Have you ever ever Googled “writing contests”? Many require “studying charges” or prizes — like seeing your work in print — you can solely obtain in case you pay for it.
Some authentic contests do cost small entry charges, however usually a charge generally is a crimson flag for a rip-off, so these could be those you need to steer clear of.
In addition to, there are many free writing contests that encourage and encourage boundless creativity with actual money prizes and career-advancing alternatives! Since it may be onerous for a author to know the place to search out them, we did the legwork for you.
We discovered 40 respected, well-reviewed, free writing contests for poets, fiction writers, essayists and extra. With 1000’s of {dollars} in money prizes and quite a few alternatives to safe a publishing contract, you’re positive to search out the proper free writing contest on your work.
(For those who don’t thoughts paying just a little cash to enter, our associates over at Good Blogger have rounded up some nice writing contests which have small entry charges. And in case you’re nonetheless hungry for extra alternatives, we even have posts on writers grants and writing fellowships.)
Fiction and nonfiction writing contests this yr
Able to share your novel or private essay with the world? Whether or not you’re a beginner or extra established author, you’re doubtless eligible for just a few of those contests.
Listed below are some fiction and nonfiction writing contests price contemplating.
1. L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest
No matter your emotions about L. Ron Hubbard’s work and philosophy, the prizes for this common contest are nothing to sneeze at. Each three months, winners earn $1,000, $750 and $500, plus an extra annual grand prize of $5,000.
Submissions have to be brief tales or novelettes (as much as 17,000 phrases) within the style of science fiction or fantasy, and new and novice writers are welcome to use.
Deadlines: Quarterly on March 31, June 30 and September 30.
2. Inkitt
This boutique publishing agency provides money prizes and promotional packages to successful authors. Submit a novel of 10,000 phrases or extra in any fiction style (no fanfic or poetry).
Inkitt’s writing contest runs month-to-month and provides authors the prospect to win money prizes as much as $300, unique guide badges and promotional packages whereas showcasing their books to Inkitt’s viewers of greater than 3 million customers. Winners are decided by Inkitt’s distinctive algorithm primarily based on general reader engagement.
Deadline: See particular person contest pages.
Disclosure: Inkitt is an promoting accomplice of The Write Life. We maintain our advertisers to high requirements and vetted this contest similar to others on this listing.
3. Drue Heinz Literature Prize
You’ll be able to win $15,000 and publication by the College of Pittsburgh Press with this prize, awarded for a set of brief fiction.
You could submit an unpublished manuscript of brief tales, two or extra novellas or a mix of novellas and brief tales. Your whole phrase rely must be between 150 and 300 typed pages. You will need to even have already printed a novel or book-length work of fiction “with a good writer,” or no fewer than three brief tales or novellas in nationally-recognized journals.
Deadline: Annual submissions have to be postmarked between Might 1 by way of June 30.
4. St. Francis Faculty Literary Prize
Since 2009, this biennial literary award has honored mid-career writers who’ve not too long ago printed their third, fourth or fifth work of fiction. The winner receives $50,000 and could also be invited to the St. Francis Faculty campus in Brooklyn, New York, to ship a discuss their work or educate a mini fiction workshop to St. Francis college students.
Deadline: Biennially; the competition was not provided the final two years because of the pandemic and restricted campus entry
5. Younger Lions Fiction Award
This $10,000 award acknowledges “younger authors,” which the foundations outline as any writer aged 35 or youthful. Submit any novel or assortment of brief tales printed or scheduled to be printed within the calendar yr. Works have to be written for adults; youngsters’s or YA items are ineligible.
Deadline: Submissions for this yr are open as of Might; deadline is TBA
6. Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prizes
Among the finest-loved small presses within the inventive writing world, Graywolf Press hosts quite a lot of contests for each established and up-and-coming writers. Graywolf additionally provides smaller fiction and nonfiction prizes, with genres rotating by yr; 2020 was a nonfiction yr, so fiction was up in 2021, then again to nonfiction in 2022, and so forth. These awards embody a large advance — $12,000 in earlier years — in addition to publication with Graywolf.
Deadline: Contest is held yearly with rotating genres; this yr’s deadline is TBA.
7. The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans
Hosted by the celebrated Iowa Assessment, the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award is obtainable to U.S. army veterans and active-duty members writing in any style about any topic. Manuscripts of as much as 20 pages might be accepted, and the first-prize winner will obtain $1,000 and publication within the Assessment. A second place prize of $750 can be accessible, in addition to three runner-up prizes of $500 every.
Deadline: Biennially. The subsequent contest might be held in 2022.
8. New Voices Award
Introduced by Lee & Low Books, an award-winning youngsters’s guide writer, this award is given for a beforehand unpublished youngsters’s image guide manuscript of not more than 1,500 phrases written by a author of shade or Indigenous/Native writers who’s a resident of the U.S.
The winner receives $2,000 money and an ordinary publication contract, and an extra Honor Award winner will obtain a money prize of $1,000. You could submit as much as two manuscripts.
Deadline: Submissions for this yr might be accepted Might 1 to July 31.
9. Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
For 15 years, this contest has offered visibility for rising African American fiction writers and permits them to deal with their writing by awarding a $15,000 money prize. Eligible authors ought to submit a piece of fiction, corresponding to a novel or brief story assortment, printed within the calendar yr. (Galleys for publication inside the yr are additionally accepted.)
Deadline: Yearly; the deadline is August 15, annually
10. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Honoring the very best work of fiction printed by an American writer in a single calendar yr, this award has been given to the likes of John Updike, Philip Roth and Ann Patchett. Novels, novellas and collections of brief tales are all eligible.
The winner receives a hefty money prize — as much as $15,000 prior to now — and an invite to learn on the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. Plus, there aren’t any submission charges or software kinds to cope with; simply ship a PDF of every guide (as many as you’d like) to awards@penfaulkner.org.
Deadline: Every year, submissions might be accepted from July 1 to October 31.
11. PEN/Robert J. Dau Brief Story Prize for Rising Writers
This contest requires you to have already printed a brief story in a literary journal or journal or cultural website. However in case you’ve made your debut (however gone no additional), it’s possible you’ll be eligible for the beneficiant money prize of $2,000, which is yearly awarded to 12 rising writers, whose works are then printed collectively in an anthology.
Brief tales of as much as 12,000 phrases are eligible and have to be printed within the calendar yr previous the yr during which the award is given. Moreover, preserve this in thoughts: Submissions are solely eligible if submitted by an editor. Authors could not submit their very own work.
Deadline: Annual submission window between June and November.
12. Anisfield-Wolf Guide Awards
Fiction and nonfiction writers who’ve not too long ago printed a guide that “contribute[s] to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural variety” are eligible for this award, which provides $10,000 money in addition to media and publicity alternatives. Plus, winners obtain their prize at a ceremony in Cleveland.
Submissions have to be printed within the prior yr (so books printed final yr are eligible for the award this yr).
Deadline: Annual submission window is September 1 by way of December 31.
13. Marfield Prize (aka Nationwide Award for Arts Writing)
Introduced by the Arts Membership of Washington, this award seeks to honor nonfiction books that cope with the “visible, literary, media, or performing arts.” The prize is $10,000 and could also be awarded to works of criticism, artwork historical past, memoirs and biographies, and essays.
Deadline: Yearly within the final quarter of the yr; the submission window is often between November 16 to December 31.
14. W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Army Fiction
For those who’re a battle buff, this competitors is for you. It awards $5,000 — and a 24-karat-gold-framed quotation of feat — to the very best piece of fiction set throughout a interval when the U.S. was at battle (battle could both be the primary plot of the piece or just present the setting). Submissions could also be grownup or YA novels.
Deadline: Yearly on December 1.
15. Associates of American Writers Chicago Awards
FAW presents two annual awards: an Grownup Literature Award for literary fiction or nonfiction, and a Younger Individuals’s Literature Award for a youngsters’s/YA guide.
Authors should reside within the state of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin — or they need to set their guide in a type of areas. Prize quantities range from yr to yr, however you don’t should trouble with an software and all winners are celebrated on the group’s Might luncheon.
Deadline: Yearly in December
16. Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Contest
Hektoen Worldwide, an internet journal devoted to medical humanities, provides two prizes yearly for essays of not more than 1,500 phrases: $5,000 is awarded to the winner and $2,500 to the primary runner-up. Eligible subjects are broad as long as they’ve a relation to drugs, and lots of embody artwork, historical past, literature, schooling and extra.
Deadline: Yearly; September 15 is often the deadline
17. Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest
There’s no denying it: social media is a big a part of our Twenty first-century lives. It’s simple to get used to limiting our communications to 280-character and emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this advertising agency is internet hosting an essay writing contest to “remind folks of the advantages of writing.”
Essays of as much as 5,000 characters (roughly 1,000 phrases) might be accepted, and proper now they’re in search of tales of COVID-19 quarantine life. The grand prize winner will obtain $300, and 5 runners-up might be awarded $100 every.
The competition is free to enter, however you’ll must register for a Biopage account to be eligible.
Deadline: July 31, annually
18. St. Martin’s Minotaur / Thriller Writers of America First Crime Novel Competitors
Writers 18 and older who’ve by no means had a novel printed (in any style) are eligible for this prize, awarded to an authentic book-length manuscript the place “homicide or one other critical crime or crimes is on the coronary heart of the story.” The winner receives a publication contract with Minotaur Books and an advance of $10,000 in opposition to future royalties.
Deadline: December 17, every year
19. ServiceScape Brief Story Award
ServiceScape, a platform matching freelance writers, editors and graphic designers with purchasers (i.e. an awesome place to search for paid writing work!) provides a yearly Brief Story Award of $1,000 to a successful fiction or nonfiction work of 5,000 phrases or fewer. The winner can even have their story featured on the ServiceScape weblog, which sees 1000’s of readers every month.
Deadline: November 29, annually
20. Stowe Prize
This biennial prize of $10,000 honors an American writer whose grownup fiction or nonfiction work has had an impression on a crucial social justice situation (as did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin). The guide have to be written by a U.S. writer and have been printed in the USA in the course of the earlier three calendar years.
Deadline: Contact the Harriet Beecher Stowe Heart for this yr’s deadline.
21. The Diana Woods Memorial Award in Inventive Nonfiction
Inventive nonfiction essays of not more than 5,000 phrases on any topic are eligible for consideration for this award, whose winner receives $250 and publication in Lunch Ticket, the literary and artwork journal produced by the MFA neighborhood of Antioch College Los Angeles.
Works should not have been printed elsewhere. Award winners are required to submit a 100-word biography, current picture and a brief be aware thanking the Woods household for his or her generosity and assist.
Deadlines: Biannual studying durations are in February for the Summer time/Fall situation and in August for the Winter/Spring situation.
22. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms Essay Contest
Every year, this Canadian group provides three prizes, starting from $500 to $1,500, to the essay with essentially the most considerate, well-reasoned arguments round a particular human-rights theme. (For instance, 2022’s immediate was, “Canadian governments are making Digital ID applied sciences a precondition of entry to important companies and items. What can Canadians do to guard their Constitution rights and freedoms in opposition to the hazards of those applied sciences?”
The competition is open to Canadian faculty and college college students, and essays must be 2,500 phrases or much less in size.
Deadline: October 31, annually
23. Write the World
For younger writers ages 13-18, these cool contests additionally function mini workshops. Recognizing that “a primary draft is rarely excellent,” submissions really obtain peer evaluate by authors, writing lecturers and different specialists and writers are given the prospect to revise their items primarily based on this suggestions earlier than submitting them for remaining prize consideration.
Contests range every month, however there’s a $100 prize for the winner and $50 for the runner-up (plus $50 for the very best peer-reviewer). All three are featured on Write the World’s weblog alongside feedback from a visitor choose. And since every month’s immediate is from a special style, creating writers get an opportunity to check out completely different types.
Deadline: Month-to-month.
24. Prose.
Caught with author’s block and in search of a technique to jumpstart your escape? Prose provides weekly challenges meant to spark your creativity; many are only for enjoyable, however search for the weekly numbered challenges posted by Prose (somewhat than neighborhood members or sponsors) for an opportunity to win cash.
Prizes are usually between $100 to $200 and phrase counts are low — some as little as below 150, some as high as 500. So even when all you get from the immediate is an opportunity to flex your mind, it’s not a foul deal.
Deadline: Weekly and month-to-month.
25. The Stressed Books Prize For New Immigrant Writing
First-generation immigrants have an opportunity to win $10,000 and publication by Stressed Books for telling their tales (actual or imagined). The competition alternates yearly between fiction (novel or brief story assortment) and nonfiction (memoir, essay assortment, narrative nonfiction). In 2021, it went to a piece of nonfiction of at the least 25,000 phrases; 2022 might be fiction.
Deadline: Submission window is often between January and March.
26. AFSA Nationwide Excessive College Essay Contest
The U.S. Institute of Peace and the American Overseas Service Affiliation sponsor this annual high faculty essay contest, the place the winner receives a $2,500 money prize, an all-expense paid journey to Washington, D.C., and a full-tuition paid voyage with Semester at Sea upon the coed’s enrollment at an accredited college. Essays must be between 1,000 and 1,250 phrases and should reply all elements of the immediate in addition to exhibit an understanding of the Overseas Service.
Runners-up get a reasonably candy deal, too — a $1,250 money prize and a full scholarship to take part within the Worldwide Diplomacy Program of the Nationwide Scholar Management Convention.
Deadline: April, annually.
27. Science-me a Story
Born in 2018, the Society of Spanish Researchers invitations proficient and authentic writers to write down a 100-word blurb for a hypothetical novel. This would possibly sound very easy, however your blurb has to shortly hook readers and make them need to learn extra. Open to anybody over 18 anyplace on this planet, your actual or fictional brief story for this competitors have to be both in English or Spanish and “conceived from the target of scientific dissemination to major faculty” to qualify for the money prizes: £150, £100 and £50.
Deadline: April, annually.
28. VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
Virginia Commonwealth College sponsors this award that honors an impressive debut novel printed within the previous calendar yr. Whereas you might have printed earlier books in a special type, the submission have to be your first printed guide marketed as a novel.
The award is a $5,000 money prize, and the successful writer should comply with attend the award occasion, often scheduled for November.
Deadline: Yearly; the submission window runs from July 1 by way of December 30
29. Daisy Utemorrah Award
The Daisy Utemorrah Award is for an unpublished manuscript of junior or YA fiction written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples at present dwelling in Australia. Generously supported by the Copyright Company’s Cultural Fund and the State Authorities of Western Australia, the winner of the award receives $15,000 and a publishing contract with Magabala Books.
Deadline: Submission window often opens at first of every yr
30. Final Meal Plans Diet Scholarship
Faculty college students finding out diet, kinesiology or exercise-science fields: you’re going to be throughout this one. Twice per yr, the Final Paleo Information (aka the very best paleo useful resource on the web) awards $500 scholarships to 2 deserving college students who meet all eligibility necessities — in addition to write an 800-word essay about why you selected your subject, an impression you’d prefer to make in your profession, a problem you’ve confronted and extra.
Deadlines: January 30 (awards in March) and July 31 (awards in September).
31. Insecure Author’s Assist Group Annual Anthology Contest
So long as you keep on with the rules, The Insecure Author’s Assist Group’s annual contest welcomes your 5,000- to six,000-word (beforehand unpublished) inventive story. However earlier than you ship it off, be certain your story is polished and formatted! Plus, the prizes aren’t too shabby — successful tales might be edited and printed, authors will obtain royalties, and the highest story will even get to offer the anthology its title.
Deadlines: September 1, annually.
32. Brief Fiction Prize
For those who’re an undergrad at a school within the U.S. or Canada, this writing competitors is for you. (Historically, this contest has inspired candidates with an Asian background, however anybody is invited to use.) Submissions must be not more than 7,500 phrases.
One winner will get a $1,000 prize in addition to a scholarship to the subsequent Southampton Writers Convention.
Deadline: Submission window is often between March 1- July 14
33. Bacopa Literary Assessment Contest
The Bacopa Literary Assessment is a world journal printed by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. Every year, it opens submissions for items in 4 genres: fiction, inventive nonfiction, poetry and prose poetry. Discover detailed tips for every style on its website. First place will get $300, and the second prize in every of the 4 genres will get $100.
Deadline: Might 30, annually
Poetry contests this yr
Interested in alternatives for poets? Your stanzas — rhyming or not — might be price a good amount of cash in these poetry competitions.
Try these poetry writing contests.
34. Black Voices in Youngsters’s Literature Writing Contest
This contest is open to Black writers who’re over the age of 18 and residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota or Wisconsin. It’s hosted by Attempt Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing and seeks to fill the necessity for Black illustration in youngsters’s and younger grownup books. Unique board and movie books for kids aged 0-4 and movie books for ages 4-8 are eligible, offered they characteristic up to date, life like Black characters and tradition and deal with character growth, self-worth, neighborhood and different elements of constructive childhood growth.
Three prizes, starting from $250 to $1,000, might be awarded, and the first-place winner might be “significantly thought of” for publication, although it’s not assured.
Deadline: Often late July, annually.
35. James Laughlin Award
For those who’re already a printed poet, that is the award for you; it’s given for a second guide of poetry as a consequence of come out within the forthcoming yr. The winner receives $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid week-long residency at The Betsy Resort in Miami Seashore, Florida. As well as, copies of the successful guide are distributed to 1,000 members of the Academy of American Poets.
Deadline: Annual submission window is January 1 by way of Might 15.
36. African Poetry Guide Fund Prizes
The APBF awards three prizes yearly for African Poetry. The Luschei Prize for African Poetry provides $1,000 for a guide of authentic African poetry printed within the prior yr.
The Sillerman First Guide Prize for African Poets provides $1,000 and a publication contract for a book-length assortment of poetry by an as-yet-unpublished African writer.
The Brunel Worldwide African Poetry Prize is a brand new prize that grants £3,000 to a poet who was born in Africa, or has African dad and mom, who has not but had a full-length guide of poetry printed. (U.S. residents qualify.) To submit, you’ll want 10 poems.
Deadlines: See particular person prize pages.
37. Tufts Poetry Awards
Claremont Graduate College presents two awards annually to poets they deem to be “excellent.” The Kate Tufts Poetry Award grants $10,000 for a printed first guide of poetry that reveals promise.
The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award grants a mammoth $100,000 for a printed guide of poetry by a longtime or mid-career poet.
Deadline: Submission window is July 1 to June 30, annually
38. Graywolf Press Walt Whitman Award
The Walt Whitman Award is a $5,000 prize awarded, together with publication, to an American poet with a successful first guide manuscript. She or he additionally receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency on the Civitella Ranieri Heart in Umbria, Italy.
Graywolf Press can be one of many publishers of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, “a primary guide award devoted to the invention of outstanding manuscripts by Black poets.” Winners obtain $1,000 and Graywolf publishes each third winner of the prize.
Deadline: July 1 to Sept 1, annually
39. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Now in its Twenty first yr, this humor contest needs your greatest printed or unpublished work for a grand prize of $2,000; runners-up are awarded $500 and 10 honorable mentions will obtain $100 every. Writers of all ages from eligible nations can submit an authentic, humorous poem with 250 traces or much less, and it have to be in English.
Deadline: April 1, annually (and no, this isn’t an April Fools joke)
40. The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize
This writing competitors is in search of the very best piece of unpublished, themed writing. For instance, one yr, the theme was “Untamed: On Wilderness and Civilization.” Submissions could also be prose, poetry or non-academic essays. Most phrase rely is 2,500, and that is open to all nationalities and to anybody 18 or older. The winner will get a £10,000 money prize, second place will get £3,000 and third place will get £2,000.
Deadline: Purposes open at first of every yr. Comply with the Alpine Fellowship on Instagram for updates.
The place to search out extra authentic, free writing contests
On the lookout for extra alternatives to submit your work? Listed below are just a few nice websites to control for writing contests.
Successful Writers
Quite a few the contests discovered on our listing got here extremely really useful by this website, which compiles a few of the greatest free literary contests on the market. Together with a variety of really useful contests for writers of all stripes, Successful Writers additionally lists some contests and companies to keep away from — which is simply as helpful!
Additionally they provide a handful of contests themselves, together with the North Avenue Guide Prize .
Poets & Writers
One other improbable supply for authentic writing contests we consulted when compiling this listing, Poets & Writers vets competitions, contests, awards and grants to ensure they’re following authentic practices and insurance policies. It’s price trying out frequently because it options each annual and one-time contests.
(This itemizing incorporates affiliate hyperlinks. Meaning if you buy by way of our hyperlinks, you’re supporting The Write Life — and we thanks for that!)
The unique model of this story was written by Kelly Gurnett. We up to date the submit so it’s extra helpful for our readers.
Photograph through Viktoriia Hnatiuk / Shutterstock
