short stories essay competition

Any style or genre - winners published in anthology - second prize £250 and additional prizes (up to 5) of professional critiques from - formerly known as the Teignmouth Prize, name changed to avoid confusion with the Teignmouth Poetry Festival -

Brittle Star Short Story Competition

Any style / genre - four different age group categories: 7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18 - winners and runners up published in anthology - main listing for Chapter One Promotions

Cowley Literary Award & Short Story Competition

Egyptian Writers International Writing Competition

e-Literate-World ‘Cut A Long Story Short’ Competition

Friends of Manning's Pit Saki Short Story Competition

Happy London Press Hi2020 Short Story Competition

Historic House Short Story Competition

Holland House Books / Lost World Press Flash Fiction Competition

Hour of Writes Weekly Writing Competition UK Weekly Weekly 2,000 £3 £50* Any style / genre, but themed, so check website for current theme - prize money based on number of entry fees, minimum usually £50 - winners published on website

after I started receiving complaints about the website, EG:

Humanaagerie Anthology from Eibonvale Press

Any style / genre - early entry fee of £7, then it goes up to £12 - stories published on website and in anthology -

I've received a few queries about this competition as users are experiencing some issues. The Inspired by Writing website has now disappeared. They have taken money from entrants and not refunded them without seeing the competition through to completion. If this business resurfaces, be very wary of entering the competition - it seems to be run in an unprofessional manner.

Here is an update I received from Inspired By Writing in March 2017 (about a month before the website disappeared):

Kristell Ink Flash Fiction Competition

Legendary Women, Inc. Literary Contest

  For children aged 4 to 11 years - write a story about Grandma Mo and Siamese Joe (see website for full details) - prize is a framed print of Grandma Mo and Siamese Joe and publication on the website -

Rejected Manuscripts Short Fiction Competition

Secant Publishing 'The Year’s Best Dog Stories'

Any style / genre - winners published in Slingink Magazine -

NOTE: I received a message from one of my email list subscribers telling me the slingink email address had stopped working in July 2022. I tested it and my email bounced. I tried contacting Eva (who runs Slingink) via Twitter but the account does not accept messages. As there is no other way of contacting them, I have had to retire the listing.

Any style / genre, but themed, so check website for current details - winners published on the Solution Loans website - started off as an annual competition, but due to the success of the inaugural contest, is now running twice a year

When this competition launched, I received a few concerns on Twitter. Some writers were worried that Solution Loans were exploiting writers for free content. I wrote to Solution Loans about these concerns and received this response:

I understand the concerns of the writers who queried the legitimacy of this contest. However, having worked in digital marketing, I also understand what Solution Loans are doing. I've done the same things for clients in the past. As the competition is legitimate, and Solution Loans were good enough to prepare the response above, I will be continuing to list the contest on my website. Winning writers receive cash prizes, so I don't believe they are being exploited - they are being paid for their stories.

I hope this resolves any concerns, but if not, please feel free to

The Once and Future Moon Anthology from Eibonvale Press

The Print Express Haiku Competition

The Writing District Competition

Thresholds International Short Story Forum

UK Short Story Competition

World City Stories Short Story Competition

Ireland

30th Sept 2015

Oct 2015

3,500

FREE

€100

3rd January 2016

February 2016

By Christopher Fielden

This page may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy .

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Gary D The Ruth Rendell short story comp actually closed in 2011 – this is not entirely clear from their website, even the ‘terms and conditions’ just said closing Oct 29th and (as I discovered) the online form still lets you submit a story and send them £10 – they returned the entry fee and sent an apologetic email, but it might be worth noting so no-one else makes the same mistake I did. Thanks for your website, I very much enjoyed your short stories and find your competitions listings page to be very useful … now I’m just looking for a good market for my 1,000 word story that I’d oh-so-carefully crafted for the Ruth Rendell comp!

Chris Fielden Thanks for the info Gary, I've updated the Ruth Rendell competition details, listing it as closed. Best of luck getting the story placed!

Tim Thanks for doing this, very nicely laid out and easy to follow salient facts, it is much appreciated. I'm pretty new to short story writing and was looking for comps for a short I've just written. I didn't realise the problems I'd face with it being around 7,500 words though! 

Chris Fielden Thanks Tim, yes, there are very few competitions which accept over 5,000 words. You can try the magazines page as a lot of the US publications take submissions around the 7,000 word mark.

F Venn Greetings, I've noticed the 'Dark Lane Quarterly Collaborative' magazine, is not an addition to any of the listings. As well as short stories, this non-profitable [and micro compact] fiction publication, also welcomes submissions - such as proses, poetry and black & white artwork..  Perhaps, it could be added to the 'Other short Story Publishing' list.

Chris Fielden Thanks F, I've added the DLCQ mag to the magazines page (see link in comment above yours)!

Brenda Thank you for compiling all these contests. The first time I was on this site I thought I saw a contest pertaining to anything to do with horses, but now can't find it. Is it here?

Chris Fielden Hi Brenda, it's called Equestrian Fiction Finder and is in the regular short story competition list :-)

John W Hi. I have written 18 short stories for children (say 4 to 8 years) about a young bear and a hedgehog and their adventures. Perhaps you could recommend suitable competitions I could enter? Regards, John

Chris Fielden Hi John. Your best bet is to try the Write a Story for Children competition, which is in the Prestigious &/or Big Prize Short Story Competitions list on this page, although they get a lot of entries, so competition is tough!

Jo B This is a brilliant resource.  Thank you.

Harshita N Thanx for providing so many opportunities on a single page. But it would be absolutely fantastic if u would also list competitions outside the UK, USA. etc. and include Asian countries.

Chris Fielden Thanks Jo :-)

Harshita, I will list any short story competitions from any country (there is one Egyptian one listed) but I need to know about them! If there are any you know of that you'd like listed here, please tell me.

Richard B I just wanted to say thanks. Yours is the best competition list I've found. Cheers, Richard

Chris Fielden Thanking you Captain Rich

Jan e B Hi Chris - your list is most useful, thank you. Bristol Prize has a word max of 4,000 rather than 3,ooo according to the website. J 

Chris Fielden Thanking you Jane, much appreciated - I have updated the details accordingly :-)

Pamela A Wonderful, comprehensive listings - thank you very much. I've wasted too much time compiling lists instead of focusing on writing - procrastinating and getting too tidy! Cheers and good health, Pamela

Russell S Your site is an excellent resource for someone such as myself looking to get on that tricky first rung of the publishing ladder. Can I recommend adding details of a new short story/poetry journal called Sixfold which I have recently submitted to? They have had to postpone their first issue in order to allow more submissions. It is to be writer voted i.e. everyone who submits gets involved with the reading/rating process to pick a winner. I think it's a great concept and would be grateful if you could help spread the word by adding it to your list. Thanks

Chris Fielden Thanks Pamela.

Russell, thanks for the information. I've added Sixfold to the prestigious, big prize competition list . Best of luck - I hope you do well in the competition :-)

Honor W I was searching for the annual competition for a book of Scottish Short Stories, which used to have the closing date of 31st Jan - but I can't find it. Does it no longer exist do you know or am I using the wrong search terms? Thanks for this list - it's very useful. .

Chris Fielden Hi Honor, the only one I'm aware of is the HISSAC competition. That closes in July, but the organisers might have changed the entry dates.

K I Thank you sooo much for putting this up! Honestly, it has been of a great help to me. KI

Anne Thank you so much for compiling this list! It's saved loads of time for me, and it's given me a lot of motivation too!

Julie C Hi Chris,

Love your competition website!  Incredibly useful to me. 

I've written a collection of short stories and have decided to enter them in various competitions this year, since publishing them as a whole collection is proving to be quite difficult (as a previously unpublished author). 

However, there is one thought that is concerning me and I can't find the answer to it anywhere. Hence my asking you! 

If I win a competition, or am a runner-up, can I then use the story again in a collection at a later date?  I don't want to enter and possibly win competitions if that means I then can't use the story again, as part of a complete collection.  My purpose for trying to get a mention in competitions is to make publishers more likely to consider taking my collection as a whole. 

Any knowledge or advice you have in this area will be most welcome. 

Thanks! Julie

Chris Fielden

Thanks for getting in touch.

What you're talking about is exactly what I'm planning to do with my short stories long term - put a collection together, ALL of which will have been previously published. So I think it's a fantastic idea, but I am slightly biased :-) 

However, I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive answer to your question, as I don't actually know. I'd assume it would vary from publisher to publisher.

I believe that having stories in your collection that are previously published would make your work far more saleable as the stories are of a proven quality - an editor or competition judge has already thought they were good enough to publish. And if you have work published, it means you already have an audience, so a publisher is more likely to consider you seriously. It also gives you some great experience in dealing with editors so it's fabulous for your writing CV.

The only time you might run into issues is with the contracts you enter into when your work is published through competitions. The vast majority of competitions and short story magazines ask for previously unpublished works and ask for first publishing rights in their Ts & Cs. The copyright generally remains with the author, meaning that after the magazine or competition have published your work, you are then free to resell it. That is certainly the case for all of the stories I've published, including one which is due to be in the Chapter One promotions anthology 'Primed' this year. For this particular story, I've had to sign quite a lengthy contract, but the copyright remains with me and, once their book is published, I'm free to do what I want with the story.

So  I really can't see it being a problem (in most cases) if some or all of the stories in a collection have been published previously.

To back this theory up, 'The Golden Apples of the Sun' and 'The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl' are examples of 2 very famous books that contain stories that have been previously published in a wide variety of magazines. Admittedly, these are old books from established authors, but the fact that the stories were previously published didn't stop a publisher releasing them as a collection. The books actually say where and when they were first published - maybe because they are obliged to, but probably because the reader will find it interesting.

In the end, I'd advise you to try and get as many stories published as you can through competitions, always aiming to WIN! Even if it turns out that you can't use them in a collection, they might get a publisher's interest. Then you can write more stories for the collection once you have a publishing contract!

I hope that's useful.

Julie C Hi Chris, Thanks for such a swift and helpful reply. 

Your answer is very encouraging, and pretty much what I suspected myself.  It means that I can go ahead and enter loads of competitions in the meantime.  I will be super-aware of the contracts aspect, though, and try to ensure that the copyright remains with me. 

My husband suggested I 'just write more' if I can't re-use the stories, but you know how precious they become - I want to see them belong together, since I deliberately wrote them with similar themes to fit together neatly into a collection. 

It would be annoying if I can only use them once. Many thanks again, and best of luck with your own collection.  It sounds as if you're well on the way to putting one together! 

Chris Fielden Hi Julie

No problem, I'm glad you found it helpful :-)

I know what you mean about stories becoming precious. I must admit though, over time, I've become less precious about them - I just like to see them in print!

Best of luck with the competitions. If you have any joy, please get in touch and let me know.

Cheers, Chris 

Roger S Christopher, I plan to enter one of the short story contests you mentioned. But I do have a 7,000-word short story set in England -- where we have often travelled to from here in the Colonies -- and wondered if you might be able to suggest a contest in the UK that accepts entries of that length. All help appreciated. Roger

Chris Fielden Hi Roger

The only one I'm aware of in the UK is the Earlyworks Press Competition. The BBC Short Story Award also takes stories of this length, but you have to be from the UK and previously published to enter it.

There are a couple of UK magazines that take longer stories - you can see them here .

Best of luck with getting your story placed! Chris

Sarita Really useful list. Thank you for sharing :)

Christopher O This is a brilliant resource. Thanks. I wish I knew of it earlier.

Anne K Thanks for such a useful web site, just thinking of starting out again decades after having some small success with short story writing with HE Bates. Feel very inspired now!

Samantha D This is so useful.  I have a short story that I would like to try and get published but have found that most sites/competitions are for stories around the 2,000 words mark (mine is just under 5,000).  I have seen a couple of possible sites/competitions here, so THANKs. Sam

Alison C I run the Frome Festival Short Story Competition - can you add the fee please?  It\'s £5 plus £47 for in depth critique. Thanks, Alison

Chris Fielden Hi Alison - updated for you :-)

And thanks Sarita, Chris, Anne and Sam - all good to hear!!

Dave P Thanks for this Chris, kind of you to share it. Very useful. Dave

Monica G Hi !! I'm sixteen years old and I'm an Indian. I would love to register in a competition but  really don't know which category to look under. My story is about adventure and little bit of detective work. I would really like your suggestions. Thank you so much ! :)

Chris Fielden Thanks Dave :-)

Monica, try the list of Writing Competitions for Young Writers & Children . It contains competitions aimed at younger writers around your age. Best of luck!

Pierre F You missed the Writers Type competition. They offer Amazon Gift Coupons as prizes. It's a monthly affair, and winners qualify for re-entry in the Annual Competition, where the Coupon prize is more substantial.

Chris Fielden Thanks Pierre - added!

Dee J What about the monthly short story comps in Writing Magazine and Writers' News? I had a quick look at your regulars listing but didn't see these mentioned. The magazines come together these days, one inside the other. Available at newsagents in the UK and probably elsewhere. They have a website.

Thanks for compiling these lists. Very useful.

Chris Fielden Thanks Dee, added!

Cathy M There's also the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story prize - it actually closed today (sorry!) but seems to be an annual thing, open to writers of any nationality.

Chris Fielden Thank you Kathy, added :-)

Judith W Fascinating - the entire site - shall get weaving at once - thank you very much. Judith

Moody C Hi Chris, I live in Australia (originally from Yorkshire).  This site is fanbloodytastic!  Thank you so much for taking time to create it.  My teeny worry is you mention Brit Writers.  I was short listed in their 2011 Awards and travelled from Australia to England for the ceremony (which was no hardship whatsoever!). However, I have serious concerns about this lot - they will not reveal anything about themselves and wouldn't even say who the judges were apart from 'famous authors, members of book clubs, editors ...'. See Harry Bingham's Writers' Workshop blog about them ( post 1 here and post 2 here ).  Dodgy as.  Thanks again, MC

Chris Fielden Thanks for the heads up Moody :-) If you have any other info about this, please let me know! Chris

Moody C I felt really deflated by Brit Writers - in fact, I even wondered if I'd been chosen because I live in Australia and it looked good on their fancy programme. A lad at our table on the evening had been shortlisted in the song writing category. He said that when he received the phone call (re the shortlist) he was told that if he didn't travel to London for the ceremony then he couldn't win!

Another lady was there with her two young daughters.  One daughter (12) had been shortlisted in the children's category. The other daughter was 9 and they travelled from Cornwall. They charged the mum £100 for the 9 year old's ticket! A few months later I got an email saying the CEO of the company wanted one-to-one meetings with all finalists 'to see what he could do to help...' I was, coincidentally, coming over to England in the Dec/Jan, so wrote back immediately, saying I would be available for 6 weeks and would be delighted to travel from Yorkshire to London to meet him. I never heard another word. Perhaps I'm being harsh but you know when you just have a bit of a funny old feeling?

Chris Fielden Certainly do Moody! Thanks for sharing this, it's really useful for users of my website to be able to see this kind of information. Anyone else got any info on Brit Writers they'd like to share?

Jackie P This is a great resource and wonderful of you to have put so much of your time and effort into putting this together. Tired of writing "legalese", I'd like to try and return to a more creative format and was wondering where to look for short story contests. Look no further! Thank you!

Stella S Hello, first time visitor to your site, I'll definitely bookmark it! Thank you.

Carol W Hello,

 Are you familiar with the Manchester Writing School with its B-I-G prize money? ( closely linked with the poet laureate C.A. Duffy, to boot). Am I having a dim moment, or does merely entering a story to them mean that it will never be free of them again? My 'copyright' as author merely assures my right to have my name linked with my work and any quotation from the same, doesn't it? £17 seems a high price to pay to lose control of one's story for ever and ever. Regards, and thanks for your helpful page. Carol

Thanks Jackie & Stella! Carol,

I am familiar with the Manchester writing competition - I've entered it before, but not got anywhere. If you enter, you retain all rights to your story. You just grant the Manchester Writing Competition first publication rights. This is standard stuff and very fair, especially given the 10K prize. This means, once the they have published your story, you can do what you want with it. At least, that's how I understand it.

Hope that's helpful, and best of luck with the competition! Chris

Venu G Hi there, thanks so much for this super-helpful list. Just to help you keep it updated I'd like to let you know that one link is broken. It's in the notes of the Bridgewater competition, where it says you can get way more info by clicking 'here'. I'm in India now so there's a chance it just doesn't work here. Thanks again! Venu

Chris Fielden Thanks Venu, it was broken! I've updated it :-) Cheers, Chris

Petrina F I am an EL school teacher from Malaysia. I'd like to get my students interested in writing so I thought participating in writing competitions would be a good start. Unfortunately, due to the dearth of such competitions in Malaysia, I'm forced to search the international scene. I came across your fantastic website. I need to know: Do they accept international entries? Thank you.

Chris Fielden Hi Petrina, most of the competitions listed on the site accept entries from residents in any country as long as the stores are written in English. There are a few which only accept entries from specific countries, so you’ll have to check each competition website to see the exact rules, but most are happy to accept entrants from anywhere.

Lynn L Hi Chris, a writer friend put me onto your site and it's great. It's well organised, honest whilst remaining encouraging and it's great to see that you update so regularly as some sites allow their info to become out of date quickly. Thanks for your hard work.

Chioma C Hello Chris, thank you for such a comprehensive list! I'm a budding poet, and wondered if you could point me in the direction of poetry competitions please? Many thanks!

Chris Fielden Hi Chioma, you could try getting a copy of Writers Forum magazine as they list poetry competitions regularly and also run a poetry competition every month. Or try the Poetry Library . They list many competitions and it looks like it's kept quite up to date :-)

Chioma C Hello Chris, I looked it up, many thanks! Followed you on Twitter too... Looked at your activity there and I see you list competitions there as well. Chioma

Chris Fielden No probs, thanks Chioma :-)

Tim K I received a mail recently to say the Ruth Rendell Interact comp is running.

Here is an extract from the mail: Entries can be submitted online or by post. Please find more details and terms and conditions of entry on the InterAct Reading Service website.

Fionnuala K Hi Christopher, I wanted to say " Thank you" for your tremendous  chart of all the competition possibilities - great to see it all in one place and a smashing research job.

I just wanted to add some things - although the Frank O Connor is only for published writers, there is another competition through MunsterLit, which is the Sean O Faoilain short story which is (I think) open to all, needing just an unpublished story. There are other great opportunities in Ireland, including the fantastic Listowel Writers week where there are both short story,  and playwriting opportunities thanks to Bryan Mac Mahon (short story) and Eamon Keane (full length play). Listowel writers week staff are also a tremendous group of people to work with - very supportive and helpful.

Chris Fielden Many thanks Tim & Fionnuala! I've updated the page accordingly :-)

Fionnuala K You are welcome, Chris. Thank you again for a great resource and good luck with the writing, Fionnuala

Bree W This is a great list, thanks Chris for putting it together. Just a quick question, I'm very new to this and was wondering if you could enter the same story in multiple competitions? Just wondering.  Thanks in advance.

Hi Bree, it depends on each individual competition's rules. Some are happy for you to enter your work elsewhere, like the Bristol Prize for example, but many prefer you not to enter your work for consideration elsewhere until they have announced their winners. Personally, I think you should be able to enter stories into as many competitions as you like as you will sometimes be waiting for months to hear about results and it can seriously slow up your publishing rate. However, I can see why competition administrators ask you not to enter your work elsewhere, as it can cause them problems if your work is placed and they select you as a winner.

I'd just use your common sense, but bear in mind that the probability of being placed in more than one competition at once is unlikely, no matter how good your writing is! If you do enter more than one competition at once, I'd just let any other competitions know when your work has been accepted elsewhere so it causes them minimum inconvenience.

Hope that's helpful, and best of luck with your writing.

Bree W Thanks for the reply :-) Now to filter through the competitions and pick a couple. Thanks again :-)

Anthea C Thank you so much for all the work you have put into your website. So helpful. Do you have any ideas of a competition that I could enter my lower sixth A level English students into? They have just returned to school after taking their AS levels and I want them to study narratology and am going to get them to write a short story. It would be great if they knew it was being entered for a competition, because then it would make it feel more important to them. Any ideas? Many thanks. Anthea (Head of English, Kent College, Pembury)

Chris Fielden Anthea, you could try one or two of the competitions from the list I have for young writers and children on this page.

Aside from that, maybe one of regular competitions, like Writers' Forum, as you can enter that at anytime during the year. But you'd have to check they don't have an age limit.

Hope that's helpful :-)

Edmund W Just wanted to say thanks very much for collating all this information - extremely useful to aspiring novelists!

Maureen O Thanks so much for this list and for all the effort that you obviously put into it. I may have missed it but I did not see the Glimmer Train Stories. They run different competitions year long. Cheers, Maureen

Chris Fielden Thanks Edmund!

Glimmer Train added Maureen - thanks for the heads up :-)

Palash P Thank you so much, Christopher. It's quite an exhaustive list. I belong to the Writers' family in India. Of late I felt the hunger to put my thoughts into words and it resulted in immense gratification. I do not know if I have the X factor in me to become a writer and create a niche in someone's heart, but I can try!

Chris Fielden Welcome, Palash - best of luck with your writing :-)

Bill C First time I saw all the comps listed. Very helpful!

Mandy T Just wanted to thank you for such an excellent website. I found out about Myslexia and Scribble magazines here and now subscribe to both - waiting to hear back from Scribble re a short story I recently sent them as I write this ... I've also entered several competitions this year from your extensive listings, and have just found four more I'd like to try my hand at. Happy writing!

Chris Fielden Thanks Bill!

Mandy - glad you found this resource so useful. It would be great to hear how you get on with the competitions :-)

Marlene P Hi Chris, this is excellent. I write a lot of short stories. What you have done here is very helpful . Can you let me know what Writing Course you did? Thanks a lot.

Chris Fielden Hi Marlene, I did the Writers Bureau course. I found it very comprehensive and did the non-fiction and fiction modules. Let me know if you have any questions about it .

Marlene P Thanks Chris... I've been reading your stories....:-):-):-)

Emma W Hi Chris, thank you very much for this resource. 

My question - In your experience do successful short stories usually approximate the maximum word limit? In other words, would a 2,000 word short story be considered an acceptable entry in a competition with a 5,000 word limit? Thanks

Chris Fielden Hi Emma, in my experience, it doesn't matter how long the story is, it's the quality of the story that counts. For example, I've had 2,500 word story published through a 5,000 word limit competition before.

The only exception to this is if a contest stipulates a minimum and a maximum, which some magazines do to fit their print requirements. But if no minimum is stated, you should be fine entering any length of story. Hope that's helpful :-)

Helen M Was wondering why the Hennessy New Irish Writing in conjunction with the Irish Indo is not listed? It can be entered throughout the year and is free. Fiction, non published and free.  Regards, H

Chris Fielden Hi Helen, to list the comp, I need the details and I can't find any entry rules or anything online. Are you familiar with the rules (how to enter, entry dates, prizes offered, dates, word limit, frequency of the comp etc)? I'd need all these to list the comp. If you could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated :-)

Ruth Thank you for this information, it was helpful...

Helen M Hi Chris, thanks for reply. It's a noted competition in Ireland. I've added a link. I've been shortlisted for the 43rd Hennessy  in 2013 and like yourself found it difficult to find any info on it. I was sent a link by a friend which is how I ended up entering. Hope this helps and if not please feel free to email me back. Well done on the comp list you have provided. Regards, H

Chris Fielden Thanks Ruth!

And thanks very much Helen :-) I've contacted www.writing.ie to see if they can give me more details, or point at the right website to find out all the entry details. I'll let you know if they get back to me.

Tanya V Hi. I'm looking for competitions in Canada and only see 2 on your list. CBC Books has a competition underway shortly. I wonder if you could look up more from Canada. Thanks.

Chris Fielden H i Tanya, I've added the CBC Books short story competition to the lists - thanks for the heads up :-)

I'm not very familiar with the Canadian writing market, so if you know of any other short story competitions based in Canada, please let me know and I'll be happy to list them. Thanks, Chris

Tanya V Will do – I’ve been researching them so I’ll send you links to the ones I’ve found. Thanks for replying.

Another question – if a competition is set in, say, England, does that mean it’s only open to English citizens?

Chris Fielden That would be great, thank you Tanya :-)

In my experience, most competitions will accept entries from anywhere in the world as long as they are written in English. But it's best to check the rules and submission guidelines for each competition carefully to make sure, as there are some exceptions to this rule.

Iris A This site looks good, but you should have a section for younger writers; I'm 13 and none of these competitions are what I'm looking for.

Chris Fielden Iris, try the Writing Competitions for Young Writers & Children list on this page ;-)

Will H I'm far from the first to say this, but what an excellent site! It's been most helpful to me as I've written a couple of shorts recently and have decided to put them into a few competitions to test the water.

I have a small conundrum, which is probably as much me getting ideas above my station as anything else, but I've entered them into a couple of the more prestigious competitions (omitting the ones that demand exclusivity of submission) and a couple from the regular short competitions, including a monthly one whose submission deadline is very near. While it would be amazing to receive any acknowledgement to help give me a platform, I'm considering withdrawing from this one as if it was published it appears it would mean needing to withdraw from Glimmer Train which has a much later deadline for submission. It's unlikely that I'll find out if GT will be interested in my submission before the less prestigious competition publishes its winner, and though my odds of success are considerably less on GT, I'm quite confident about the piece. Or do you think it would be best to get over myself and just cross that bridge when I get there? Thanks very much.

Chris Fielden Will, I'd definitely leave the story in both competitions. Glimmer Train is brilliant but incredibly competitive. From what I've read, they have thousands of submissions and the chance of being published is slim, even for an amazing story. That's not to say we shouldn't submit to them, but I feel it would be shortsighted to withdraw from a regular competition given the small chance of success with GT. Even the regular competitions can have hundreds of entries, so it's pretty tough to get published through them too. The likelihood of success in both competitions is probably akin to winning the lottery! OK, maybe a little melodramatic, but it really isn't likely. If you are placed in either, be happy. For that reason I'd leave your story in both and deal with the 'problem' (and it's a nice problem to have) should it arise :-)

Will H Thanks so much for the advice. That's incredibly helpful and I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly!

Paul A I just wanted to say thank you for the list of various competitions available for short story writing. 

I must say the more comps that appear, thanks to you updating, the more encouraging it is to keep writing and trying new things. Paul

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Paul :-)

Rochelle P Hello, firstly I would like to thank you for compiling together this list............... Boy,  does it save a lot of time. Secondly I appreciate the effort at unfailingly ensuring your response to each comment. I mean it's quite encouraging for beginning writers like me. I am trying my best to pen stories written from my heart.... of course it may take a while to see them published anywhere but for now, the mere fact of writing is rewarding enough for me......

Chris Fielden Thanks Rochelle :-) 

I'm glad you find the site useful and encouraging. Best of luck with your writing!

Ben S Hi Chris, thank you so much for the list! This is a great resource and has enabled me to quickly find and enter a number of competitions, and hopefully many more in the future. You've done a great service putting these lists together. So again, thank you! Ben

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Ben :-) Glad you find it useful!

Carla D Thank you very much for doing this, all the time that you went through to gather this information and to put it nicely here... thanks!

Archie D Hi Chris, very useful website, thank you.

Just thought I should let you know that the Meridian Competition is no longer running. Neither, it seems, is PinkPen or Friends of Dickens.

Plenty left though!

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Archie, I've updated the listings accordingly :-)

Oke I Nice work Chris. So helpful. I did list you as a source in one of the competitions.

Chris Fielden Great, thanks Oke!

Seana S Hi, thanks for all your hard work... invaluable stuff, for sure.

I reckon I am probably too late for this year, but have recently written a short story which has surprised me a lot. It has a Christmas theme, some family/aging angles as well,  but I seem to have avoided any kind of  shlocky sentimental quality. It has had a very good response from my usual readers, all agreeing it MUST be sent off in time for  Holiday publication. All well and good, but I am having trouble finding any competitions in this area, or even publications looking for submissions with a Christmas theme. Any suggestions?? Again, many thanks, Seana

Chris Fielden Seana, I'm not familiar with any competitions with a Christmas theme, but I'd consider submitting to some of the more regular competitions (see the regular comps list ). Writers' Forum might be good, probably between now and the end of October, ready for the magazine released closest to Christmas. And maybe some of the quarterly competitions, like Writers' Village. While these competitions don't specifically ask for a Christmas theme, your story might appeal to them more at this time of year. It's worth a go!

Hope that's helpful :)

Gerelyn D J Many thanks for your very comprehensive listing of writing opportunities. The search was a pleasure which has indeed provided me with options. I'm encouraged too, to  press ahead for the five figure prizes!

Chris Fielden Great, thanks Gerelyn :-)

Laura J Hi Chris! Thanks for creating this website! Extremely helpful and organised!

Do you know of any free, early teen English competitions? Thanks.

Chris Fielden Hi Laura, the only competitions I know of that are for younger writers are in the Competitions for Young Writers and Children list . There are a few free ones listed there, so you could try those :-)

Lawrence C Thank you so much for all your alerts on the time schedules of writing contests. I wish to know if you're allowed to submit a story to two different competitions that fall within the same time, date and month? Thank you.

Chris Fielden Lawrence, different competitions have different rules about this. Some will let you submit while submitting elsewhere and some won't. You will have to look at the rules for each individual competition to see what they say.

However, I tend to enter multiple competitions at once where possible or if a competition has long turnaround times (4 months or more). It's very rare that you will have a story accepted by two competitions at once, so I wouldn't worry too much about it, and that speeds up how quickly your stories are likely to be published. But with competitions that have quick turnarounds, I tend to wait, as it doesn't hinder your submissions too much. I hope that's helpful :-)

Gale B I now have too many competitions that I want to enter! Thank you for listing them all like this,  I have been trolling the net for ages looking for a list like this. I'm new to this writing lark so really appreciate this site. Can we have some updated one off competitions now as some in your list have now expired. Cheers.

Chris Fielden Thanks Gale :-)

I will add more one-off competitions as I hear about them - if you know of any, please let me know!

Betty H Thanks for such and excellent resource.

Nigel H Thank you for your site. It is the most useful tool I have ever come across. Fantastic. Thanks for all the work you must have put in in order to tabulate all that information. Wonderful.

Chris Fielden Thanks Nigel!

Simon M Just to say that the "My Daily Story" link above now leads to a dead webpage.

Also Apostrophe Books at the very top, while still active, don't now appear to be running any competitions - the link above goes to a "page not found" notice.

This is, nevertheless, a very useful resource - having just won a writing competition (for scripts) I'm keen to enter more, especially for prose as it's not something I've done before, and a site like this is very helpful.

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Simon. I've updated the links accordingly :-)

Stefani H Mr. Fielden, I was checking out the list of writing contests on your website. When I checked out the Glimmer Train contest there is a $15.00 "Reading Fee" for each entry. On your site it is listed as a free contest. Just letting you know.

Thank you very much for the list!

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Stephani!

I’ve had a look and Glimmer Train run a couple of free competitions throughout the year, but, like you say, the rest do have a reading fee, so I’ve updated the information accordingly :-)

Miranda N Do you know of any international writing competitions? Or are they mentioned in the notes, 'cause I only checked the country...? Especially contests in Northern Europe :)

Chris Fielden I'm afraid I'm not familiar with many writing competitions based in Northern Europe, Miranda, so can't really help there.

However, most of the competitions listed are international, accepting entries from writers residing anywhere in the world, providing their stories are written in English. There are a few exceptions, but around 95% are international. You'll just have to check the rules of each competition to be sure.

Jennifer M Dear Chris, congratulations on an absolutely brilliant resource for budding writers.  You deserve serious kudos for the time and effort you must have put in to this web-site.  Also loved your story on Ninjas and zombies. Not a word wasted.  Perfect.

Keep up the good work,

one grateful reader...

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Jennifer :-)

Deb T I enjoy your site very much - thank you for keeping it so well-stocked!

I was wondering if you have heard any news about the Ruth Rendell short story competition - is it actually being judged at all, for instance? Strange question, but I entered a story last autumn (£15, fairly expensive) and apart from the acknowledgement I've heard nothing more and can find nothing out. There appears to be nothing about it on the website (Interact Reading Service). Just wondered...

Chris Fielden Deb, you're welcome - I'm glad you like the site :-)

I don't know about the Ruth Rendell competition - I couldn't find anything about it on their site either. I've tweeted them asking if they're judging and will let you know if they get back to me. Have you tried emailing them to ask?

Deb T Hi Chris, I finally got round to asking them today - why I didn't before now I don't know!

Apparently the entries have been judged and there is a date next week when Ruth Rendell presents the prize. I do think it odd that there is no indication on the site as to when this would happen. I had a very nice email from the organiser, who said that because the competition begins and ends in May of consecutive years it would be too confusing, and they have to work around Ruth Rendell's busy schedule. Hopefully they've taken my comments on board, as I also think it's a bit confusing not to mention the "end" at all!

I appreciate your website very much - thank you for all the hard work. Deb

Chris Fielden Great, thanks for letting me know, Deb.

They also responded to my tweet today and said: Hi Chris, the awards ceremony is being held next Tues 20th, where Ruth Rendell will announce the winner.

Best of luck with your entry!

Kay Hey, this is a really good list! I'm 14 and really struggling to find a competition to enter my 400 word short story into! Do you have any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

Chris Fielden Kay, there are a few suitable competitions aimed specifically at your age group in the Writing Competitions for Young Writers & Children list on this page.

Hope that's helpful and best of luck with your writing :)

Preeti Do you know about any short story writing competitions held in India?

Chris Fielden Preeti, I'm afraid I don't know of any competitions in India. If you hear of any, please let me know and I'll list them :-)

Nira M Hi, I wanted to say thank you so much. I'm from Iran and I was very disappointed about how to publish my stories and through your site I realized that there are competitions for writing short stories. So you encouraged me to write more and translate my stories into English and try my best.

I wish you the best.

Chris Fielden Thank you so much, Nira. I wish you the best of luck with getting your stories published.

Ruby S Thank you for this - this list and your comments are such a help. Seeing all these competitions gives hope to aspiring writers!

Chris Fielden Thanks Ruby :-)

Arta S I'm a writer from Iran. I have to win a big prize, so that I can live, support myself and my profession. I have no problems with  writing,  I can write in any genre. Can you please guide me - which one is the right one for me.

Chris Fielden Arta, you'll have to some research and see which competitions would be most suitable for your style of writing. The lists I provide will help you to do that. I would say that the competitions that offer large prizes are hard to win, as so many people enter them and the standards are extremely high. If you're new to writing, it might be more sensible to start with some of the smaller competitions that offer feedback so you can improve your work and get a feel for the right markets to submit your stories to.

I hope that's helpful and best of luck with your writing.

Kevin C Chris, I have just stumbled across your website while looking for information on outlets for short stories. I just wanted to say what a terrific job you've done in putting this together. It's really a one-stop shop for anyone getting started in writing short stories and looking for places to submit them and other relevant advice. It's amazing how much there is out there and great to have some kind of a guide as to where to start.

I have just had a short piece of 'flash fiction' published on the Mashstories website and I don't think they are included in your list of competitions, unless I missed it, so you might want to consider adding them. Maybe you don't include 'flash-fiction' (?). I have had a good experience in submitting my piece to them: prompt response, prompt sensible and helpful feedback from the judges, and they put all short-listed stories into the form of a podcast.

Your own short story pieces on the site are very good, I especially enjoyed Mr Kill - well done.

Unfortunately, I also wasted a lot of precious time when I should have been writing, thanks to your ' Stuff what makes I laugh ' section, so thanks a lot for that. I'll put it down as 'research'.

Keep up the good work.

Chris Fielden Kevin, thanks for your kind words – I’m glad you find the site useful.

I do list flash fiction competitions, so I’ve added the Mash competition to the lists. Thanks for making me aware of it.

Sorry if the Stuff What Makes I Laugh page distracted you from your work, but I think having a giggle once in a while helps the brain to work more efficiently and makes your writing better. I’m no doctor, but that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.

Best of luck with your writing and congratulations on having your work published by Mash Stories.

Claire R Hi Chris, what a helpful site and great advice! One to add to your short story competition list: Bloody Scotland do a crime fiction based competition, 3000 words with a £1000 prize. It is closed for this year but it looks like an annual competition.

Thanks, Claire

Chris Fielden Thanks very much, Claire. I've added Bloody Scotland to the lists :-)

Cleo N Thanks for the helpful list. I want to know if these competitions are open to anyone, no matter country they live in?

Chris Fielden Cleo, you will have to read the submissions criteria on the different websites to check their rules. Most of the competitions listed are open to entries from writers living anywhere in the world, but there are a few that are country and / or area specific.

Frank W Chris: I am an unpublished writer of fiction, both short stories and a recently completed novel.  After accumulating a collection over many years, I have never had the opportunity to focus on finalizing and publishing any of my works until recently reaching retirement from my other pursuits.  I am seriously considering competition in writing contests as a means to achieve recognition.  Your very helpful website is very impressive indeed, and I commend your diligence in updating it, which cannot be an easy task.  Thank you very much for providing this wonderful resource to us.   Whether I win or not, your efforts are very much appreciated.

Chris Fielden Thanks Frank, glad you're finding the site useful.

Best of luck with publishing your stories :-)

Billy F Hiya - I don't know if anyone else has had the same (lack of) response, but I've been trying to contact Talent River re: Shortz and it seems as though the site's been deserted. Several e-mails (+1 submission), nil response.

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Billy. I've emailed my contact there to ask him if he's still running the website / competition. I'll let you know if I hear back.

John M First, thank you for your efforts in maintaining this list. It's a great resource and I plan to enter several of the competitions.

My view is that you can't guarantee winning a competition, but you can certainly guarantee not winning. Plucking numbers out of the air, I guess that 50% of entries would be ruled out right away for bad spelling/grammar, breaking the submission rules or clearly bad stories. Another 30% would be competent but undistinguished. 10% would be good, but not quite top rate, leaving 10% to be considered for the prizes. 5% would be great stories, but with some flaw, or just outweighed by someone else's brilliance. Only 5% would really be in the running as possible winners. Then it comes down to the individual taste of the judges.

I'd appreciate your view on whether my general idea is correct, and, if it's possible to say, if my numbers are in the right ballpark.

Chris Fielden John, I can only talk about my direct experience with running competitions.

The first competition I was involved with was free to enter. The first time it ran, there were over 200 entries and 46% were disqualified. Writers submitted stories way over the word count limit and with terrible formatting. It was obvious they hadn't read the rules. So there was a high disqualification rate. Of the remaining 54%, between 10% and 15% were considered for prizes.

In contrast, the competition I run on my site had 94 entries this year and a 0% disqualification rate. There were a few entrants that made errors, but these were minor mistakes and did not warrant disqualification, they just scored lower to make it fair for the writers who had obeyed all the rules and made no mistakes. Around 45% of entries were considered for prizes - the quality of entry was very high and it was hard to select a winner as so many of the stories were good.

The difference between the two competitions - the entry fee. In my experience, if there's an entry fee, the quality of entry is much higher. It seems to put off the lower quality entrants.

So, as you can see from these 2 examples, the percentages you're talking about vary massively. So it's impossible to say as it will be different for every competition.

Judge's opinions do differ greatly. The writers in my writing group (all published authors) are currently helping me select winners from the shortlist I compiled. With a couple of exceptions, they are all selecting different stories as favourites to win. I think having a panel makes it fairer, because you have a variety of opinions so the strongest stories win through. My advice to any writer is to never give up. What one judge dislikes, another might love. Keep on submitting.

John M Thanks Christopher, that's great. Appreciate your help.

Sarah SK Thank you for somehow or other reticular(ly) activating my brain system to Inktears and Writers' Forum. Am not entirely sure from which technological mechanism or social media community these tentacles reached me; suffice to say I know you formed the foundation for them so this email is to serve as an ether message of appreciation. Regards and humble cursatives (as I sit in the hellhole of a soft play area, awaiting my son to finish his climbing class).

Chris Fielden Welcome John :)

Sarah, they both run excellent competitions, and if you don’t succeed first time (especially with Writers’ Forum) keep trying. They are both fine publishers.

Best of luck with your entries.

Dave S Hi Chris, nice site and to find information on what publishing outlets are out there!

I have a couple of questions.

Tenses:- When, in your experience, do you think it is correct to use the past and the present tenses in a manuscript, or can you alternate between the two depending on the context? I've noticed, when skimming through other short stories that have been published, that a great deal of them seem to be in the present rather than the past. I've sent a story off to a competition found on your site but then realize to my horror that I should have written 'belongs' rather than 'belonged' in one small area. If this omission jeopardizes my entry, better luck next time.

I find, when correcting a manuscript, that it's a bit like a puzzle or a minefield; finding omissions or ways to improve my writing. In your experience, do you hire editors to do your correcting, or do you rely on your own intuition? If you have editing intuition, do you need to employ an editor?

I'm finishing a book; not sure whether to use kdp select or some other publishing source to get it published.

Look forward to your reply.

Chris Fielden Dave, I don't think it really matters which tense you use - whichever suits your story best. I think the reason that short stories often use the present tense is because many readers find it more immediate and engaging, so it works well for shorter works where it's important to suck the reader in quickly. So there is no right or wrong way of doing it, you simply have to pick which tense works best for you.

You can switch between tenses, but I would recommend making clear breaks in the story, like you would when switching character viewpoint. That way the reader understands the need for the switch and doesn't become confused.

Editing is something you get better at as you write more and learn from your mistakes. When I first started out, I paid professionals to critique my work. It helps you learn and improve your writing. This is particularly important with novels or longer stories as they need more editing. With shorter works, I ask family, friends, and the members of the writing group I belong to, to proofread my work and find typos and mistakes. The other thing to do is read your story many times, preferably with a break of 2 or 3 days between reads. That way, you edit with a clear head and mistakes are easier to spot.

KDP Select is good, as is Create Space and Lulu. All are worth investigating, but if you intend to sell online, Amazon is probably your best bet as it is most widely known.

I hope that's helpful and best of luck with your writing!

Dave S Hi Chris, many thanks for your comments. I'll certainly bear them in mind as I continue to do more writing. Thanks once again for your list. It is proving useful.

Adi B Hey Chris. First of all thanks a lot for all you're work! I think you've made the question of how to get read a lot less scary and open. Secondly, and sorry if I'm being a bother - where are the international competitions - if say I'm neither British, American, Canadian etc?

Is there such a thing?

Thanks a lot!

Chris Fielden Adi, you're welcome - I'm glad you find the site useful :)

The vast majority of these competitions are international and will accept entries from writers residing anywhere in the world. The countries are just listed for information.

Best of luck with your writing!

James W Chris, I thought you might be interested in adding the Poetic Republic short story competition to your very useful list of competitions on your website. It works a bit like Scribble, with the readers of the competition reading and scoring other entrants' stories. The first prize is a very decent £2,000. You also receive comments from readers on your stories. I entered last year (the first year they ran a short story competition) and had about 20 different comments back. It's well worth taking part, though you do have to commit to reading quite a lot of stories in order to enter.

Chris Fielden James, thanks very much for letting me know about this.

I’ve added details of the competition to the list :-)

Chris G Hello Chris, I am hoping to enter a story in a Christmas short story competition for 2015. I am wondering if you can recommend any please?

The story is set in 2114 but I am not really looking for something specifically Science Fiction, just one that will take stories of 2,500 words without being too specific about criteria.

I am hoping you can help.

Great website by the way. I expect most people say that, they should.

Chris Fielden Chris, I don’t know of any specific Christmas short story competitions I’m afraid. That kind of competition is often launched as a one-off nearer the time, so I’d search for one later this year and see if any are running.

There are plenty of open competitions you could enter, so I’d try that too. I often recommend Writers’ Forum as a good place to start as they publish a wide variety of genres and run a monthly competition, so you can enter at any time of year. It has a 3,000 word limit, so fine for your story.

I hope that’s helpful.

Chris G Chris, I really appreciate your help. Thanks so much.

Lani N Hi there, thanks for this very comprehensive list!! I live in South Africa and there are a number of these competitions I'd like to enter. Am I allowed to enter a competition in Scotland, for example, if I don't live there? Kind regards, Lani.

Chris Fielden Lani, you will have to check the submission rules for each competition, but the majority of short story contests accept entries from writers living anywhere in the world :-)

Lani N Hi there, awesome, thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it. Kind regards, Lani

Simon H Hi Chris, I love your web site - thought you may like to know Askance Publishing are back with a 2015 short story competition after a year off. Cheers.

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know Simon - I've added the Askance competition to the lists!

Ashley W Hi! Thanks for your very valuable resource here!

I have a question about entering short story competitions. Should I enter my stories in one competition at a time?  Or is it OK to submit the same short story to multiple contests?  I am a little concerned that if I win in one then it becomes a published story and that means if it also wins in another then it is actually no longer eligible.

What do you think?

Chris Fielden Ashley, there are some competitions that welcome simultaneous submissions, and some that accept previously published work too. So with those, it's fine to submit elsewhere.

It's also highly unlikely that you'll win two competitions, even if you're some sort of literary genius as competition judges and magazine editors' tastes and requirements vary so much. If you did have a story accepted whilst it was under consideration elsewhere, you would simply have to withdraw it. You'd probably lose any submission fee and run the risk of being blacklisted for that particular competition, if they specifically requested previously unpublished work that was not under consideration elsewhere. But the likelihood of that happening is slim.

I do submit simultaneously as it results in more publishing success far more quickly. But I think very carefully about where I simultaneously submit. For example, I do not do this with prestigious competitions and publications that I submit to every year as it's not worth the risk of potentially being blacklisted if Fate were to work His magic :-)

I hope that's helpful and I wish you best of luck with seeing your stories in print!

James K Great writing website.

Can you recommend a good crime short story competition? Not sure which to enter from your website.

Chris Fielden James, the Bloody Scotland competition is the only one I'm aware of that is currently running and just about crime. It's featured in the lists above.

Best of luck with getting your story published!

Sara P Thank you very much for all this information! I'd like to ask if you know about any Spanish speaking competitions based in England. Thanks a lot!

Chris Fielden Sara, I'm afraid not. The only competition I'm aware of that asks for entries in Spanish or English is based in South America. It's called the Southern Pacific Review and is featured in the lists above.

I hope that's helpful :-)

Sara P Christopher, thank you very much for your information. I'll have a look at the competition you mentioned. Have a lovely day!

Ashley W Hi Chris! Just a note re: NEEDLE IN THE HAY, the readers don't vote. They have a panel of judges which they rotate. Thanks for your advice in answer to my previous mail in March, your site is truly very useful. Thanks to you I have been able to be shortlisted 7 times in the last two months, 4 times at NEEDLE, twice at Writers Notebook and once at Chaptercheckers. I am currently shortlisted at NEEDLE and Writers Notebook if you want to take a look (and you can vote for my current tale at Writers Notebook until May 13th, that would be appreciated). I haven't won a comp yet, but hope springs eternal.

I got a mail from Chaptercheckers regarding them going monthly rather than weekly and apologising for their slow feedback. Glacial might be more apt. Let's hope they get their act together.

Cheers mate!

Chris Fielden Ash, that’s great news! Congratulations on all the short-listings. I’ve voted for you on Writers’ Notebook. And have updated Needle in the Hay info too.

I recently heard from Chapter Checkers and they said they were overwhelmed with entries so had to go monthly. I’m not surprised – running a weekly competition is pretty ambitious. Must be a nightmare to keep up with comms. I find it hard enough with my yearly comp!

Anyways. Hope you win something soon – sounds like you’re on the right path so keep at it!

Frank WM Hey Mr. Fielden, I'm somebody who writes and submits short-stories, and I have used your lists many times. Thanks to your meticulous index, I've discovered so many journals that I otherwise would never have known about! And I've had two stories accepted now, so that feels great. Anyway, I owe you a big thanks. Thank you, and know that your work is exploited and appreciated :=)

Chris Fielden Frank, that’s great to know! I’m really glad to hear about your success – it's always nice to receive feedback like that.

May you see many more of your stories in print!!

Deshraj Sir, how can I participate in these competitions and submit my stories because all my stories are written in Hindi. Please give me suggestions about my problem.

Chris Fielden Deshraj, I'd suggest trying to find competitions that are run in countries that speak Hindi and therefore request stories in that language. I'm afraid I am not aware of any competitions like this, so you'd have to research and see if you can find any.

Failing that, you could have your stories translated into English and then submit to competitions in English speaking countries. You would have to have them translated professionally, preferably by a native speaker, or they would be unlikely to be published.

I hope that's helpful and wish you the best of luck with your writing.

Darrell B You might like to add the Wimbledon Bookfest Short  Story Competition to your list of annual competitions.

Chris Fielden Thanks for the heads up Darrell. I've added the short story competition and children's writing contest.

Shirley M Dear Chris, I know you can't do everything, but can you insert a 'search' option that will allow me to find, for example, sci-fi? (my most recent endeavour)

Can you sort your competitions additionally according to date of deadline?

Even if you can't do these additional things, I believe yours is one of the most comprehensive target opportunities for writers and I commend you for that.

Chris Fielden Hi Shirley, thanks for your suggestions. I’d love to make the lists interactive and sortable by the user. At the moment I don’t have the money to pay a developer for the work unfortunately. The reason I don’t put the competitions in date order is because they often change and become out of date and it’s too much admin work to stay on top of it all, hence the listings are alphabetical.

However, you can use your browser’s search function to do what you're asking (assuming you have an up to date one). So, when you’re on a webpage, press the Ctrl key and F key at the same time. A search box will appear (top right in Chrome, but may vary on other browsers like Firefox, IE, Safari etc). If you type ‘sci-fi’ (for example) into the box, the search function will then allow you to click arrows that take you straight to those words on the page. I hope that makes sense and is useful!

Linda T I wondered if you had any information on WriteStars. Their website shows they are running two themed flash fiction competitions, but one has a different word count depending on the webpage, and I've been unable to contact them. My email of six days ago hasn't been answered and the connection dropped when I tried to ring them. Given there's an entry fee for the competitions, this is worrying..

Chris Fielden Hi Linda, I haven’t heard of WriteStars competition before I’m afraid. It looks like they only just launched this year’s competition, so I would assume it’s still running.

Have you tried contacting them on Twitter or Facebook? That sometimes forces a response as it’s more public.

Ted I Hey Christopher, thank you so much for collating such extensive lists! A fellow writer passed this along to me when I was looking for contests to enter & I didn't dream there'd be so many. I really appreciate the effort you put/are putting into this.

I have some updated information, if you would like to add it to your Regular Short Story Competitions list:  Entry fee for Writing Maps Short Story Contest is $5 (approx £3) per submission.

All the best, Ted

Chris Fielden Thanks very much, Ted! Have updated the Writing Maps listing accordingly :-)

Ted I My pleasure and cheers.

I noticed another couple of glitches as I've been making my way through the list so I thought I'd also send them to you, just in case:

Prestigious and/or Big Shorts

• The link to the Aeon Award comes up with an error message. I tried to locate is myself through google>wikipedia but still no luck so maybe this lead is dead.

Other Competition Lists

• The Stuart Aitken link takes us to his old blog

Lastly the Etherbooks page seems a little silent on the comps front—none for over two years—so I'm not sure whether that is soon to be a dead end.

Once again, thanks a lot. I have just this minute finished my ploughing through the list (and others that they led on to) and need to give my eyes and mind rest. A few days reading pulled up some 40 or so competitions that suit me well so I'm excited to now gun for them.

All the best.

Chris Fielden Hi Ted, thanks so much for this.

The Aeon Award website is now back, so I presume that was a temporary blip.

I’ve updated the link to Stuart Aken’s website.

I’ve also changed the Ether books link – it seems they have a new site!

Ted I No problem.

I've just tried the Aeon Award link through your site and have once again found no luck with either safari or firefox. Should the link take me to this site: albedo1.com? Because that's where I end up, with the error message.

Moreover, the Etherbooks link takes me to a page which looks the same as the old one to me, with no comps listed under the headings.

I apologize if I am missing something very obvious here or doing something wrong but I'd rather risk ridicule and mention it again, just in case.

Chris Fielden Hi Ted, nope, no ridicule at all, your input is very helpful :-)

It looks like Albedo 1 are having some technical issues with website updates – details on their Facebook page . Judging by the latest comment, it looks like they will have 2 sites up and running at some point (a .com and .net), but they both seem to be broken at the moment.

As the Ether Books site has recently undergone an overhaul, I’m assuming details of comps will be added soon so have left the link live.

I do a big update on all links over the Xmas period, and if no details are added or if sites seem to be dead, I’ll remove them then. I guess a lot of sites are run by hobbyists or companies with small budgets, meaning updates can a tad on the slow side!

Thanks for your continued support - muchos appreciated.

Ted I Ah, I see. No worries and thanks for the info! I'm sure most people are as grateful and patient as I am for the fruits of your 'hobbying' labour. I'm just glad to return the favour, in whatever small way. So if I spot anything when looking through the whole list again next year, I'll just pop it this ol' mailbox here, for whenever you're ready. Ted

PS I entered my first ever comp at NiTH last week and got short listed , so a nice start and a good spring board towards other sites' comps with deadlines this week. It's all a go go!

Chris Fielden Thanks Ted, yes, please keep me updated with any issues you spot – your help is very much appreciated :-)

And congratulations on being shortlisted – that’s awesome, especially for your first competition entry!

Ted I Hey Chris, stumbled upon a short story comp and entered it last week. It's a monthly contest that's been going a while and doesn't appear to be stopping. I just saw it wasn't in your list so thought I'd share it, in case you deemed it worthy - it's called The Cult Of Me. Not sure how blogspot works but the link seems to have added the .is, yet I presume he's not in Iceland like me.

Just found you on Twitter. And thanks, the piece ended up winning!

I just finished that mad week of deadlines (six!) and have another seven coming up before the month is out. This is a lot of fun (and a bit cray cray). Ted

PS If it happens you aren't open to suggestions of comp finds such, or if you are but have specific criteria, feel free to let me know so I don't bombard you unnecessarily (:

Chris Fielden Hi Ted, congratulations on the win – that’s awesome!

And thanks for sharing. I’ve added the competition details to the lists. I’m always open to suggestions, so feel free to send more through as you spot them.

Best of luck with your other submissions.

Maggie D Ninevoices Short Story Competition:

Just to let you know that although the Ninevoices Short Story Competition we held this spring was a great success - we raised £500 for charity - we do not intend to repeat this in 2016.

We MAY have another competition in 2017, though. If, as they say, we\'re spared, and will let you know if we do so.

Just thought you'd like to know for your competitions listings.

Congratulations on your own To Hull & Back. Am still preening myself on getting a commended...

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Maggie.

That's great news about raising so much money - always nice to hear about things like that!

And congrats on the special mention - much deserved :-)

Tristan M Thank you for these links, Christopher.

Sam C Hi Chris, I'm sure I came across, on your site a year ago, a competition run by a publishing house where on some forum web-portal thingy budding authors submit a chapter of their work, and then it gets pier reviewed by other participants, and they do the same... and then the best ones go forward for the prize or publishing. Do you have any idea what I might be on about? I can't find it anymore.

I see your competition is now closed. Shame, I would have made you laugh ;) OK, next year.

PS Great site, thanks.

PPS Just put some of my own writing up on a website. It's a thrill going public for the first time :)

Chris Fielden Hi Sam, was it the World’s Greatest Writing Competition? If so, they have a new website called Publisher Free.

My competition is open for entries all the time – next closing date is 31st July 2016.

Congrats on getting your writing out there – it’s a great feeling. I wish you the best of luck with it.

Carmen W Thanks - very helpful

Simon M You may like to know that the "e-Literate-World Cut A Long Story Short Competition" link is dead - the domain appears to have been closed down, suggesting they no longer exist at all (a quick Google search didn't bring them up anywhere else).

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Simon.

I've updated the lists accordingly :-)

Brian O When a competition in your table is classified as 'England'do you mean 'England' or do you mean 'Britain'? Not a trivial difference. Thanks. I enjoyed your informative material.

Chris Fielden Hi Brian. It means England, not Britain. This is because I try and list Scotland and Wales separately - it's just so writers know the locality of the market they are submitting to.

I hope that clarifies things :-)

Peter N Christopher, thank you for this site. It is an act of great generosity on your part. In the interests of keeping the site up to date - without leaving it all to you to do - can I mention to you that Writers' Village have as of 2016 suspended indefinitely their short fiction contest? They explain why on the website.

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Peter - much appreciated. I've updated the lists accordingly and (sadly) moved Writers' Village into the history of closed competitions.

Jill O Hi Chris, your very extensive list of competitions is excellent. However, I have a memoir of approx 2,300 words which I would like to submit. Most competitions request fiction. Do you know where I can find a non-fiction/memoir competition.

Chris Fielden Hi Gill. I list some non-fiction competitions on this page , which might be appropriate.

Fish Publishing run an annual memoir contest, so it might be worth checking out their site.

I hope that's helpful. If you find any other memoir competitions, please let me know as I do get asked about them from time to time - it seems there aren't that many out there.

Lyn T Just a quick thank you for putting together these lists, most helpful.

Chris Fielden Thanks, Lyn. Glad you find them useful :-)

Ayo O You are doing a good job for writers of various genres and interests. This is really appreciated. Please could you add the REGION or Location that can participate in the competitions? For instance: are Africans expected to be a part of this or would an application from India or China be welcomed and rewarded accordingly without prejudice or bias? Thanks.

Chris Fielden Hi Ayo. Glad you find the lists useful. And thanks for the suggestion.

Unfortunately I can't add these details to the lists as they change frequently and the amount of admin involved makes it impossible to maintain. Most competitions accept entries from writers located anywhere in the world. Some have limitations. Please check the websites of any competition you plan to enter to see what the current details are prior to entering.

Ayo O Thanks Chris, I appreciate your contributions to the Arts. I work with a group of indigent young people whom I am encouraging to write and earn some money.We shall keep trying. Thanks...

Chris Fielden Hi Ayo. Excellent stuff, good luck with it all – I hope some of them see their stories in print soon :-)

Chris H Dear Chris,

I've been reading your website and find it very useful. I'm just starting out in the short story business and have been having a look at what's out there. I found a competition not on your website with a prize for $10,000 Australian dollars and wondered if you think it is legitimate or not. I'm planning on entering tomorrow night just before the deadline. The details are below, what do you think? I guess I'm just suspicious as the prize is so big and it's free to enter:

Success Tax Professionals - Twisted Tax Tales Short Story Competition

Chris Fielden Hi Chris, glad to hear you are finding the site useful.

I haven’t heard of that one before. It’s a bit odd that a tax website is running a short story competition (doesn’t seem all that relevant to what they do, but asking for a character to be an accountant kind of ties it in I guess…). I suspect they have a decent marketing budget and therefore are able to offer a good prize with no entry fee. Many of the big prizes out there (BBC, Sunday Times etc.) are free to enter. Looking at the amount of physical locations they have on their contact page, they must be a pretty big business. Also, the level of engagement looks good – there are quite a few entries. And they are supporting a very worthy charity through the competition, so it looks legitimate to me.

The thing that would worry me is the license in clause 11 of their T&Cs. While it looks like the copyright remains with the author, Success Tax Professionals can edit your work and publish it (with a different title if they want) without crediting you as the author. That’s an unusual condition – I’ve certainly never seen it before. But then I’ve never been published in Australia and it might be standard there. Still, personally I wouldn’t be happy with that – if I write a story, I expect to be credited as the author.

I’m not trying to put you off entering. The competition looks legitimate and there’s a really decent prize on offer. And the legal gumf might mean nothing – it’s only if they chose to do something with your story that it would matter. Given the company’s niche, it’s unlikely they’d be using an entry outside the competition, except for promotional purposes. Still, it is worth thinking about prior to entering as in my experience it’s a very unusual (and unfair) condition for a license agreement.

Michael W Hi Chris. Most/all comps state that the material submitted must not have been published anywhere before.

Do blogs count in this respect? Just checking.

Chris Fielden Hi Mike. It varies from competition to competition - some say that if you've self-published on your blog it's fine, others say it's not. I'm afraid you'll have to review the guidelines for each competition and see which are OK with it. Some comps accept previously published stories too, so it's always worth looking.

Auriel R Hi Christopher, I just wanted to thank you for putting together the detailed list of short story contests because I had no idea what to do with the rather good little story I wrote last year which ended up being selected for the HG Wells story anthology. That boost led to me spinning this story into an entire novel which is published this year with Unbound.

Chris Fielden Hi Auriel. That’s fantastic news – congratulations :-)

It’s so nice to hear success stories, especially when my site has played a small part in an author’s journey.

Rex G Dear Chris, your site is fascinating and informative. Thank you.

Audio Arcadia Short Story Competition claim on their website that the closing date for submissions is 30th September 2016 and that the winners will be published on 10th October 2016. How can this be? They must receive hundreds of manuscripts in the week before closing date, or I’m a Dutchman. Which I’m not, having lived in Bristol on and off since I took a job there in 1948 - the last stretch from 1957 to 1995 where I raised a family until I retired to the South Coast.

I am now an old man, fairly new to this writing business, looking for a home for a cracking good 5,000 word story (fiction) of mine but in a hurry as I’m well passed my expiry date. Audio Arcadia might well pass judgment on my work in my allotted time frame but can their timetable be true? Sounds fishy to me - what do you think?

Chris Fielden Hi Rex, I suspect they read the entries as they come in (I do with the competition I run). And they may not receive that many entries. As they run the competition regularly, that is quite possible. I run an annual contest and received 284 entries this year (its 3rd year of running, so becoming established). So, if a contest is run more regularly, they probably receive fewer entries than that.

They may also have a team of readers, which speeds up the judging process considerably. I'm a one-man-band and had read all the entries 3 weeks after my contest closed, even though I received around 60% of entries in the final month. So it is doable. Admittedly, it took a bit longer than that to decide on the longlist and shortlist, but like I said, I am but one man. A team can do things much more quickly.

I've also liaised with the people that run Audio Arcadia and they seem like genuine people.

I hope that helps :-)

Jayne J This is a brilliant site.

I have just started a Creative Writing course in university and I have been looking on sites for competitions but it gets  time consuming as you get onto another link then another. I am going to make a competition diary so I don't miss out on any and always have something to enter. Thank you once again.

Chris Fielden Thanks very much Jayne.

Great to hear you find the site useful :-)

Dominika S Hi Chris, guess I won't be original by congratulating you on the research and data presentation - that's really helpful to all young writers out there! My problem is that I'm based in Poland but write in English. Are you aware of any short story competitions I could take part in? You mentioned there are some with global reach but in the country secrion it's usually UK or US and I guess I'm not elibible to enter these. Thanks in advance for your help!

Chris Fielden Hi Dominika. Thank you - glad to hear you find the lists useful :-)

Most of the short story competitions listed (around 80%) will accept entries from writers residing anywhere in the world. There are some that are aimed at local audiences, but most are open to anyone.

The countries mentioned in the listings just show you where the competitions are based (many users like to know what market they are submitting to). This doesn't mean you have to live there to enter. The best bet is to look at the different websites listed and read their submission guidelines.

I hope that helps and I wish you the best of luck with your writing.

Brendan M The Bridport  Competition entry fee is now £10 rather than £9 as you stated. I just entered it!

Chris Fielden Thanks for letting me know, Brendan - much appreciated. I've updated the details accordingly :-)

Moshe P Thank you so much for such a useful list. Very much appreciated.

Where are literary magazines such as Granta, Tin House, Ploughshares, The Masters Review, Paris Review?

I myself am looking for kids magazines written by ... the KIDS themselves (9-12 years old). Any clue about? Thank you very much.

Chris Fielden Hi Moshe. Glad you are finding the list useful :-)

Many of the publications you mentioned are listed on my short story magazines page .

I'm afraid I'm not aware of any magazines written by children. Sorry I can't be of more help with that. Please let me know if you find any.

Moshe P Thanks Chris, for your message. I have another question, please.

A short story of mine recently received an Honorable Mention from Glimmer Train and I need now to re-submit it to the world.

My question is, am I 'allowed' to make some changes, to expand a paragraph or two after it won this really exciting mention? Is it 'normal'? Is it OK, or I should leave it untouched, as it is?

Thank you very much.

Chris Fielden Hi Moshe. Congratulations on the honourable mention from Glimmer Train – that’s great news.

If the story hasn’t been previously published, you can do what you want with it. If Glimmer Train are going to publish it, then you will have to ask them if you can make changes prior to publication.

The story is yours so you can do whatever you want. Some magazines and competitions won’t accept previously published stories. A small handful won’t accept stories that have been shortlisted, longlisted or received honourable mentions, but that’s rare. Rules usually apply to published stories only. Still, if you do submit to a competition or magazine that does accept previously published work after your story has been published, you could make changes prior to submitting. I’ve never seen any submission guidelines state that as a problem.

Andy C Hi Chris, just wanted to say thank you for the information you provide on here. It's really helpful!

Chris Fielden No problem, Andy - glad to hear you find it useful :-)

Jeff D Currently, I am writing a full novel. But, this is a list of exciting opportunities for new writers. Competition motivates you to become a better writer.

Chris Fielden Thanks, Jeff :)

Good luck with your novel.

Mitchell T Hi, Chris F and commenter Julie C. I have entered several short story collection competitions this year and will enter more. My experience in a small sample of fiction contests is that most allow 'some' previously published stories. (One stipulated no more than 50%.) As always, the definition of 'previously published' varies.

Some competitions read blind; some require credits for previously published work; some stipulate that you shall NOT list credits (because it would break the blind). Some offer critiques of your submission.

Some will DQ your entry if it is submitted in anything but Courier. Wow, eh? Does the Church of TNR know about this? The Garamondites? Anyway - Julie, good luck on climbing Everest, in the dark, in winter, without oxygen. Just like me! :-)

Chris Fielden Thanks for sharing your experiences, Mitchell - very useful and appreciated :-)

HS C Thank you for such a fantastic resource! This is really well put together and incredibly helpful (Excel may hate me now, but oh well). I've been busy checking out the finer details of some of the competitions and choosing which to submit to. It's taking a long while to compile so I cannot begin to imagine how long this must have taken you!

Chris Fielden No problem, HS, glad to hear you find the lists useful. They do take a long time to put together and keep updated, but I think it's worth the effort :-)

Donna W This is my first time on this site and its overwhelming.  Some of the contests have closed and they should be removed from the site.

I'm happy that I visited the site.

Chris Fielden Hi Donna. There is a lot of information and it can be overwhelming at first :-)

I undertake a clean-up of the competition pages once a year (usually in January).

If you've spotted some that have closed, please let me know which ones and I'll amend the listings accordingly - any help is much appreciated. Many of the contests run annually, so those listings remain active continuously, even if they have closed this year. Please bear that in mind when using the lists :-)

Donna W OK, thank you.

Simon C Hi Chris. Just wanted to say a big thanks for the lists of short story competitions you maintain. I finally decided to try my hand at writing, entered the Audio Arcadia short story competition, pointed to by your web site, and was lucky enough to be one of the winners! It's answered for me (finally!) whether its worth having a go, and indeed I will. Thanks again for putting up the list on your web site. Best regards.

Chris Fielden Hi Simon. Congratulations – that’s awesome news!

And thanks for letting me know the lists helped you find the competition – that kind of feedback makes it all worthwhile :-)

Michael H Dear Mr. Fielden, I have previously found your schedules very helpful but currently I appear to have struck a blank. Last year I submitted a story of 4,892 words to Costa but without success and decided that this year I would send it off again – this time to the Kingston Writing School where you indicated that submissions would be between June and November this year. In view of the fact that the relevant entry form was not online I wrote to the organisers who have now told me that the competition will not be taking place.

I have researched your lists but cannot find an alternative suitable competition which I can now enter of up to 5,000 words.

I should be grateful if you would kindly point me in the right direction.

Chris Fielden Hi Michael. Thanks for letting me know about the Kingston Writing School competition – I’ve removed the listing from the active lists and put in the history section.

I’m afraid that all the competitions I’m aware of are listed on my site, so if you haven’t found anything there, I don’t know of any more. You could try getting Writers’ Forum – they have listings in the back of the magazine every month. And Writing Magazine also run competition lists, but I think they only do that every 6 months or so. Or try the other sites I link to on my competition lists page, that also run lists like mine. You might find some other opportunities there.

Sorry I can’t be of more help. I hope you find a home for your story.

Shirley M Hi Chris, I just clicked on the Writing Times Senior's competition and it says 'website disabled'. Just wondered if they had closed up shop.

Chris Fielden Hi Shirley. Thanks for letting me know about this. I've contacted Sue, who runs it, to see if it's a glitch, or if it has actually closed.

Chris Fielden Hi Shirley. Further to previous, the email I sent Sue bounced with a 'this email doesn't exist anymore' message, so I guess the site has closed.

I've updated the page accordingly.

Shirley M Hi Chris, what a shame.

Thanks for your quick response.

John N Wish you would update your website regularly. Have been waiting for a nature based competition to open based upon what you have written on your site - turns out it ended 2 years ago.

Chris Fielden Hi John. Sorry about that. I assume you're referring to the New Welsh Review? I have updated that listing accordingly.

I update this page around once a week. Unfortunately, it's impossible to check every listing that regularly. I do a full update every January. Even then, if a website I link to is out of date at that time (still referring to the previous year's competition), or the administrators of the competitions don't inform me when they make updates, it's impossible to make every entry 100% accurate all the time. This is why I always recommend going to the websites I list and contacting them directly if you have any queries about the competition they run (EG, when they are going to run next, what the current theme is etc.).

I appreciate it when people, like you, let me know if any of the information I list is incorrect as it helps keep everything up to date. So thanks for letting me know. I hope the above explains the situation. I do my best to stay on top of it, but due to the amount of websites I'm dealing with, it's not easy!

Sarah H Such a useful list, thank you so much!

Chris Fielden No problem, Sarah - glad you find it useful :-)

James A Great website and loads of useful information here as well as in Chris's book. I found the list of competitions very useful as well as the explanation about why this is a good route to follow. One listed is the UK Short Story Competition but I can only find info on-line referring to 2016 and a website which won't accept my email/password. Anyone know if this competition is still running and how to enter?

Chris Fielden Hi James. Thanks for letting me know about this. The UK site seems to have disappeared, but there is a US one now. See usissc.com.

I've retired the UK listing and emailed the US site. I'll add full details to the lists when/if I hear back from them.

Dai L Cool site, but I thought I'd make you aware of a competition you seem to have overlooked.

The Scottish Arts Club here in Edinburgh runs an internationally open competition with, as of next year, a £1,000 first prize, with a special extra award for unpublisehd writers with a Scottish connection. I administer the entries and distribution to the judges (so I can't enter, shucks).

If you want to know more and maybe add us to your list, do have a look at our site and if you have any questions, do let me know.

I'm currently trying to streamline the entry process and make the entry form a purely online affair, if I can get it to attach the story files and send the punters to the Charities Aid Foundation to pay their ten pound entry fees.

Chris Fielden Hi Dai. Thanks for letting me know about your competition.

I'd be happy to list it for you. Please send me all of the information requested at the top of this page.

Re the online entry, you could try submittable? A lot of competitions and magazines seem to use that, so I guess it must be good.

Chris M Just want to say a huge thank you for providing such an invaluable resource list. It is through this site that I started to enter my work into various competitions after years of self-doubt about the value of my writing. I have had some success already, which has buoyed me to keep going.

Chris Fielden That's great to hear, Chris, thanks for letting me know. Congratulations on your successes - let's hope there are many more to come in the future.

Brendan M Chris can you advise me please.

I submitted ashort story to a site you have included under the 'Prestigious prizes' category in your listings. It was the Long Short Story contest by Freeditorial.  I received the reply, 'The Contest is in Spanish. Thank you.' There was no name provided.

I checked the rules again and rule B under terms and conditions of competition clearly states, 'Long-Short Stories must be fiction or historical and written in English.'

I feel I have been treated unfairly. Can you help me please? 

Chris Fielden Hi Brendan. Sorry to hear about your experience with Freeditorial. I see it's a free competition, so I assume you didn't lose any money with your submission? Please let me know if I have that wrong.

I can try contacting them, if you like, and see what they say? That approach has sometimes helped in the past.

If you want me to do that, please forward me all the correspondence you have had with them so I can take a look through it and then see who I need to contact.

Brendan M Hi Chris. I queried their email and they replied as follows:

You are reading an old contest. The 2018 contest is only in Spanish as you can see on the web freeditoral.com/es

I have checked it out and it seems this is the case so the entry in your list appears to be the 'old contest' and now out of date, sadly, so would need altering.The contest is free.

Chris, I should have said that I am interpreting the site as written in Spanish as best I can, but I could be wrong. In other words it may not specifically say the submissions must be made in Spanish. The other issue is that if in fact it does say this in Spanish what is the logic behind such a change? To be totally certain would require a person fluent in Spanish translation.

Chris Fielden Hi Brendan. OK, thanks for the information.

I can’t find a link to the competition on their homepage, so will retire the listing for now. Websites that change their competition URL every year rarely let me know, so unless I link to homepages, it’s nigh on impossible to keep the lists up to date.

I have some old correspondence with them from 2016, when they first requested a listing, so will get in touch and ask them what’s going on.

Thanks for highlighting this – much appreciated.

Charlie T Any chance of listing free to enter competitions under their own category?

Chris Fielden Hi Charlie, thanks for the suggestion.

It's a possibility, but would mean a lot of work to restructure the page. I'll consider it when I next do the next major update.

For now, the best bet is do Ctrl F (hold down the control key and the F key) and type 'free' into the search box. That will allow you to find all the free competitions easily.

Ray D The Solutions Loan Comp seems to have mysteriously vanished. I've tried to check the status on their site and the page won't load. At ALL.

Chris Fielden Hi Ray. The Solutions Loan page loads fine for me. Looks like the spring contest is closed (did so on 31st May) and the winter one will open later in the year.

You used a fake email address when you left your comment so I couldn't reply. Hopefully you'll see this comment. Cheers, Chris

Katie DG This evening I was told about the way the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award came to be. If you would like to know more about that and perhaps be in touch with the Irishman who proposed the idea, please let me know.

Chris Fielden Hi Katie. That sounds interesting - please do tell me more :-)

Katie DG Hi Chris. My Dubliner friend, Paul Jacob, was relaxing with a coffee at at Davy Byrnes, discussing Bloomsday with the staff. He suggested they celebrate by hosting a short story competition in honor of James Joyce’s connection to the pub. They loved the idea and ran with it! The rest is literary history - LOL!

Once or twice, the staff has recalled  it while he was there. If you ask, they will know Paul and acknowledge his creative contribution. Paul told me that years ago he was mentioned in the newspaper - it would be fun to find that article.

Because the founding of the Davy Byrnes Short Story competition can be traced to a specific conversation, it would be nice to preserve that memory for posterity.

Paul, originally of Ranelagh, Dublin, now lives in Drogheda. I imagine he could recount the incident in an entertaining way if you were to ask him. He just mentioned it to me as a friend in passing and isn’t looking for attention. It might be a fun anecdote for the record, though, since 2019 - 5 years since the last competition -  is fast approaching.

Paul lived here in Colorado Springs for awhile and instigated other projects/ commemorations (one being a celebration of the San Patricios who defected from the U.S. Army to Mexico in protest for their mistreatment as Irish immigrants.) He loves and is very conversant with history. You would undoubtedly enjoy talking to him.

Thanks for your interest, Chris!

Chris Fielden Thanks for sharing that, Katie - that's really interesting :)

Well, if nothing else, the story is now recorded in the comments here!

David B Just had a story (max 4,000 words) rejected without giving a reason from the editors. Replied answering what is it about the story that doesn't meet your editorial criteria? Yet to receive another reply. It is quite hard to find somewhere that'll take stories that fit your theme and word count. I don't agree with asking for reading fees. You pay someone to read your story only to have it rejected and you've wasted money.

Chris Fielden Hi David. Thanks for your message.

I think it's unlikely you'll receive a reply. Having been on the other end of this, I understand why. Most magazines and competitions will receive hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions. It's just not possible to give writers feedback without payment. This is why some comps and mags offer critiques for a fee.

There are various reasons for charging reading fees. A fee can put off time wasters. I've been involved with free competitions before. They attract a lot of entries and the standard is often poor. Having a fee tends to result in higher quality submissions from writers who at least adhere to the submission guidelines. Charging a fee also encourages writers to undertake their research properly before submitting - reading back issues and studying the publication thoroughly, before writing a story and submitting. The fees also help cover staffing costs. Considering submission takes time and staff have to be paid.

If you submit to a magazine and aren't prepared to pay a fee, then you're essentially asking the editors to do their dayjob for free. Most magazines and comps operate with very low budgets and can't afford to pay staff to give feedback to every writer who submits. By paying a reading fee, or a competition entry fee, you're supporting small publishers, non profits and independent press. I certainly wouldn't regard it as wasting money.

But that's just my opinion. Having been on the receiving end of people expecting me to work for nothing and offer free advice, as a writer, I am now a lot more sympathetic towards mags and comps that charge fees.

It's also worth bearing in mind that you might have been rejected because they simply received too many excellent stories. Every year, I reject fabulous stories simply because I only have 20 places in the anthology. It isn't because I don't like them, it's because I can't publish them all. I just chose the ones that are best suited to my publication.

The best advice I can give you is to move on and keep submitting your work elsewhere. And, if you haven't already, get your work critiqued and see if you can make any improvements. I'm in a writing group and every short story I write is critiqued and then edited to improve it, before it is submitted anywhere. That process has helped me see most of my stories in print.

I hope that's helpful. I wish you the best of luck with finding a home for your story :-)

David B Hi Chris, thanks for your detailed reply. It certainly is helpful, and I have been thinking that reading fees do help to cover costs and take submissions seriously and also contribute towards cash prizes and so on.

I agree that there is a lot of 'bad' or poor quality writing that gets submitted and this is also true in the self-publishing world. Even if the writing has been carefully edited, the content or meaning is trash. It's usually about erotica. horror, thrillers, etc., which to me, frankly, is boring. So, authors are having to come up with further flashy in-your-face book covers just to get noticed and to write what most people want to read, which is a shame because it reduces talent or writing quality.

Regarding stories. Yes, just keep writing more about different themes and word counts and to keep submitting seems to be the answer.

Never give up if you have a writing talent.

Chris Fielden Hi Dave. No problem :-)

I guess that one of disadvantages of self-publishing and the internet is that anything and everything can be published, making it harder to find those hidden gems. Still, like you say, never give up and keep on submitting – that’s a great ethos to have.

Suzy AB I was just wondering if there exists a short story-reading competition where authors read their own stories out loud thus being judged on writing and reading at the same time. Entries could be submitted by Soundcloud. Thank you for this wonderful site - very inspiring indeed.

Chris Fielden Hi Suzy. The only one I'm aware of is called The Squat Pen Rests, run by Steve Tuffin. It's a live performance event, held in Swindon and it doesn't run very often.

It's a great idea though. Maybe you should think about launching a competition like that?

Qudsia T Thanks very much for all your work on this - it's a fantastic resource.

Chris Fielden No problem, thanks Qudsia :-)

Tristan M Unfortunately the admirable Magic Oxygen competition closed for good.

Thank you for your hard work as usual, Christopher!

Chris Fielden Thank you for letting me know, Tristan - very much appreciated.

Sad news... I have retired the Magic Oxygen listing to the history section of the page.

Richard C Hi, do you know if the Aeon Award is legit? Doesn't seem to respond to emails or post updates...

Chris Fielden Hi Richard. So far as I know, yes - it's been running for years and seems well respected in the writing community.

However, I haven't dealt with them directly myself.

Have you tried contacting them via Facebook or Twitter? Might be worth a shot. Public posts can sometimes work better :)

Mr. Jan S Love the site and enjoyed the comments. Everyone dreams of having their collection published by a well known publisher. However, the brutal fact is that it isn't going to happen. Not unless you are a very well known novelist. Then they may accept a volume secure in the knowledge that your name alone will sell it and make a profit. Publishers are in business to make money. They are not interested per se in art. I have yet to discover an agent who accepts short stories.

Self publishing is, of course, an option. But once published you have to sell the book yourself. Most people, I think, put it on Amazon where they hope it will be miraculously noticed among the 8.5 million others on there. Well, good luck with that then. I have been published on line, in print, won competitions with my short stories and had poetry, essays and articles published in various magazines including the glossies. However, I live in the real world. I write because I need to and thoroughly enjoy it. I write for fun and if my work brings pleasure to others then that should be enough for anyone. When it stops being fun, I shall give it up.

Chris Fielden Hi Jan. It's always great to hear when people enjoy the site, so thank you.

I agree, writing for pleasure is important and selling short story collections is hard. However, it's not impossible. There are a lot of small presses out there now that consider publishing them, so the market has grown. My short story collection was published by Victorina Press recently - they're a UK based indie press that follow the principals of bibliodiversity, which is why I approached them. Is my book their biggest selling release? No. Readers do seem to prefer buying longer works and novels. But it does sell, it's won a couple of awards and the stories are being well received by reviewers and used on radio etc. And I do make money from it. That's because I spend time marketing the book, as do the publisher.

As a self-published writer, I also spend a lot of time marketing my books. The most effective way I've found of doing that outside of my website audience is by using Amazon ads. It takes a while to learn how to make a profit, but I have sold thousands of books as a result.

So, in my experience, it's not impossible to enjoy success from writing shorter works. If writers are interested in exploring the UK market, there are 2 useful books that contain details about our publishing industry, including short story publishers. They are the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook and the Mslexia Indie Publishing Guide. They're both worth a look.

I hope my thoughts are of interest to you and I wish you the very best with your writing.

Mr. Jan S . Thank you for you kind and quick reply. Forgive me for saying so but I feel that you are painting an optimistic picture. Readers do not dictate the market. Publishers do and profit is everything. It has always been very difficult to publish short stories. Even Orwell remarked on it. One of the problems being too many writers and not enough outlets for our work. In the heyday of the short story, the twenties and thirties, stories were published in daily newspapers. New York alone had over thirty. We no longer have that luxury. The tiny market that survives is heavily over-subscribed. Even your small publisher is no longer taking submissions until September 2021. It is a shrinking market. One no longer needs to be cleverly artistic or well qualified to succeed (I have a creative writing MA) or a good CV. One simply needs to be lucky.

Chris Fielden Hi Jan. No problem. Thank you for your reply.

You are forgiven :) You're right, I do paint an optimistic picture, but that's my nature. It encourages me (and others) to keep writing short stories. It's my favourite medium as a writer, and a reader. And many writers hone their craft through shorter works, before going onto novels, so they have their place in that respect too.

True, older outlets like newspapers are dwindling. Still, in my experience, opportunities are growing in the short story market, not shrinking. I list more magazines, journals and contests on my site now than I have before. I think the internet is playing a significant factor in that growth. I would add that the majority of my experience is with the UK market, not the US, and I appreciate there are some significant differences. For example, in the UK we have festivals dedicated to short works. I'm not sure if it's the same on the other side of the pond.

My publishers have a backlog because of delays caused by the current pandemic. It wouldn't surprise me if other publishers are in the same situation. I guess that would have a negative impact on all forms of publishing, not just short stories. Still, I have found publishers for two of the three shorts I have written this year to date, and the third is currently 'out there' being considered. My publishers know I'm writing a second collection and are encouraging me to do so, but I suppose I'm in the luxurious position of already having my foot in the proverbial door.

I agree that luck plays a big part in success. But so does hard work and proactively marketing published works. If you don't do that, how can you be lucky? That's why I stay positive and have an optimistic approach. It means my stories are out there, being read and hunting for luck. You never know... :-)

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I find discussions like this very interesting.

Yap Swi N (Mary) Hi Chris I enjoy reading the stories. I do write short stories. I would like to submit one for your consideration. How do I do it? Many thanks and stay safe.

Chris Fielden Hi Mary. Thanks for your message. I don't accept general story submissions. You can learn about the typos of guest post I do accept on my submission guidelines page .

I run a lot of flash fiction writing challenges. You can learn how to submit to those here .

And you can find the rules and submission criteria for my short story competition here .

If you have any other questions, please let me know. I hope you're staying safe and well :-)

Festus Well... a lot of people have already laid the well-deserved commendations at your doorstep but I guess there's always room for more.... Actually, I stumbled upon your website as part of my search for funding from writing competitions and I can authoritatively say ( to the extent applicable ;-)  ),  it's  one of the best out there.... and I admire the spirit of including the list of other websites that could be checked out.

By the way, I didn't see the Queryletter.com blurb competition... though the deadline is past but it's something I entered earlier on and others could benefit from the next time it is run ( as applicable).

And as afterthought, I wouldn't mind being referenced to solid websites with info on photography competitions (or yours, if you have one).

Chris Fielden Hi Festus. Thank you for your message. Glad to hear you've been finding the site helpful :)

Thanks for mentioning the Query Letter comp. I do list it - it's on my book and novel comps list.

I don't have a list of photography comps, and don't know of any I'm afraid. I'm sure the fine purveyor of search known as Google will send you somewhere helpful :-) Sorry I can't be of more help on that front.

Michelle M Thank you so much for providing this comprehensive page. I have already come across many contests I had never heard of that peak my interest, and I haven't even made it through half of them. It is greatly appreciated!

Chris Fielden Hi Michelle, thanks for your message.

No problem - great to hear you're finding the lists useful :-)

Tariq R What benefit would be given to the winning short story writer on Reedsy?

Chris Fielden Hi Tariq. Thanks for your message.

I believe Reedsy have a very large website audience, so you'd probably receive some good exposure. However, the best bet is to read their terms and conditions for more information. And if you have any questions, approach Reedsy directly.

Rosalind P Hi Chris, can someone confirm to me that Word Periscope is bonafide? They have a current competition and I would like to enter. There is little on their 'website'. I cannot find anything on the web about them, so would like some reassurance that they are genuine. Word Periscope are listed in lots of competition listings.

Chris Fielden Hi Rosalind. Thank you for your message.

To the best of my knowledge, Word Periscope is legitimate. They have been running for a couple of years and Ciaran, who administers the competition, has always been responsive and helpful when I've dealt with them. I last liaised with him about 2 months ago. I can try putting you in touch with him, if you like? Or you can use the contact form on their website.

I hope that puts your mind at rest, but please let me know if I can be of any more help :-)

Rosalind P Thanks Chris. Most useful.

Chris Fielden No problem, thanks Rosalind :)

Jay T Hi Chris. Thank you for compiling this list, immensely useful.

Just wondering if you've had any experience with Freelance Writing dot com's Writing Contests?

Chris Fielden Hi Jay. Thanks for your message. Glad to hear you find the lists useful.

No, I'm afraid I haven't heard of them and I can't find any previous correspondence with them in my email archive. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Aida R Hi Christopher. Thank you, first of all, for compiling such a wonderful list of writing contests. I've been looking around, but do you have any recommendations for wartime (e.g. WWI, Civil War, etc.) short story contests? Any advice would be helpful, thank you!

Chris Fielden Hi Aida. Thank you for your message - it's great to hear you find the lists useful.

Story contests with wartime themes do come up from time to time, usually around military anniversaries. For example, around the time of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain there were a few one-off competitions of this nature.

I'm not aware of any running at present, but it is worth doing a Google search for military themed writing contests from time to time, as they do come up on occasion.

I hope that's helpful :-) All the best.

Luke M I've been working on stories that honour the work of Flannery O'Connor while also featuring historic encounters between conquistadors and natives. Sort of fictionalised history with kudos to Flannery. I haven't started looking but I'm not real sure where to try to get this published. Do you have any ideas?

Chris Fielden Hi Luke, thanks for your message.

I've just done a quick online search and the University of Georgia Press run the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. I don't know if it's currently open or how often it runs, but that might be the best place for you to start.

I'd also research historical fiction competitions, magazines and journals. None spring to mind, but I list many mags / journals here , so it might be a good place to start your research.

I wish you all the best with your submissions.

Luke M Wow, thank you for the quick reply. I’ll check all that out.

Chris Fielden No problem, thanks Luke :-)

Claire B Dear Chris. It would appear that the Costa Short Story Prize has ended - although it is not entirely clear from their press release or the website FAQs.  The Costa Book Award certainly has closed for good.  Do you have any further details?  Best wishes.

Chris Fielden Dear Claire, thanks for your message.

The Costa Short Story Award is part of the Costa Book Awards, so I'm assuming it is also closed. Your message has reminded me to retire the listing, thank you - I'll do that now :)

If I hear anything different, I'll be sure to reinstate the listing, but for now I'd assume it's closed. Sad news. All the best to you.

Claire B Dear Chris, yes it is a shame - I was just about to submit a story! Best wishes.

Chris Fielden Dear Claire, luckily there are plenty more opportunities out there :) I wish you all the best with your submissions.

The copyright of the stories and content published on this website remain with the author.

Christopher Fielden and all the other contributing authors published via this website have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the authors of these works.

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Writing Contests and Competitions – Weekly Updates

Opportunities for aspiring and experienced writers..

Welcome to our comprehensive list of writing contests and competitions. Each item on our list includes basic information about max word count , entry fees , submission deadlines , and the first place prize .

Our list features writing competitions in the following categories:

• short stories and flash fiction
• novel and novella manuscripts
• essays and non-fiction
• memoirs and screenwriting

Please do your own research before deciding to enter any event. In case of questions about a particular event, please reach out to the event organizer.

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mon 24 jun All Day 2024 Spring Anthology Contest: Compelling Hooks Category Short Story International Entry Fee $20 Max word count 2,000 Top Prize $500 and publication

mon 24 jun All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Imagine 2200 – Climate Fiction Short Story Contest 2024 Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 5000 Top Prize $3,000

fri 28 jun All Day The 23rd Annual Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award Category Poetry International Entry Fee $20 Max word count No limit Top Prize $500 and publication

fri 28 jun All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 350 Top Prize $25 Amazon Gift Card

sun 30 jun All Day Wells Festival of Literature's Competitions Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee £3- £6 Max word count Depends on category. Check with organizer. Top Prize £1000

sun 30 jun All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! The Elegant Literature Award For New Writers Secret Societies Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free (for Elegant Literature members) Max word count 2000 Top Prize $3,000

sun 30 jun All Day The Moth Short Story Prize 2024 International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 3,000 Top Prize €3,000

sun 30 jun All Day Flash 500 Flash Fiction Category Flash Fiction International Entry Fee £5 Max word count 500 Top Prize £300 and publication

sun 30 jun 8:02 pm sun 8:02 pm This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Building Bridges Poetry Competition Category Poetry International Entry Fee Free Max word count 750 Top Prize £200 and publication

mon 01 jul All Day Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2024 Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee £12 Max word count 3,000 Top Prize £1000

mon 01 jul All Day Dorothy Dunnett Society and Historical Writers’ Association Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee £5 Max word count 3500 Top Prize £500 and mentoring sessions from author and agent

mon 01 jul 7:40 pm mon 7:40 pm This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Studybay Annual Spring Essay Contest 2024 Unlocking potential, inspiring futures. Category Essay International Entry Fee Free Max word count 1000 Top Prize $1,500 and publication

sun 07 jul All Day North Street Book Prize Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee $79 Max word count 200,000 Top Prize $10,000

sun 07 jul All Day Hastings Book Festival Writing Competition Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee £8.25 Max word count 2,500 (short stories); 40 (poetry) Top Prize £250

mon 08 jul All Day Ledbury Poetry Competition 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee £6 Max word count 40 lines Top Prize £1000

mon 08 jul 2:11 pm mon 2:11 pm 2024 HG Wells Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee £10 Max word count 5,000 Top Prize £1,000 and publication

mon 15 jul All Day Rattle Poetry Prize 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee $30 Max word count No limit Top Prize $15,000

fri 19 jul All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Patricia Eschen Children’s Poetry Competition Category Poetry International Entry Fee Free Max word count 40 lines Top Prize £150

fri 19 jul All Day The Patricia Eschen Prize for Poetry Category Poetry International Entry Fee £5 Max word count 40 lines Top Prize £2000

fri 19 jul (jul 19) 12:00 pm sun 21 (jul 21) 11:59 pm Virtual Event Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction Category Flash Fiction International Entry Fee $25 Max word count 500 Top Prize $1,000

sun 21 jul 1:00 am sun 1:00 am Write by the Sea - Writing Competition 2024 Category Multiple categories Ireland Entry Fee €10 Max word count Depends on category (check organizer's website) Top Prize €500

mon 22 jul 12:01 am mon 11:59 pm This event is FREE to enter! Yay! 2024 Black Voices in Children's Literature Writing Contest Category Full Manuscript USA Entry Fee Free Max word count 800 Top Prize $1000

sun 28 jul All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 350 Top Prize $25 Amazon Gift Card

tue 30 jul All Day The Paul Cave Prize for Teenage Fiction 2024 Category Short Story International Entry Fee £30 Max word count 5,000 Top Prize £100 and publication

wed 31 jul All Day Inspiring Fiction's Special Edition Short Story Contest Category Short Story International Entry Fee £5 Max word count 2500 Top Prize £100

wed 31 jul All Day Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee €19 Max word count 3,000 Top Prize €2,000 and publication

wed 31 jul All Day Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee £6 Max word count 40 lines Top Prize £1000 and publication

wed 31 jul All Day Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry in Translation 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee £10 Max word count 60 lines Top Prize £1000 and publication

wed 31 jul All Day Anthology Short Story Competition 2024 Category Short Story International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 1500 Top Prize €1000

wed 31 jul All Day Witcraft Annual Humour Competition Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee $5 Max word count 1,000 Top Prize $250 and publication

wed 31 jul All Day WOW! Women On Writing Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest Category Non-fiction International Entry Fee $12 Max word count 1,000 Top Prize $500, publication, interview, and gift code good for one item from CreateWriteNow's Store

wed 31 jul 12:00 am wed 11:59 pm New Writers Poetry Competition 2024 Category Poetry UK Entry Fee £10 Max word count 42 lines Top Prize £1,000

August 2024

thu 01 aug All Day Sydney Hammond Memorial Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee $17.50 Max word count 1,000 Top Prize A ticket to the Children and Young Adult (CYA) Conference, membership, publication

thu 01 aug All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! The MoonLit Getaway Grand Opening Contest Category Flash Fiction USA Entry Fee Free Max word count 1000 Top Prize $100

wed 07 aug All Day The Aurora Prize For Writing Category Poetry, Short Fiction UK Entry Fee £9 Max word count 2,000 (short fiction); 60 lines (poetry) Top Prize £500 cash prize and feedback literary agent or editor

thu 08 aug All Day The 21st Annual Gival Press Short Story Award Category Short Story International Entry Fee $25 Max word count 15,000 Top Prize $1,000 and publication

mon 19 aug 7:55 pm mon 7:55 pm Write About Walking Together Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 250 Top Prize €100 euros plus artwork for a poem and a similar prize for a story

wed 28 aug All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 350 Top Prize $25 Amazon Gift Card

sat 31 aug All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! The Kindle Storyteller Award Category Full Manuscript International Entry Fee Free Max word count No limit Top Prize £20,000 and a merchandise package

sat 31 aug All Day WOW! Summer 2024 Flash Fiction Contest Category Flash Fiction International Entry Fee $10 Max word count 750 Top Prize $600, Reedsy's How to Write a Novel Master Course ($1249.00 value), publication, interview, and $25 Amazon Gift Certificate

sat 31 aug All Day Anthology Personal Memoir Competition Category memoir International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 1,500 Top Prize €500 and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology

sat 31 aug All Day 21 Futures: Financial Fallout Category Short Story International Entry Fee $9.99 Max word count 3000 Top Prize $1000

sat 31 aug All Day Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2024 Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee £12 - £18 Max word count 2,000 (fiction); 40 lines (poetry) Top Prize £2,500 and publication

sat 31 aug All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Words of the Wild Nature Writing Competition Category Multiple categories UK Entry Fee Free Max word count 1,000 Top Prize Binoculars, vouchers and an environmental book subscription

sat 31 aug 10:29 am sat 10:29 am This event is FREE to enter! Yay! THE GLOBAL LITERARY SYMPOSIUM 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee Free Max word count 20 lines Top Prize Publication in anthology

September 2024

sun 01 sep 12:01 am sun 11:59 pm The Scribes Prize Category Flash Fiction International Entry Fee $5 Max word count 110 Top Prize $250

sun 01 sep 9:00 am sun 11:59 pm Searchlight’s Best Novel Opening for Children or Young Adults Competition Category Novel UK Entry Fee £16 Max word count 1200 Top Prize £1000 and a one-to-one call with the agent judge

fri 06 sep All Day Toes in the Sand Romance Story Contest Category Multiple categories USA Entry Fee Free Max word count 50,000 Top Prize $300 and publication

mon 23 sep 7:47 pm mon 7:47 pm Mslexia Women's Short Story Competition 2024 Category Short Story International Entry Fee £12 Max word count 3,000 Top Prize £3,000 and publication

sat 28 sep All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 350 Top Prize $25 Amazon Gift Card

mon 30 sep All Day Anthology Flash Fiction Competition 2024 Category Flash Fiction International Entry Fee €12 Max word count 250 Top Prize €300

mon 30 sep All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! The Writers College Annual Short Story Competition Proudly Supporting Emerging Writers Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 2000 Top Prize $1000 and publication

mon 30 sep All Day Anthology Nature Writing Competition 2024 Category Non-fiction International Entry Fee €10 Max word count 1000 Top Prize €500

mon 30 sep All Day One Page Poetry Contest Category Poetry USA Entry Fee $25 Max word count 300 Top Prize $2,000

mon 30 sep 7:32 pm mon 7:32 pm THE MOTH NATURE WRITING PRIZE 2024 Category Multiple categories International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 4,000 Top Prize €1,000 and a week at Circle of Misse in France

October 2024

tue 01 oct All Day Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest Category Poetry International Entry Fee $22 Max word count 250 lines Top Prize $3,500

wed 02 oct All Day Saints & Sinners Short Fiction Contest Open to LGBTQ+ authors at all stages of their careers International Entry Fee $20 Max word count 7,000 Top Prize $500 and publication

tue 15 oct 3:35 pm tue 12:00 am Caledonia Novel Award 2025 Category Novel International Entry Fee £28 Max word count First 20 pages and a 200-word synopsis Top Prize £1500

sun 20 oct All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Letterkenny Literary Festival Flash Fiction competition Category Flash Fiction Ireland Entry Fee Free Max word count 300 Top Prize €150

mon 28 oct All Day This event is FREE to enter! Yay! Future Scholar Foundation Short Story Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee Free Max word count 350 Top Prize $25 Amazon Gift Card

thu 31 oct All Day Novel Opening and Synopsis Competition Category Novel International Entry Fee £10 Max word count 3000 Top Prize £500 and publication

thu 31 oct All Day Anthology Poetry Competition 2024 Category Poetry International Entry Fee €18 Max word count 40 lines Top Prize €1000

thu 31 oct All Day Bedford Short Story Writing Competition Category Short Story International Entry Fee £8.50 Max word count 3000 Top Prize £1500

November 2024

sat 30 nov All Day Bath Children’s Novel Award 2024 Category Novel International Entry Fee £29.99 Max word count 5,000 plus one page synopsis of novel Top Prize £5,000

sat 30 nov All Day Anthology Travel Writing Competition 2024 Category Non-fiction International Entry Fee €15 Max word count 1000 Top Prize €500

sat 30 nov All Day THE BATH NOVEL AWARDS International writing competition for novels and children’s books Category Novel International Entry Fee £29.99 ( sponsored places for writers on a low income available) Max word count 5,000 Top Prize £5,000 and full manuscript feedback

February 2025

thu 27 feb All Day Next Generation Short Story Awards A not-for-profit international awards program for authors of short stories. Category Short Story International Entry Fee $25 Max word count 5,000 Top Prize $500 and publication

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• Tags: Essay , Novel , Poetry , Short Story , Writing Contests

If you have great ideas but struggle to pen them, don’t worry. Almost all poets and writers fail at writing consistently, and we have a solution. We’ve listed the best creative writing contests in 2024!

You can go through the list to find any writing competitions in 2024 that inspire you to write. If you aren’t confident in your draft, try looking for some free writing contests! Whether you’re looking for poetry contests, short story writing competitions, or essay contests, we’ve listed them all. So, which one will you enter?

Elevate your book, essay, short story, or poem with perfect editing! Learn more

Here are the best writing contests in 2024:

January 2024

The new year opens with plenty of poetry competitions but few essay contests and almost no free writing contests. With several mixed contests listed this month, however, we’re sure our poets and writers will be satisfied!

Poetry contests 2024

1. gemini poetry open contest 2024.

Gemini Magazine has organized this poetry contest 2024 to offer six finalists with publication in its March/April 2024 issue. The poems may have been uploaded on personal blogs, but previously published poems are ineligible.

Word count: 3 poems of any length

Prizes: $1,000, $100, four prizes of $25

Entry fee: $9

Closing date: 02 January 2024 

2. 2024 Poetry Competition

The organizers of this poetry contest seek to honor James Allen, the first person to breed Snowdrops from the wild. This is one of the free poetry contests for children and teens, who can participate through separate categories.

Theme: Nature unbound

Word count: 30 lines

Prize: £300

Entry fee: £4

Closing date: 07 January 2024

3. 2024 William Matthews Poetry Prize  

Asheville Poetry Review has organized this contest to offer three deserving poets with publication. Previously published poems and works of translations are not eligible. All entries will be considered for publication!

Prizes: $1,000 and $250

Entry fee: $20

Closing date: 16 January 2024

4. Magma 2023/24 Poetry Competition  

This poetry contest is held in two categories: The judge’s prize and the editor’s prize. Three winners from both categories will be published in Magma . The winners and ten commended poets will be invited to read their poems at a contest event.

Category 1: 11–50 lines

Category 2: Up to 10 lines

Prizes: £1000, £300, £150 per category

Entry fee: £5

Closing date: 31 January 2024

5. Kent and Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition 2024  

This is one of the poetry competitions that does not allow simultaneous submissions, at least for contests that announce results before 16 April 2024. Winning entries will be published online and included in an annual Folio publication.

Word count: 40 lines

Prizes: £1000, £300, £100, 4 prizes of £50

Short story writing contests 2024

6. the not quite write prize for flash fiction   .

Running between 19–21 January 2024, this unique flash fiction contest challenges authors to break a specific rule of writing. It’s called an anti-prompt, and you’ll have to pair this with two prompts to write your entry in 60 hours. Exciting, isn’t it? 

Word count: 500

Prizes: $1,000 AUD, $500 AUD, $200 AUD, $100 AUD, 4 prizes of $50 AUD

Entry fee: $25 AUD

Closing date: 21 January 2024

7. Story Unlikely Short Story Contest [Free writing Contest!]

This is one of the best short story competitions that welcome all genres: fantasy, sci-fi, memoir, and even nonfiction! All winning entries are published in the monthly issue of Story Unlikely and the winning entry may be published in the annual print issue.

Word count: 4,500

Prizes: $750, $500, $250

Entry: Free!

Essay contest 2024

8. the 2024 calibre essay prize   .

One of the best essay contests of 2024, this competition promotes nonfiction of all kinds: “personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental.” You may include illustrations in your essay, but the total file size should be below 3 MB.

Word count: 2,000–5,000

Prizes: $5,000 AUD, $3,000 AUD, $2,000 AUD

Entry fee: $30 AUD

Closing date: 22 January 2024

Book writing contests 2024

9. 2023 exeter novel prize.

This novel writing contest invites non-agented writers to submit a previously unpublished manuscript. Send the first 10,000 words of your novel and include a 500-word synopsis. Self-published writers are welcome to enter!

Word count: 10,000 

Prizes: £1000, five prizes of £100

Entry fee: £20

Closing date: 01 January 2024

10. Cai Emmons Fiction Award   

Red Hen Press has organized this novel writing contest 2024 to honor the late novelist Cai Emmons. All authors who haven’t published a full-length work with Red Hen Press are eligible to enter.

Word count: At least 150 pages

Prize: $5,000

Entry fee: $25

Closing date: 15 January 2024

11. Desert Writers Award  

The organizers of this award support one deserving writer of creative nonfiction while they work on their book. Make sure to highlight your interest in desert literature in your biographical statement and project description!

Word count: 10 pages

Entry fee: $15

12. North American Poetry Book Award  

The Poetry Society of Virginia has organized this poetry competition to award one full-length book of poetry. Self-published and audiovisual works are ineligible, but books that have won other pre-publishing awards are allowed. 

Word count: At least 64 pages

Prize: $1,000

Entry fee: $36

13. Bardsy Winter Anthology Contest  

This unique fiction writing contest invites authors to send the first chapters of their in-progress novel or memoir. The best thing is, that you receive feedback on your entry and you can revise it accordingly before judging begins!

Word count: 2,500–3,000

Prizes: $1000, some prizes of $50

Mixed writing contests 2024

14. mississippi review writing contest 2024.

Mississippi Review has organized this poetry, short story, and essay contest 2024 to award publication to three winners. You can submit online or via post, and the postal entry fee is $15. All the best!

Categories: Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction

Word count: 3–5 poems (10 pages) for poetry; 1,000–8,000 words for prose

Prizes: 3 prizes of $1,000

Entry fee: $16

15. The DISQUIET Prize   

The organizers of this writing competition offer one winner a fully paid trip to attend the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon. Three additional winners receive fee waivers for the program and they can opt for a cash prize of $1,000 in its stead.

Word count: 10 pages for poetry; 25 pages for prose

Prizes: A paid trip to Lisbon and other prizes

Closing date: 05 January 2024

16. The Winter Anthology Contest  

This unique writing competition 2024 welcomes poets and writers to submit any published or unpublished piece of any length! The winner will be published in Volume 14 of The Winter Anthology and finalists will be considered for publication.

Categories: Poetry and prose

Entry fee: $11

Closing date: 10 January 2024 

February 2024

February features a good balance of poetry and short story competitions, but essay contests are, as always, quite rare. What’s more, we’ve managed to find six free writing contests, perhaps the highest this number has been in a single month!

Poetry competitions 2024

1. yeats poetry prize   .

WB Yeats Society of NY has organized this poetry competition to honor the “valuable contributions poets and poetry make to human consciousness”. The judge may recognize some honorable mentions aside from the top two prizes.

Word count: 60 lines

Prizes: $1,000, $500

Entry fee: $15 per poem

Closing date: 01 February 2024 

2. Claire Keyes Poetry Award

Soundings East , the literary journal of Salem State University has organized this poetry competition 2024. The final judge, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, will select a group of poems that will be awarded with publication in the journal.

Word count: 1 page per poem

Entry fee: $10 (8–10 poems)

Closing date: 01 February 2024  

3. Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards  

This poetry contest awards three poets with publication in Paterson Literary Review . Entries to this contest must be submitted via mail. Although the competition honors Ginsberg, the organizers urge you not to emulate his style in your entry.

Word count: 2 pages per poem

Prizes: $2,000, $1,000, $500

Entry fee: $18 (3–5 poems)

4. West Chester University Poetry Awards  

These free poetry competitions are open to undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university. You can submit up to three poems for each award with the contact information of a referring professor.

Word count: Various

Prizes: 2 prizes of $1,500, 3 prizes of $1,000, 2 prizes of $500

Closing date: 16 February 2024 

5. Heroica Poetry Prize for Women and Non-Binary Authors and Poets  

Heroica has organized this poetry competition in 2024 for women and non-binary poets. The prize-winning and longlisted entries will be published in print in the first Heroica Poetry Anthology.

Word count: —

Prizes: £125, £50, £25

Entry fee: £2 for 1 poem, £5 for 3 poems; £10 for unlimited series

Closing date: 29 February 2024 

Short story contests 2024

6. american short(er) fiction prize  .

American Short Fiction has organized this flash fiction contest to award one writer with a cash prize and publication. Dantiel W. Moniz—writer of the story collection Milk, Blood, Heat —will judge the competition. All entries will be considered for publication!

Word count: 1,000

Entry fee: $18

7. Short Short Story Contest

The organizers of this short story contest help immigrants achieve their dreams by teaching them various courses. Alongside one overall winner and four winners for each topic, one prize will be awarded to a teen writer. 

Themes: bicycle(s), eclipse, fire, suitcase(s)

Word count: 100

Prizes: $300, 5 prizes of $100

8. WOW! Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest  

This women-centric flash fiction contest 2024 offers 17 prizes aside from the top three entries. You can opt for a critique of your work with an entry fee of $20. The entries are limited, so make sure to submit your entry soon!

Word count: 250–750

Prizes: $400, $300, $200

Entry fee: $10

Closing date: 28 February 2024  

9. Edinburgh Short Story Award

In its tenth year, this short story competition offers five top prizes and publication to the top 20 (or more) entries. The contest offers free entries to Scottish writers who receive some form of income support. 

Word count: 2,000

Prizes: £3,000, £500, £250, special prizes of £750 and £300

Entry fee: £10

Closing date: 28 February 2024 

10. Imagine Little Tokyo 2024 Short Story Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

The Little Tokyo Historical Society has organized this free short story contest in two categories: English and Japanese. These short stories should be set in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles and reflect the neighborhood’s culture. Now here’s a worldbuilding challenge like no other!

Word count: 2,500

Prizes: 2 prizes of $500

Essay contests 2024

11. the sarabande prize in essay.

One of the rarer essay writing competitions, the winner gets a collection of essays with a publishing contract. You may edit your entry within a week of submission, but not after that. The selected work will undergo the complete book editing process before publication with Sarabande Books.   

Word count: 100–250 pages

Prize: $3,000

Entry fee: $29

Closing date: 15 February 2024

12. Paterson Poetry Prize

This writing contest awards publication to one poet with the strongest collection of poems. The winner can claim the prize only if they’re available for an in-person or virtual reading at the Poetry Center in Paterson. 

Word count: At least 48 pages

Prize: $2,000

Entry fee: $18 per story

13. Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry

This poetry competition awards one poet with a cash prize and publication with a standard royalty contract. Translations and previously published manuscripts are not eligible. Sarabande Books will consider all finalists for publication!

14. Ambroggio Prize [Free Writing Contest!]

This one-of-a-kind free poetry contest awards a manuscript “originally written in Spanish and with an English translation”. Make sure to exclude the “Acknowledgements” page from your entry while submitting! The contest is open to US citizens only.

Word count: 48–100 pages

15. Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize [Free Writing Contest!]

Autumn House Press has organized this free writing competition to honor one poet-writer of African descent. The book may be of any genre that “intersects with … poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation.”

Word count: 48–168 pages

16. Harold Morton Landon Translation Award [Free Writing Contest!]

This free poetry contest 2024 honors a manuscript translated into English from any other language. Collaborations of up to two translators are eligible but self-published works will not be considered. The contest is open to US citizens only.

17. Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction  

The organizers of this short fiction contest welcome you to submit a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a short novel. The manuscript must be unpublished, but individual works may have appeared in magazines or anthologies.

Word count: 150–250 pages

Closing date: 15 February 2024 

Mixed writing competitions 2024

18. slippery elm prize for poetry and prose  .

Slippery Elm has organized this writing contest to offer publication to poets and writers in their online and print issues. All entrants will receive a copy of the winning issue and be considered for publication!

Word count: None for poetry; 5,000 words for prose

Prizes: $500 per category

Entry fee: $15 (3 poems; 1 prose entry)

19. Elmbridge Literary Competition 2023–24  

This contest features four categories for children and teens and only the adult category has an entry fee. Sampson Low will publish the winning entries from all categories together in a chapbook.

Categories: Poetry and short story

Theme: Fame

Word count: 30 lines for poetry; 1,500 words for a short story

Prizes:   £250,  £150, £100 per category

Closing date: 23 February 2024

20. 2024 Writing Competition

This writing contest is part of the Bournemouth Writing Festival and offers anthology publication to 40 poets and writers. All winners will be invited to the launch party, receive a free copy of the anthology, and get two tickets to a BWF event.

Categories: Poetry and flash fiction

Theme: Lines in the sand

Word count: 30 lines for poetry; 400 words for prose

Prize: Anthology publication

21. The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition 2023/24 [Free Writing Contest!]

This free writing competition offers young poets and writers prize not only for themselves but also for their school library! There are three age groups and the top three prizes in each group for both, students and their libraries. Exciting, right?!

Theme: Being part of a group

Prizes: £300, £150, £100 (to the student); 1000, £500, £250 (to the school library)

March is overloaded with poetry competitions, perhaps in anticipation of April, the poetry writing month. Short story contests were hard to come by, but we did manage to find some free poetry contests!

Poetry contests

1. bsfs poetry contest 2024 [free writing contest].

Baltimore Science Fiction Society has organized this poetry competition. You may submit up to three poems exploring themes of science fiction/fantasy/horror/science. The winners also receive convention membership.

Prizes: $100, $75, $50 

Closing date: 01 March 2024 

2. The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize 2024 [Free Writing Contest!]

This free poetry contest welcomes you to submit a single poem or a collection, as long as all the poems relate to the theme. Prize winners will be invited to attend The Alpine Fellowship’s annual symposium, offering up to £500 as travel expenses.

Theme: Language

Prizes: £3,000, £1,000, £1,000 

Closing date: 01 March 2024

3. The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2024

The Limerick Writers’ Centre has organized this international poetry contest and invites entries in Irish or English. Poet Arthur Broomfield will judge the English poems while Tomás Ó Coileáin will judge the Irish ones.

Prizes: €200, €50

Entry fee: €3.5

Closing date: 16 March 2024

4. The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2024

The London Magazine offers cash prizes and publication to three poets through this poetry competition. Students and poets with a low income can submit entries at an entry fee of £5!

Prizes: £500, £300, £200

Closing date: 31 March 2024

5. The E.H.P. Barnard Poetry Prize

This poetry contest, organized by the artist Tom Niell, is open only to UK-based poets. Along with the cash prize, the winner also gets a poem video, performed, produced, and promoted. Exciting, right?

Location: UK

Theme: Travel

Word count: 400

Prizes: £100, £75, £50

Entry fee: £2

Closing date: 31 March 2024 

6. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2024  

The Caterpillar has organized this poetry competition with Joseph Coelho as the judge. The winning entries will be published in the Irish Times online and the first prize winner also gets a week at Circle of Misse in France.

Prizes: €1,000, €500, €250

Entry fee: €15

7. The Plough Prize 2024  

In its twenty-first year, this renowned poetry contest will be judged by Roger McGough. There is no restriction on the subject. You may send your entry via post, but make sure it reaches the organizers before the deadline.

Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250

8. The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize  

The Plaza Writers has organized this poetry competition to highlight prose poetry. The top ten entries will be selected for anthology publication. Contest judge Carrie Etter is looking for “thrilling experiments with the prose poem form”.

Word count: 450

Prizes: £750, £200, £50

Entry fee: £11

9. Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize  

This short story competition has been organized by Symphony Space and sponsored by Selected Shorts. The winning entry will be performed by an actor and published in Electric Literature . 

Word count: 750

Prize: $1,000 and a 10-week course with Gotham Writers

10. Peter Carey Short Story Awards 2024

This short story contest awards two Australian authors with cash prizes, digital publication in Meanjin , as well as the magazine’s standard contributor fee. An additional prize of 500 AUD will be awarded to a writer who lives, works, or studies in Moorabool Shire.

Location: Australia

Word count: 2,000–3,000

Prizes: 2,000 AUD, 1,000 AUD

Entry fee: 15 AUD

Closing date: 14 March 2024

11. Indignor House Writing Competition 2024  

Indignor House Publishing has organized this short story writing contest to support emerging voices in fiction. 25 entries will be selected for publication in an anthology, of which winners will receive a hardcover copy.

Theme: Fear

Word count: 5,000

Prizes: $500, $250, $150

12. Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest

This essay contest welcomes you to submit outstanding personal essays. All entries will be considered for publication in The New Quarterly and the organizers will pay an honorarium of $250 upon publication.

Location: Canada

Entry fee: $40

Closing date: 28 March 2024 

13. PFD Queer Fiction Prize back for 2024

Peters Fraser + Dunlop, a London-based literary agency, has organized this book writing contest to support emerging queer writers. The submissions do not have to be on LGBTQIA+ experiences as long as the author identifies as such.

Categories: Adult and YA/children’s fiction

Word count: Three chapters and a synopsis

Prize: Agency representation

14. 2024 Airlie Prize  

Airlie Press has organized this poetry contest to award one book of poetry with publication. The editors at Airlie Press, previous winners, and guest readers will form the panel of judges. Translated works are not eligible.

Word count: 48–90 pages

15. The 2024 Chapter One Prize for Novelists  

Gutsy Great Novelist has organized this novel writing competition to award three novelists writing in any genre. They have some strict submission guidelines, so make sure you go through them before submitting your entry!

Word count: The first chapter

Prizes: $1,000, $500, $250

16. The Hazel Rowley Prize

This contest awards the best book proposal by a first-time biographer. Along with the cash prize, the winner receives agent exposure and publicity for the project through the Biographers International Organization website and newsletter.

Word count: 20 pages

17. Raz-Shumaker Book Prize  

This book writing contest awards one poetry and one short story collection with publication by the University of Nebraska Press. Poets and writers are free to enter both contests. Self-published books are not eligible for this contest.

Word count: At least 50 pages for poetry; at least 150 pages for fiction

Prizes: $3,000 per category

Closing date: 15 March 2024

18. Rubery Book Awards  

This book writing competition is for indie writers, self-published authors, and writers who have published with independent presses. The categories for the contest are decided after all submissions have been collected.

Prizes: £2,000, some prizes of £200

Entry fee: £45 

Mixed writing contests

19. wild women contest  .

Open to poets and writers of all gender identities, this writing competition only requires entries to celebrate the “wild woman spirit”. All submissions will be considered for publication in TulipTree Review and all collaborators will be paid $50. 

Word count: 5 pages for poetry; 10,000 words for prose

Prizes: $1,000

Closing date: 08 March 2024

20. The Screenwriting Challenge

One of the more interesting writing competitions in 2024, this contest randomly assigns you a genre for round one. The top five from each genre group move on to round two, from which the top three move on to round three. Go check it out!

Word count: 12 pages for round 1

Prizes: $4,500, $1,750, $1,000, $500, $350, $250, $225, $200, $175, $150

Entry fee: $55

Contest duration: 15–23 March 2024 

21. The 2024 Perkoff Prize  

The Missouri Review has organized this poetry, short story, and essay contest to recognize emerging poets and writers. You may submit your entry online or via post. The entry fee includes a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Categories: Poetry, short story, and essay

Word count: 10 pages for poetry; 8,500 words for a short story and an essay

Prizes: $1,000 per category

22. The Hope Prize

This short story and essay contest offers anthology publication to the winners and some shortlisted writers. The royalties from the anthology will be donated to Beyond Blue, an Australian mental health charity.

Categories: Short story and essay

Theme: Hope

Prize: 10,000 AUD, 2,000 AUD, 1,000 AUD

Entry fee: 22 AUD

Closing date: 22 March 2024 

23. Seasons Writing Competition 2024  

This writing contest awards the best pieces of poetry and fiction from the submitted entries and no category prizes are awarded. All shortlisted poets and writers will be published in a contest anthology!

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, script

Theme: Light and Shadow

Word count: 2,500 words for a short story; 1,000 words for flash fiction

Prizes: 500 AUD, 400 AUD, 300 AUD, 200 AUD, some prizes of 100 AUD

Entry fee: 5 AUD

As if to make up for March, April features a ton of short story writing contests but only two poetry competitions. As always, essay writing contests are few and far between. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep adding to this list every month!

1. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

Unique among free poetry contests, this competition invites you to submit one humorous poem. The winner will receive a Duotrope gift certificate and the top 13 entries will be published online. Both unpublished and previously published works are eligible!

Word count: 250 lines

Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, 10 prizes of $100

Closing date: 01 April 2024

2. Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2024  

The Rialto has organized this poetry contest, inviting poets to dwell on any aspect of nature and place. While judging, Zaffar Kunial will interpret these terms widely. All longlisted entries will be published on The Rialto website.

Entry fee: £7

3. Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize 2024  

The grand prize winner of this short story competition gets a week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, literary feedback, and agent consultation. The contest offers 40 free entries and 60 half-priced entries!

Prizes: €2,000, 2 prizes of €1,000

Entry fee: €20

Closing date: 14 April 2024

4. Purorrelato 2024 Micro-Story Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

Casa África has organized this micro story writing contest to encourage writers to write about Africa in newer ways. The micro story must relate to Africa in some way and may be written in Spanish, English, French, or Portuguese.

Word count: 1,500 characters

Prizes: €750, €375, €225

Closing date: 16 April 2024 

5. 2024 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

One of the world’s leading short story contests, the Jolley Prize is in its fifteenth year. The three winning stories will be published in the August or September 2024 issue of the Australian Book Review .

Prizes: 6,000 AUD, 4,000 AUD, 2,500 AUD

Entry fee: 30 AUD

Closing date: 22 April 2024 

6. SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction

This flash fiction contest has been running twice yearly since 2018. The grand prize winner is automatically nominated for The Best Small Fiction, The Pushcart, Best of the Net, and other contests.

Prizes: 2,500, $1,000, $500, some prizes of $100.

Closing date: 30 April 2024 

7. Tadpole Press 100-Word Writing Contest

This short story competition challenges you to pack a punch in 100 words. The second runner-up wins a writing coaching package valued at $450 and the third, a developmental and diversity editing package valued at $250.

Prizes: $2,000 and others

8. The Creative Writing NZ Short Story Prize 2024  

This short story contest accepts only online entries. Lucie Brownlee is the guest judge this year. The winner and runners-up receive a free online course and publication on the Creative Writing NZ website.

Location: New Zealand

Word count: 3,000

Prizes: $1,000, 2 prizes of $200

9. Short Story Competition  

Organized by Cranked Anvil Press, this quarterly short story competition welcomes all genres and themes. The winning entries will be published online, and all longlisted entries will be considered for eventual anthology publication.

Word count: 1,500

Prizes: £100, £50

Closing date: 30 April 2024  

10. Los Angeles NaNo Anthology

This free short story contest is a golden opportunity for writers worldwide. Writers must submit a story revolving around the theme “Utopia- or is it?” and the prompt “You must include something/someone that gets stuck”.  The winning entries will be published in the Los Angeles NaNo Anthology’s 10th edition “Trouble in Paradise”.

Wordcount: 4,000

Closing date: 30 April 2024

11. Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize

North American Review has organized this essay contest to offer publication to the winners and honorable mentions. The organizers welcome “the lyric essay, the hermit crab essay, the braided essay, the memoir, the personal essay, literary journalism, and everything in between.” 

Word count: 500–10,000

Entry fee: $23

Closing date: 02 April 2024

Book writing competitions 2024

12. self-published book awards  .

This book writing contest only accepts self-published books that are printed and bound. If you’ve published an eBook, there’s still time enough to print your book through self-publishing services ! The contest accepts entries in seven categories.

Prizes: $10,000, 7 prizes of $1,000

Entry fee: $100

13. First Pages Prize   

This book writing contest seeks to support un-agented writers. The top three winners in both categories receive a developmental mentorship and agent consultation via Zoom. Edwidge Danticat will judge both categories. 

Categories: Fiction and creative nonfiction

Word count: 1,250 (First five pages of your book)

Prizes: $2,000, $1,500, $1000 per category

Closing date: 10 April 2024

14. Jonathan Holden Poetry Chapbook Contest

This poetry competition is open to poets who haven’t yet published a full-length work of poetry. Self-published books are not eligible. All participants receive an eBook copy of the winning chapbook.

Word count: 25 to 40 pages

Prize: $250 and 10 copies of the printed chapbook

Closing date: 10 April 2024 

15. Nimrod Literary Awards  

All shortlisted poets and writers for this writing competition will be published and offered a standard publishing rate of $10/page. Poets may submit one long poem or a few short poems within the page limit.

Categories: Poetry and fiction (short story or self-contained novel excerpt)

Word count: 3–10 pages of poetry; 7,500 words for fiction

Prizes: $2,000 and $1,000 per category

Entry fee: $20 

16. Mairtin Crawford Award 

This writing contest is for poets and writers “working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.” Both published and unpublished writers are welcome to enter, but they must not have published full-length works.

Word count: 3–5 poems for poetry; 2,500 for short story

Prizes: £500, 2 prizes of £250 per category

17. F(r)iction Contests

This is essentially four writing competitions rolled into one. Wole Talabi, Sherrie Flick, C. S. E. Cooney, and Marin Sardy form the panel of judges. All submissions are considered for publication!

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, and essay

Word count: 3 pages for poetry, 1,001–7,500 for short story; 1,000 for flash fiction; 6,500 for essay

Prizes: $300 for poetry, $1,000 for short story, $300 for flash fiction, $500 for essay 

Entry fee: $10 for poetry and flash fiction, $15 for a short story and essay

As is the trend now, May has made up for the dearth of poetry competitions in April. While there are few short story contests this month, we did find two essay contests. Surprisingly, May features a wealth of book writing competitions!

1. International Poetry Contest

Atlanta Review invites you to submit five poems of any length in your entry. Aside from the grand prize winner, 20 poets will be published in the contest issue and 30 more will receive honorable mentions. All 50 poets will receive awards and a free copy of the contest issue.

Entry fee: $15 (for five poems)

Closing date: 01 May 2024 

2. The Letter Review Prize for Poetry [Free Contest!]

The organizers of this poetry competition welcome poems of all kinds, with no restrictions on subject or style. Two to four winners are announced, among whom the cash prize is equally distributed. 

Word count: 70 lines

Prize: $1,000 (total prize pool)

Closing date: 03 May 2024

3. Montreal International Poetry Prize  

One of the most well-known poetry contests, the Montreal Prize awards one poet each year. The judges will shortlist 60 poems, all of which will be published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology . Translations aren’t allowed unless a poet translates their own work.

Prize: $20,000 CAD

Closing date: 15 May 2024

4. Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize  

This poetry competition awards one poem with publication in The American Poetry Review . All entrants receive a copy of the magazine. You may submit up to three poems, as long as the entire entry is no larger than 3 pages.

Word count: 3 pages

5. James Laughlin Award [Free Writing Contest!]

This poetry competition is for a second book of poetry, to be published in the coming year. Publishers that have previously published at least four books of poetry are welcome to enter. Translated books are not eligible.

Location: US

Prize: $5,000 

6. Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize

This contest awards a book of poetry published in a standard edition in the previous year (2023). Self-published and translated books are not eligible. Publishers may submit more than one title.

Prize: $25,000 

Entry fee: $75

7. Guy Owen Prize  

Southern Poetry Review has organized this poetry contest, inviting you to submit three to five poems. You may submit online or via post, and the entry fee includes a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Closing date: 31 May 2024

Short story competitions 2024

8. the letter review prize for short fiction [free contest].

This short story writing contest will shortlist 20 entries, of which 2–4 will be announced as the winners. All entries will be considered for publication, future anthologies, and submission to the Pushcart Prize!

9. Twist in the Tale Writing Competition  

This interesting short story contest will assign you a genre, a “twisted” subgenre, and an event/character/object/subject. The contest also features weekly challenges and monthly mini-contests. It’s a community experience like no other!

Prizes: $1,200, $400, $250, $150, $100, and others

Entry fee: $30

Closing date: 13–19 May 2024 (6-day contest)

10. WOW! Flash Fiction Contest  

One of the WOW! 2024 writing contests, this is an open-prompt competition, open to women worldwide. You can opt for a critique of your writing at a $20 entry fee. The contest features only 300 entries, so hurry up and submit yours!

Prizes: $400, $300, $200, and others

11. The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction [Free essay writing contest!]

One of the few essay contests in May 2024, this competition is open to essayists worldwide. Entries are judged blind and all entrants receive judges’ feedback on their essays. If you’d like to enter more than one essay, the fee is $5 per additional entry.

12. James A. Winn Prize in Nonfiction  

Michigan Quarterly Review has organized this essay contest in memory of English Professor James A. Winn. Ten shortlisted entries will be presented to Judge Elizabeth Goodenough. All entries will be considered for publication.

Word count: 1,500–7,000

Prize: $1,500

13. Cheshire Novel Prize  

This international book writing competition invites un-agented authors to submit an excerpt and a 500-word synopsis of their novel. Shortlisted authors will be asked to submit their entire manuscript. Self-published writers are welcome to enter!

Word count: The first 5,000 words

Prize: £1500

Entry fee: £29

Closing date: 01 May 2024

14. The Backwaters Prize in Poetry   

This poetry book contest invites you to submit a collection of poems or a single long poem. The Backwaters Press will offer publication to both winning manuscripts. Only collections with 95% unpublished material are eligible to enter.

Word count: 60–85 pages

Prizes: $2,000, $1,000

Entry fee: $32

15. The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books [Free Contest!]

The Letter Review invites poets and writers to submit excerpts of their unpublished books. The organizers may request entire manuscripts only from the winners. Make sure to include a one-page synopsis/abstract and a 200-word bibliography!

Word count: The first 15 pages for poetry; the first 5,000 words for prose

16. Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize  

This international book writing contest is open to literary and mainstream fiction, including science fiction. Short story collections are allowed. Self-published books are allowed, as long as they haven’t sold more than 200 copies!

Word count: Minimum 22,000

Prize: Publication with Leapfrog Press and $150 for all finalists

Entry fee: $35

Closing date: 05 May 2024

17. The Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas

Regent House Publishing has organized this novella competition with its panel of editors as the judges. English translations of novellas written in other languages are allowed. Make sure not to send artwork or photographs, however!

Word count: 17,000–40,000

18. Goldfinch Novel Award 2024

This novel contest invites manuscripts written for adults or young adults. Submit an excerpt of your novel with a one-page synopsis. Along with the cash prize, the winner gets a free Goldfinch membership and a Creative Writing Course worth £150.

Location: UK and Ireland

19. Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse [Free Contest!]

This interesting book writing contest combines the forms of poetry and novel. Along with the cash prize, the winner receives 20 copies of their book and a standard royalty contract. The winning manuscript will be published in three formats: trade paper, eBook, and Kindle.

Word count: 90–160 pages

Prize: $500

Closing date: 25 May 2024 

20. The Untold Tales Youth Writing Competition [Free Contest!]

The organizers of this writing contest invite poets and writers under 25 years of age to submit entries in English or Spanish. The writing should be “focused on a true, fact-based untold tale celebrating and/or illuminating the importance of human rights.”

Categories: Poetry, short story, short narrative

Word count: 500 words for poetry; 1,000 words for prose

Prizes: $100 per category

21. Leeway Transformation Award [Free Contest!]

Open to women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming artists, poets, and writers, this award isn’t project-based. Rather, it seeks to honor a creative based in Greater Philadelphia who has been working for social change.

Categories: Various

Prizes: $15,000

22. Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest  

This short story and essay contest offers online publication to 12 outstanding writers of fiction and nonfiction. Both published and unpublished entries are welcome. The top two winners receive two-year gift certificates from Duotrope.

Word count: 6,000

Prizes: $3,500 per category and 10 prizes of $300

Entry fee: $22

23. Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition 2024

This writing contest features nine categories, awarding almost 500 poets and writers with various prizes. As if that wasn’t enough, the names and titles of honorable mentions will be listed on the Writer’s Digest website. Quite the exposure for new writers!

Word count: 40 lines for poetry; 4,000 words for a short story, and 2,000 for an essay 

Prizes: $5,000, 9 prizes of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, and $50 (per category)

Entry fee: $20 for poetry; $30 for manuscript

Closing date: 06 May 2024

24. The Bridport Prize 2024  

This esteemed writing competition offers anthology publication, agent consultation, and editorial advice to the winning poets and writers. It also offers other prizes such as the Young Writer Award and the Dorset Award.

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, novel, memoir

a. Poetry Contest 2024

Word count: 42 lines

Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £500

Entry fee: £12

b. Short Story Contest 2024

Entry fee: £14

c. Flash Fiction Contest 2024

Word count: 250

d. Novel Contest 2024

Word count: 5,000–8,000

Prizes: £1,500, £750, 3 prizes of £150

Entry fee: £24

e. Memoir Contest 2024

June 2024 

June is bursting with creative opportunities! From free to paid, there are exciting poetry, short story, and book-writing contests waiting for you. For essay writing enthusiasts, we also managed to find four amazing essay writing contests.

Poetry contests 2024 

1. boulevard magazine poetry contest .

This poetry contest invites writers to submit a group of 3 poems. The winning group of poems will be published in the Boulevard magazine. 

Prize: $1000

Entry fee: $18 

Closing date: 1 June 2024 

2. Dan Veach Prize [Free Writing Contest!] 

Organized by the Atlanta Review magazine, this is a free poetry contest. Currently accepting submissions from college students aged 18-23, the winning entries will be published in the Atlanta Review’s Fall/Winter issue. 

Prize: $100 

3. Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards [Free Writing Contest!] 

This free contest welcomes writers to submit a maximum of 2 unpublished haiku poems. Open to haiku poets globally, winners will receive a cash prize and a copy of Red Leaves: Selected Haiku of Peggy Lyles . 

Prize: $200, $100, $50 

4. McLellan Poetry Prize

This contest invites writers to submit any number of poems on their choice of subject or theme. The poems must be unpublished and not accepted for publication. 

Word count: 90 lines 

Prize: £1000, £250 

Entry fee: £7 for the 1st poem, £5 per poem for 2nd and subsequent poems

Closing date: 2 June 2024 

5. Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 

Allowing poets to submit poems on any subject, 35 poems will be chosen from all the submitted entries. The shortlisted poems will feature in the Poet of the Year Anthology . 

Word count: 60 lines 

Prize: £200, £100, £50 

Entry fee: £5 per poem 

Closing date: 7 June 2024 

6. Poetry London prize

Judged by Hannah Sullivan, this contest is open to poets anywhere in the world. The submitted poems must be in English. Winning entries will be published in the Poetry London magazine. 

Prize: £5000, £2000, £1000

Entry fee: £5 for Poetry London magazine subscribers, £10 for non-subscribers 

Closing date: 30 June 2024 

Short story competitions 2024 

7. defenestrationism contest.

This competition is looking for stories that “include an incident of Defenestrationism– the art, or -ism, of throwing people out of windows”. This need not be literal and the incident can be sudden, a violent shift or change. Zombie fiction is discouraged. 

Prize: $75, $30, $30 

Closing date: 2 June 2024

8. Imagine 2200

Organized by the American magazine Grist , this contest is looking for “stories rooted in creative climate solutions”. Anyone who is 18 years or older can participate. 

Word count: 2,500-5,000 words

Prize: $3000, $2000, $1000, 9 prizes of $300 

Closing date: 24 June 2024 

9. Moth Short Story Prize

Open to any writer over 16 years of age, the winning entries will be published in the Irish Times . Prizes also include a trip to Circle de Misse in France plus open travel stipend! This contest will be judged by Louise Kennedy. 

Prize: £3000, Circle de Misse trip, £1000 

Entry fee: £15 per entry 

10. Salamander 2024 Fiction Contest

Accepting unpublished stories from writers worldwide, the winning entries will be published in the Salamander magazine. The story submitted must not exceed 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point font. 

Prize: $1000, $500 

Entry fee: $15 

11. FFF Competition 

This flash fiction contest invites writers to submit stories on any theme. The winning entries will be published on the Free Flash Fiction website. 

Wordcount: 100-300 words 

Prize: £150, 2 prizes of £50, 3 prizes of £40 

Entry fee: £3.95, £2.55 

Closing date: 23 June 2024 

Essay contests 2024 

12. goi peace foundation international essay contest .

Open to anyone who is 25 years old or under, this essay writing contest only accepts one entry per person. Participants can submit their essays written in English, Japanese, or French. 

Theme: Experience of overcoming conflict 

Word count: 700 words 

Prize: 100,000 yen, 50,000 yen

Closing date: 15 June  2024 

13. Solid essay contest 

An amazing opportunity for new writers, the winning essay entries will receive a scholarship. To participate, writers will have to write an essay on technology’s role in shaping the future or select the topic of climate change. 

Word count: 600-800 

Prize: $1000, $700, $500

Closing date: 19 June 2024

14. Hubert Butler Essay prize 

To participate in this essay writing contest, the author must be above 18 and should be a European or UK citizen. The subject for the essay is: “With narratives of conflict currently distorted by misinformation and the substitution of memory for history, what are the chances of reconciliation?” 

Wordcount: 3,000

Prize: 1 prize of €1,500, 2 prizes of €500 

Closing date: 28 June 2024 

15. Fountain Essay Contest 2024 

Open to writers worldwide, interested participants can submit 1 entry per person.  While the Chicago Manual of Style is preferred for essay writing, other styles can also be used. 

Theme: Where is home? 

Wordcount: 1500-2000

Prizes: $1000, $500, $300, 2 prizes of $150 

Book writing contests 2024 

16. the novel prize .

This contest rewards unpublished fictional works that “explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative”. The winning entries will be published in North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Prize: $10,000

17. Chicken House Prize 

This contest invites writers to submit a “complete fiction manuscript of any genre for children aged 7 up to YA”. The winner will receive a publishing contract plus an offer of representation. 

Prize: £7,500 

18. Creative Arts Book Award 

This contest allows writers to submit original works of fiction or non-fiction. Poetry books cannot be submitted to this contest. 

Prize: $25,000, 2 prizes of $250 

19. Towson prize for literature 

Founded in 1979, this contest accepts manuscript submissions of poetry, fiction, drama, and imaginative non-fiction. Open to Maryland (USA) writers only, the manuscript must be published 3 years before the time of nomination or scheduled for publication within the year it’s nominated.  

Prize: $1,000 

Closing date: 15 June 2024 

20. Scotiabank Giller Prize 

To be eligible to participate in this contest, the writer must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. The book should be a first-edition novel, graphic novel, or collection of short stories published between 1st May and 30th June 2024. Unfortunately, self-published books aren’t eligible. 

Prize: $10,000, shortlisted translation ($7,000-author, $3,000-translator), (translation wins- $70,000-author, $30,000- translator) 

Closing date: 21 June 2024 

21. Atwood Gibson Prize 

Organized to encourage Canadian writers, this contest awards the best Canadian novel or short story collection. Funded by the Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, the authors receive a generous cash prize. 

Prize: $60,000, $5000  

Closing date: 25 June 2024 

22. Drue Heinz Literature Prize 

Open to writers all over the world, participants can submit a manuscript of short stories, 2 or more novellas, or a combination of novellas and short stories. Winning entries will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press and receive support in book promotion. 

Prize: $15000

Mixed writing contests 2024 

23. arizona authors association literary contest  .

Arizona Literary Magazine has organized this poetry, short story, and essay writing competition in three categories and several subcategories. The 24 winning poets and writers will be published in the magazine.

Location: US and Canada

Categories: Unpublished poetry, short story, essay, novel; Published books of fiction and nonfiction, others

Word count: 50 lines for poetry; 5,000 for short stories and essays; 25 pages for a novel

Prizes: $500, 3 prizes of $200, $100, $75, $50 each , 11 prizes of $25

Entry fee: $35 for unpublished and $45 for published poets and writers

Closing date: 01 June 2024

24. Questions Writing Prize 

This contest welcomes writers to submit fiction/non-fiction works on any topic. Only young Australian writers, aged 18-30 years are open to participate in this contest. 

Prize: $3000

Word count: 1,500-2000

25. Manitoba poetry and short story contest 

Interested participants can either submit 3 poems or 1 story to participate in this exciting contest. The winning entries will be published on the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba website and winners will be given cash prizes. 

Prize: $125, $75, $50 

26. International Wizard of Oz Club Contest 

This contest has 3 categories: fiction, non-fiction, and art. All the entries must be about the land of Oz created by Frank Baum in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . 

Prize: $100, $50 

Word count: 10,000 words 

27. Wells Festival of Literature 

Organized as a part of the Wells Festival of Literature, this contest awards amazing fictional works of poetry and prose. The winners will receive amazing cash prizes and will be invited to the celebratory event of the festival on 25th October 2024. 

Categories: Open Poetry, Short Story, Book for Children, Young Poets 

a. Wells Festival Open Poetry Contest 2024 

The poems can be on any subject. Each poem submitted must not exceed more than 35 lines of text in length. Multiple submissions are allowed. 

Prize: £1000, £500, £250 

Entry fee: £6

b. Wells Festival Short Story Contest 2024 

You can submit 1 or more short stories on any topic of your choice to participate in this content. Make sure to mention the story’s word count on the first page! 

Prize: £750, £300, £200, £100 

Entry fee: £6 per story 

c. Wells Festival Book for Children Contest 

This competition requires you to submit either the first two chapters or the first 20 pages of the children’s book you’ve written. You also need to attach your book’s synopsis. 

Prize: £750. £300, £200 

Entry fee: £6 per book 

d. Young Poets Contest 

Open to writers aged 16-22 years old, this contest allows participants to submit poems on any subject. The poems must not exceed 35 lines of length. 

Prize: £200, £150, £100 

Entry fee: £3 per poem 

28. Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction 

This contest rewards the best Canadian non-fiction of the year. Participants can submit a biography, memoir, or non-fiction book of essays, commentary, and criticism. 

Prize: $75,000, $5,000

29. Writers of the future contest

Writers who have not professionally published “a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium” are eligible to participate. Manuscripts belonging to the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy are also accepted. 

Prize: $5000, $1000, $750, $500

July 2024 

July is the perfect month to let your creativity soar! We’ve found exciting poetry, book, and short story competitions for you! As always, essay writing competitions are scarce. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep adding to this list every month! 

1. Local Word Poetry Prize

In its second year, this contest is open to Australian residents who are 16 years or older. The winning entry will be  published on the Geelong Regional Library Corporation (GRLC) website. 

Wordcount: 75 lines 

Prize: $2,000, $250 

Entry fee: Free! 

Closing date: 1 July 2024 

2. Ledbury Poetry Competition 2024 

A part of the Poetry Ledbury Festival, this contest is open to writers who are 18 years or older. Judged by Maya C. Popa this year, participants can submit unpublished poems up to 40 lines. 

Location: UK 

Prize: £1000, £500, £259 

Entry fee: £6 

Closing date: 8 July 2024 

3. Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize 

Interested participants can submit 1-6 poems. 60 longlisted poems will be published in an online prize anthology. 

Prize: AUD$15,000, AUD$5,000, AUD$5,000

Entry fee: $AUD25 

Closing date: 14 July 2024 

4. Rattle poetry prize

Welcoming writers worldwide to participate, this contest accepts poems primarily written in English. Participants can send 4 poems per entry on any topic of their choice. 

Prize: 1 prize of $15000, 1 prize of $5000, 10 prizes of $500 

Entry fee: $30 

Closing date: 15 July 2024 

5. The Tenth Gate Prize  

To participate, writers must have two previously published full-length poetry collections. The winning entry will be published. 

Entry fee: $25 

6. Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest  

Judged by Charles Rafferty, this contest accepts original, unpublished submissions. The winning entry will be published in the Comstock Review . 

Prize: $1.000, $250, $100 

Entry fee: $27.50 (per submission) 

7. Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 

Judged by Kim Addonizio, this contest is open to writers worldwide. The top 5 finalists’ entries will be published in the Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine . 

Prize: $1,000, $500, $250

Closing date: 31 July 2024 

8. Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 

Judged by Clare Shaw, this contest encourages poets worldwide to submit poems on any subject. The results will be announced on 5th October 2024 and winning entries will be published in a competition anthology. 

Wordcount: Not more than 40 lines 

Entry fee: £6 for the 1st poem, £5 for each subsequent poem

9. Experimental Poetry Contest 

This exciting contest allows participants to submit poems of any form and style. The winning entry will be published in the Connecticut River Review. 

10. HWA Short Story Award

To participate in this contest, writers must submit a story that is set atleast 35 years in the past. The stories of 6 shortlisted writers will be published together in an eBook. 

Wordcount: 3,500 words 

Prize:  £500 

Closing date: 1 July 2024. 

11. HG Wells short story competition 

Free for writers 21 years or under, this contest accepts original, unpublished short stories. The winning entries will be published in the HG Wells Short Story Competition Anthology. 

Theme: The Fool 

Prize: £1,000

Entry fee: £10 for writers over 21, £5 for writers with a student ID 

12. The Paul Cave Prize for Teenage Fiction 

Organized to encourage teenage fiction, writers can submit stories about a murder mystery, science, technology, sports, etc. Winning entries will be published on the contest website and in the Paul Cave Prize for Teenage Fiction 2024 book. 

Prize: £100, £50, £25

Entry fee: £30 (1 entry), £40 (2 entries)

Closing date: 30 July 2024 

13. Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition 2024

Funded by the Munster Literature Centre, this contest invites writers of all nationalities to submit their stories. The selected stories will be published in the literary journal Southward. 

Word count: 3,000 

Prize: €2,000, €500, €250 

14. Inspiring Fiction Contest 

This contest is seeking submissions for “thrilling and thought-provoking short stories”. To participate, writers will have to explore the theme of freedom through genres like crime, fantasy, and speculative fiction. 

Wordcount: 1000-2500

Prize: £100

15. Fiction Factory Competition 

This competition welcomes all stories except those related to children and young adult fiction. Stories must be submitted in a MS Word document. 

Wordcount: 3000 words

Prize: £500

Entry fee: £7.00 (1 story), £13 (2 stories), £18 (3 stories) 

16. Anthology Short Story Competition 

Open to writers worldwide, this short story competition welcomes submissions on any theme or style. The winning entry will be published in the future issue of Anthology. 

Word count: 1,500 words

Prize: €1000, €250, €150 

Entry fee: €18 per entry 

17. Forum Essay Prize 2024 

This contest is seeking submissions of “bold, visionary, and persuasive essays”. The winning essay will be published in the issue of Forum for Modern Language Studies. 

Theme: The Art(s) of Delight 

Wordcount: 6000-8000 words 

Prize: £500, £200

18. Wasifiri New Writing Prize 

This contest is open to all writers who have not yet published a book. The winning entries will be published in the Wasafiri magazine. 

Prize: £1000

Entry fee: £12 (single entry), £16 (double entry) 

19. The St. Laurence Book Award 

This contest rewards an unpublished collection of poetry or prose. The winning entry will be published and the author will receive 10 copies. 

Prize: $1.000

Entry fee: $14 

20. Press 53 Award 

Rewarding “outstanding, unpublished collection of poems”, this contest welcomes submissions of writers 18 years or older. The participant must reside in the United States. 

21. Kingsley Tuft Poetry Award

Interested participants must submit their first book of poetry published between 1st July 2023 and 30th June 2024. Make sure to mail 8 copies of the book and the entry form before the deadline! 

Prize: $100,000

22. North Street Book Prize 

To participate, writers must submit self-published/hybrid published books. Winning writers will also receive a $500 credit at the self-publishing platform BookBaby and book cover consultation from Laura Duffy Design. 

Categories: mainstream/literary fiction, romance, mystery, thriller, young adult, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, poetry, children’s picture books, middle grade, art books, creative non fiction, graphic novels, and memoirs 

Prize: $10,000, $1,000, $300

Entry fee: $79 per book 

23. Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize 

Every year, this contest awards a poet who hasn’t yet published a full-length poetry book. Interested poets must submit an unpublished manuscript of 48-90 pages. 

Prize: $1,500  

Closing date: 7 July 2024 

24. Petrichor Prize 

Open to writers 18 years or older, participants can submit more than 1 manuscript. The winning entry will be published by Regal House Publishing. 

25. Bellevue Literary Review Prize 

This contest is currently accepting submissions in 3 categories: poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. 

Wordcount: 5,000 words 

Prize: $75 (poetry), $150 (prose) 

Entry fee: $5 

26. Robert and Adele Schiff Awards 

Simultaneous submissions of fiction and non-fiction works are accepted by this contest. Writers can submit 8 pages of poetry (5 poems), a 10,000-word fictional work or a 5,000-word work of literary non-fiction. 

Prize: $1,000 (per category) 

27. Work-in-Progress Contest 

This contest supports writers to complete a book of fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Winning writers will also get guidance from editors and their interview will be featured in Unleash Lit . 

Prize: $500 

August 2024 

Ready to unleash your creativity and showcase your talent? We’ve found amazing poetry, book, and short story competitions for you. Although essay writing competitions are still less, we’ll continue updating this list throughout the month. 

1. Cantor Prize

Judged by Juan Morales, this contest is open to Colarodo writers and global writers submitting a poem about Colorado. Previously published poems and simultaneous submissions are allowed. 

Prize: $1,000, $100 each (5 prizes) 

Entry fee: 1 poem ($10), 2 poems ($20), 3 poems, (25), 4 poems ($35) 

Deadline: 31 August 2024 

2. Oxford Poetry Prize 

Judged by Rachel Long, this contest rewards a single poem written in English. The winning poems will also receive the opportunity for publication in Oxford Poetry . 

Wordcount: 50 lines (maximum) 

Prize: £1000, £200, £100

Closing date: 31 August 2024 

3. Off the Grid Poetry Prize 

Open to poets 60 years or older, manuscripts submitted for this contest must be of atleast 50 pages. The winner will also receive additional services of book promotion, book printing, audiobook creation. 

4. Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize

Open to writers residing in the United States, entrants need to be 18 or older to participate. The winning entry will secure publication by Ex Ophidia Press. 

5. Gemini Flash Fiction Prize

This flash fiction contest invites writers to submit literary works on any subject and style. The maximum word-limit is 1,000 words. 

Prize: $1,000, $100, $25 each (4 honorable mentions) 

Entry fee: $8 

Essay writing contests 2024 

6. creative non fiction essay contest .

Judged by Safiya Sinclair, this contest seeks submissions of creative, non-fiction essays of 5,000 words. Every entry must include a cover letter, an essay manuscript, and the entry fee. 

Closing date: 2 August 2024 

7. Aspen Words Literary Prize 

This prize is annually given to “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue”. Welcoming writers worldwide, works about violence, religion, race, immigration, or any other social issues are eligible for submission. 

Prize: $35,000

Entry fee: $105 per book 

Closing date: 7 August 2024 

8. Book of the Year Awards Contest 

In its tenth year, this contest welcomes authors to submit fictional/non-fictional books. The entries must be already published and available for sale/presale on Amazon or other online publishing platforms. 

Prize: $2,500, $1,000, $500, $250 

Entry fee: $49 (1st category), $35 (additional category) 

Closing date: 16 August 2024 

9. Stories That Need to Be Told 

This contest welcomes submissions of poetry and prose works. Five additional prizes will be given to stories related to humor, passion, depth, or any form of love. 

Wordcount: Poetry (5 pages per poem), prose (10,000 words) 

Prize: $1,000, $200 each (5 prizes), $200 (wild card) 

Entry fee: $20 per entry 

Closing date: 9 August 2024 

Other writing contests 2024

We’ll keep updating this list as the new year comes closer and more writing competitions in 2024 go live. Keep an eye out on this space and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss an update!

1. Personal Essay Awards

Writer’s Digest welcomes all essayists to submit their best work. The top ten entries will be published in the magazine’s May/June 2024 issue. The grand prize winner also receives a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference!

Prizes: $2,500, $1,000, $500, 7 prizes of $100 

Entry fee: $25 (early bird deadline)/ $30 

Closing date: 03 September 2024 (early bird deadline)/01 October 2024

2. Litmag’s Emily Dickinson Award 

To participate, writers can submit 1-3 poems. The winning entry will secure publication in LitMag and receive an agency review by Amy Bishop-Wycisk. 

Prize: $1,500, $100 each (for 3 finalists) 

Closing date: 1 October 2024 

3. Edwin Markham Poetry Prize 

This contest accepts unpublished works in any form and style. Writers can submit upto 5 poems per submission. Make sure to include a 50-word bio with your submission! 

Closing date: 1 November 2024 

4. James Hearst Poetry Prize  

To participate, writers can submit 5 poems per submission. All winning entries, runner-ups, honorable mentions, and finalists will be offered publication in North American Review’s spring issue. 

Entry fee: $23 

Closing date: 2 November 2024 

5. Servicescape Short Story Award 

This contest awards original works of short fiction and non-fiction. Writers can submit a story on any theme and genre. 

Word count: 5,000 or less

Closing date: 30 November 2024 

We’ll keep updating this list every month, adding more paid and free writing contests in 2024. If you’d like us to look for some specific types of contests, feel free to let us know in the comments! As providers of expert self-publishing services , it’s our duty to help you out and we take it very seriously!

Want to stick around and read more about writing? Here are some articles to begin with:

• What Is Show, Don’t Tell? (Meaning, Examples & 6 Tips)
• How to Write a Book Review (Meaning, Tips & Examples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to participate in writing contests, can i submit previously published work to writing contests, what genres are typically covered in free writing competitions, where can i get updates on the results of the contest, what are the submission guidelines for free writing contests.

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10 comments on “ Writing Contests 2024: Cash Prizes & Free Entries ”

Thank you for this list. I will try a few.

Please, keep me updated on single poetry contests. Because I have not written enough for a book as of yet!

We’ll keep updating the list.

i liked your list!

Greatly appreciated

This is a fantastic list! 🙂 What is the best way to submit a contest to the list?

Thanks Alex, You can check the contest submission guidelines on the website. Keep reading for the upcoming writing contests!

It is awesome!

Thank you for the list 😉 Great opportunity to get my feet wet; I will try a couple

Thank you to give opportunity to teenagers.

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Short Story Contests Worth Your Time — Prizes, Fees, Deadlines

W riting contests are great ways to build your portfolio, and hone your writing skills. For emerging writers especially, the price to pay is usually quite small, while the rewards range from getting published to receiving thousands. Not a bad trade-off. The only reasonable downside is all the extra work…for well…all the extra rejection.  Ah, I’m only slightly kidding. Rejection is part of the journey. It’s the bumpy road that takes you from nobody to somebody. So even if you don’t win first prize, entering into contests can help you get better. This article looks at some of the best short story contests out there right now.

Benefits of Short Story Contests

Why submit to writing contests.

Whether you’re an up and coming writer or published author, writing contests provide great practice for honing your craft. 

They allow you to churn out material quickly to make each deadline. Pumping out work nearly on-demand to meet these deadlines strengthens your writing muscles and your ability to face the blank page.

Deadlines are helpful too. For any level writer. These contests help develop the habit of actually finishing something, and often. It’s also great practice for sticking to your own deadlines. 

Not to mention, another huge benefit of submitting to writing contests....getting comfortable with getting your work out there. Gone are the days of obsessing over every single word. Well, no, you’ll still probably do that, but at least now you’re not using stupid excuses to hide from rejection. 

For aspiring writers, this consistency helps find your voice. Some competitions even provide feedback on your writing which is priceless if you want to become a better writer.

While there are a variety of writing competitions, short story contests are great ways to develop your skills as a writer. The focus is on writing compelling narratives in a more condensed time frame ( not an easy thing to do) and if you can pull that off well, over and over again, you’re well on your way to becoming a writer people will want to read.

And while these short story contests are great practice, most often one contest will allow multiple mediums to write in — like poetry, non-fiction, etc. The contests below all include short story categories but may also include those other mediums. 

Note: these deadlines and details sometimes change. Be sure to check the accompanied websites for the latest terms. 

Short Story, Flash Fiction, & Poetry

F(r)iction’s summer 2021 contests.

An offbeat but provocative online mag that comes from Brink Literacy Project. This asks for works that push boundaries and take risks, a mag that boasts everything from comics to poetry.

For this contest, the short story is the main event with a prize of $1,000, but you’ll have the option of submitting flash fiction and poetry respectively. 

Short story writing contests

Top Prize — $ 2,100

Category(-ies)  — Short Story, Flash Fiction, Poetry

Entry Fee — $10

Additional Prizes — Flash Fiction $300, Poetry $300

Deadline — April (TBD)

Rolling Short Story Contests

The reedsy prompts contest(s).

If you subscribe to the Reedsy newsletter, each Friday you'll receive a writing prompt. You’ll have about a week to send it in, and you’ll get notified the next week if you’ve won! It’s a great weekly practice to commit to, and it’s completely free!

Free short story contests

Top Prize  — $50

Category(-ies)  — Short Story, Fiction

Entry Fee — Free

Additional Prizes — Publication on Reedsy

Deadline  —   Every Week!

Black Lawrence Press Short Story Contest 

The black river chapbook competition.

Black Lawrence Press runs the Black River Chapbook Competition twice each year for unpublished prose or poems between 16 and 36 pages in length. It’s open to brand new, emerging, or established writers.

Chapbooks receive an ISBN and are nationally distributed through Small Press Distribution, as well as their website and Amazon. 

Short story competitions

Top Prize — $ 500

Category(-ies)  — Short Story, Fiction, Poetry

Entry Fee — $ 15

Additional Prizes — Publication, + 10 copies of book

Deadline — May 31st, 2021

Writer’s Digest Short Story Contest

Writer’s digest short story competition.

The good ole Writer’s Digest! Send them your best short fiction in 1500 words or less. This one really celebrates the writer as the top 25 winners receive recognition. While the grand prize totals in at $3,000 cash, your short story published in Writer’s Digest mag’s September/October issue, and a paid trip to the annual conference, the other 24 winners get a little something too! 

*See their website for more details. Writer’s Digest hosts a variety of competitions across categories with varying deadlines.

Short fiction writing contests

Top Prize — $ 3,000

Entry Fee — $ 25-$30

Additional Prizes — Cash, Publication, Gift Cards

Deadline —  May 2022 (TBD)

Flash 500 Annual Competition

Annual short story contest.

Based in the U.K., this contest looks for any genre ranging from 1,000-3,000 words. It also gladly accepts stories written by or for children, which is a unique spin. The payments and fees are in British pounds on their site, but below is current approximate of the U.S. dollar exchange.

For more info, check their site. 

Short story contests

Top Prize —  $610

Entry Fee — $8

Additional Prizes — N/A

Deadline — February 28th, 2022

Tennesse Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival 

Twf very short fiction contest.

Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival hosts their Very Short Fiction Contest, asking for an original short story up to 1,000 words max. The top prize is $500 bucks with a VIP pass to the festival, a public reading at the festival, and a publication in the New Orleans Review , as well as other mentions on social media, their newsletter and website. 

Top Prize —  $500

Category(-ies)  — Short Story, Fiction, Flash Fiction

Entry Fee — $ 20

Additional Prizes — VIP Pass to Festival, Publication

Deadline —  October 2th, 2021

Rolling Fiction Competitions

Havok writing contests.

Each season, HAVOK puts out a new contest. Each season has a new theme. Short stories, flash fiction, thrillers are usually welcomed. The themes function as writing and story prompts for you.

There are 4 competitions each year, 1 for each season, and the next one is approaching fast on October 5th , but that being said, the next one is just around the corner. Season 4’s theme is Sensational. It’s a journey of the senses to immerse the readers in everything possible in the human experience. 

Check out their site for more info. 

Top Prize — $ 10

Category(-ies)  — Short Story

Additional Prizes — Publications and Gift Cards

Deadline —  Deadline per season, rolling

Reed Magazine Short Story Competitions

John steinbeck award for fiction.

This contest awards fiction up to 5,000 words. All entries are considered for publication. See website for more information on eligibility requirements.

short story contests

Top Prize —  $ 1,000

Additional Prizes — Publication

Deadline —  November 1st, 2021

Short Story Contest Offered by The Madison Review

Chris o’malley prize in fiction.

The entries open up on October 1st and the entries may be up to 30 pages, 1,000-7500 words (double spaced). This is an annual offering from The Madison Review, and also offers other opportunities for poetry. 

Top Prize — $ 1,000

Entry Fee — $ 10

Deadline —  January (TBD)

Pithead Chapel’s Short Story Contest

Larry brown short story award.

The fifth annual short story award with the top three winners receiving cash prizes and the 4th and 5th receiving copies Tiny Love: The Complete Stories by Larry Brown. Your short story must be less than 4,000 words.

Deadline —  October 31st, 2021

Emerging Writers Short Story Contest

Lorian hemingway short story competition.

This contest is open to those writers who have not yet been published in a nationally distributed magazine. Submissions must be less than 3500 words. The deadline is fast approaching, and by the time you read this, it may be passed. But this one is worth marking on your calendar. $1500 will be awarded for first place winner, and $500 for 2nd and 3rd place writers. 

Top Prize —  $ 1,500

Additional Prizes — Publication in Cutthroat Magazine

Deadline —  October 1st, 2021

Annual Contests to Watch

Raymond carver short story contest.

The Raymond Carver Short Story Contest is one of the best to submit to, bookmark it or write it down, but remember it! With great judges and over 3k in prizes, the contest yields some pretty great fiction. You can also submit to them regularly. See their website for more details. $2000 will be awarded for first place winner, and $500 for 2nd and $250 for 3rd place writers. 

Top Prize — $ 2,000

Additional Prizes — Publication 

Best Screenwriting Contests

If screenplays are your preferred writing medium, take a look at our next article which highlights the best screenwriting contests out there. See the requirements and deadlines to get your script noticed. 

Up Next: Best Screenwriting Contests →

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This Is Fictional

The Big List of UK Writing Competitions & Awards 2024 (Part 1)

This one's a biggie.

Hello writery pals!

*Fanfare music* Welcome to the big list of 50 writing competitions and awards for UK writers in 2024.

Whether you write novels, short stories, flash fiction, poetry, prose poetry or anything in between , whether you’re unpublished or published, there’s something for everyone.

The opportunities below come along with some impressive prizes. From free places on writing retreats (I’m dying to go on one of these!) and mentoring with industry experts, to tens of thousands of pounds in cash prizes.

Disclaimers — sounds boring but, trust me, they’re worth reading

If you’re a new writer, I’d recommend going only with the free entry opportunities in the first instance. Tip: search this page for the word ‘free’ to find them quicker.

The more prestigious awards on this list are highly competitive and some have more expensive entry fees than others, so only go with what you can afford.

Most of the bigger competitions also offer a number of free or sponsored entries for writers on low incomes.

For any opportunities you’re particularly interested in, I’d recommend signing up to the organisation’s mailing list (most of them have one) and following them on social media for updates. I say this because some deadlines or competition details may change as organisations gear up for the 2024 round.

Always make sure you read the full T&Cs for any opportunity you enter.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are tons of other amazing opportunities out there, some still to be announced. If there are any you think should be added to this list, let me know in the comments.

Happy writing!

The Big List of UK Writing Competitions & Awards 2024 — Part 1

New Writers - Flash Fiction Competition

This flash competition is open to writers from around the world. Entries should be 300 words maximum. New Writers is offering a top prize of £1,000, a second prize of £300 and a third prize of £200. The deadline is midnight (UK time) on Wednesday 31st January 2024 and £1.00 from each entry will be donated to First Story.

Entry fee: from £10

Deadline: 31st January 2024

Story Unlikely - Short Story Contest

There are no restrictions on genre for this contest. Story Unlikely says, “we don't care as long as it's written and told with quality and care.” The word limit is 4,500. The competition is open to writers of any age and location. 

A prize package of $1,000- $1,500 will be divided up into: $750 first place, $500 second place, $250 third place. The winning story will be featured on Story Unlikely’s website and will be strongly considered for their annual print sample magazine.

Entry fee: unknown but looks like it’s free

Bath Flash Fiction Award

Submit your best flash fiction to this industry favourite award at 300 words or less. 50 longlisted writers will be offered publication in the end of year print and digital anthology. Longlistees will also receive a free print copy. £1,000 prize for the winner, £300 second and £100 third. Two commendations will receive £30 each.

Entry fee: from £7.50

Deadline: 4th February 2023

Curtis Brown Creative - Gillian McAllister Novel-Writing Scholarship for Disabled Writers

The Gillian McAllister Novel-Writing Scholarship for Disabled Writers awards one disabled writer a free place on their online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course. With weekly teaching and workshopping from author Christopher Wakling on CBC’s interactive platform, the winner will also receive one-to-one tutorials and advice from authors and literary agents. 

The course will help the winning writer hone your craft and develop their novel. 

Entry fee: free

Deadline: 11th February 2024

Writers' & Artists' Short Story Competition 2024

W&A’s free annual short story competition offers the winner a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week (worth £850) as well as publication on our site.

To enter, all you have to do is submit a short story (for adults) of no more than 2,000 words on the theme of risk via our online competition form. Make sure you have a (free) account on their website. 

Deadline: 12th February 2024

The Watson, Little x Indie Novella Prize

Founded in 1971, Watson, Little Ltd is a long-established literary agency offering a full service to its clients across all aspects of media. 

Indie Novella is an online hub providing free advisory services to aspiring writers and a free online forum to help make novel writing and publishing more transparent and accessible. In celebration of this commitment, they are jointly launching a Fiction Prize for emerging writers.

The Prize is for fiction of all lengths (novels, novellas or stories), open to all unpublished (self-published also accepted) UK-based authors aged 16 and over. Writers are invited to write to fit one of three themes.

Deadline: 14th February 2024

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is a distinguished national writing competition for writers born or living in Wales. The first prize is £1,000 and publication in a short story anthology to be published by Parthian Books. 11 x finalists will win £100 each and publication in the anthology.

Entry fee: £8

Deadline: 15th February 2024

Next Generation Short Story Awards

The 2024 Next Generation Short Story Awards is open to all authors, even first time authors, in the USA, Canada or internationally, who have an original short story of 5,000 words or less. Entries should be previously unpublished and written in English.

Entry fee: from $20

Deadline: 28th February 2024

The London Library - Emerging Writers Programme

The London Library Emerging Writers Programme is a unique opportunity which offers writers, in all genres and disciplines, one year’s free membership of The London Library and includes writing development masterclasses, networking opportunities, peer support, access to and guidance in using all the Library’s resources and publication in the cohort anthology. 

The Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

Every year since 2014, the CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international short story competition. The word limit on this one is 3,500.

The goal of this competition is to find the best unpublished short mystery, one which fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great mystery story.

Entries are welcomed from published and unpublished writers, written in English. The prize for the winner is £500. 

Entry fee: £18

Deadline: 29th February 2024

Scottish Arts Trust - Edinburgh Short Story Award 2024

The Edinburgh Short Story Award is open to writers everywhere with stories on any topic up to 2,000 words. The first prize is £3,000 and there’s a £750 prize for the top entry by an unpublished writer living in Scotland. 

Entry fee: £10 per story

Deadline: 29th February 2024 

P.S. Check out the other awards from the Scottish Arts Trust including the Write Mango Award and Isobel Lodge Award. Entries for these close at the same time as the Short Story Award.

The Kelpies Prize for Writing 2024

The Kelpies Prize for Writing is for writers in Scotland who are keen to start a career in children’s books. The prize package includes a mentorship with an experienced editorial team, consideration for a publishing deal and £500 cash, “which we hope will help our winner take their first steps as a children’s author.”

Anthology Poetry Competition

Established to recognise excellence in the craft of poetry writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Poetry Competition is open to original and previously unpublished poems written in English. Entries are welcomed from poets of all nationalities, living anywhere in the world. 

There is no restriction on theme or style. Poems submitted should be 40 lines or less. There is no limit on the number of entries per person. Each submission requires a separate entry form and will be subject to a separate entry fee.

The winner will receive a €1,000 cash prize and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology. The winner will also receive a one-year subscription to Anthology. Second place: €250. Third place: €150.

Entry fee: €10

Deadline: 27th February 2024 for very early bird entry fee

BBC National Short Story Award

This is one of the most significant short story competitions in the UK. The prize is awarded yearly by the BBC. Writers entering this award must have a prior record of publishing creative work in the UK (so this one is for established writers only). Stories up to 8,000 words are accepted and may be submitted by the author or by their agent. First place: £15,000.

Deadline: estimated March 2024

Tempest Prize

The Tempest Prize will award one unpublished LGBTQ+ writer based in the North of England a £1000 bursary, mentoring from Andrew McMillan and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Talent Network. It will be open between February and March 2024 to submissions of poetry, fiction and narrative non-fiction. The prize will be judged by Andrew and a co-judge still to be announced.

Andrew McMillan is the writer of award-winning poetry collections physical, pandemonium and playtime and his highly anticipated debut novel, Pity, is due for publication by Canongate in 2024. The Tempest Prize is the second to be set up and funded by a previous award-winner, after author Benjamin Myers inaugurated the Finchale Prize for Short Fiction in 2022.

Entry fee: unknown

P.S. It looks like there’s no website yet so follow Andrew on social media and keep an eye out for this one. 

Forward Prizes for Poetry

This is the largest annual poetry competition in the UK. The prize recognises the best collection, best first collection and best single poem in the UK each year. All works put forward for the prize will also be considered for publication in The Forward Book Of Poetry, an annual anthology. Entries must be published works and individual poets cannot enter their own work. There’s up to £5,000 to be won depending on the category you enter.

The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2024

The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction (The Smokey) is a biennial competition celebrating excellence in flash.

The grand prize winner of The Smokey is automatically nominated for The Best Small Fictions, The Pushcart, Best of the Net and any other prize deemed appropriate. They’ll also pay the grand prize winner $2,500. Second place: $1,000. Third place: $500. Finalists: $100.

Entry fee: $14

Deadline: 1st March 2024

The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize 2024

This prize is awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of the Alpine Fellowship 2024 – to be announced. The winner will receive a cash prize and the runners up will receive travel expense support to attend the 2024 symposium. First place: £3,000. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £1,000

Entry fee: unknown 

PFD Queer Fiction Prize

PFD (Peters, Fraser and Dunlop) runs a Queer Fiction Prize for new LGBTQIA+ writers to find emerging talent. Winners will be signed to PFD and supported in completing their novels. There are two separate categories: Adult and YA & Children’s Fiction.

Any un-agented LGBTQIA+ writer who is in the process of writing a piece of fiction is eligible to enter. Submissions do not necessarily have to be about LGBTQIA+ experiences, though they do especially want stories with LGBTQIA+ characters or themes.

Works do not need to be complete as the prize will provide representation and support in writing to the end of your novel.

The 2024 International Book & Pamphlet Competition

Poets with a collection drafted, this one is for you! This is The Poetry Business’s 38th International Book & Pamphlet Competition, judged by Jane Clarke.

The two winning collections will be beautifully produced and promoted widely and entered for all eligible awards and prizes. They will also be sold in bookshops throughout the UK and through online stockists of The Poetry Business publications.

Entrants should submit a collection of 20 pages of poetry. The two winners will receive £500 each, publication in The North magazine, a reading at The Wordsworth Trust and a place on a residential writing course. Two runners-up will receive publication in East of The North plus an online reading and an honorarium of £100 each.

Entry fee: £29

Deadline: 6th March 2024

Neil Gunn Writing Competition

Poetry and short story entries are welcome for the Neil Gunn Writing Competition. In their entry, writers should respond to this line from Bloodhunt by Neil Gunn: “Mystery. That was the last word, the word you came to at the end. No corner of its coverlet could you lift.”

Entry fee: £10 per single entry or £18 for both a poem and short story

Deadline: 8th March 2023

The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize

A rare one for all you prose poets! The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize aims to shine a light on this exciting hybrid form. They welcome prose poems, up to 50 lines, and encourage writers to be experimental and play with readers' expectations. First prize: £750. Second prize: £200. Third prize: £50

Entry fee: £11 (£5 per additional entry) 

Deadline: 31st March 2024

P.S. The Plaza Prizes has a host of other awards including crime, memoir, microfiction, audio poetry and much more. Check out the website for more information. 

Anthology Short Story Competition

The Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories, written in English, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. 

There are no restrictions on theme or style. There is a maximum word count of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they like. Each submission will require a separate entry form and entry fee.

The winner will receive €1,000 and the winning story will be published in a future issue of Anthology. Second place: €250. Third place: €150.

Entry fee: €15

Deadline: 31st March 2024 for early bird entry fee

Anne Brown Essay Prize 2024

The Anne Brown Essay Prize awards £1500 for the best literary essay by a writer in or from Scotland. Essays can be on any topic, with a maximum word count of 4,000. Unpublished essays are especially welcome.

The Deborah Rogers Foundation – The Writers Award

This writer’s award was the first initiative of the Deborah Rogers Foundation. It was set up in 2015 in memory of the much loved and respected literary agent, Deborah Rogers. 

In keeping with Deborah’s special talent for nurturing emerging writers, the Award offers a substantial prize. £10,000 will go to a previously unpublished writer whose submission of 15,000- 20,000 words demonstrates literary talent and who needs financial support to complete their first book. The submitted work can be fiction, non-fiction, children’s or short stories. Applicants must reside in the British Commonwealth or Eire. Two shortlisted authors will win £1,000 each.

Entry fee: estimated £6

Deadline: estimated 31st March 2024

Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize

The Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize was established in 2019 as a celebration of the short story form and the resilience of independent booksellers. Funded by Brick Lane Bookshop, the competition is open to all UK residents and seeks to discover, publish and promote new, exciting and diverse voices in fiction. The prize is run by former Brick Lane Bookseller, Kate Ellis.

Each year, they invite a writer, a publisher and a literary agent to judge the competition. From a longlist of 12, they select a shortlist of six and three prize winners. The first prize is £1,000.

The 12 longlisted stories are published in their anthology which is available to buy from their website, Brick Lane Bookshop and many other good bookshops.

Deadline: estimated April 2024 (check Brick Lane Bookshop to confirm)

Bristol Short Story Prize 2024

The Bristol Short Story Prize is an international writing competition based in Bristol, UK which aims to publish great short stories and promote writers as much as possible. Discovering previously unpublished writers is central to their mission. They are committed to celebrating the short story form and making it accessible and available to as wide an audience as possible.

First prize: £1,000.

Entry fee: £9

Deadline: estimated 26th April 2024 (check Bristol Short Story Prize to confirm)

Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Short Story Competition

The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation Short Story Writing Competition is an international competition for new and experienced writers.

Three winning stories, selected by a panel including Jane Austen’s family, will be recorded as an audiobook by multi-award-winning narrator, Alison Larkin, and published worldwide to raise money for literacy projects in developing communities.

Deadline: 28th April 2024

Belfast Book Festival - Mairtín Crawford Award

The Mairtín Crawford Award invites writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are welcome to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award. The only stipulation is you can’t already have a published collection of poetry, short stories or a novel.

The winner of each award will receive a £500 cash prize. Each winner will also receive a ‘Time to Write’ package which includes a 3-night stay at Bullitt Hotel Belfast and 4 days of dedicated writing space in The Crescent. Two finalists for each category will receive a £250 cash prize.

Deadline: estimated 1st May 2024

The Creative Future Writers’ Award

The Creative Future Writers’ Award (CFWA) is a national writing development programme celebrating talented, underrepresented writers who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, health or social circumstance.

The prizes sound amazing! They include £20,000 and top writing development prizes supplied by publishers and development agencies. 

Deadline: estimated 14th May 2024

SI Leeds Literary Prize

The SI Leeds Literary Prize is for unpublished fiction by UK-based Black and Asian women, aged 18 and above. The aim of the prize is to act as a loudspeaker for fresh literary voices from under-represented groups and to help them reach new audiences in the mainstream.

The writer of the winning entry in 2022 was awarded of £4,000 and a range of additional valuable benefits through the prize’s unique writer development scheme, including: a free place at an Arvon creative writing course, free manuscript assessment of their work from The Literary Consultancy, an invitation to New Writing North’s London summer salon event for publishers and agents, workshops and support, speaking engagements and serious consideration for publication by Peepal Tree Press.

Entry fee: £10 but they do have a number of free entry bursaries for writers on a low income

Deadline: estimated 25th April 2024

Bridport Prizes - Short Story Competition

One of the largest short story prizes. The winning story will features in the Bridport Prize anthology, so you will see your words in print, maybe for the first time. The first place prize is £5,000. You will be invited to the awards celebration and get feedback from the judges and professional partners. Bridport will also champion you and your work. Second place: £1,000. Third place: £500. 

Entry fee: from £11

Deadline: May 31st 2024

BPA First Novel Award 2024

This award is open to unrepresented and unpublished authors for a novel in any adult fiction genre.

The winner receives £1,000 and an introduction with an agent. The runner up will get £500 and an introduction with an agent. And the highly commended writer will receive £150 and an introduction with an agent.

Entry fee: £24

Deadline: estimated 31st May 2024

Bath Novel Award 2024

The Bath Novel Award is an international writing competition based in Bath, UK for writers of novels in every genre. Now in its 10th year, the prize celebrates emerging authors who may be unpublished, self-published or independently-published. 

First prize: £5,000 with full manuscript feedback for shortlistees and extract feedback for all listees. Additional longlist prize of a £1,800 course with the Professional Writing Academy & Cornerstones Literary Consultancy 

Entry fee: £29.99 with sponsored places available for writers on a low income

Deadline: 31 May 2024

Jenny Brown Associates – Over 50 Award

Open to all writers over 50, this award was created to address the lack of literary opportunities available to older writers eager to break into the publishing industry. The award also aims to celebrate and value the collected, distilled wisdom and a lifetime of reading and experience of writers over 50. 

Debut novelists are invited to submit the first 5,000 words of their novels. The prize will consist of £1,000 and a week’s residential placement at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre (the dream!) for the winner. The runners up will receive mentoring sessions with experienced writers, editors and agents as appropriate.

Deadline: estimated 31st May 2024 (check the Jenny Brown Associates website for more details) 

As well as compiling this list, I’ve also created a deadline calendar for you, populated with all 50 opportunities! This will make it even easier to keep up to date with writing competitions and awards throughout the year and never miss a deadline.

Read Part 2 and get the deadline calendar link

Ready for more?

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Liverpool Literary Festival short story competition now open

The Liverpool Literary Festival short story competition returns for 2024 and is now open for entries.

Get ready to unleash your creativity with this year’s theme ‘turning’, which explores the concept of change and transformation in our lives through storytelling.

What to write

This year’s theme is ‘turning’ and is the perfect opportunity to explore the multiple meanings this can have in our lives through writing. What happens when we turn from one thing or another? What happens when one thing turns into something else altogether? What about good turns and bad turns? Or how about turning over a new leaf or even what happens when we speak out of turn?

Write a short story no longer than 1,500 words in length in any genre on the theme of ‘turning’ and it could win you a spot at 2024’s annual Liverpool Literary Festival this 4-6 October. Both the winning story and runners-up will also be published in the festival anthology, as well as being displayed around campus.

How to enter

To enter, send your submissions to [email protected] by Friday 26 July 2024 at 11:59pm.

Please read all the terms and conditions before entering.

When submitting your entry, please include the following information:

• Email address
• Phone number

Who can enter

The competition is open to all staff and students, with three categories:

• Undergraduate students
• Postgraduate students

Prizes for student categories

Winner: £100 Liverpool One voucher Runner-up: £50 Liverpool One voucher

Dr Danny O’Connor, Colm Tóibín Lecturer in Creative Writing, Department of English Professor Greg Lynall, King Alfred Chair in English Literature, Department of English Marta Zanucco, University of Liverpool PhD candidate and 2022 ‘Postgraduate’ category winner

Submission deadline

Entries close on Friday 26 July 2024, at 11:59pm.

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Indiana State thrower Erin Reese is an Olympian... maybe: 'It’s really cutting it close.'

EUGENE, Ore. – When Erin Reese began learning to throw a hammer — an 8-pound, 13-ounce metal ball attached to a wire — she just wasn’t getting it. She was so bad, her college coach told the throws coach to quit wasting time on her.

Besides, the event looked “terrifying,” he said.

Nine years later, Erin Reese is an Olympian. Or possibly an Olympian. More on that in a minute.

“I’m just going to wait and hope,” she said. “I’m thrilled about the moment.”

US Track and Field Olympic Trials: Here are Indiana athletes to watch.

Reese, an Indiana State graduate employed as a mental health case worker , climbed to third in the hammer on her final throw Sunday night at the Olympic Trials . Customarily, three make the U.S. team, but she lacks the standard and must rely on a byzantine rankings system to reach the Paris Olympics .

It was a tumultuous competition in which Reese finished ahead of three women who do have the standard.

“I wanted to be top three. That’s something I’ve always dreamt about, it’s something I always wanted to do,” said Reese, 28, a native of Mount Prospect, Ill. “I envisioned a more clear path to get there.

“I’m happy. I wanted to throw far, and I did throw far, relatively. I wanted a little bit more.”

Annette Echikunwoke, who formerly represented Nigeria, finished first with a distance of 245 feet. DeAnna Price, the 2019 world champion, was second at 244-6 to make a third Olympic team.

Before the final round, Reese was fourth, trailing Notre Dame graduate Rachel Tanczos. Reese added six feet to her best throw, hitting 233-7.

“I couldn’t stop shaking. I was so excited,” Reese said.

Tanczos was fourth at 232-10. Janee' Kassanavoid, the 2023 world bronze medalist, was sixth at 227-11. Brooke Andersen, the 2024 world leader and 2022 world champion, fouled all three of her attempts.

Reese said she tried not to think about what was at stake on her last throw.

“There’s nothing to lose, nothing else to do except execute what I’ve been doing in practice,” she said. “And my coach told me, ‘Believe in yourself, believe in the training, believe in what we’re doing.’

“And it just came together on that throw.”

She tries to compartmentalize her life, separating track and field from work at the Hamilton Center, a not-for-profit regional behavioral health system. Usually, the teens have no idea she is a world-class athlete.

“I’m excited to go home and tell them all,” Reese said. “I was telling them a little bit going into it. I was like, ‘This is what I’m doing. Who knows what will happen?’ They don’t really get it yet.”

Reese doesn’t always get it, either.  She said the hammer can be a mystery. At February’s USA Indoor Championships, she came within less than a foot of Price’s world record in the 20-pound weight. Success doesn’t always translate to the hammer, though.

She started at University of Dayton and followed her throws coach, Brandan Bettenhausen, to Indiana State. For the Sycamores, she was a five-time Missouri Valley Conference champion in hammer, discus and weight. In 2019, she finished second in the NCAA behind California’s Camryn Rogers, a Canadian who became world champion in 2023.

Reese is ranked 42 nd by World Athletics, and Paris entries are limited to 32.

Paradoxically, USA Track & Field impaired her ranking because she was not accepted by USATF into meets at Los Angeles and New York that could have increased her points. With three entries per nation, some throwers (including five Americans) will be displaced to advance Reese, whose score will increase from the Olympic Trials. She could yet make it.

“It’s really cutting it close,” she said.

She does not plan to throw in a last chance meet to reach the standard of 242-9.

Elsewhere, Lynna Irby-Jackson’s quest to make a second Olympic team is probably over. She finished seventh in the 400 meters in 50.74 seconds.

She was first at 100 meters in 11.84 and fourth at 200 in 23.88. She was fifth at 300 but had the second-slowest last 100 meters, 14.27, out of nine finalists.

USATF customarily takes at least six for relay pools. Irby-Jackson, 25, a 12-time state champion at Pike High School, was sixth at the 2021 trials and won two medals at the Tokyo Olympics.

Another state champion, Huntington North’s Addy Wiley, was sixth in a semifinal of the 800 in 2:02.42 and eliminated. Wiley, 20, who left Huntington University to turn pro, has heats of the 1,500 Thursday.

In a final Monday night, Cathedral High graduate Cole Hocker and Notre Dame grad Yared Nuguse will try to make their second Olympic teams in the 1,500. Rushville’s Charity Hufnagel, who won an NCAA title for Ball State last year, is in the high jump final.

Contact IndyStar correspondent David Woods at [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.

Diego Government Primary tops essay-writing competition

CHEERS echoed through the auditorium of the Diego Martin National Library on June 18, as Renecia Frederick copped first place in the Diego Martin Borough Corporation (DMBC) essay-writing competition.

The standard four student of Diego Martin Government Primary received $1,000 in school supply vouchers, $500 worth of MovieTowne vouchers and a trophy.

The children were asked to write about topics such as If I Were Mayor for the Day; Your Dream Adventure/Favourite Place in the Borough; and My Councillor.

The borough corporation also rewarded the youngsters who participated in its video competition, but did not make it to the finals. They received a participation trophy, a $100 book store voucher, and a Wendy's TT voucher.

The essay and video competitions were part of its month-long celebrations to mark Diego Martin's first anniversary of becoming a borough.

Second place went to Kealon Noel of Four Roads Government Primary, who received $700 worth of school-supply vouchers, $300 worth of MovieTowne vouchers and a trophy.

Tamia De Souza, of Carenage Girls' Government Primary, received $300 worth of school-supply vouchers, $200 worth of MovieTowne vouchers and a trophy for placing third.

All other participating schools – St Anthony’s Girls' RC, Crystal Stream Government, Pt Cumana Government, Diego Martin Girls' RC and Cocorite Government Primary School – received a participation trophy, a $100 bookstore voucher, and a Domino's Pizza voucher.

Mayor Akeliah Glasgow-Warner, in a news release from the DMBC, said, “Every single school and individual performer did an exceptional job. It's clear that Diego Martin is brimming with talented young writers and videographers.

"I was captivated by the creativity, insight, and skill displayed in your essays and videos. So much so, that every participant will be recognised and rewarded with a participation trophy, as I want every child and every parent to be aware that the Borough is fully supportive of our burgesses and wishes them well as they continue to grow and develop their abilities.”

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Footballer, geotechnical engineer is miss world tt, pm defends move to sell petrotrin refinery, indian walk woman critical after attempted murder-suicide, "diego government primary tops essay-writing competition", more in this section, the hideout clothing opens store in paris, trinidad and tobago film begins caribbean tour in jamaica, trinidad and tobago-born retired professor offers free communication workshops, montano making waves in dance and choreography in tobago.

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Summer Reading Contest, Week 1: What Got Your Attention in The Times This Week?

To participate, submit your response here by June 14 at 9 a.m. Eastern. This week’s winners will be announced by June 26.

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Our 15th Annual Summer Reading Contest begins!

Every week for 10 weeks this summer we’re asking students “What got your attention in The New York Times this week? Why?” To participate in Week 1, choose something to read, watch or listen to in The Times and submit a response that answers those questions by 9 a.m. Eastern on June 14.

You can choose anything that was published in the print paper or on nytimes.com in 2024, including articles, photos, essays , videos , podcasts or graphics . We hope you’ll click around to find your own great pieces, but we also know that not everyone who participates has a Times subscription so, each week, you’ll find dozens of free links to interesting articles, features and multimedia below.

Students are invited to submit responses in the form of a 250-word comment OR a 90-second video. Please see the requirements for each type of response below and read the full rules and guidelines in our contest announcement before making your submissions.

Your responses will be read by New York Times journalists and staff, as well as educators from around the world. We’ll choose at least one favorite answer to feature on our site each week. Winners from Week 1 will be announced by June 26.

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Best Children's Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 17 contests that match your search.

Youth Writing Contest

Vancouver Writer's Fest

Genres: Children's

Every year, the Vancouver Writers Fest launches a youth writing contest for short stories and personal essays in spring. We’re thrilled to once again be organizing two writing contests for students in British Columbia: one for grades 5-7 and the other for grades 8-12. These contests are judged by esteemed members of the Vancouver literary community.

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024 (Expired)

Cricket Magazine Contest

Cricket Magazine

Will you write about a hidden talent or secret superpower? A secret identity or a hidden message? Whatever you decide, all the bugs in Cricket Country just can’t hide their excitement to read your wonderful words. They’ll be sticking close to the mailbox in hopes that you don’t hide your poetic talent. Proudly share your best poem—of 24 lines or fewer, please—about hiding.

Publication in Cricket Magazine

📅 Deadline: May 30, 2024 (Expired)

IEW Writing Contest

Institute for Excellence in Writing

We are delighted to present our annual writing contest for all aspiring and accomplished writers, ages eight to eighteen. Whether or not they have experience with IEW's Structure and Style® writing method, your students are invited to participate. For both the students and their teachers, we have great prizes for the top three in each category!

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Expired)

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North Street Book Prize

Winning Writers

Genres: Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Children's, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult

Submit a self-published or hybrid-published book, up to 200,000 words in length. One grand prize winner will receive $10,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, three months of Plus service (a $207 value) and a $500 account credit from Book Award Pro, and 3 free ads in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $525 value)

Additional prizes:

$1,000 for top winner in each category | $300 for honorable mentions

💰 Entry fee: $75

📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024 (Expired)

$1000 for 1000 Words Contest

The Layla Beban Young Authors

Genres: Children's and Short Story

The $1000 for 1000 Words fiction writing contest is open to all students enrolled in grades 6-12. Each entrant may submit a fiction piece consisting of exactly 1,000 words (not including title or author’s name). The fiction piece can be on any topic, as long as it is not vulgar or offensive, does not use inappropriate profanity, and is the original work of the entrant not previously published.

📅 Deadline: February 01, 2024 (Expired)

Amazing Women’s Edition Contest

National Youth Foundation

Founded by Black women with a vision for change, the mission of the National Youth Foundation is to promote diversity, inclusion and gender equality through innovative literary programs. To honor the vast accomplishments of women in the United States, the National Youth Foundation is pleased to announce the Amazing Women’s Edition (AWE) competition. This writing contest is open to students in grades K to 8 residing in the United States.

📅 Deadline: January 07, 2022 (Expired)

Celebration Day Writing Contest

The Celebration Day Competition gets children to connect with the oldest person they know and interview them about the person who inspired them most growing up. They will retell the story in a creative way to win their work being read out on camera by a star-studded collection of celebrity guests, an iPad, and a £100 Amazon voucher. You must be aged between five and 18 to enter the competition, or be a teacher, and can live anywhere in the world.

£100 Amazon Voucher

Celebrities reading out winning entries, publication on website.

📅 Deadline: June 21, 2022 (Expired)

Promising Young Writers Contest

National Council of Teachers of English

Through collaboration and community, shared stories and shared experiences, NCTE supports teachers and their students in classrooms, on college campuses, and in online learning environments. The Promising Young Writers Program stimulates and recognizes the writing talents of eighth-grade students and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.

The NCTE Certificate of Recognition

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: February 15, 2024 (Expired)

John Estey Student Writing Competition

American Writers Museum

“Tradition was safety; change was danger.” — Mary Doria Russell, The Sparrow. This prompt is a quote from Russell’s The Sparrow and can be used as a first line, a last line, a jumping-off point, an inspiration for your students’ work.

📅 Deadline: June 07, 2024 (Expired)

Jane Austen Society of North America Essay Contest

Jane Austen Society of North America

Genres: Children's and Essay

JASNA conducts an annual student Essay Contest to foster the study and appreciation of Jane Austen's works in new generations of readers. Students world-wide are invited to compete for scholarship awards in three divisions: high school, college, and graduate school.

$1,000 scholarship

Two nights’ lodging for JASNA’s Annual General Meeting

📅 Deadline: June 02, 2022 (Expired)

The Bath Children's Novel Award

The Bath Novel Awards

Genres: Children's, Fiction, and Young Adult

The Bath Children's Novel Award is a £5,000 international prize for emerging writers of children's fiction. Submit the first 5,000 words plus a one page synopsis of your chapter book or novel for children or young adults, or up to three picture book texts with summaries. Shortlistees receive feedback on their full manuscript from young judges and all listees receive editorial director feedback on their extract and synopsis.

£1,800 course for one longlistee

💰 Entry fee: $38

📅 Deadline: November 30, 2024

Rattle Poetry Prize

Rattle Foundation

Genres: Children's and Poetry

The annual Rattle Poetry Prize 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.

💰 Entry fee: $30

📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024

100 Word Writing Contest

Tadpole Press

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, Young Adult, Children's, Poetry, Romance, Short Story, Suspense, and Travel

Can you write a story using 100 words or less? Pieces will be judged on creativity, uniqueness, and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible or unexpectedly delights us. In addition, we are looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling and complete story. The first-place prize has doubled to $2,000 USD.

2nd: writing coach package

💰 Entry fee: $15

The Betty Award

As one of the few competitions for elementary and middle school students, The Betty Award grants cash prizes for written pieces below 1,000 words. The Betty Award has both a Spring & Fall contest.

💰 Entry fee: $20

📅 Deadline: May 04, 2024 (Expired)

"Write On!" Short Story Contest

Ann Arbor District Library

The annual "Write On!" Short Story Contest for Grades 3-5 accepts story entries each winter. All writers, their friends, and families are invited to a Story Celebration and awards ceremony on Saturday, April 23, 2022, featuring a published children's author and the top three writers in each grade will receive an award.

Publication on website

📅 Deadline: February 05, 2024 (Expired)

World Historian Student Essay Competition

World History Association

The World Historian Student Essay Competition is an international competition open to students enrolled in grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools, and those in home-study programs. Membership in the World History Association is not a requirement for submission. Past winners may not compete in the same category again.

I Am Writing Competition

Genres: Children's, Crime, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, and Young Adult

Please submit the first 3,500 words of your novel. A one-page synopsis is also required.

30-minute consultation with genre expert

💰 Entry fee: $13

📅 Deadline: May 28, 2024 (Expired)

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests. 

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course: How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether. 

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

How to Write a Novel

Understanding Point of View

Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love

Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

On Editing:

Story Editing for Authors

How to Self-Edit Like a Pro

Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites

How to Write a Short Story in 7 Steps

Reedsy's guide to novel writing

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After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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