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F(r)iction Short Story Contest
F(r)iction
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, and Short Story
We seek work that actively pushes boundaries, that forces us to question traditions and tastes. If your work takes risks, we want to read it. We like strong narratives that make us feel something and stories we haven’t seen before. We accept work, written in English, from anywhere in the world—regardless of genre, style, or origin—and welcome speculative writing and experimental literature. Strange is good. Strange with a strong character arc is even better. Keep it weird, folks.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $15
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024
WOW! Women on Writing Spring 2024 Flash Fiction Contest
WOW! Women On Writing
Genres: Flash Fiction, Fiction, and Short Story
Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, great writing, and provide well-rewarded recognition to contestants.
Top Prize:
$400
Additional prizes:
2nd: $300 | 3rd: $200 | 7 runner-ups: $25 Amazon Gift Cards
💰 Entry fee: $10
📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024
The Lascaux Prize in Short Fiction
The Lascaux Review
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
Stories may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. Winner receives $1,000 and a bronze medallion. Finalists receive $100. Winner and finalists are published in both the online and annual print editions of The Lascaux Review.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Publication in The Lascaux Review
💰 Entry fee: $15
📅 Deadline: December 31, 2021 (Expired)
Nimrod Literary Awards
Nimrold International Journal of Prose and Poetry
Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Novel
All finalists in fiction and poetry will be published and paid at our standard publication rate. Semi-finalists in poetry will also be published and paid at our standard publication rate.
Top Prize:
$2000 + Publication
Additional prizes:
2nd: $1000 + Publication
💰 Entry fee: $20
📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)
Writing MAGIC
Sadie Tells Stories
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, and Young Adult
Are you an author who loves magic? Do you have an idea for a super short story that needs to be shared with the world? If you answered yes to both of those questions this contest is for you! The story can be about anything magical. Maybe it’s something that you’ve experienced in real life or it’s something you’ve created. Maybe it’s the start of a great idea. Maybe it’ll be the thing that inspires you to finally publish your book.
Top Prize:
$500
Additional prizes:
$150
💰 Entry fee: $10
📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)
Genre Smash Short Story Challenge
Globe Soup
Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult
For this short story challenge, all participants will be randomly assigned a genre pairing. As soon as you receive your ‘smashed’ genres you'll have until the closing time to write and submit a short story of any length up to 5,000 words, that perfectly and seamlessly combines both genres into one amazing short story.
Top Prize:
£1,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $11
📅 Deadline: October 23, 2023 (Expired)
The Iowa Review Awards
The Iowa Review
Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
Each January since 2003, The Iowa Review has invited submissions to The Iowa Review Awards, a writing contest in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Winners receive $1,500; first runners-up receive $750. Winners and runners-up are published in each December issue.
Top Prize:
$1,500
💰 Entry fee: $20
📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)
The Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction
Association of Writers & Writing Programs
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
AWP sponsors the Award Series, an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works. The competition is open to all authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence, and is available to published and unpublished authors alike.
Top Prize:
$5,500
Additional prizes:
Publication by Red Hen Press
💰 Entry fee: $30
📅 Deadline: February 28, 2024 (Expired)
Voice.club Monthly Flash Fiction Contest
Voice.club
Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Short Story
Voice.club Writing Contests: Express yourself in a supportive international community, as you develop your writing skills. We invite you to write a story of 350 words or less, based on our current prompt. Our monthly contests are open to writers aged 13 and older from any country, but each story must be written in English. Our March prompt is "Ambition". We look forward to reading your story!
Top Prize:
$25 USD Amazon Gift Card
Additional prizes:
Publication
📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)
Anthology Short Story Competition 2024
Anthology Magazine
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
Established to recognise and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. There is no restriction on theme or style. Stories submitted must not exceed the maximum of 1,500 words. Writers can submit as many entries as they wish. Each submission will require a separate entry form and is subject to a separate entry fee.
Top Prize:
€1,000
💰 Entry fee: $19
📅 Deadline: July 31, 2024
Winter Flash Fiction Battle
Writing Battle
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.
Top Prize:
Genre Winner (x4): $2,000
Additional prizes:
Genre Runner-up (x4): $500 | Feedback by industry professionals.
💰 Entry fee: $25
📅 Deadline: February 01, 2024 (Expired)
Passionate Plume
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)
NOWW 26th International Writing Contest
Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW)
Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
Open to all writers in four categories: poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and critical writing.
Top Prize:
$150
Additional prizes:
2nd: $100 | 3rd: $50
💰 Entry fee: $7
📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)
Horror Writing Contest
FanStory.com Inc.
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!
Top Prize:
$100
💰 Entry fee: $10
📅 Deadline: October 27, 2022 (Expired)
The Book of the Year Awards
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
Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Competition
Dzanc Books
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
The Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize celebrates imaginative and inventive writing in book-length collections (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Past winners include Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh (Zan), Nino Cipri (Homesick), Anne Valente (By Light We Knew Our Names), Chaya Bhuvaneswar (White Dancing Elephants), Jen Grow (My Life as a Mermaid), Julie Stewart (Water and Blood), and Ethel Rohan (In the Event of Contact). The winning submission will be awarded a $2,500 advance and publication by Dzanc Books.
Top Prize:
$2,500
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $25
📅 Deadline: September 30, 2024
Crossings Travel Writing Competition
Intrepid Times
Genres: Non-fiction, Short Story, and Travel
Write an original, factual, first-person travel story that centers on a crossing of some kind. Your travel story should, as always, grow around the context of a place or experience; we want to see the theme being used in a way that enhances both. Editors will be looking for originality, voice, and a satisfying story arc that captures attention and makes use of imagery to pull the reader along at every step.
Top Prize:
$200
Additional prizes:
Publication in Intrepid Times
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024
The Letter Review Prize for Reprints
Letter Review
Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
We're seeking Stories, Poems, and works of Nonfiction which have been previously published, and are not currently available to read online. Far too often excellent writing experiences a brief moment in the sun, and disappears for good (either out of print, behind a paywall, or to sit on a dusty shelf). As part of The Letter Review's committment to open access, we are here to celebrate these works, and give them a second chance by republishing them online, hopefully assisting them to shine forever.
Top Prize:
$1000 (shared by 3 winners)
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $20
📅 Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Expired)
Minds Shine Bright Writing Competition
Minds Shine Bright
Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story
Minds Shine Bright is an arts business based in Melbourne Australia committed to supporting the arts and writers. We run two fiction writing competitions; Minds Shine Bright Confidence, a longitudinal look at the theme confidence in fiction and poetry, and Seasons a competition with a changing external theme. Light and Shadow is currently open.
Top Prize:
$500 AUD
Additional prizes:
2nd: $400 AUD | 3rd: $300 AUD | 4th: $200 AUD | Commended entries: $100 AUD
💰 Entry fee: $3
📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)
Short Story Competition 2021
Exeter Writers
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
Exeter Writers runs an annual short story competition. The competition began in 2009 and is very popular, receiving entries from all over the world. The maximum word count is 3,000.
Top Prize:
$900
💰 Entry fee: $9
📅 Deadline: February 28, 2021 (Expired)
Rigel 2024: $500 for Prose, Poetry, Art, or Graphic Novel
Sunspot Literary Journal
Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story
Literary or genre works accepted. Winner receives $500 plus publication, while runners-up and finalists are offered publication. No restrictions on theme or category. Closes: February 29. Entry fee: $12.50. Enter as many times as you like through Submittable or Duotrope
Top Prize:
$500 + publication
Additional prizes:
Runners-up and finalists are offered publication
💰 Entry fee: $12
📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)
Annual Flash Fiction Competition
Flash 500
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
This quarterly open-themed competition has closing dates of 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 31st December. The results will be announced about six weeks after each closing date and the three winning entries each quarter will be published on the website.
Top Prize:
£300
Additional prizes:
£200, £100
💰 Entry fee: $7
📅 Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Expired)
The Elmbridge Literary Competition 2023-24
The R C Sherriff Trust
Genres: Fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving." - William Shakespeare For some, it is a lifetime’s pursuit, often slipping through their grasp while others see it fall into their hands by mere chance. However achieved, through talent or luck, Fame can be an ill-fated prize. The 19th Elmbridge Literary Competition, run in partnership by The R C Sherriff Trust and Elmbridge Borough Council, is looking for short stories and poems on the theme of the double-edged sword that is ‘FAME’.
Top Prize:
£250
Additional prizes:
Published chapbook
💰 Entry fee: $6
📅 Deadline: February 23, 2024 (Expired)
As Bright as the Moon
Tales
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Short Story, and Thriller
Can’t decide between the headstrong alpha or the hunky omega? Us either. We’re seeking stories featuring steamy werewolf romance, perfect for reading under a full moon. Whether you’re Team Jacob Black or Team Alcide Herveaux…we’re all Team Awoooo. Works up to 3,000 words will be considered.
Top Prize:
$600
Additional prizes:
2nd place: $300; 3rd place: $100
💰 Entry fee: $0
📅 Deadline: May 31, 2022 (Expired)
Genres: Fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
The 2024 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize, the fifteenth edition of the prestigious prize, is open from 1 February to 1 July 2024. Exceptionally international in scope, the prize supports writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. The winners of each category will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication in Wasafiri magazine.
Top Prize:
£1,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $15
📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024
Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition
Cranked Anvil Press
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.
Top Prize:
£150
Additional prizes:
£75 for 2nd, £30 for 3rd
💰 Entry fee: $7
📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)
Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Science Writing, and Short Story
The Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing will be administered to the winner of a literary contest designed to champion innovative hybrid and cross-genre work.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $22
📅 Deadline: February 16, 2024 (Expired)
Goldilocks Zone
Sunspot Literary Journal
Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story
Sunspot Lit is looking for the perfect combination of craft and appeal in stories, CNF, novel or novella excerpts, artwork, graphic novels, poems, scripts/screenplays. Literary and genre accepted. Enter through Submittable or Duotrope.
Top Prize:
$500
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $10
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024
Storytrade Book Awards
Storytrade
Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Script Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult
The Storytrade Book Awards recognizes excellence in small and independent publishing. Open to all indie authors and publishers including self-published authors, university presses, and small or independent presses, our annual awards program spotlights outstanding books in a number of fiction and nonfiction categories.
Top Prize:
$1,000
Additional prizes:
Medal, Book Stickers, Digital Seal
💰 Entry fee: $75
📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024
Narrative Prize
Narrative Magazine
Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story
The Narrative Prize is awarded annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, poem, one-act play, graphic story, or work of literary nonfiction published by a new or emerging writer in Narrative. The submission system is open all year.
Top Prize:
$4,000
💰 Entry fee: $27
📅 Deadline: June 15, 2024
100 Word Writing Contest
Tadpole Press
Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, Young Adult, Children's, Poetry, Romance, Short Story, Suspense, and Travel
Can you write a story using 100 words or less? Pieces will be judged on creativity, uniqueness, and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible or unexpectedly delights us. In addition, we are looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling and complete story. The first-place prize has doubled to $2,000 USD.
Top Prize:
$2,000
Additional prizes:
2nd: writing coach package
💰 Entry fee: $15
📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024
Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize
Gotham Writers Workshop
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 writing competition sponsored by the stage and radio series Selected Shorts. Selected Shorts is recorded for Public Radio and heard nationally on both the radio and its weekly podcast. This years entries will be judged by Carmen Maria Machado (In the Dream House, Her Body and Other Parties).
Top Prize:
$1000 + free 10 week course with Gotham Writers
💰 Entry fee: $25
📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)
Creative Writing Award for Short Fiction
Aesthetica Magazine
Genres: Fiction and Short Story
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award celebrates outstanding writers. The Award was launched after the publication of Aesthetica Magazine, as a way to support the next generation of literary talent. The Creative Writing Award is open to Poetry and Short Fiction submissions on any theme, however, we are particularly interested in works that reflect upon our ever changing world.
Top Prize:
$2,500
Additional prizes:
Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual | A five-day course from Arvon | Consultation with Redhammer Management | Six-week writing short stories course from Curtis Brown Creative
💰 Entry fee: $22
📅 Deadline: August 31, 2024
Artificial Intelligence Competition
New Beginnings
Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story
There is no topic relating to technology that brings more discussion than artificial intelligence. Some people think it does wonders. Others see it as trouble. Let us know your opinion about AI in this competition. Include experiences you have had with AI. 300-word limit. Winners will be selected January 1, 2024. Open to anyone, anywhere.
Top Prize:
$100 CA
Additional prizes:
Publication
💰 Entry fee: $5
📅 Deadline: December 15, 2023 (Expired)
Indignor Play House Annual Short Story Competition
Indignor House Publishing
Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult
Indignor House Publishing is proud to announce that our annual writing competition (INDIGNOR PLAYHOUSE Short Story Annual Competition) is officially open with expected publication in the fall of 2024. Up to 25 submissions will be accepted for inclusion in the annual anthology.
Top Prize:
$500
Additional prizes:
2nd: $250 | 3rd: $150
💰 Entry fee: $20
📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)
