Best Writing Contests in 2025

Genres: Essay

The Berggruen Prize Essay Competition aims to foster innovative ideas across cultures by posing significant philosophical questions relevant to contemporary life. It seeks submissions in English and Chinese that reflect novel thinking and compelling arguments.

Genres: Poetry

The Willow Run Poetry Book Award is an annual contest open to poets worldwide. The winner receives a monetary prize of $1,000 and publication by Hidden River Press. Entries should be unpublished collections of poetry, between 75 and 100 pages.

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

An international rolling flash fiction competition that runs three rounds annually, offering substantial cash prizes and opportunities for publication in anthologies.

Genres: Script Writing and Short Story

The Scriptation Showcase is a screenwriting contest that offers exposure to Hollywood industry professionals. Winners' scripts are circulated to directors, showrunners, and producers. The contest includes analysis and feedback on submissions through ScreenplayIQ.

Genres: Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Novel

High-quality unpublished manuscripts in memoir, fiction, and non-fiction are sought for this competition. The contest is designed to amplify the voices of contemporary writers.

Genres: Fiction and Romance

The HOLT Medallion Contest honors outstanding romantic fiction, evaluating entries through a panel of romance readers. It has been held annually since 1995, recognizing both published and unpublished authors. The winners receive a pewter medallion and a certificate.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The contest welcomes submissions of previously unpublished short stories of 1000 words or fewer. It encourages simultaneous submissions and offers publication for finalists in their journal.

Genres: Poetry

The Harold Morton Landon Translation Award is an annual award recognizing the work of a translator for a poetry collection translated from any language into English, published in the previous calendar year. Established in 1976, the award amount is $1,000.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The Anthology Short Story Competition aims to recognize and encourage creative writing by providing a platform for publication. It is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in English, with no restrictions on theme or style. Stories should not exceed 1,500 words.

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

The BBC National Short Story Award aims to celebrate and promote the short story form, providing a prestigious platform for both established and emerging writers. The award includes a significant monetary prize and recognition through BBC broadcasts.

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize is a competition sponsored by _Selected Shorts_, where winning stories are performed live and published. The contest aims to celebrate the art of the short story.

Genres: Poetry and LGBTQ

The Hastings Book Festival Poetry competition invites entries of innovative writing. Judged by Jessica Mookherjee, the competition offers monetary prizes and mentoring opportunities for winners.

Genres: Non-fiction

The Memo'd AI Writing Contest invites participants to create popular Memos using their AI content creator. Participants can enter by generating Memes through the Memo'd app and publishing them. The contest encourages creativity, allowing users to leverage AI and their own insights to produce Memos.

Genres: Children's and Short Story

The Youth Writing Contest is an annual event organized by the Vancouver Writers Fest for students in British Columbia. It accepts short stories and personal essays, with two categories for different grade levels. It's supported by the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, and Short Story

Welcome to the 31st annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest. Submit published or unpublished work. $9,000 in prizes.

Genres: Flash Fiction and Non-fiction

The WAWA challenges writers to explore the theme of 'Endings' through short stories of up to 500 words. Entries must not include the word 'endings' in the title or story itself. Winners will be announced in March 2025.

Genres: Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Mystery, Science Fiction, and Thriller

This contest invites submissions of short stories exploring the theme of 'Freedom' within the genres of crime, speculative, and fantasy fiction. Winning entries will be published in a special issue combining Tangled Web Magazine and Mirk Fantasy Magazine.

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: Essay and Non-fiction

The Environmental Writing Competition invites young writers to explore themes related to environmental issues through various genres. Participants are encouraged to express their voices on pressing ecological topics.

Genres: Poetry

The 42 Miles Press Poetry Award aims to highlight urgent and original voices in poetry. Open to all poets writing in English, it accepts collections of poetry that showcase contemporary American poetic voices. The contest is judged by David Dodd Lee, and past winners include several notable poets.

Genres: Poetry

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

Genres: Poetry

The Heroica Poetry Prize is a competition aimed at women and non-binary authors and poets, offering monetary rewards and publication in an anthology.

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult

The Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest is designed to encourage submissions of creative works, emphasizing literary merit and exploratory themes. Details about submitting and specific guidelines were found on the main contest page.

Genres: Fiction

The John Steinbeck Award for Fiction is a prestigious contest that recognizes exceptional works of fiction. Open to various styles, it specifically seeks stand-alone short stories with a maximum of 5,000 words. The submissions are accepted through a dedicated portal, and each entry includes a reading fee.

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Novel, and Poetry

The BCALA Self-Publishing Literary Awards honors the best self-published ebooks by African American authors in the U.S. across fiction and poetry genres. The awards focus on the cultural, historical, and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards Contest is aimed at unpublished writers of novel-length fiction, offering feedback and exposure to literary agents and editors. It encourages diverse voices and celebrates various genres.

Genres: Poetry

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award celebrates outstanding writers in poetry and short fiction. It aims to support new literary talent and showcases entries that reflect upon the changing world and challenge traditional boundaries of form and technique.

Genres: Flash Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Fiction

The Annual Short Contest is part of Gemini Magazine's yearly contests, which include Flash Fiction and Poetry. Each contest seeks to discover and publish exceptional literary works from writers around the globe.

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

The Rigel 2024 writing contest invites submissions in various formats, including prose, poetry, art, and graphic novels, with a focus on creative expression across genres. The contest aims to support diverse voices and original works.

Genres: Poetry

Twice each year Black Lawrence Press will run the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or prose between 16-36 pages in length. The contest is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes are awarded on publication.

Genres: Poetry

These fellowships are $50,000 awards aimed at honoring poets of literary merit who serve in civic positions. The goal is to support them in creating new work and undertaking impactful projects that enrich local communities through poetry.

Genres: Poetry

The Annual Poetry Contest accepts up to 3 previously unpublished poems of any style, with no length limit. Winning entries receive cash prizes and publication. Additionally, winners and honorable mentions get a print copy of the issue.

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 Flash Fiction Competition invites writers to submit stories of up to 500 words. It's a quarterly competition with prizes awarded for the top three entries each quarter. Winning entries are published on the website.

Genres: Poetry

The TWFest Poetry Contest is designed for emerging writers, focusing on original, unpublished poetry. The contest includes a grand prize and finalists' recognition.