Writing Contests, Grants & Awards

The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. Ours is the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Click here for all upcoming Contests, Grants, and Awards.

University of Louisville

Calvino Prize
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Fiction

Copper Nickel

Jake Adam York Prize
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry
Alice James Books

Alice James Award
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry

Pulitzer Prizes

Prizes in Books
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $75
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction

Silverfish Review Press

Gerald Cable Book Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry
San Diego Poetry Annual

Steve Kowit Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry

Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship
Cash Prize: $62,500
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 10/15/21
Genre: Poetry

TulipTree Publishing

Disruptors Issue Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 10/17/21
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
Omnidawn Publishing

Fabulist Fiction Chapbook/Novelette Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $18
Application Deadline: 10/18/21
Genre: Fiction

Sixfold

Poetry and Short Story Awards
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $5
Application Deadline: 10/24/21
Genre: Poetry, Fiction

F(r)iction

Short Story Contest
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $15
Application Deadline: 10/29/21
Genre: Fiction
Red Hen Press

Quill Prose Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $10
Application Deadline: 10/30/21
Genre: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction

Tucson Festival of Books

Literary Awards
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction

Rotary Club of Stratford

Short Story Contest
Cash Prize: $500
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Fiction

Red Hen Press

Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award
Cash Prize: $3,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

American Poetry Review

Honickman First Book Prize
Cash Prize: $3,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

University of North Texas Press

Vassar Miller Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

Poetry Society of the United Kingdom

National Poetry Competition
Cash Prize: $7,075
Entry Fee: $10
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

Saturnalia Books

Malinda A. Markham Translation Prize
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry
Elixir Press

Poetry Award
Cash Prize: $2,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry
PEN/Faulkner Foundation

Award for Fiction
Cash Prize: $15,000
Entry Fee: $0
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Fiction
Persea Books

Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $30
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

Hidden River Arts

Tamaqua Award
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $20
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Creative Nonfiction

Cloudbank Books

Vern Rutsala Book Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction

Tupelo Press

Sunken Garden Chapbook Poetry Prize
Cash Prize: $1,000
Entry Fee: $25
Application Deadline: 10/31/21
Genre: Poetry

Click here for all upcoming Contests, Grants, and Awards.