Discover the finest writing contests of 2018 for fiction and non-fiction authors of short stories, poetry, essays and more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. Manage a contest? Submit it here
We found 303 contests that match your search 🔦
Tennessee Williams Literary Arts Festival
The winner will be selected from this year’s submissions of original, unpublished short stories between 3,000 and 7,000 words with LGBT content on the broad theme of “Saints and Sinners.” This contest would not be possible without a generous grant from The John Burton Harter Foundation.
Deadline: October 1st, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $20
Genre: Short Story,
$500
Share a three line poem with a specific syllable count to enter this poetry contest.
Deadline: November 6th, 2018 • Entry fee 💰: $9.95
Genre: Poetry,
$100
Write a horror story to enter this writing contest.
Deadline: November 10th, 2018 • Entry fee 💰: $9.95
Genre: Fiction, Humor, Short Story,
$100
Share your story story (of 500 words or less) to enter this writing contest. Can you share a complete story with a limited number of words?
Deadline: November 30th, 2018 • Entry fee 💰: $9.95
Genre: Fiction, Flash Fiction,
$100
Write a 5 line poem to enter this poetry contest. A 5 line poem has a specific syllable count. That count is 2-2-5-7-5. Cash prize to the winner.
Deadline: December 17th, 2018 • Entry fee 💰: 9.95
Genre: Poetry,
$100
Write a rhyming poem to enter this poetry contest. You can write any type of poem but there should be a rhyme scheme.
Deadline: December 30th, 2018 • Entry fee 💰: $9.95
Genre: Poetry,
$100
Genesee Valley Council on the Arts
The New Deal Writing Competition is a short story competition where the writer is asked to use a painting chosen by the staff of GVCA as inspiration for their short story. Click here to see the painting.
Deadline: April 5th, 2019 • Entry fee 💰: $5
Genre: Fiction, Short Story,
$200
Eligible submissions include: unpublished poetry, novellas, short story collections, novels.
Deadline: October 20th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $30
Genre: Fiction, Novel, Poetry, Short Story,
Publication from Strange Days Books
Oregon Book Awards are available for original work published or produced in the following categories: Poetry, Fiction, General Nonfiction, Creative Nonfiction, Children’s Literature, Young Adult Literature, Drama, and Graphic Literature.
Deadline: July 9th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $50
Genre: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Script Writing,
$3,500
The annual Rattle Poetry Prize offers $10,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $200 each and publication, and be eligible for the $2,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote.
Deadline: July 15th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $25
Genre: Poetry,
$10,000
Published in the winter issue of the magazine
The winning author shall receive a $1,000 cash prize and 15 author copies of the book.
Deadline: August 31st, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $25
Genre: Poetry,
$1,000
Hippocampus Magazine is giving away more than $1,200 in cash and prizes this November in our annual creative writing contest, the Remember in November Contest for Creative Nonfiction. Memoir excerpts and personal essays up to 4,000 words accepted — there is no theme.
Deadline: July 15th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $12
Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction,
$1,000
Free registration to HippoCamp 2019
Seeking travel-specific pieces that possesses a powerful sense of place, character or time. Unpublished and published pieces that have not previously been chosen as a contest winner are eligible.
Deadline: July 1st, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $20
Genre: Fiction, Non-fiction,
$1,000
Publication in Nowhere Magazine
The poetry can be of any type, length, or content, but it must be your own. The poetry can be serious or whimsical, fact or fiction, but it should strike a chord that makes us sit up and take notice. We're looking for poems will attract reader's attention as we will feature the winners on the homepage and across the site. You may submit as many entries as you like.
Deadline: September 30th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: $6.95
Genre: Poetry,
$1,000
Write a flash fiction story that uses 150 words. That is the challenge of this contest. Write a story (on any topic) using exactly 150 words. The title does not count towards the word count. Online word processor is an estimate only. We recommend the use of a computer word processor to count the words.
Deadline: September 12th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰:
Genre: Flash Fiction,
$100
Write a story the brings two people together, two people who don't necessarily realize that they belong together but the audience is rooting for them. No length requirements.
Deadline: September 5th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰:
Genre: Fiction,
$100
We are looking for personal essays, memoirs, and works of literary non-fiction on any topic. It doesn't matter if it's spiritual, political, intellectual, emotional, funny, serious, or an essay about your DVD player.
Deadline: August 10th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰:
Genre: Essay, Memoir, Non-fiction,
$100
The challenge of this contest is to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter, just like Shakespeare did.
Deadline: July 25th, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰:
Genre: Poetry,
$100
Write a horror or thriller story for this writing contest. Put your readers on edge or terrorize them. The winner takes away a $100 cash prize. All writers will receive feedback for their submission.
Deadline: June 1st, 2018 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰:
Genre: Fiction, Short Story,
$100
Whether it takes you one page to tell your story or your manuscript is a little thicker, we would like to read it. The only stipulation is that the word count of your submission should be no greater than 45,000 words.
Deadline: January 1st, 1970 (Expired) • Entry fee 💰: £10
Genre: Fiction, Novel, Short Story,
£500
Publication
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