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. 

SUPERLATIVE
https://manager.submittable.com/opportunities/organization/a5c5f563-6457-49a3-b3c0-0a8ac11a25cb/
£20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. Theme GROWTH. Superlative will publish the winner’s poem as our annual poetry competition winner in our annual print journal (alongside a runner-up and shortlisted poems), share bio and social media handles, and pay a £500 winner prize. Superlative will publish the winner’s short story (up to 5,000 words) as our annual short story competition winner in our annual print journal (alongside a runner-up and shortlisted stories), share bio and social media handles, and pay a £500 winner prize.

HOWLING BIRD PRESS POETRY PRIZE
https://augsburghowlingbirdpress.submittable.com/submit/351486/2027-howling-bird-press-poetry-prize
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. The competition is open to all writers in English living in the United States. The author of the winning manuscript receives a cash award of $2,500 and book publication by Howling Bird Press. Manuscripts should be between 48 to 72 pages long. The book should be a collection of poems by a single author.

LOST KITE CHAPBOOK PRIZE
https://lostkiteeditions.submittable.com/submit/356801/lost-kite-chapbook-prize-system-impacted-deadline
ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. Awarded to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.). Collaborative, hybrid, and multi-genre submissions are also welcome. The winning author will receive a $1,500 award and 20 contributor copies. Chapbooks should be between 20 and 50 pages in length.

ARTHUR SMITH POETRY PRIZE
https://madville.submittable.com/submit/329013/6th-annual-arthur-smith-poetry-prize
$25 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 1, 2026. The winning poet receives a $1,000 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 10 copies of the published book. Finalists will also be considered for future publication. Receives work by any poet writing in English. Submit 48-90 pages. We accept international submissions.

ROBERT J. DeMOTT SHORT PROSE CONTEST
https://quarteraftereight.submittable.com/submit/354790/2026-robert-j-demott-short-prose-contest-judged-by-b-j-hollars
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 1, 2026. Prize: $1,008.15 + publication in the next edition of Quarter After Eight. Submit your micros, your short-shorts, your prose poems, your non-fiction flashes, and anything in between (really, please surprise us)! We welcome submissions of 500 words or fewer in any genre as long as the work is written in prose (so a lineated poem wouldn’t be considered). All entries will also be considered for publication in Quarter After Eight.

CHARLESTON WRITING CONTEST
https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/charleston-writing-contest-0JmSp
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. South Carolina, is unforgettable. Being the state where Chatoyant’s Bound by Words Magazine, roots are, we would love to view other people’s experiences, memories, visions, wishfulness, and imagination on the memorable area. Stories: up to 2500 words; creative nonfiction/fiction. Poems: up to 30 lines; up to 3 poems are encouraged. Short author bio approximately 50-75 words. All genres accepted. Top prize $500.

OREGON BOOK AWARDS
https://literary-arts.org/2027-oregon-book-awards-guidelines-and-entry-form/
$55 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 4, 2026. Work may be submitted by the author, publisher, producer, or any member of the public. Work published between September 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026 is eligible. Work must be written by an Oregon resident who resides in Oregon at least six months of the year at the address indicated on their application form. $1000 award in each category. Oregon Book Awards are available for original work published or produced in the following categories:
• Poetry, including chapbooks of more than twenty pages in length.
• Fiction, including novels and short story collections.
• General Nonfiction, including biography, history, sciences, nature writing, landscape writing, and criticism.
• Creative Nonfiction, including autobiography, memoir, and personal essay.
• Children’s Literature for younger readers, including picture books and early readers.
• Middle Grade and Young Adult Literature, including Middle Grade, Upper Middle Grade and Young Adult.

NAUGATUCK RIVER REVIEW
https://naugatuckriverreview.com/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline September 1, 2026. Submit no more than three unpublished narrative poems of no more than 50 lines per poem. All poems will be considered for publication. All finalists and semi-finalists will be rewarded with publication and a copy of the journal. Prizes are $1000, $250 and $100. All winners, finalists and semi-finalists will be offered publication in the winter/spring 2027 issue of Naugatuck River Review.

MERIDIAN SHORT PROSE PRIZE
https://meridian.submittable.com/submit/272352/meridian-short-prose-prize
$6 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 15, 2026. The winner of the Meridian Short Prose Prize will receive $250 and publication in our print magazine. All submissions, including those selected as finalists, will be considered for publication. Submit as many times as you like, but please only include one unpublished work of 1,000 words or fewer per submission.

OMNIDAWN POETRY OPEN BOOK CONTEST
https://www.omnidawn.com/contests/omnidawn-poetry-contests/
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 16, 2026. Prize $3000, publication and 20 author copies. Approximately 40 pgs to 100 pgs for submitting in an 8.5 x 11 size page. The winner of the Omnidawn Poetry Open Book Contest wins a cash prize of $3,000, publication of the book by Omnidawn with a full color cover (unless the author prefers black and white), 20 free copies of the winning book, and extensive publicity through our newsletters and social media channels.

1PICTURE1000WORDS
https://www.quarter–mile.com/1picture1000words
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. You can write whatever you want, so long as you connect it to the photo on the website. Creative nonfiction. Sci-fi. A joke. Something else. It’s up to you. First place gets $1,000. Second and third get $250 each. Anybody can apply to participate. The piece needs to be EXACTLY 1000 words.

THE IRON HORSE BOOK PRIZE
https://www.ironhorsereview.com/ihlrbookprize
$15 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 15, 2026. Awarded annually to a first book of collected prose. The author of the winning entry will receive $1000, and their collection will be published in the summer of 2026 by Texas Tech University Press. We are looking for emerging writers who have yet to publish collections of their own prose, either short fiction or nonfiction. We prefer manuscripts between 150 to 250 pages in length, double-spaced, with each story or essay starting on a new page. On August 10, we will accept 25 submissions free of charge to ensure the inclusion of as many authors as possible. Though only one book is guaranteed to receive the $1,000 honorarium and publication, all submissions will be considered for publication.

UNCHARTER CAMP SUMMER CONTEST
https://www.unchartedmag.com/2026-uncharted-camp-summer-contest/
$20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 30, 2026. We want stories or excerpts of summer heat, secrets by the campfire, killer mosquitoes, and everything we love and hate about summer camp and the dangers of summer! Take the elements of this trope and put them in new settings: spaceships, faraway planets, mythical isles, and don’t forget the horrific beasts and the liminal shadows. We especially love stories that incorporate elements from multiple genres. This award is for all of our genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Mystery/Horror, Young Adult, and Dystopian. Offering the first-place winner of this contest $2,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively. ONE short story or novel excerpt of 1,001–5,000 words per entry.

WRITER’S DIGEST PERSONAL ESSAY AWARDS
https://writersdigest.submittable.com/submit/356998/personal-essay-awards-2026
https://static-writersdigest.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/competitions/2026/Personal+Essay/Prospectus/2026+WD+Personal+Essay+Awards+Prospectus+9_1_26.pdf
$30 ENTRY FEE. Early deadline September 1, 2026. Limit 2,000 words. One Grand Prize Winner will receive $2,500, an interview in Writer’s Digest magazine’s May/June 2027 issue and on WritersDigest.com, essay published on WritersDigest.com, a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, including a special trophy presentation at the keynote, and a coveted pitch opportunity where the winner will receive one-on-one attention from editors or agents. The Second Place Winner will receive $1,000 and title published in Writer’s Digest magazine’s May/June 2027 issue and on WritersDigest.com. Third through twenty-fifth place prizes given as well.

OMNIDAWN POETRY OPEN
https://omnidawn.submittable.com/submit
$30 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 16, 2026. The winner of the Omnidawn Poetry Open Book Contest wins a cash prize of $3,000, publication of the book by Omnidawn with a full color cover (unless the author prefers black and white), 20 free copies of the winning book, and extensive publicity through our newsletters and social media channels. Approximately 40 pgs to 100 pgs for submitting in an 8.5 x 11 size page. There are no citizenship requirements or limitations. Online submissions are accepted from around the world.

SUPERLATIVE ANNUAL COMPETITION
https://www.superlativelitjournal.com/
https://manager.submittable.com/opportunities/organization/a5c5f563-6457-49a3-b3c0-0a8ac11a25cb
£20 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. We are a UK-based literary journal that publishes quality, innovative work by emerging short story writers and poets. Superlative will publish the winner’s poem as our annual poetry competition winner in our annual print journal (alongside a runner-up and shortlisted poems), share bio and social media handles, and pay a £500 winner prize. We also nominate winners for major prizes (Pen America, Pushcart, Best of the Net, etc) and continue to promote winners after publication. Submitted work should be one poem of any genre linked to the theme of GROWTH.

WATERFORD POETRY PRIZE
https://waterford.submit.com/show/381
NO ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 14, 2026. First prize is €600. Second prize €400. Third prize €300. The Waterford Poetry Prize is open to all writers currently living on the island of Ireland. A line limit of 40 lines applies.

BLACK FOX LITERARY CONTEST
https://blackfoxlitmag.com/contests/
$12 ENTRY FEE. Deadline August 31, 2026. The theme for this round is “Longing.” 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. The prize is $325 and print publication in the Winter 2027 issue. All submissions are considered for print publication in the Winter 2027 issue.

THE BEDFORD COMPETITION
https://bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk/
£8.50 per story or poem. Deadline October 31, 2026. Short story and poetry main prizes. Separate short story and poetry prize winning categories for those aged 17-25 and for local Bedford residents. See all competition categories and prize money online. Open to writers worldwide. 1st Prize £2000. 2nd Prize £400. 3rd Prize £300. Stories maximum 3000 words. Poems maximum 40 lines.

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.

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.

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.