AFTER. Deadline March 31, 2026. The Tom Grass Prize is open to all writers from all over the world who are over the age of 25 and writing in the English language. Entrants must not be represented by a Literary Agent and must not have any previous or new book under contract with a mainstream publisher for the duration of the prize. The word count is between 1,500 and 3,000 words. The entry can be either fiction or non-fiction and must be a stand-alone piece of prose. Entrants are invited to reflect the spirit of adventure in subject matter and/or style in whichever way and in however broad a sense the writer interprets this. 1st prize: £1,000. Two runners-up prizes: £500 each. All three finalists will be offered a meeting with a Literary Agent.

PLOUGHSHARES EMERGING WRITER CONTEST
https://pshares.org/submit/emerging-writers-contest/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Contest recognizes work by an emerging writer in each of three genres: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. We consider authors “emerging” if they haven’t published or self-published a book in any of the contest genres. One winner in each genre per year will receive $2,000 and publication in Ploughshares. The winners will also receive a conversation with our partnering literary agency, Aevitas Creative Management, regarding their work and writing careers. We accept fiction and nonfiction up to 6,500 words and 3-5 pages of poetry.

WINTER BLACK FOX PRIZE FAIRY TALE REMIX
https://blackfoxlitmag.com/contests/
$12 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. We are open to loose interpretations of the theme in any genre. Please submit your strongest fiction, nonfiction, or poetry, and we will choose one winner that we feel interprets the theme best. The prize is $325 and print publication in the Summer 2026 issue. All submissions are considered for print publication in the Summer 2026 issue. Submissions should be no more than 5,000 words. For poetry, send up to three poems in the same document. For flash fiction, send up to two stories in the same document.

SHADY GROVE LITERARY CONTEST
https://shadygroveliterary.wixsite.com/shadygroveliterary/submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Submissions are accepted from November 1st to October 31st for each year’s competition. 300 words maximum. One submission per competition. Any style, genre, tone, etc. of flash fiction. 1st place – $100. 2nd and 3rd places- publication online. Shady Grove Literary has readers in multiple countries, but its home is in Thousand Oaks, California.

THE GRATEFUL AMERICAN BOOK PRIZE
https://www.davidbrucesmith.com/2026-grateful-american-book-prize-call-for-submissions
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2026. Accepting submissions for outstanding historical fiction, non-fiction, and biographies for readers, ages 11 to 15. Eligible books must be published between August 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. The winner will receive a $13,000 award, a lifetime membership to The New York Historical, and a medallion designed by artist Clarice Smith. Two Honorable Mention recipients will receive $500, each, and the medallion. Self-published books do not qualify.

ALPINE FELLOWSHIP WRITING PRIZE
https://alpinefellowship.com/
£10 ENTRY FEE. Deadline to be announced. Opens January 2, 2026. Awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme TBD. The winner and runners-up will receive financial support in the following amounts: First place: £3,000, Second place: £1,000, Third place: £1,000. A maximum of 1,250 words per entry. All genres of writing are permitted, including fiction, non-fiction, and non-academic essays. Open to all nationalities.

LASCAUX PRIZE IN POETRY
https://lascauxreview.com/contests/
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline March 31, 2026. Poems may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Winner receives $1,000, a bronze medallion, and publication in The Lascaux Review. All entries are considered for publication. There are no length restrictions. All genres and styles are welcome.

NOTE: See more contests by joining our newsletters. We can keep you loaded with contests without you looking anywhere else!

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Please remember to read ALL guidelines for a contest. FundsforWriters tries to research contests to the best of our ability, but we cannot confirm the credibility of each and every one without entering them ourselves. Be informed and be alert as you would with any market, publisher, agent or competition.

Testimonials

Dear Hope, The Emerald Theatre Company’s 10-minute play fest is going into its second year. Without you, and FundsforWriters, the first year might not have been possible. Thanks to the publicity from your newsletter, our little Memphis, Tennessee event received scripts from Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, the UK and New Zealand.

This wealth of wonderful material yielded quality vignettes that made the best local actors and stage directors (including a popular local radio personality) eager to donate their time and talent – their presence, in turn, sold tickets. We played to packed houses and everyone had a great time. To our astonishment, Vermont Pride Theatre got wind of the show and asked to put it on in its entirety this coming July – meaning the playwrights who won prizes and recognition in our fest, will now receive additional recognition along with royalties.

The bottom line is, without you, we would have had something rinky dink – with you we had something substantial. The publicity you provided on the front end made all the difference in the world!  ~Caroline Sposto, www.whycaroline.com, (610) 597-9803

 

Hi Hope, we met at the SCWW conference in Myrtle Beach last October, and I was so impressed with your lecture that I subscribed to FFW as soon as I got home. I wanted to drop you a line to let you know that because of FFW, I submitted AND WON The 2008 William F. Deeck-Malice Domestic Grant for Unpublished Writers! My novel will be finished this week, and next weekend I’m going to Malice Domestic to accept the award. Thanks you, and keep up the great work.