Are you still riding that sugar high from last weekend? Hopefully you parceled out the candy haul to keep your teeth rotting until Tofurkey Day. You’ll need your strength up if you hope to submit to this list of literary contests.
Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival – The Brooklyn Nonfiction Prize – which amounts to $500, publication on their website, and an opportunity to give a reading – is awarded annually to the best creative nonfiction submission under 2500 words. The only caveat is that the submissions must focus on Brooklyn itself, that oft-forgotten and rarely-discussed New York City borough just northeast of Staten Island. Details here. Entry fee: $0.00, as in free for you and me. Due: November 15
The Story Prize – This is a major one. The Story Prize is awarded to a collection of short fiction published during the given calendar year. While publishers and agents can submit a manuscript, authors can also enter for themselves. This year’s judges include the wonderful Laura van den Berg. Check it out. Entry: $75 Due: November 15 (for books published July through December)
Narrative – Narrative is wilding out for November and giving out two awards. Their 30 Below Contest is for best poem, short story, essay, novel excerpt, photo essay, graphic novel, spoken piece, or film by an artist under 30. Entry: $22. Due: November 15 They also close the submissions to their more general Fall Story Contest a couple weeks later. Entry: $22. Due: November 30
Writer’s Digest – WD tends to trump all when it comes to paydays. Their Short Short Story Competition is no slouch either. A story with a max word count of 1500 could net you a first prize award of max dollar amount 3000. I’m an English major, so I can’t actually compute the dollar-per-word rate, but I bet there is an app that can. Submit here. Entry: $20 for November 17 early-bird deadline; $25 for December 15 deadline
PRISM Creative Nonfiction Contest – University of British Columbia’s PRISM awards $1500 Canadian (again, I can’t help you with this simple math, so don’t bother) for the best essay. They even allow US entries! More fine print can be found here. Entry: $40 ($35 if you’re a Canadian entrant). Due: November 21
Tampa Review – TR’s Danahy Fiction Prize includes publication and a prize of $1000. Go ahead, submit. Entry: $20 (includes subscription). Due: November 30
Burnside Review Press – I’m sure that contest stalwarts Glimmer Train also have a deadline coming up, but for this month we’ll give a Portlandy nod to a different local-to-us publication: Burnside Review Press, now celebrating their tenth year. Their Book Prize is for the best poetry collection and includes $1000 and publication. “Poems may have appeared in journals and chapbooks but not in a full-length, single-author collection.” Submit here. Entry: $25. Due: November 30
DIAGRAM Essay Contest – This annual essay contest awards $1000 and publication in DIAGRAM. In their own words, the publication is looking for “essays in an expansive sense, meaning essay as experiment, essay as heterogenous and sometimes strange or unruly beast.” This year’s judges are Nicole Walker and Ander Monson. Guidelines here. Entry: $17 Due: November 30
The ALSCW Meringhoff Writing Awards – The Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers gives out awards in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. They include $2000 prizes and publication in either Literary Imagination or Literary Matters. Inquire within. Entry: $45 (membership in the ALSCW) Due: December 1
by Andrew Wetzel