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. 

THE MORIARTY AWARD
https://www.bellcowproductions.com/award
$50 ENTRY FEE. Deadline April 30, 2027. An annual prize recognizing the literary villain or antagonist who slinks off the page and into our psyches, challenging our morals, testing our loyalties and reminding us why tension—real, nail-biting tension—is the beating heart of storytelling. Presented annually (beginning in 2027) to the author who gives us a villain or antagonist so complex, so cunning, so unnervingly human, that readers will think about him/her/it long after the book is closed. Eligibility: fiction published in the 2026 calendar year. Cash prize: $500. Moriarty Award Medal. Guest appearances at the Minnesota Mystery Night, Masters of Mystery, and Writers’ Corner.

FRACTURED LIT FICTION CONTEST
https://fracturedlit.submittable.com/submit
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 12, 2026. No themes. No prompts. Just your wildest imaginations and your best, most engaging flash and microfiction. The first-place winner will receive $2,000 and publication, while the fifteen finalists will receive $100 and publication. All entries will be considered for general publication. Allows up to two stories of 1,000 words or fewer each per entry.

DRIFTWOOD SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://www.driftwoodpress.com/adriftstorycontest
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2026. Fiction only. 1,000-6,000 word limit. The winner will receive $500 dollars and five copies of the anthology in which the story appears. The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published alongside the story. If a runner-up is chosen, their work will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $200, and five copies of the issue in which their work appears.

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.

THE ADROIT JOURNAL EDITOR’S PRIZES IN POETRY & FICTION
https://theadroitjournal.org/editors-prizes-in-poetry-and-fiction
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2026. The recipient of the Editor’s Prize in Poetry and the recipient of the Editor’s Prize in Fiction will each receive $1,000 and publication in an upcoming issue. Poetry: Submit 1–3 poems in a single document. Fiction: Submit 1 short story (max 6,000 words recommended). Writers may enter in both the Poetry and Fiction categories. Writers of all backgrounds, nationalities, ages, and stages are welcome to submit. We will only consider the first 300 submissions received in each genre. Once 300 submissions are received, the submission category will automatically close.

RATTLE POETRY PRIZE
https://rattle.com/page/poetryprize/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2026. Offers $15,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote. Additional poems from the entries are frequently offered publication as well. In 2024 we published 29 poems that had been submitted to the contest from over 5,000 entries.

ADRIFT SHORT STORY CONTEST
https://www.driftwoodpress.com/adriftstorycontest
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2026. Fiction only. 1,000-6,000 word limit. Submit works written in English only, no translations. The winner will receive $500 dollars and five copies of the anthology in which the story appears. The winner will also have the opportunity to be interviewed about their work; the interview will be published alongside the story. If a runner-up is chosen, their work will be offered publication, an accompanying interview, $200, and five copies of the issue in which their work appears.

PROFORMA CONTEST
https://gristjournal.com/contest/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2026. Grist welcomes submissions of unpublished creative work for our ProForma contest in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and/or hybrids that explore the relationship between content and form. Our contest is open to all forms of literary expression. First Prize: $1,000 plus publication in the print journal. Runners Up: publication online (along with normal payment rates). For longer works: no more than 5000 words. For shorter works: no more than 5 pieces.

GRANUM FOUNDATION PRIZE
https://www.granumfoundation.org/granum-prize
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 1, 2026. Awarded annually to help U.S.-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs—or to help launch these works. One winner will be awarded $5,000. Up to three finalists will be awarded $500 or more. Writers who have published more than five books, including chapbooks, are not eligible. Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to support the completion of a work translated into English by a U.S.-based writer. Prize: One winner will receive $1,500 or more. At this time, we are not accepting screenplays, stage plays, or children’s picture books. Only U.S. residents 18+ are eligible for funding, and prizes must be spent in the U.S.

LOS ANGELES REVIEW PRIZE
https://losangelesreview.org/awards/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 31, 2026. Submissions are open to all and are not limited to residents of Los Angeles. Fiction: We’re looking for hard-to-put-down sequences of shorts or stand-alone lengthier stories in the 1,000 – 4,000 words range. Regardless of length, we always hope to see lively, vivid, excellent literary fiction. Flash Fiction: We’re looking for shorts under 1,000 words that we want to read again and again. We’re looking for work that is lively, vivid, and leaves us wanting more. Nonfiction: Please submit an essay, memoir, or commentary told as compelling, focused, sustained narrative in a distinctive voice, rich with detail. Send 1,000-4,000 words or delight us with flash nonfiction that cat-burgles our expectations. Poetry: Please submit 3-5 poems that will surprise us, wow us, and make us wish we’d written them ourselves. Pay is $1,000 per genre winner + publication.

HIDDEN COMPASS PATHFINDER PRIZE
https://filmfreeway.com/hiddencompasspathfinderprize
Deadline August 1, 2026. The 2026 Hidden Compass Pathfinder Prize will award an $18,000 travel and production grant to fund an expedition and short documentary film project, as well as articles written by the expedition team for the November 2026 Pathfinder Prize issue of Hidden Compass: The Magazine. The winning expedition will produce behind-the-scenes content throughout 2026 and will premiere their film at an in-person event in the Bay Area, California.

BURLINGTON CONTEMPORARY ART WRITING PRIZE
https://contemporary.burlington.org.uk/writing_prize
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 20, 2026. The winner of the Prize receives £1,000, their review is published on Burlington Contemporary and they have the opportunity to publish a review of a future contemporary art exhibition in The Burlington Magazine. To enter the prize, entrants should submit one unpublished review of one contemporary art exhibition. Entrants must have published no more than six pieces of writing in print or online, in any language or country, prior to their submission. The review must be between 800 and 1,000 words in length and accompanied by up to three low-resolution images.

PETRICHOR PRIZE FOR FINELY CRAFTED FICTION
https://regalhousepublishing.submittable.com/submit
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline July 15, 2026. Winner receives book publication by Regal House Publishing in 2028/9 and a $1000 prize. Minimum of 100 pages, maximum of 350 pages.

STORIES THAT NEED TO BE TOLD CONTEST
https://www.tuliptreepub.com/thecontest
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 9, 2026. There is still only one category: the Story. That means fiction, nonfiction, or poetry—as long as it tells a story, it fits. Grand Prize: $1,000 and a 2-year ($100) gift certificate to Duotrope.  Five additional prizes of $200 will be given for stories that excel in the merits of Humor, Passion, Depth, and (any form of) Love. An additional $200 prize will be awarded in a wild card category, to be determined by the entries. Prose: 10,000 words. ​Poetry: 5 pages per poem (note: one poem per entry fee).

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.

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.

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.