Writing Contests and Competitions

This page will be updated regularly with the latest writing contests and competitions from around the web and the world! Make sure to bookmark it.

If you are promoting a writing contest, or are aware of one that is not listed here, please send the details to [email protected] and we’ll include it here as soon as possible.

Last update: 08/24/2016

Upcoming Contests and Competitions

Name: Atlantis Short Story Contest
Prizes: $450 total, first prize is $300
Entry fee: starts from $10
Deadline: November 30, 2016
Description: Authors from all around the world are welcome to enter the one and only contest that offers a criqitue for every participating story!

Name: Prizes: $3000 and publication
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: September 18, 2016
Description: 1,500 words, non-fiction

Name: Humor Us Contest
Prizes: $350
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: August 31, 2016
Description: Humor Us is looking for books with a good dose of funny. Maybe yours is a dark humor, a parody, or a good, old-fashioned buddy comedy — whatever it is, we want to read it.

Name: Writers and Illustrators of the Future
Prizes: $2250 total, first prize is $1000
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: Takes place quarterly. Next one ends on September 30, 2016
Description: L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new and amateur writers of new short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. No entry fee is required. Entrants retain all publication rights.

Name: Manchester Fiction Prize
Prizes: $15000
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: September 23, 2016
Description: Initially, the Competition alternated annually between Poetry and Fiction but, from 2013, both will be running every year, with £10,000 awarded to the writer of the best portfolio of poetry, and another £10,000 to the writer of the best short story. Limit is 2500 words.

Name: Prizes: $3000
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: September 1, 2016
Description: Submission must be a collection of poetry: 48 page minimum, 96 page maximum.

Name: 404 Words Short Short Story Contest
Prizes: $200
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: September 1, 2016
Description: As the name of the contest says, submissions can have a maximum of 404 words. Short and sweet!

Name: ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY SHORT FICTION CONTEST
Prizes: $1750 total, first prize is $1000
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: October 1, 2016
Description: We accept all genres of literary fiction. Entries must be: unpublished; strictly 5,000 words or fewer.

Name: New Voices Award
Prizes: $1000 and $500
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: September 30, 2016
Description: Manuscripts should address the needs of children of color by providing stories with which they can identify and relate, and which promote a greater understanding of one another. Themes relating to non-traditional family structures, gender identity, or disabilities may also be included. Manuscripts must be sent via mail.

Name: The 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Prizes: $7500 for the overall winner, $3750 for regional winners
Entry fee: Free
Deadline: November 1, 2016
Description: The Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) in English written by a citizen of a Commonwealth country.

Name: Boulevard Short Fiction Contest for Emerging Writers
Prizes: $1500 and publication
Entry fee: $16
Deadline: December 31, 2016
Description: Awarded to the winning story by a writer who has not yet published a book of fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction with a nationally distributed press. Limit is 8000 words.