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1 million authors trust the professionals on Reedsy. Come meet them.
DIRECTORY
Showing 356 contests that match your search.
Autumn House Press
Genres: Poetry
For the 2023 contest, the Autumn House staff as well as select outsider readers serve as the preliminary readers, and the final judge is Toi Derricotte. The winner receives publication of a full-length manuscript and $2,500.
Top Prize:
Book publication | $1,000 honorarium | $1,500 travel/publicity grant
💰 Entry fee: $30
📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024
SFWP
Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Novel, and Novella
We are seeking fiction and creative nonfiction of every genre. The contest is open to authors who have not been published by a major press. We publish in English, but the contest is open to writers from anywhere in the world. The early-bird entry fee (December 15th-February 15th) will be $25.
Top Prize:
$1,500
Additional prizes:
Two runner ups will be selected, each receiving $700.
💰 Entry fee: $30
📅 Deadline: July 15, 2022 (Expired)
Virginia Romance Writers
Genres: Fiction and Romance
The Virginia Romance Writers Chapter of the Romance Writers of America® is pleased to announce the 27th Annual HOLT Medallion competition for the best romantic fiction. Entries must be a single work of romance fiction, with an original copyright date (not a release date) of January-December 2021 regardless of format (e-book or print).
Top Prize:
Certificate and a pewter HOLT medallion
💰 Entry fee: $30
📅 Deadline: January 15, 2024 (Expired)
Wilkes University
Genres: Fiction and Novel
A prize of $10,000 is given annually for a novel-in-progress by a U.S. writer who has not published a novel. Runners-up will receive $1000. A selection from the winning work is published in Provincetown Arts.
Top Prize:
$10,000
💰 Entry fee: $33
📅 Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Expired)
Unleash Press
Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult
We aim to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision. The Unleash WIP Award offers writers support in the amount of $500 to supplement costs to aid in the completion of a book-length work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Writers will also receive editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.
Top Prize:
$500
Additional prizes:
Coaching, interview, and editorial support
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024
National Poetry Series
Genres: Poetry
The National Poetry Series seeks book-length manuscripts of poetry written by American residents or American citizens living abroad.
Top Prize:
$10,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Expired)
Academy of American Poets
Genres: Poetry
The First Book Award is a $5,000 first-book publication prize. The winning manuscript, chosen by an acclaimed poet, is published by Graywolf Press. The winner also receives an all-expenses-paid six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center, in the Umbrian region of Italy.
Top Prize:
$5,000
Additional prizes:
Publication by Graywolf Press
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: October 01, 2021 (Expired)
North Texas Romance Writers
Genres: Romance
The Carolyn Readers Choice Award contest is open to all authors of traditional, e-published, and self-published books. Romances featuring characters of all races, creeds, ethnicities, genders, and sexualities or with disabilities or containing spiritual/religious elements are welcome to enter. Please enter the category that best suits your entry over all.
Top Prize:
$100
Additional prizes:
Digital medallion for runners up
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)
University of Southern Idaho
Genres: Poetry
A prize of $6,000 and publication by SIR Press is awarded annually for a collection of poetry written in English. All entries are considered for publication.
Top Prize:
$6,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: February 01, 2024 (Expired)
Hopper Creative Group LLC
Genres: Science Fiction
The Valorious Awards, sponsored by international best-selling author, Christopher Hopper, is an annual competition seeking to recognize and encourage emerging artists in two categories: best sci-fi novel, best sci-fi voice actor. The awards seek to recognize emerging independent authors and character actors and discover new and exciting talent within the world of science fiction.
Top Prize:
$500
Additional prizes:
2nd: $250 | 3rd: $150
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Expired)
Genres: Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Novel
We are a boutique publishing company that is dedicated to amplifying the voices of contemporary writers who are nomads and explorers of language, form, and the psyche. High-quality “unpublished” manuscript submissions of memoir, fiction and non-fiction entrusted to us will be read, sorted and pondered by our esteemed author, Jacqueline Gay Walley.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Possible publication
💰 Entry fee: $35
📅 Deadline: October 01, 2024
The Bath Novel Awards
Genres: Children's, Fiction, and Young Adult
The Bath Children's Novel Award is a £5,000 international prize for emerging writers of children's fiction. Submit the first 5,000 words plus a one page synopsis of your chapter book or novel for children or young adults, or up to three picture book texts with summaries. Shortlistees receive feedback on their full manuscript from young judges and all listees receive editorial director feedback on their extract and synopsis.
Top Prize:
£5,000
Additional prizes:
£1,800 course for one longlistee
💰 Entry fee: $38
📅 Deadline: November 30, 2024
The Bath Novel Awards
Genres: Fiction, Novel, and Young Adult
The Bath Novel Award is a £5,000 international prize for emerging writers of adult fiction. Submit the first 5,000 words plus a one-page synopsis of your novel for adults or young adults. Shortlisted entrants will receive feedback on their full manuscript and all listees will receive editorial director feedback on their extract and synopsis.
Top Prize:
£5,000
Additional prizes:
£1800 for one longlistee
💰 Entry fee: $38
📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024
Georgia Romance Writers
Genres: Novel and Romance
The purpose of the Published Maggie Award for Excellence is to recognize the achievements of published authors of romantic fiction. The Maggie Award is a symbol of achievement given by the Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) to bring special attention to these authors. The Maggie, a silver medallion commissioned by GRW, receives national attention. Books will be ranked by librarians, booksellers, and other professionals in the publishing industry.
Top Prize:
Trophy
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: April 05, 2024 (Expired)
Passionate Ink
Genres: Fiction, Novel, Novella, Romance, and Short Story
The 2024 Passionate Plume celebrates the best in erotic fiction, both long and short, and features a special category for emerging authors.
Top Prize:
Engraved award
Additional prizes:
Publication in the Passionate Ink Charity Anthology
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: March 21, 2024 (Expired)
First Coast Romance Writers
Genres: Fiction and Romance
The National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award celebrates published romance novels and novellas and is judged by romance readers. All entries must have an original copyright date of 2021 and must have been available for purchase in the United States beginning in 2021.
Top Prize:
NERFA Winner web logo and trophy
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)
Killer Nashville
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.
Top Prize:
Publishing contract
Additional prizes:
Discounted admission to Killer Nashville, introductions to agents/editors
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)
Georgia Romance Writers
Genres: Fiction, Novel, and Romance
The purpose of the Prepublished Maggie Award for Excellence is to encourage, recognize, and reward the mastery of romance writing by Prepublished authors of romantic fiction. The Maggie Award is a symbol of achievement given by the Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) to bring special attention to these writers. The Maggie Award, a silver medallion commissioned by GRW, receives national attention.
Top Prize:
Trophy
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: April 21, 2024 (Expired)
Killer Nashville
Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Novel, Science Fiction, and Thriller
Created in 2009, the Killer Nashville Claymore Award assists new and rebranding English-language fiction authors to get published, including possible agent representation, book advances, editor deals, and movie and television sales. The contest is limited to only the first 50 double-spaced pages of unpublished English-language manuscripts containing elements of thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense NOT currently under contract.
Top Prize:
Possible contract with Mystery Writers of America
💰 Entry fee: $40
📅 Deadline: April 01, 2025
Crime Writer's Association
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.
Top Prize:
$577
💰 Entry fee: $41
📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)
Poetry Book Awards
Genres: Poetry
The Poetry Book Awards is an annual, international book award given to the best poetry books produced by indie writers, self published authors or books published by small, truly independent presses. We are proud to be a Welsh based international awards programme, open to all indie authors and self published poets globally.
Top Prize:
£400
Additional prizes:
2nd: £200 | 3rd: £100 | Publication
💰 Entry fee: $44
📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024
Book Pipeline
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, and Young Adult
Launched in 2014, Book Pipeline connects writers worldwide with publishers, editors, agents, and the film industry. Through two submission platforms—Unpublished and Adaptation—the company seeks both new and established authors. For over 22 years, Pipeline has bridged the gap between up-and-coming writers and the industry through a unique, long-term, hands-on facilitation process. The result thus far has been $8 million in scripts sold to studios and networks since 1999.
Top Prize:
$15,000
💰 Entry fee: $45
📅 Deadline: August 20, 2024
Blue Ridge Mountains Conference
Genres: Christian
The Selah Awards are open to all published authors whose books were published between December 16, 2020 and December 15, 2021 with either traditional or nontraditional publishers.
Top Prize:
Award
💰 Entry fee: $45
📅 Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Expired)
Blue Ridge Mountains Conference
Genres: Christian
The mission of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference is to inspire writers to connect with God, other writers, and industry professionals as they embrace their calling with excellence. The entrant must be registered for the entire conference in order to compete.
Top Prize:
Award
💰 Entry fee: $45
📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)
The Independent Author Network
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, Young Adult, Crime, and Short Story
The Independent Author Network presents the 10th Annual IAN Book of the Year Awards, an international contest open to all authors with 55 fiction and non-fiction categories. Winners are eligible to receive a share of cash prizes of $6,000 USD. Open to all English language print and eBooks available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors.
Top Prize:
$2,500
Additional prizes:
$6,000.00 USD in total cash prizes
💰 Entry fee: $49
📅 Deadline: August 16, 2024
Adventure Writers
Genres: Fiction, Novel, Thriller, and Mystery
Any novels between 50,000 and 200,000 words that are in the realm of action/adventure/thriller/mystery - and chocked-full of adventure - are welcome. New and previously published books welcome, though you must have sold or given away less than 10,000 books of the title(s) you enter. We do not accept sci-fi, fantasy, horror or young children's books. See our website for info on rules and entering.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Two AWC Finalist Awards: $500
💰 Entry fee: $50
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Expired)
Historical Novel Society
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Novel, Romance, Thriller, and Young Adult
The HNS UK 2024 First Chapters Competition is for the first three chapters of a full-length historical novel that has not been previously published in any form. We are looking to recognize and promote excellence in storytelling and the craft of historical fiction and its subgenres. The competition coincides with the HNS UK 2024 conference and the overall winner will be announced at the conference.
Top Prize:
£1,000
Additional prizes:
Category winners: £500 and HNS UK 2024 conference ticket
💰 Entry fee: $50
📅 Deadline: February 15, 2024 (Expired)
Showcase Script Competition
Genres: Script Writing
The Scriptation Showcase is the screenwriting contest that circulates winners’ scripts to Hollywood directors, showrunners, and producers. 25 scripts get featured for one year in Scriptation, the Emmy® winning app used on film and TV productions.
Top Prize:
$1,000
💰 Entry fee: $54
📅 Deadline: May 12, 2024
Irish Writers Centre
Genres: Fiction and Novel
Now in its 13th year, the Novel Fair is an annual competition initiated by the Irish Writers Centre. Described by The Irish Times as ‘A Dragons’ Den for writers’, each year the Fair introduces twelve up-and-coming writers to top publishers and literary agents, giving novelists the opportunity to bypass the slush pile, pitch their ideas and place their synopsis and sample chapters directly into the hands of industry professionals.
Top Prize:
Present your novel to leading publishers and agents at the Irish Writers Centre
💰 Entry fee: $59
📅 Deadline: September 30, 2024
Rubery Book Awards
Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult, and Romance
The Rubery Prize is a prestigious international book award seeking the best books by indie writers, self published authors and books published by independent presses, judged by reputable judges. Through our reputation of finding quality and outstanding books we aim to bring recognition to the works that win and heighten an author's profile.
Top Prize:
£2000
Additional prizes:
£200, a write-up
💰 Entry fee: $60
📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)
Best Indie Book Award
Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult
The annual Best Indie Book Award® (or BIBA®) is an international literary awards contest recognizing self-published and independently published authors from all over the world. Entries are limited to independently (indie) published books, including those from small presses, e-book publishers, and self-published authors.
Top Prize:
Trophy
💰 Entry fee: $65
📅 Deadline: August 15, 2024
Genres: Script Writing
The Scriptation Showcase is the screenwriting contest that circulates winners’ scripts to Hollywood directors, showrunners, and producers. 15 scripts get featured for one year in Scriptation, the Emmy® Award winning app used on film and TV productions. The earlier you apply, the lower the entry fee will be.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
1 Year Scriptation Showcase, 1 year industry pro access
💰 Entry fee: $74
📅 Deadline: July 24, 2022 (Expired)
Columbia Journalism School
Genres: Non-fiction
The Mark Lynton History Prize, in the amount of $10,000, is awarded to a book-length work of history on any topic that best combines intellectual distinction with felicity of expression. Books must have been published in the United States between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023.
Top Prize:
$10,000
💰 Entry fee: $75
📅 Deadline: December 07, 2023 (Expired)
Academy of American Poets
Genres: Poetry
Established in 1975, this $25,000 award recognizes the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous calendar year. The prize includes distribution of the winning book to hundreds of Academy of American Poets members.
Top Prize:
$25,000
Additional prizes:
Publication and distribution of book
💰 Entry fee: $75
📅 Deadline: May 15, 2024
Winning Writers
Genres: Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Children's, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult
Submit a self-published or hybrid-published book, up to 200,000 words in length. One grand prize winner will receive $10,000, a marketing analysis and one-hour phone consultation with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, a $300 credit at BookBaby, three months of Plus service (a $207 value) and a $500 account credit from Book Award Pro, and 3 free ads in the Winning Writers newsletter (a $525 value)
Top Prize:
$10,000
Additional prizes:
$1,000 for top winner in each category | $300 for honorable mentions
💰 Entry fee: $75
📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024 (Expired)
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