Hard to believe we’re already one month into 2015. The endless stream of American holiday obligations continues with Valentine’s Day: treat your writing-obsessed loved one to a box of chocolates, a dozen roses, and complimentary entry fee to his or her choice of any of these fine writing contests ending this month.
Kore Press – Kore Press has been publishing female writers since 1993. Their Short Fiction Contest this year is judged by Roxane Gay and is open to any woman writing in English, regardless of nationality, who wants to submit a story. It carries a prize of $1250 and a limited edition chapbook. Check it. Entry Fee: $20 Due: February 14
Ohio State University Press – OSU Press grants a prize of $1500 and publication annually for collections of short fiction, novellas, nonfiction or any combination thereof from 150 to 250 pages. Open to pretty much anyone not affiliated with OSU. Submit here. Entry Fee: $20 Due: February 14
Sarabande Books – Two prizes—the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction and the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry—of $2000 each are given yearly by this nonprofit press. Submit a manuscript of at least 48 pages of poetry or 150 to 250 pages of stories, novellas, or a short novel. Judged this year by the incomparable Ben Marcus. Go for it! Entry Fee: $27 Due: February 15
Sustainable Arts Foundation – Several awards are given out by this foundation annually to writers with children over the age of 18 (the writers, not the children). Up to five prizes of $6000 each and up to five Promise Awards of $2000 each will be given to poets and writers of fiction and creative nonfiction who submit a writing sample of any length along with a biography, artist statement, and curriculum vitae. Go ahead, submit. Entry Fee: $10 Due: February 27
AWP Award – The Association of Writers & Writing Programs has several cash-prize contests for book-length manuscripts ending this month. The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction awards $5500 and publication by the University of Massachusetts Press for a short-story collection between 150 and 300 pages. Prizes also exist for Creative Nonfiction, Novels, and Poetry. Enter here. Entry Fee: $30 Due: February 28
CURA – CURA is a multi-media magazine based at Fordham University in the Bronx. Their CURA Prize is a $1000 award and publication given to an unpublished short story of no more than 2500 words. The theme is “Borderlands.” Guidelines here. Entry Fee: $15 Due: February 28
Fish Publishing – This independent publishing house based in Ireland is running a Flash Fiction Contest, annual since 2004. Open to anyone able to create a compelling story in 300 words or less—not as easy as it sounds—the prize is €1000 and publication in the 2015 Fish Anthology. More details here. Entry Fee: €14 Due: February 28
Glimmer Train Press – The acclaimed Portland press Glimmer Train has a steady stream of contests throughout the year. This month ends the Short Story Award for New Writers contest. A $1500 prize and publication is given to a writer whose fiction has not been previously published with a circulation over 5000. Entry Fee: $15 Due: February 28
Wag’s Revue – This online-only quarterly of poetry, essays, fiction, and interviews holds two annual contests. The 2015 Winter Contest ends this month and is open to all of the above (sans interviews). The prize is $1000 and guaranteed publication. Submit here. Entry Fee: $20 Due: February 28
riverSedge: a Journal of Art and Literature – All entries to the next issue of riverSedge will be considered for 3 prizes of $300 in prose, poetry, and art. riverSedge is run out of the University of Texas-Pan American and, in its own words, has “an openness to publish writers who use English, Tex-Mex, and Spanish and who discuss border life while not excluding voices from other areas.” Details here. Entry Fee: $5 Due: March 1
by Alex Fulton