We’re finally leaving the long nights of winter behind us, and now we can focus on the sunshine of new beginnings! Take a look at these contests, and see if you take a shine to any of them!
FEATURED The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives
This one is ours, so of course we’re excited about it. With this prize, The Masters Review is celebrating the atypical, the nontraditional, dare we say, experimental? If you’ve got a short story or essay under 6,000 words that can’t find a home elsewhere, this is the contest for you. One grand-prize winner will walk away with $3,000, online publication, and a two-year subscription to Duotrope. Charles Yu is selecting the finalists. Find out more here.
Entry Fee: $20 Deadline: March 31
Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize
Here’s an opportunity for your short story to be more than just words on a page, when it could be read aloud by stars of stage and screen! Sponsored by the stage and radio series Selected Shorts, the winning submission will be performed and recorded live, published, receive $1,000, and win a free ten-week course with Gotham Writers. Stories can be any theme, as long as they are under 750 words, and the contest is judged by the talented Simon Rich! Let’s go!
Entry Fee: $25 Deadline: March 6
Bellingham Review Contests
All three of the Bellingham Review’s contests are ending this month, so begin writing now if you want to receive one of the three $1,000 first-place prizes! Kim Fu is judging the Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction, Anastacia-Reneé is judging the 49th Parallel Award for Poetry, and AJ Romriell is judging the Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction. All of the winners and a selection of the runners up will be published, and second-place receives $500 as well! Submission guidelines here.
Entry Fee: $15 Deadline: March 15
First Novel Fellowship
Created in honor of the late James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity, the James Jones Literary Society will award $12,000 for a novel-in-progress by an unpublished US author. The first runner-up is awarded $3,000, and the second runner-up is awarded $2,000. There should be a celebration of honesty, determination, and insight into cultural and social issues in each application. Submissions must include a two-page synopsis and a fifty-page excerpt from the manuscript. Details here!
Entry Fee: $33 Deadline: March 15
Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize Contest
This is a great contest for all writers, writing in English, who just so happen to have an unpublished manuscript in poetry or fiction! Poetry manuscripts ought to be at least fifty pages long, while fiction manuscripts ought to be at least 150 pages long. Winners will receive $3,000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Submit here!
Entry Fee: $25 Deadline: March 15
A Public Space Emerging Writer Fellowships
This amazing fellowship will be awarded to three writers, who will each receive $1,000, publication, mentorship, and a guest pass to attend Master Classes. Entries need to include both a specific cover letter and an unpublished prose piece. They’re looking for writers who have not yet published or been contracted to write a book-length work, and that could be you! Submit here.
Entry Fee: FREE Deadline: March 31
The Emerging Writer’s Contest
Ploughshares prides itself on their commitment to promoting the work of up-and-coming writers, and that means you! This contest is meant to celebrate emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, awarding $2,000, publication, and agency review to the winners of each category. Crystal Hana Kim is judging fiction, Melissa Febos is judging nonfiction, and T Bambrick is judging poetry. Guidelines here.
Entry Fee: $30 Deadline: March 31
Gemini Magazine Short Story Contest
Here is a welcoming contest for writers of all stripes, as Gemini Magazine’s contest is open to any subject, style, or length! Entries must be unpublished, but multiple entries are allowed. The winner receives $1,000 and publication. Submission details here.
Entry Fee: $10 Deadline: March 31
The Hudson Prize
If you have an unpublished poetry or short story collection, this could be your big break! Black Lawrence Press is currently accepting submissions from new, emerging, and established authors. The winner will receive book publication, $1,000, and ten copies of the book. Details here.
Entry Fee: $30 Deadline: March 31
Prime Number Magazine Awards
With an emphasis on brevity, this contest for poetry and short fiction is meant to be a challenge! Make sure to note that the short story limit is 5,300 words, as a nod to their parent organization Press 53. Judged by Terri Kirby Erickson and Jodi Paloni (for poetry and short fiction, respectively), the first-place winner in each category receives $1,000 and publication in Prime Number Magazine! Enter here.
Entry Fee: $15 Deadline: March 31
Winter Story Contest
This contest from Narrative is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers, writing anything from short stories and memoirs, to essays and literary nonfiction! The entries need to be under 15,000 words and previously unpublished, while containing a strong narrative drive and intense insights. First prize is $2,500, second is $1,000, and third is $500. Guidelines here.
Entry Fee: $27 Deadline: March 31
by Kimberly Guerin