UPDATED DECEMBER 2020
For a change of pace from client work, why don’t you consider entering writing contests in 2020? It will give you a chance to flex your creative writing muscle in a way you don’t normally get to when you are doing work for other people.
Along with the chance to win some money, you get to have your work seen and evaluated by judges who often bring some impressive credentials to the table.
If you ever get the opportunity to see their scorecards or get some feedback, do take it. You may find something valuable in what they have to say about your writing.
Enter these writing contests in 2020 to flex your writing muscles and make some earnings while you're at it. Click To Tweet
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As always, when entering writing contests, follow the instructions precisely. If there is something that isn’t clear, reach out to the organizers by email before the submission deadline to make sure you are submitting your entry correctly. You don’t want to have your submission rejected because of one small detail.
Writing Contests in 2020
NOVEMBER
It’s free, it’s fun, and the winner gets published in Prime Number Magazine and receives a free book from Press 53. Be sure to subscribe to their email updates for free. You’ll receive an email on the first day of each month with the winning story and the prompt for the next contest.
Open to writers around the world who write in English
Open for entries the first day of each month
Deadline for entries is the 15th day of each month
Winner will be announced on the first day of each month along with the new prompt
Email your 53-word story to [email protected]
John Steinbeck Award for Fiction
Awarding one of the richest purses among literary magazines—$1,000 for the winning story—the John Steinbeck Award for Fiction recognizes exceptional works of fiction. Aesthetically, we are open to most styles and approaches, including experimental and literary. All works should be stand-alone short stories, not chapters of a longer work. Please limit prose submissions to 5,000 words.
The contest reading fee is $20, which includes a free copy of the latest edition of Reed. (Please note that submitters with US addresses on file will receive print copies of the journal, whereas those with overseas addresses will receive digital copies.) Multiple submissions are accepted as separate entries. Contest submissions not selected for final judging may still be considered for publication in the magazine.
Deadline: November 1, 2020
Inkitt’s Writing Contests regularly give authors the opportunity to share their books with readers around the world and showcase their talents.
Our monthly cash prizes give you the chance to win money and exclusive book badges for your writing!
Each month one grand prize winner, and two runners up will be selected.
1st prize: $300, an exclusive badge for your book cover and Inkitt social media feature!
2nd prize: Exclusive 2nd place book badge and Inkitt social media feature!
3rd prize: Exclusive 3rd place book badge!
A prize of $1,000 is awarded, plus publication of the manuscript.
Deadline for submissions November 10, 2020
• Submit 60 to 90 pages of poetry and/or flash fiction. Reading fee is $25 and includes a copy of Cloudbank.
• Electronic and postal submissions are accepted from around the world with no citizenship limitations.
• To submit electronically through our submissions manager click here.
• To submit by mail send manuscript to: Cloudbank Books, P.O. Box 610, Corvallis, OR 97339-0610. Make check for fee out to Cloudbank. Mailed submissions are not returned. A self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) can be included for notification of the judge’s decision.
• Submissions should include two title pages, one with title only, one with title and author name.
• Cloudbank poetry editors seek a wide range of styles, approaches, forms, and aesthetics, for example: lyric, prose poems, experimental, flash fiction, etc.
Nilsen Literary Prize for a First Novel
Reading Fee: $25
Award: $2,000 and publication by Southeast Missouri State University Press.
Manuscripts submitted to the contest will be read and judged anonymously.
Submissions must be previously unpublished novels, novellas, or collections of closely linked short stories.
Manuscripts that have been self-published or published online will not be accepted.
Open to English-writing, U.S. residents who have not yet published a novel.
Deadline: November 13, 2020
PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
The PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers recognizes 12 emerging writers each year for their debut short story published in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website, and aims to support the launch of their careers as fiction writers.
Each of the 12 winning writers receives a cash prize of $2,000, and the independent book publisher Catapult will publish the 12 winning stories in an annual anthology entitled Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize, which will acknowledge the literary magazines and websites where the stories were originally published.
Deadline: November 15, 2020
Fall 2020 Travel Writing Prize – Nowhere Mag
The winner will receive US$1,000, with publication in Nowhere granted under First North American Serial Rights (FNASR). Up to ten finalists also will be published.
Deadline: 11:59 p.m. EST on November 20, 2020
WOW! Women On Writing Fall 2020 Flash Fiction Contest
WOW! hosts a (quarterly) writing contest every three months, and has done so since 2006. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, great writing, and provide well-rewarded recognition to contestants. The WOW Flash Fiction Contest has awarded over $80,000 in cash to writers since its inception. The contest is open globally; age is of no matter; and entries must be in English. We are open to all styles and genres of flash fiction, although we do encourage you to take a close look at our guest judge for the season (upper right hand corner) if you are serious about winning.
WORD COUNT:
Maximum: 750
Minimum: 250
The title is not to be counted in your word count. We use MS Word’s word count to determine the submitted entry’s word count.
Deadline: November 30, 2020
Narrative Fall 2020 Story Contest
Open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. We’re looking for short shorts, short stories, essays, memoirs, photo essays, graphic stories, all forms of literary nonfiction, and excerpts from longer works of both fiction and nonfiction. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest.
Awards: First Prize is $2,500, Second Prize is $1,000, Third Prize is $500, and up to ten finalists will receive $100 each. All entries will be considered for publication.
Submission Fee: There is a $27 fee for each entry. With your entry, you’ll receive three months of complimentary access to Narrative Backstage.
All contest entries are eligible for the $4,000 Narrative Prize and for acceptance as a Story of the Week.
Deadline is November 30, 2020, at midnight, Pacific standard time.
ServiceScape Short Story Award 2020
Calling all short story writers: Are you a short story writer interested in gaining more exposure and a bigger audience for your creative work? Would an extra $1,000.00 USD in your pocket be a great thing right now?
If so, our ServiceScape Short Story Award is the perfect way to achieve both. For this award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted. All applicants should submit their original unpublished work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer, to be considered. Along with receiving an award for $1,000.00 USD, the winner will have his or her short story featured within our blog, which reaches thousands of readers per month. Rules and exclusions apply.
Deadline: November 30, 2020
LitMag’s Anton Chekhov Award for Flash Fiction
Word count: 500 to 1,500 words
First Prize: $1,250 + publication in LitMag + agency review by Nat Sobel of Sobel Weber Associates, Erin Harris and Sonali Chanchani of Folio Literary Management, Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency, David Forrer of Inkwell Management, Monika Woods of Triangle House, and Emily Forland of Brandt & Hochman,
Finalists: Three finalists will receive $100 each.
All finalists will be considered for possible agency review and publication.
Deadline: November 30, 2020.
Contest Fee: $16
DECEMBER
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction
This award honors the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war. It recognizes the service of American veterans and military personnel and encourages the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction. Donated by William Young Boyd II.
An annual award consisting of $5,000 and a 24k gold-framed citation of achievement.
This award is given out on an annual basis.
Eligibility
- Novel must have been published during the year prior to the award.
- Incidents of war can constitute the main plot of the story or merely provide the setting.
- Young adult and adult novels only.
Deadline: December 1, 2020
The C.P. Cavafy Poetry Prize is one of two annual contests sponsored by Poetry International honoring a single poem. Editors of Poetry International will judge each submission and select prize winner. The winning poem is awarded a cash prize of $1000 and publication. Entry fee is $15. You may submit a maximum of three poems with a $15 entry fee. Each additional poem will require $3 extra.
Deadline: December 1, 2020
Phyllis Smart-Young Prize in Poetry and the Chris O’Malley Prize in Fiction
The finest unpublished short story and finest group of three unpublished poems will be awarded $1,000 with publication in an issue of The Madison Review. Writers may submit one entry per genre (one short story and/or group of three poems).
These contests are open every Fall Semester from November 1st to January 1st.
-Short Story Contest: Stories of Inspiration (Deadline: December 30, 2020)
Looking for outstanding works that contribute to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural diversity.
Awards are given for fiction, poetry and nonfiction. Submissions of books published in 2020 are now open. For books published this year, the submission period begins September 1 and the deadline is December 31, 2020. The winners are announced in the spring.
LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction
Word count: 3,000 – 8,000 words
First Prize: $2,500, publication in LitMag and agency review by Nat Sobel of Sobel Weber Associates, Lisa Bankoff of Bankoff Collaborative, Erin Harris and Sonali Chanchani of Folio Literary Management, Jenny Bent of The Bent Agency, David Forrer of Inkwell Management, Monika Woods of Triangle House, and Emily Forland of Brandt & Hochman .
Finalists: Three finalists will receive $100 each.
All finalists will be considered for possible agency review and publication.
Deadline: December 31, 2020
Contest Fee: $20
The Four Quartets Prize is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in America in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book.
Three finalists will receive $1,000 each. The winner will receive an additional $20,000.
Deadline: December 31, 2020
River Styx Micro-fiction Contest
500 words maximum per story, up to three stories per entry fee. (Additional stories are accepted with additional fees.)
Choose your entry fee: $15 or $20.
$20 entry fee includes a one-year subscription.
$15 entry fee includes a copy of the issue in which the winning stories will appear.
All stories will be considered for publication.
Deadline: December 31, 2020
CONTESTS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2021
City Limits Publication – Various Categories
-Love is in the Air (January 15, 2021)
-Romance Novel Contest with Cash Prize and Publishing Contract! (March 1, 2021)
-Suspense/Thriller Novel Contest with Cash Prize and Publishing Contract! (March 2021)
-From Australian wildfires to COVID, murder hornets to zombie minx, 2020 has been a crazy year. We want to hear how you survived! Write a short story, write an essay, or a poem. This is your story of how you survived 2020. Whatever helped you get through this crazy, crazy year!
Prizes:
1st Place – $250 Cash Prize
2nd Place – $150 Cash Prize
3rd Place – $100 Cash Prize
Plus, $200 prizes for Best Poem, Best Short Story, Best Haiku, Best Photography
All submissions must be received by January 15th, 2021.
2021 International Rubery Book Award
OPEN for self-published and independently published books
PRIZES
Book of the Year £1500 (approx 2000 US$; 1800€ )
Plus a minimum of the 3 category winners each winning £150 (approx 200$, 180€)
Closing date 31st March 2021
The Milpitas Beat 21st Century American Writing Contest
Chi Media Company and its sister company The Milpitas Beat have teamed up to hold the first annual 21st Century American Writing Contest. Our aim is to highlight the powerful voices of American writers and provide a platform for their views, insights, and talents.
WHO CAN ENTER: Anyone in the U.S. above age 18 who has written a novel, nonfiction book, or short story, except for residents of these states: Colorado, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Vermont.
WHAT THEY’RE LOOKING FOR: culturally relevant, emotionally potent, strikingly original, tangibly heartfelt, and resonantly artistic works of prose. Novels, short or long, from 25,000 to 100,000 words long. Nonfiction books from 25,000 to 100,000 words long. Short stories up to 7,000 words long.
ENTRY FEE: $40 for Novels and Nonfiction books. $20 for Short Stories.
PRIZES: 1st Place Winners in the Novel and Nonfiction Book categories (which are 2 distinct categories) will each win $300, a certificate, a Book Publishing contract with Chi Media Company (which publishes The Milpitas Beat, along with a library of book titles), a sterling write-up on The Milpitas Beat’s site, an author interview on The Milpitas Beat’s site, and a year-long advertisement of the published book on The Milpitas Beat’s site, which is read by 40,000 to 60,000 readers monthly.
DEADLINE: April 20, 2021
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