Have you ever ever Googled “writing contests”? Many require studying charges or prizes—like seeing your work in print—which you could solely obtain for those who pay for it.
Some reliable contests cost small entry charges, however typically a payment could be a pink flag for a rip-off, so these may be those you wish to keep away from.
Apart from, there are many free writing contests that encourage and encourage boundless creativity with actual money prizes and career-advancing alternatives! Since it may be exhausting for a author to know the place to seek 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 hundreds of {dollars} in money prizes and quite a few alternatives to safe a publishing contract, you’re positive to seek out the fitting free writing contest on your work.
Should you don’t thoughts paying somewhat cash to enter, our buddies over at Good Blogger have rounded up some great writing contests which have small entry charges. And for those who’re nonetheless hungry for extra alternatives, we even have posts on writers grants and writing fellowships.
Fiction and nonfiction writing contests this 12 months
Able to share your novel or personal essay with the world? Whether or not you’re a beginner or extra established author, you’re doubtless eligible for a couple of of those contests.
Listed here are some fiction and nonfiction writing contests worth considering.
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 should be short stories or novelettes (as much as 17,000 phrases) within the style of science fiction or fantasy, and new and beginner writers are welcome to use.
Deadlines: Quarterly on March 31, June 30 and September 30
Web site: Writers of the Future
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 possibility to win money prizes as much as $300, unique ebook 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 based mostly on total reader engagement.
Deadline: See particular person contest pages
Web site: Inkitt
Disclosure: Inkitt is an promoting associate of The Write Life. We maintain our advertisers to excessive 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 group of brief fiction.
It’s possible you’ll submit an unpublished manuscript of short stories, two or extra novellas or a mixture of novellas and brief tales. Your whole word count ought to be between 150 and 300 typed pages. It’s essential to even have already revealed 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 should be postmarked between Might 1 by way of June 30
Web site: University of Pittsburgh Press
4. 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 revealed or scheduled to be revealed within the calendar 12 months. Works should be written for adults; kids’s or YA items are ineligible.
Deadline: Submission info is obtainable on the award web site
Web site: New York Public Library
5. Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prizes
Among the best-loved small presses within the creative 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 12 months; 2020 was a nonfiction 12 months, 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
Web site: Graywolf Press
6. The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans
Hosted by the distinguished Iowa Overview, the Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award is obtainable to U.S. navy veterans and active-duty members writing in any style about any topic. Manuscripts of as much as 20 pages can be accepted, and the first-prize winner will obtain $1,000 and publication within the Overview. A second place prize of $750 can be out there, in addition to three runner-up prizes of $500 every.
Deadline: Biennially
Web site: The Iowa Review
7. Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
For 15 years, this contest has offered visibility for rising African American fiction writers and allows them to concentrate on their writing by awarding a $15,000 money prize. Eligible authors ought to submit a piece of fiction, equivalent to a novel or brief story assortment, revealed within the calendar 12 months. (Galleys for publication throughout the 12 months are additionally accepted.)
Deadline: Yearly. The entry window closes on December 31
Web site: The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence
8. PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Honoring the perfect work of fiction revealed by an American writer in a single calendar 12 months, 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 previously—and an invite to learn on the award ceremony in Washington, D.C. Plus, there aren’t any submission charges or utility kinds to cope with; simply ship a PDF of every ebook (as many as you’d like) to [email protected].
Deadline: Submissions can be accepted from July 1 to September 30
Web site: Pen/Faulkner
9. PEN/Robert J. Dau Brief Story Prize for Rising Writers
This contest requires you to have already revealed a brief story in a literary journal or journal or cultural web site. However for those who’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 revealed collectively in an anthology.
Brief tales of as much as 12,000 phrases are eligible and should be revealed within the calendar 12 months previous the 12 months by 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: Submissions shut November 1
Web site: PEN America
10. Anisfield-Wolf Ebook Awards
Fiction and nonfiction writers who’ve lately revealed a ebook that “contribute[s] to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural range” 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 should be revealed within the prior 12 months (so books revealed final 12 months are eligible for the award this 12 months).
Deadline: Annual submission window is September 1 by way of December 31
Web site: Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
11. 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 12 months. The submission window in 2023 is October 15
Web site: The Marfield Prize
12. W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Army Fiction
Should you’re a struggle buff, this competitors is for you. It awards $5,000—and a 24-karat-gold-framed quotation of accomplishment—to the perfect piece of fiction set throughout a interval when the U.S. was at struggle (struggle 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 31
Web site: American Library Association
13. Pals of American Writers Chicago Awards
FAW presents two annual awards: an Adult Literature Award for literary fiction or nonfiction, and a Young People’s Literature Award for a kids’s/YA ebook.
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 ebook in a kind of areas. Prize quantities range from 12 months to 12 months, however you don’t should hassle with an utility and all winners are celebrated on the group’s Might luncheon.
Deadline: Yearly in December
Web site: Friends of American Writers Chicago
14. 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 medication, and lots of embody artwork, historical past, literature, training and extra.
Deadline: Yearly; September 15 is often the deadline
Web site: Hektoen International
15. Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest
There’s no denying it: social media is a huge part of our modern-day lives. It’s straightforward to get used to limiting our communications to 280-character and emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this advertising and marketing agency is internet hosting an essay writing contest to “remind individuals of the advantages of writing.”
Essays of as much as 5,000 characters (roughly 1,000 phrases) can 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 can be awarded $100 every.
The competition is free to enter, however you’ll have to register for a Biopage account to be eligible.
Deadline: The competition ends January 31 every year
Web site: Biopage
16. St. Martin’s Minotaur / Thriller Writers of America First Crime Novel Competitors
Writers 18 and older who’ve by no means had a novel revealed (in any style) are eligible for this prize, awarded to an unique 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
Web site: Edgar Awards
17. ServiceScape Brief Story Award
ServiceScape, a platform matching freelance writers, editors and graphic designers with shoppers (i.e. an incredible 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 will even have their story featured on the ServiceScape weblog, which sees hundreds of readers every month.
Deadline: November 29 every year
Web site: ServiceScape
18. Stowe Prize
This biennial prize of $10,000 honors an American writer whose grownup fiction or nonfiction work has had an influence on a crucial social justice concern (as did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin). The ebook should be written by a U.S. writer and have been revealed in the US in the course of the earlier three calendar years.
Deadline: Contact the Harriet Beecher Stowe Middle for this 12 months’s deadline.
Web site: Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
19. 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 revealed elsewhere. Award winners are required to submit a 100-word biography, latest picture and a brief notice thanking the Woods household for his or her generosity and help.
Deadlines: Biannual studying durations are in February for the Summer time/Fall concern and in August for the Winter/Spring concern
Web site: Lunch Ticket
20. The 2023 Brandon Langhjelm Memorial Essay Contest
Annually, 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 risks of those applied sciences?”)
The competition is open to Canadian school and college college students, and essays ought to be 2,500 phrases or much less in size.
Deadline: November 5
Web site: Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms
21. Write the World
For younger writers ages 13-18, these cool contests additionally function mini workshops. Recognizing that “a primary draft isn’t excellent,” submissions really obtain peer assessment by authors, writing academics and different consultants and writers are given the possibility to revise their items based mostly on this suggestions earlier than submitting them for last 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 perfect peer-reviewer). All three are featured on Write the World’s weblog alongside feedback from a visitor decide. And since every month’s immediate is from a special style, growing writers get an opportunity to check out completely different kinds.
Deadline: Month-to-month
Web site: Write the World
22. Prose.
Caught with writer’s block and in search of a option 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 beneath 150, some as excessive 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
Web site: Prose.
23. 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).
Deadline: Submission window is often between December and March
Web site: Restless Books
24. AFSA Nationwide Excessive Faculty Essay Contest
The U.S. Institute of Peace and the American International Service Affiliation sponsor this annual highschool 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 scholar’s enrollment at an accredited college. Essays ought to be between 1,000 and 1,250 phrases and should reply all elements of the immediate in addition to show an understanding of the International Service.
Runners-up get a fairly 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 every year
Web site: American Foreign Service Association
25. Science-me a Story
Born in 2018, the Society of Spanish Researchers invitations proficient and unique writers to write down a 100-word blurb for a hypothetical novel. This may sound very easy, however your blurb has to shortly hook readers and make them wish to learn extra. Open to anybody over 18 anyplace on the earth, your actual or fictional brief story for this competitors should be both in English or Spanish and “conceived from the target of scientific dissemination to main college” to qualify for the money prizes: £150, £100 and £50.
Deadline: April every year
Web site: Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom
26. VCU Cabell First Novelist Award
Virginia Commonwealth College sponsors this award that honors an excellent debut novel revealed within the previous calendar 12 months. Whereas you’ll have revealed earlier books in a special type, the submission should be your first revealed ebook marketed as a novel.
The award is a $5,000 money prize, and the successful writer should conform to attend the award occasion, often scheduled for November.
Deadline: Yearly; the submission window runs from July 1 by way of December 30
Web site: Virginia Commonwealth University
27. 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 residing 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 originally of every 12 months
Web site: Magabala Books
28. Brief Fiction Prize
Should you’re an undergrad at a university 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 ought to be not more than 7,500 phrases.
One winner will get a $1,000 prize in addition to a scholarship to the following Southampton Writers Conference.
Deadline: Submission window is often between March 1- July 14
Web site: Stony Brook University | Lichtenstein Center
29. Bacopa Literary Overview Contest
The Bacopa Literary Overview is a world journal revealed by the Writers Alliance of Gainesville. Annually, it opens submissions for items in 4 genres: fiction, inventive nonfiction, poetry and prose poetry. Discover detailed pointers for every style on its web site. First place will get $300, and the second prize in every of the 4 genres will get $100.
Deadline: Might 30 every year
Web site: Writers Alliance of Gainesville
30. Insecure Author’s Help Group Annual Anthology Contest
So long as you keep on with the rules, The Insecure Author’s Help 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 that your story is polished and formatted! Plus, the prizes aren’t too shabby—successful tales can be edited and revealed, authors will obtain royalties, and the highest story will even get to provide the anthology its title.
Deadlines: September 1 every year
Web site: Insecure Writer’s Support Group
31. New Voices Award
Introduced by Lee & Low Books, an award-winning kids’s ebook writer, this award is given for a beforehand unpublished kids’s image ebook manuscript of not more than 1,500 phrases written by a author of coloration or Indigenous/Native writers who’s a resident of the U.S.
The winner receives $2,000 money and a normal publication contract, and an extra Honor Award winner will obtain a money prize of $1,000. It’s possible you’ll submit as much as two manuscripts.
Deadline: Watch the web site for particulars.
Web site: Lee & Low Books
32. St. Francis Faculty Literary Prize
Since 2009, this biennial literary award has honored mid-career writers who’ve lately revealed 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 speak about their work or train a mini fiction workshop to St. Francis college students.
Deadline: Biennially. The competition was not supplied the final three years because of the pandemic and restricted campus entry
Web site: St. Francis College
33. Future Scholar Basis Brief Story Competitors
The Future Scholar Basis is a nonprofit group began and run by highschool college students in Redmond, WA. Their mission is to empower younger college students to develop their self-expression abilities by way of month-to-month brief story competitions. Their efforts have been acknowledged by the Seattle Instances and Northwest Asian Weekly, and their brief story competitions have obtained a whole bunch of submissions from over 15 US states and 5 nations.
Deadline: Month-to-month on the twenty eighth
Web site: Future Scholar Foundation
Free poetry contests to enter
Interested by alternatives for poets? Your stanzas—rhyming or not—may very well be price a good amount of cash in these poetry competitions.
Take a look at 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 Try Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing and seeks to fill the necessity for Black illustration in kids’s and younger grownup books. Authentic board and movie books for youngsters aged 0-4 and movie books for ages 4-8 are eligible, offered they function up to date, life like Black characters and tradition and concentrate on character improvement, self-worth, neighborhood and different elements of constructive childhood improvement.
Three prizes, starting from $250 to $1,000, can be awarded, and the first-place winner can be “critically thought-about” for publication, although it’s not assured.
Deadline: Normally late July, every year
Web site: Free Spirit Publishing
35. James Laughlin Award
Should you’re already a printed poet, that is the award for you; it’s given for a second ebook of poetry because of come out within the forthcoming 12 months. The winner receives $5,000 and an all-expenses-paid week-long residency at The Betsy Resort in Miami Seaside, Florida. As well as, copies of the successful ebook are distributed to 1,000 members of the Academy of American Poets.
Deadline: Annual submission window is January 1 by way of Might 15
Web site: Academy of American Poets
36. African Poetry Ebook Fund Prizes
The APBF awards three prizes yearly for African Poetry. The Luschei Prize for African Poetry offers $1,000 for a ebook of unique African poetry revealed within the prior 12 months.
The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets offers $1,000 and a publication contract for a book-length assortment of poetry by an as-yet-unpublished African writer.
The Brunel International African Poetry Prize is a brand new prize that grants £3,000 to a poet who was born in Africa, or has African mother and father, who has not but had a full-length ebook of poetry revealed. (U.S. residents qualify.) To submit, you’ll want 10 poems.
Deadlines: See particular person prize pages or particulars
Web site: African Poetry Book Fund
37. Tufts Poetry Awards
Claremont Graduate College presents two awards every year to poets they deem to be “excellent.” The Kate Tufts Poetry Award grants $10,000 for a printed first ebook of poetry that exhibits promise.
The Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award grants a mammoth $100,000 for a printed ebook of poetry by a longtime or mid-career poet.
Deadline: Submission window is July 1 to June 30 every year
Web site: Claremont Graduate University
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 ebook manuscript. She or he additionally receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency on the Civitella Ranieri Middle in Umbria, Italy.
Graywolf Press can be one of many publishers of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, “a primary ebook award devoted to the invention of remarkable manuscripts by Black poets.” Winners obtain $1,000 and Graywolf publishes each third winner of the prize.
Deadline: July 1 to September 1 every year
Web site: Poets
39. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Now in its twenty third 12 months, this humor contest desires your greatest revealed 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 unique, humorous poem with 250 traces or much less, and it should be in English.
Deadline: April 1, every year (and no, this isn’t an April Fools joke)
Web site: Winning Writers
40. The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize
This writing competitors is in search of the perfect piece of unpublished, themed writing. For instance, one 12 months, 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: Functions open originally of every 12 months. Comply with the Alpine Fellowship on Instagram for updates
Web site: The Alpine Fellowship
The place to seek out extra reliable, free writing contests
In search of extra alternatives to submit your work? Listed here are a couple of nice websites to control for writing contests.
Winning Writers
Various the contests discovered on our listing got here extremely advisable by this web site, which compiles among the greatest free literary contests on the market. Together with a variety of advisable contests for writers of all stripes, Successful Writers additionally lists some contests and services to avoid, which is simply as helpful!
Additionally they provide a handful of contests themselves, together with the North Avenue Ebook Prize.
Poets & Writers
One other implausible supply for reliable writing contests we consulted when compiling this listing, Poets & Writers vets competitions, contests, awards and grants to verify they’re following reliable practices and insurance policies. It’s price trying out frequently because it options each annual and one-time contests.
This itemizing comprises affiliate hyperlinks. Which means 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 publish so it’s extra helpful for our readers.
Photograph through Viktoriia Hnatiuk / Shutterstock