Best Writing Contests in 2024

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: Christian, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, LGBTQ, Mystery, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Travel

The New Deal Writing Competition invites writers to create a short story inspired by a specific painting. The current painting is 'Playtime' by Fred Ross. This is the ninth annual contest, intended to celebrate creativity and connect art and writing.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The TWFest Very Short Fiction Contest invites emerging writers to submit original short stories up to 1,000 words. The contest promotes new work and is open to writers who have not published a book of fiction.

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: Mystery and Short Story

Every year since 2014, the CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international competition for a short story of up to 3,500 words. Our mission is to find the best unpublished short mystery, and not only that, but one which fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great story. Entries are invited from all writers, published or unpublished, writing in English.

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, 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: Essay and Memoir

Write about an event in your life. Everyone has a memoir. Not an autobiography. Too much concern about fact and convention. A memoir gives us the ability to write about our life with the option to create and fabricate and to make sense of a life, or part of that life.

Genres: Poetry

The Edwin Markham Prize for Poetry honors outstanding works of poetry, celebrating the diverse forms and styles of contemporary poets. The contest features a submission fee and specific entry requirements for participation.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, and Young Adult

The Writing MAGIC contest invites authors to write a short story under 500 words about anything magical. Open to all age groups, stories can be fiction or non-fiction. The contest aims to celebrate creativity and share magical experiences.

Genres: Essay and Non-fiction

The competition seeks articles from aspiring journalists aged 14-21. Winning entries will be published in Pitch Magazine and critiqued by a panel of judges. Winners receive a £50 cash prize and work experience.

Genres: Flash Fiction and Short Story

The Flash Fiction Competition invites teens aged 13-19 to explore their storytelling skills. Participants can share original flash fiction pieces and gain recognition from guest judges. This competition is part of a monthly series, offering an opportunity for writers to showcase their creativity and talent.

Genres: Poetry

The Free Verse Prize is a new poetry prize, which supports the Free Verse Poetry Book and Magazine Fair. The judge is poet and former Poetry Book Fair director, Chrissy Williams. Poems can be on any theme, and should have fewer than 40 lines.

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: Travel

Ottawa Tourism offers an annual $500 CAD prize for outstanding travel writing featuring Canada’s Capital Region. Eligible entries include items in English or in French that have appeared in magazines, newspapers, or online media in 2023 that highlight Ottawa as a travel destination.

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.

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Romance, and Thriller

The Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for unpublished authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Poetry, and Science Fiction

The Iridescence Award is a contest for short stories and poetry by BIPOC authors, focusing on themes of the supernatural, extraterrestrial, or paranormal. The contest aims to promote underrepresented voices in literature and provides cash prizes along with publication opportunities.

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.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Principal Foundation has launched the second edition of its national short story contest, Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative. Hosted in collaboration with The Center for Fiction and Short Édition, the contest invites adults ages 18 and up to submit imaginative short stories that reflect lived experiences with money now through October 2, 2024.

Genres: Poetry

A Lune is a 5-3-5 contest. That means the first line has five syllables. The second line of your poem will have three. And the final line will have five again. Your poem can rhyme. Write about anything. Cash prize!

Genres: Short Story

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest aims to inspire and encourage writers and poets to showcase their talents. The contest accepts entries in the forms of poems (up to 30 lines) and short stories (up to 5 pages) on any subject or theme.

Genres: Christian

The Christian Author Awards recognizes preeminent new Christian authors who are independently published. Xulon Press, host and sponsor of the Christian Author Awards, is excited to once again extend the opportunity to Christian authors to have their work recognized and given due credit. The Christian Author Awards exists to honor exceptional books written by Christian authors like you that are published independently by nontraditional publishers.

Genres: Poetry

The competition invites submissions of poetry. The theme for 2024 is 'RISKING ALL', commemorating the Everest Climbing expedition centenary.

Genres: Children's

The contest invites children to submit original art related to a camp theme. It emphasizes creativity and originality, encouraging participants to depict their ideal camping experiences.

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, and Short Story

The 2025 Book Prize awards a winning manuscript with a $1,000 advance and a standard contract from Unleash Press. Accepts novels, poetry collections, short story collections, and creative nonfiction. The competition is open now until December 1, 2024.

Genres: Poetry

A sonnet is a poem with a specific structure. It has 14 lines and a specific rhyme scheme. The topic is open! Write about anything for this poetry contest. Just follow the rules on how to write a sonnet. To read the rules and for an example view the contest announcement. Cash prize for the winner of this contest.

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

2023 Contest Theme is: Preserve or Purge. We ask that authors try and incorporate both concepts into their speculative work. This can be conveyed in the setting, plot, characters, dialogue; the only limit is your imagination. The theme must be integral to the story in some way and not just mentioned in passing.

Genres: Essay, Fiction, and Non-fiction

The Creative Nonfiction Prize is held annually by Indiana Review, which also publishes various genres including poetry and fiction. It features a $20 entry fee, which includes a subscription to the journal. All entries are considered for publication.

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

The Fish Flash Fiction Prize is an opportunity to attempt one of the most interesting and rewarding tasks – to create, in a tiny fragment, a completely resolved and compelling story in 300 words or less. The top ten stories will be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2022.

Genres: Non-fiction

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.

Genres: Poetry

For this contest you are challenged to write a Tanka poem. Tanka is a form of poetry that often follows a specific syllable count. That count is 5-7-5-7-7. So your first line has five syllables, second has seven, third has five and the last two lines each have seven syllables. Cash prize!

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, and Suspense

An annual fiction competition recognizing the finest speculative fiction inspired by Kurt Vonnegut. The contest welcomes unpublished fiction across various speculative genres.

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Thriller

Three days to write a 1000 word short story. The peer-powered quarterly writing contest where every story receives oodles of feedback. Write one. Read ten. Win thousands.

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

F(r)iction Contests accepts submissions in short stories, poetry, and flash fiction, encouraging boundary-pushing and experimental works. The contest opens on July 1, 2024, and winners will be announced in April 2025.