Writing Contests & Writing Competitions in 2019: The Definitive Guide

• The writing contest from Stone Pier Press is open for submissions from environmentally focused writers
• Submissions must align with Stone Pier Press' mission of sustainability
• 1st prize is $500.00 plus a publishing contract with Stone Pier Press
• Runners up will be shortlisted for future publications

• The L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future writing contest is open to all writers who wish to apply and is held quarterly through-out the year.
• Submissions must be short stories or novelettes (up to 17000 words) in the genre of science fiction or fantasy
• The contest is open to novels or short novels that are not professionally published
• Submitted entrants are limited to one novelette, or three short stories
• Entrants retain all publishing rights
• First Prize: $1000
• Second Prize: $750
• Third Prize: $500
• The contest also offers an additional annual grand prize of $5000 and L. Ron Hubbard Golden Pen Award
• Deadlines: Quarterly, January 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st

• The Narrative Prize writing contest is open to new or emerging writers
• Held annually for the best short story, poem, graphic story, novel excerpt, one-act play, or work of literary nonfiction
• Short short stories must be two to five pages in length and may have 500 to 2500 words, for short stories, essays, one-act plays, and other complete short works of non-fiction, the manuscripts must have 2000 to 15000 words
• Novellas and other book length works may range between 15,000 to 40,000 words
• Every poetry submission can have up to five poems
• The winner is announced in September 2019
• Prize: $4000

• For this international writing award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted.
• All applicants should submit their original, unpublished work of short fiction or nonfiction, up to 5,000 words, by November 30.
• Along with receiving an award for $1,000.00 USD, the winner will have his or her short story featured within our blog, which reaches thousands of readers per month.

• The Caterpillar Story Prize annual award is given to the best story for children (aged 7-11) written by an adult.
• The Prize will be judged by award-winning children's writer Kelly McCaughrain
• The author of the winning story will receive €1,000, and second prize wins a retreat at The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. The two winning stories will feature in the winter 2019 issue of The Caterpillar.
• Stories must be no longer than 1500 words
• Submissions must be previously unpublished
• Entrants must be 16 or over

The Moth Poetry Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem. The prize is open to anyone (over 16), and each year it attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries worldwide.

• This year’s judge is Claudia Rankine.

• 1st prize is €10,000

• Three runner-up prizes of €1,000.

• The poem must be previously unpublished

• Entrants (over 16) are welcome from anywhere in the world.

• The four shortlisted poems will be published in the spring 2020 issue of The Moth and the overall winner will be announced at a special award ceremony at Poetry Ireland on 30 April 2020.

• The SmokeLong Quarterly Fellowship (formerly the Kathy Fish Fellowship) is an award and year-long virtual residency for new and emerging writers.

• The application submissions period is open until October 15, 2019 at SmokeLong Quarterly for the SmokeLong Flash Fellowship for Emerging writers.

• The prize for this year-long virtual fellowship is $1000 ($200 upon winning the fellowship and $200 for each of 4 stories workshopped and published in the 2020 quarterly issues of SmokeLong Quarterly).

• Writers who do not have a published chapbook or book-length work in any genre (or are not under contract for such) are eligible to apply.

Seeking creative nonfiction essays on any topic (200 - 1000 words) and in any style--from personal essay to lyric essay to hybrid and more! The mission of this contest is to reward bravery in real-life storytelling and create an understanding of our world through thoughtful, engaging narratives. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

Limit: 300 entries.

Entry: $12 entry fee; critique option for an additional $13

Stories Out of School Teachers have the most fascinating, difficult, important job on the planet, and their work days are filled with stories. Yet teachers seldom appear in fiction. The Academy’s Stories Out of School flash-fiction contest was created to inspire honest, unsentimental stories about teachers and the rich and complex world of schools. Our partner this year is Electric Literature.

The first-prize winner will receive $1000 and their story will be published online by Electric Literature in The Commuter. The second-prize winner will receive $500.

The story’s protagonist, or its narrator, must be a K-12 teacher. Stories must be between 6 and 749 words and previously unpublished. Any adult over the age of eighteen (whether a teacher or not) is welcome to submit. Only one submission per writer. Sentimentality is discouraged and education jargon is forbidden.

Use 12-point Arial font and double space. Put your name, email address, phone number, and the story’s word count in the upper left corner.

• Grand prize (published books): Five-day holiday in Athens plus a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards and publication (excerpts) online on our website.

• Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books

• Ten more prizes, one for each category of every section, also win a special handmade ceramic designed especially for Eyelands Book Awards

• Final results are to be announced on December 20th 2019.

Submission Guidelines:

• Opening: Wednesday, July 10, 2019

• Submit your book or manuscript online or via snail mail with a $30.00 entry fee

• Early bird submissions: $ 22 (20 euros)

• Eligible submissions include: poetry, novellas, short story collections, novels, children's books, historical fiction/memoir, graphic novels.

• Multiple submissions allowed (with a separate fee for each submission).

• Simultaneous submissions allowed, but please notify us if full manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

• There are no restrictions regarding nationality

• Participants must be 18 years old otherwise we need parents' consent to accept the submission.

• Manuscripts must be written in English.

• We're looking for most interesting, original stories that will make us laugh, cry and see the world in a slightly different way.
• The winner will receive the Booksie Short Story Award, which comes with a hefty cash prize, a gold trophy badge, and one week of free Boosts. We also have awards for the runner-ups.
• The contest is open to all genres and themes. You can enter a previously posted story on Booksie or post a new one and enter it.
• The judging will be done in rounds.
• We will select six finalists.
• Five finalists will be chosen by the contest judge, multi-author phenom Ann Everett.
• One finalist will be chosen by readers as the work with the highest number of total reads will be selected. - - One grand prize winner and two runner-ups will be chosen by Ann Everett team from the six finalists approximately two week after the Finalist Round is announced.

• The 2019 Wollongong Writers Festival Short Story Prize is calling for short stories of up to 2500 words related to the theme, ‘All Lit Up’.
• The top prize is $1000 AUD and publication in Mascara Literary Review.
• Submissions close October 1, 2019.
• Entry fee is $15 AUD.
• This annual competition is open internationally.
• The winners will be announced on November 22, 2019 at our annual literary festival in Wollongong, NSW Australia.

• All fiction genres are eligible to participate in the Short Story Land writing contest
• The writing contest takes place twice annually, April 1st - September 30th and October 1st - March 31st
• Participants must be at least 18 years old and all entries must be submitted in English
• A maximum of 4500 words can be used per story. Writers can submit multiple stories but each with a separate entry
• First Prize: $500
• Second Prize: $250
• Third Prize: $100
• Each ‘Story Of The Month’ receives $50

• The TWF Fiction writing contest accepts entries from writers who haven’t yet published a book in the genre of fiction, or from self-published authors with ISBN numbers
• A submission should be one original short story, up to 7,000 words
• All entries must be submitted before October 1st, 2019
• Grand Prize: $1500, domestic airfare (up to $500) and French quarter accommodations to attend the festival in New Orleans, VIP All-Access Festival pass for the next year ($600 value), public reading at a literary panel at the next festival, and a publication in Louisiana Literature
• Finalists: The top finalists will receive a panel pass ($100 value) to the festival, and their names will be published on the festival’s website

Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, communication, and well-rewarded recognition to contestants. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints are okay; simultaneous submissions okay; reprints okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

Limit: 300 entries.

$10 entry fee; critique option for an additional $10

• The Lune Spark Young Writers writing contest gives young writers an opportunity to showcase their creativity
• The contest has two age group categories, 10 - 13 years and 13 - 16 years
• Entries should be short stories that do not exceed 1650 words
• Picture stories are not eligible
• All entries must be submitted latest by July 31st
• Up to 25 stories will be published on Amazon.com and Kindle through Lune Spark Books independent publishing
• First Prize: $500
• Second Prize: $250
• Third Prize: $100

• Any writer who has not previously published fictional work is eligible to enter The Iowa Short Fiction Award writing contest
• Eligible writers include self-published authors and writers who have published work in a language other than English
• Entries should comprise of a collection of fictional short stories in English, and be at least 150 pages in length
• Prize: Winners will be published by the University of Iowa Press under the Press’s standard contract

• The 2019 Accenti Writing contest is open for submissions!
• The topic is open, maximum length 2000 words.
• The contest is open to all writers, established and emerging, worldwide.
• First prize is $1000.00 (CDN) and publication in Accenti.
• Two runner-up prizes: $100.00 (CDN) each and publication in Accenti.
• Popular Vote prize: $100.00 (CDN) and publication in Accenti.
• There is a $30 entry fee, non-refundable.
• Deadline: February 3, 2020.
• Visit https://accenti.ca/writing-contest/rules/ for more information.

• The theme of this year’s Lumberloft Press writing contest is ‘DEATH FROM ABOVE’
• Unpublished writers from the United States, over the age of 18 years are eligible to enter the writing contest
• Fiction in all shapes and sizes are accepted
• Entries must be original stories up to 5000 words in length, never featured or published in any physical or digital medium
• Prize: $1000 and, publication in physical and digital copies of the compilation
• 15 runners-up will also be selected and given publications
• All winners will receive a contribution credit and a hard cover of their release

The F(r)iction Summer 2019 Literary Contest is seeking short fiction, poetry, and flash fiction submissions regardless of genre and accept both literary and genre works.

• Short stories must be 1000 to 7500 words and flash fiction must be under 750 words
• Finalists will be considered for subsequent F(r)iction publications as well as in their online literary journal, F(r)iction Online.
• Judges will include; Melanie Finn for short stories, Kay Ulanday Barrett for poetry and Kim Chinquee for flash fiction -First Prize for Short Story: $1000 -First Prize for Poetry: $300 -First Prize for Flash Fiction: $300

• The contest is open to women writers, age 40+
  
• Both fiction and non-fiction writers are eligible. Poetry is excluded.
• Application fee is $45, with possible reduction or waiver for pre-approved hardship cases.
• NOTE: Pre-approval is required - see the contest FAQs for details
• Grand prize is $1,000 plus a month-long free residency in the Daisy Pettles' Writer's House, a vintage 1920s arts & crafts bungalow in Bedford, Indiana.
• First runner-up is $250, a certificate, and the residency if the grand prize winner cannot accept.
• Second runner-up is $100 and certificate.
• There are two awards scheduled for 2020.
  
• Application deadline for the June, 2020 residency 2/15/20.
• Application deadline for the July 2020 residency is 4/15/20.

• To participate in the writing contest from Friends of American Writers Literary Award, the author must be a resident or previous resident of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin, or the locale of the book must be in a region identified above
• Authors must be published in the calendar year prior to the awards year in the genre of fiction or creative non-fiction
• Self-published and e-Books are not eligible
• Authors having more than three books published under his/her own pen name are not eligible to enter
• First Prize: $3000

• The Cabell First Novelist Award writing competition is sponsored by the Virginia Commonwealth University seeking to honour first time novelists “who have navigated their way through the maze of imagination and delivered a great read.”
• The writing contest happens twice annually
• The submission must be the author's first novel, published in the same calendar year as the contest
• Eligible entries must be published in the United States
• Self-published novels and e-Books are not eligible
• Grand Prize: $5000

• The Sarton Women's Book Award writing competition is sponsored by a non-profit association of women writers seeking female authors to enter annually in four categories: Memoir, Nonfiction, Contemporary Fiction and Historical Fiction
• Entries must chiefly revolve around women in memoir, biography and fiction published by small/independent publishers, university presses or self-published during January 1st, 2017 – December 31st, 2019 in English, in the United States and Canada
• First Prize: $100
• Finalists will receive silver seals, virtue seals for their websites and an advertising package