Best Fiction Writing Contests in 2024

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Short Story, and Young Adult

The annual Story of the Year contest is back with a new challenge! We’re looking for captivating, diverse stories that are "easy to read and hard to put down" for readers beyond the third grade. There are five categories aimed at young adult readers, and we encourage you to submit as many entries as you like—submission is free and unlimited!

Genres: Fiction, Horror, and Short Story

Share a horror or thriller story to enter this writing contest. Write about anything but the object is to terrorize or thrill your reader. Cash prize!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Romance, and Short Story

The Booksie 2024 Short Story Contest invites writers to submit original short stories, with a maximum length of 5,000 words. The contest offers a grand prize of $500, along with badges for winners encoded on the blockchain. The contest aims to promote creativity and originality across all genres.

Genres: Fiction and Novella

Established in 2001, The Clay Reynolds Novella Prize highlights one book a year that excels in the novella format. Since 2019 the Prize comes with $500, a standard royalty contract, and 20 copies of the published book.

Genres: Fiction and Novel

Novel Fair is an annual competition for unpublished novelists, allowing winners to pitch their novels to publishers and agents. It includes a two-day event with workshops and meetings with industry professionals.

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Short Story, Essay, Memoir, and Novel

Established in 2018, the Women’s Prose Prize is for previously unpublished, original work of prose. Novels, short story collections, memoirs, essay collections, and all other forms of prose writing are eligible for consideration. The awarded manuscript is selected through a biennial competition, held in even-numbered years, that is open to all writers who identify as women.

Genres: Poetry and Fiction

The Heartland Review publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. The contest is open to established and emerging writers. Submissions are free, and the next open calls will begin in December 2024. A contributor copy is provided to published authors.

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, and Young Adult

A quarterly flash fiction competition challenging writers to create an original piece based on two prompts and one anti-prompt. The entries are judged blindly, and winners are announced on the podcast.

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Short Story

The challenge: write a story using 100 words on one of four topics. Open to all ages with a special prize for authors 14 years or younger. The contest supports nonprofit literacy programs.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Our quarterly short story competition is open for entries all year round. The competition is open to any theme or genre, but your story must be a maximum of 1,500 words (not including the title). You can enter up to three stories in each quarterly competition.

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Poetry

HFR will accept contest submissions in poetry and fiction between Feb 1-29, 2024. This year’s poetry judge is Diana Khoi Nguyen, author of Ghost Of and Root Fractures. This year’s fiction judge is Venita Blackburn, author of How to Wrestle a Girl and Dead in Long Beach, California. There will be two prizes of $1,500 each and publication in Hayden’s Ferry Review (online in summer 2024 and in the fall/winter 2024 print issue) for a poem or a group of poems and a work of fiction. A runner-up in each category will receive $250 and publication. All entries are considered for publication.

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Short Story, and Thriller

The contest invites participants to craft a chilling first line for a scary story, with a maximum of 31 words. The winner receives a free Gotham class of their choice.

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

In addition to winning cash prizes, entrants have the opportunity to appear in our print and digital anthology collections. Our books are published by the award-winning small press Ad Hoc Fiction, and are available to buy from their own independent bookshop as well as worldwide from Amazon. 300 word limit.

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Non-fiction

The 2023 Pinch Literary Awards accepts poetry and fiction. The 2023 Page Prize accepts non-fiction.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, and Romance

The Avenue Writing Contest invites participants to create interactive narratives in four categories: Romance, Fantasy, Progression Fantasy + LitRPG, and D&D. Entries are crafted using the Avenue Creator Studio, where participants develop episodes that allow reader choices to influence the story.

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Poetry, and Short Story

Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Big Moose Prize for an unpublished novel. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes will be awarded on publication. The Big Moose Prize is open to traditional novels as well as novels-in-stories, novels-in-poems, and other hybrid forms that contain within them the spirit of a novel.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The Autumn 2024 Short Story Battle is a peer-powered contest designed for writers to showcase their short stories. The contest aims to engage the community and provide recognition for creative talents.

Genres: Essay, Fiction, and Non-fiction

This bi-annual contest recognizes emerging writers with submissions of previously unpublished fiction or nonfiction up to 6,000 words. Judged by Colin Barrett, it awards $3,000 for first place, $300 for second, and $200 for third, along with agency reviews for finalists.

Genres: Fiction, Short Story, and Poetry

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is an international literary prize open to poetry and short fiction entries. Since its launch, it has celebrated outstanding writing talent and has evolved into a prominent platform for writers to showcase their work. Winning pieces have received critical acclaim and recognition at major literary awards.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Novel, Novella, Suspense, and Thriller

The Debut Dagger is a competition for the opening of a crime novel by a writer who isn’t represented by an agent by the time the competition closes, and who has never had a traditional contract for any novel of any length, or who has never self-published any novel of any length in the last 5 years. Writers submit their opening 3,000 words and a 1,500 word synopsis. Entries from shortlisted writers are sent to UK literary agents and publishers. Every year, authors find representation this way.

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Novel, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Goldfinch Novel Award is a prize for emerging authors, inviting submissions of the first 3,000 words of a completed novel plus a 1-page synopsis. It aims to discover new literary talent and is in partnership with the Alton Arts Festival.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Write a short story, 5 pages maximum length, on any subject or theme, fiction, non-fiction, creative nonfiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal entries, short stage plays, screenplays, and screenwriting). All entries must be either typed or legibly hand printed. Multiple and simultaneous poetry and short story entries are accepted.

Genres: Fiction and Novel

Every year, the Killer Nashville Claymore Award assists new and rebranding English-language fiction authors get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. While we cannot guarantee that winners and finalists of this award will receive publication, dozens of winners & runners-up of the Claymore award have gone on to find great success in their careers and many of them attribute that success to this award.

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story

A solar flare is short-lived but has a huge amount of energy. Sunspot Lit is looking for a noteworthy flare of creative energy through short stories, poems, or graphic novels.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Contest invites unpublished stories that focus on themes relating to Judaism or Jewish culture. Established in 2000, it has featured renowned judges and offers cash prizes for outstanding works.

Genres: Fiction, Short Story, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field and discovered by a wide audience. Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded every three months. From the four 1st Place winners each year, one story is selected as the grand prize winner and the author receives an additional $5000 cash prize.

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Novella, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult

We're looking for original ideas, a fresh voice, a diverse range of entries and stories that children will love! To enter, you must have written a full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged between 7 and 18 years. We suggest a minimum of 30,000 words and ask that manuscripts do not exceed 80,000 words. The IET 150 Award will be awarded to a manuscript that celebrates Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Genres: Fiction and Non-fiction

The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing was created in 2016 to honor outstanding debut literary works by first-generation immigrants, awarded for fiction and nonfiction in alternating years. The winner receives $10,000 and publication by Restless Books.

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story

The Natural Disaster Threat Contest received submissions globally, focusing on creativity and research. Winning stories will aid in developing simulation games for future threat preparedness.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

An international writing contest for original, unpublished short stories. Winners are selected anonymously by a judge.

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

It may be the sprint of creative writing but that doesn’t mean you can rush the creative process. Take us somewhere fast then let your story marinade in the reader's mind. Make every one of your 250 words count. There is no minimum number of words, just like there is no limit to your imagination. They say lightning doesn't strike twice but we want to feel the electricity in your story right from the beginning through to the very end.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, and Short Story

The Jim Martin Memorial Adult Story Contest invites submissions of mystery, suspense, or thriller stories from adults aged 18 and over. It honors Jim Martin, a long-time member of Arizona Mystery Writers, supported by his family's generous contribution to the organization.

Genres: Fiction, Novel, and Young Adult

The Caledonia Novel Award aims to support unpublished and self-published novelists across all genres for adults and young adults. The 2025 competition encourages diverse submissions, offering significant prizes to help cultivate new talent.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The Atom Learning Young Author Award encourages children aged 7-11 to express their creativity through writing. The contest invites submissions of up to 500 words based on a specific theme, fostering young authors' storytelling skills.

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Essay, Memoir, and Short Story

Whether you’re an established or emerging writer, the Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest has a place for you. Part of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival in Salmon Arm, BC, the contest is open to submissions in short fiction (up to 2,000 words), nonfiction (up to 2,000 words), and poetry (up to three one-page poems).