CONTESTS

Ready to share your stories? Consider entering a writing contest whether it's to have fun, earn feedback, garner an award, make a little money, or to see your name or work published. Whatever your motivation, remember to read the fine print and enter at your own risk. 

Weekly Prompts Contest by Reedsy
Monthly 53-Word Story Contest by Press 53


JANUARY

The Iowa Review Awards
Limited to 25 pages of prose
Deadline: January 31, 2024
Entry Fee: $10


FEBRUARY

The Slippery Elm Prize
Fictional story limited to 5000 words
Deadline: February 1, 2024
Entry Fee: $15

The Shorter Fiction Prize by American Short Fiction
Short fiction stories under 1000 words
Deadline: February 15, 2024
Entry Fee: $18

PBParty Annual Contest by Mindy Alyse Weiss
Picture Book stories (70 words including illustration notes)
Deadline: February 22, 2024


MARCH

2023 Perkoff Prize from The Missouri Review
Stories of health and medicine
Standard Entry: $15

Tulip Tree Review "Wild Women" Contest
Deadline: March 8, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize by Symphony Space
750 words or less, selected works read aloud on Public Radio and podcast
Deadline: March 10, 2023
Entry Fee: $25

Tobias Wolf Award by Bellingham Review
Deadline: March 15, 2024
Entry Fee: $15

PNWA Literary Contest
Deadline: March 30, 2023
Non-member: $55

Gemini Magazine Short Story Contest
Any length, any subject, any style
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $8

Arts and Letters Prize by Georgia College
Fiction limited to 25 pages and flash fiction limited to 1000 words
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $3

"Geminga" Sunspot Literary Contest
Short stories limited to 100 words
Visual Art accepted no larger than 25" square
Deadline: March 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $10


APRIL

Deadline: April 2
Entry Fee: (?)

Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards
Deadline: April 3, 2023 - May 1, 2023 (extended to June 1, 2023)
First Entry Fee: $100 - $125

First Pages Prize
First 1,250 words of larger work
Deadline: April 10, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

F(r)iction Contest
Experimental, nontraditional, wild, and weird
Deadline: April 27, 2023
Entry Fee: $15

Deadline: April 28, 2023
Entry Fee: $24

Tom Howard / John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest by Winning Writers
Length limit is 6000 words
Deadline: April 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $22


MAY

Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition
Deadline: May 5, 2023 - June 5th, 2023
Entry Fee: $30 - $35

100-Word Writing Contest by Tadpole Press 
Deadline: open mid-May for November 2023 Contest
Entry Fee: (?)

Raymond Carver Contest by Carve Magazine
Short story, 10,000 words maximum
Deadline: May 17, 2023
Entry Fee: $18

Robert Day Award for Fiction by New Letters
Limited to 8000 words
Deadline: May 22, 2023
Entry Fee: $24

Givel Press Novel Award (biennial, even years)
Deadline: May 30, 2024
Entry Fee: $25

Anton Chekhov Award for Flash Fiction by LitMag
Flash Fiction limited to 500 - 1500 words
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $16

Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction by LitMag
Short Fiction limited to 3,000 - 8,000 words
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $16

"Rigel" Sunspot Literary Contest
Short stories limited to 5000 words
Art accepted
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $10

Novel Excerpt Contest for Voyage Anthology 2
Submit your favorite, young-adult, unpublished chapters with 5000 word minimum
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $20


JUNE

The Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize by American Short Fiction
Self -contained works between 2000 and 6,500 words
Deadline: June 1, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

Literary Awards Program by Santa Fe Writers Project
Check for 2023 Details 
Entry Fee: $30

Bardsy: Anthologie "First Chapters"
Unpublished work between 2000 - 3000 words
Deadline: June 20, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

Lascaux Prize in Flash Fiction
Deadline: June 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $15

North Street Book Prize by Winning Writers
No restriction on year of self-publication
Deadline: June 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $75 per book


JULY

Short Fiction Competition by Zoetrope
Deadline: Opens in July
Entry Fee: $30

Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction
Limited to 1000 words
Deadline: Opens July 1
Entry Fee: $15

Goldenberg Prize for Fiction by Bellevue Literary Review
Limited to 5000 words with themes on health, healing, illness, mind, and body
Deadline: July 1, 2023
Entry Fee: $

Spring 2023 Story Contest by Narrative Magazine
Deadline: July 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $27

Prime Number Magazine's Flash Fiction Prize
Stories limited to 751 words
Deadline: July 31, 2022
Entry fee: $11

"Inception" Sunspot Literary Contest
Best beginning excerpt limited to 250 words
Art is first in the series
Deadline: July 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $10


AUGUST

Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize by FC2 (Fiction Collective Two)
Deadline: Contest opens in August 2023
Entry Fee: $25

Givel Press Short Story Award
Deadline: August 8, 2023
Entry Fee: $25

Tulip Tree Publishers "Stories That Need to Be Told" Contest
Deadline: August 9, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

Writer's Digest Self-Published eBook Awards
Deadline: August 15, 2023 - September 15, 2023
First Entry Fee: $100 - $125

NYCMidnight: Inspiring Challenges for Storytellers
500 Word Fiction Challenge
Deadline: August 25, 2023
Entry Fee: $36 - $44

The Lab Prize by University of New Orleans Press Lab
Deadline: August 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $28

Gemini Magazine Flash Fiction Contest
1000 word limit
Deadline: August 31, 2023
Entry Fee: $7

Booklife Prize by Publisher's Weekly
Unpublished or self-published books
Deadline: August 31, 2003
Entry Fee: $79


SEPTEMBER

Hackney Literary Awards
Deadline: September 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $15

The George Garret Fiction Prize by Texas Review Press
Deadline: September 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $28

"Goldilocks Zone" Sunspot Literary Contest
Short stories limited to 2500 words
Art accepted, one image, no size requirements
Deadline: September 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $10


OCTOBER

American Literary Review (ALR) Awards
Short fiction limited to 8,000 words per work
Deadline: October 1, 2023
Entry Fee: $15

The Breakwater Fiction Contest
Accepts submissions all year round ($3) for poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and visual art
Deadline: October 1, 2022 - December 1, 2022
Entry Fee: $10

Tulip Tree Review "Humor" Contest
Deadline: October 15, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

Editor's Choice Award by New Letters
Experimental and defies categorization, maximum 8000 words
Deadline: October 16, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

NYCMidnight: Inspiring Challenges for Storytellers
Rhyming story challenge
Deadline: October 20, 2023
Entry Fee: $36 - $44


NOVEMBER

Annual Fiction, Poetry and Creative Nonfiction contest by Briar Cliff Review
Deadline: November 1, 2023
Entry Fee: $20

Writer's Digest Short-Short Story Competition
Accepting Entries (1,500 words or less) in June 2023
Deadline: November 15, 2022 - December 15, 2022
Entry Fee: $30 - $35

Prose & Poetry Contest by Carve Magazine
Deadline: November 15, 2023
Entry Fee: $17

Anton Chekhov Award for Flash Fiction by LitMag
Flash Fiction limited to 500 - 1500 words
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $16

Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction by LitMag
Short Fiction limited to 3,000 - 8,000 words
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $16

Quarter After Eight Short Prose Contest by Ohio University
Unpublished work of 500 words or less
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $15

"Culmination" Sunspot Literary Contest
Best ending excerpt limited to 250 words
Art last in a series
Deadline: November 30, 2023
Entry Fee: $10


DECEMBER

St. Martin's Minotaur / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel of America Contest
Unpublished authors (self-published okay)
Book length of 60,000 words or more
Deadline: December 15, 2023
No Entry Fee


ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Submission Guidelines for Narrative Magazine

Poets & Writers Writing Contests

Reedsy Best 224 Short Story Contests

Annual Writing Contest by San Antonio Writer's Guild

The Writer Contests

Write to Influence "Themed" Contests

WOW! Women on Writing Flash Fiction  Contests

The Pinch Literary Awards

Sadie Tells Stories Writing Contests



















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