All the top writing contests.


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The SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction 2024
Deadline: 30 April 2024
The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18. Flash fictions must be in English. Your entry must be 1000 words or fewer, excluding the title. Entry fees: from $16 to $32. The grand prize winner will receive $2,500.
Poetry London Prize 2024
Deadline: 30 June 2024
The competition is organized by Poetry London magazine. Entries must be in English. The maximum length is 80 lines. For Poetry London subscribers the entry fee is £5 per poem; for non-subscribers £10. • 1st prize: £5,000 • 2nd prize: £2,000 • 3rd prize: £1,000
Rattle Poetry Prize 2024
Deadline: 15 July 2024
The competition is open to poets of any nationality writing in English. You may submit up to four poems per entry. The $30 USD entry fee is a one-year subscription to Rattle magazine. The overall winner will receive a cash prize of $15,000 USD. Ten finalists will each receive $500 USD, and be eligible for the $5,000 USD Reader's Choice Award.
2024 International Essay Contest for Young People
Deadline: 15 June 2024
This annual essay contest is organized by the Goi Peace Foundation based in Japan. Essays may be submitted by anyone up to 25 years old. Essays are accepted in English, French or Japanese. The competition is free to enter. 1st prize winners will receive a cash prize of 100,000 Yen.
Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize 2024
Deadline: 1 July 2024, 5pm BST
The competition is open to anyone who has not published a book-length work of fiction, life writing, or poetry. The prize is judged in three categories: Fiction, Poetry and Life Writing. A single entry costs £12, two entries are £16. The winners of each category will receive a £1,000 cash prize and publication in Wasafiri magazine.
2024 HG Wells Short Story Competition
Deadline: 8 July 2024
The competition is open to anyone. This year’s theme is ''The Fool''. Your story can be set anywhere, feature any characters, and be written in any style. There are two categories: • Authors 21 years of age and under with a prize of £1,000. Entry is free. • Authors aged 22 years and above with a prize of £500 (entry £10 or £5 with student id).
Montreal International Poetry Prize 2024
Deadline: 15 May 2024
The Montreal International Poetry Prize is a biennial poetry competition awarding one prize of $20,000 CAD to a poet for a single poem. Each entry must be an original, unpublished poem of 40 lines or fewer. Entry fees: from $20 CAD to $25 CAD. Deadline 15 May 2024
PURORRELATO micro-story contest 2024
Deadline: 16 April 2024, 14:00 GMT
The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18. The theme is free, although the micro-stories should be related to Africa in some way. The competition is free to enter. • 1st Prize: 750 € • 2nd Prize: 375 € • 3rd Prize: 225 € Deadline: 16 April 2024
2024 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
Deadline: 22 April 2024
The Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize is an annual short fiction competition organized by the Australian Book Review. Entries must be a single, original story of 2,000 to 5,000 words. Entry fee: AU$ 30 • 1st prize: AU$ 6,000 • 2nd prize: AU$ 4,000 • 3rd prize: AU$ 2,500
The 2024 Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition
Deadline: 1 June 2024
The competition is open to writers over the age of 18. The entry must be a full-length children’s novel for readers aged between 7 and 18. The entry fee is £20. The main prize is a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000.
The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing 2024
Deadline: 31 May 2024
Authors must be first-generation immigrants. ''First-generation'' can refer either to people born in another country who relocated, or to residents of a country whose parents were born elsewhere. This year the competition is open to fiction submissions. The entry fee is US$20. The winner receives $10,000 and publication by Restless Books.
The Plough Prize 2024
Deadline: 31 March 2024
The Plough Poetry Prize is an international competition for a poems in English up to 40 lines on any subject. The entry fee is £5 per poem. • 1st prize £1,000 • 2nd prize £500 • 3rd prize £250
The 46th Nimrod Literary Awards
Deadline: 1 April 2024
The Nimrod Literary Awards are open internationally. Entries may be fiction (7,500 words maximum) or poetry (3-10 pages). Each entry must be accompanied by a $23 fee. • 1st Prize: $2,000 and publication • 2nd Prize: $1,000 and publication
The 2024 Yeovil Literary Prize
Deadline: 31 May 2024
The Yeovil Literary Prize is open to anyone over the age of 16. There are five categories: • Novel (1st prize: £1250) • Short Story (1st prize: £600) • Poetry (1st prize: £600) • Children’s/Young Adult Novel (1st prize: £600) • Writing Without Restrictions (1st prize: £250). Entry fees: from £5 to £14,50.
The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2024
Deadline: 31 March 2024
The prize is for an unpublished poem written by an adult for children aged 7–11. The entry fee is €15 per poem. • 1st prize: 1,000 € • 2nd prize: 500 € • 3rd prize: 250 €
Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2024
Deadline: 31 August 2024
The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is an international literary prize for established and emerging poets and writers. Entry fees: • Poetry: £12 • Short fiction: £18 Prizes: • £2,500 for the Poetry Winner • £2,500 for the Short Fiction Winner
The Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2024
Deadline: 1 April 2024
The competition is open to anyone over the age of 18. ''Poems are invited that deal with any aspect of nature and place – these terms will be given a wide interpretation by the judge Zaffar Kunial.'' Entry fees: £7 for your first poem £4 for each subsequent poem • 1st prize: £1000 • 2nd prize: £500 • 3rd prize: £250
The Bridport Prize 2024
Deadline: 31 May 2024
The competition is open to writers of any nationality, aged 16 years old and over. The competition has four categories: • Poetry (1st prize: £5,000); • Short story (1st prize: £5,000); • Flash fiction (1st prize: £1,000); • Novel (1st prize: £1,500). Entry fees: from £11 to £24.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 2023/2024
Deadline: 1 May 2024
You may submit stories and essays on any theme, up to 6,000 words each. For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. The entry fee is $22. The winning story and essay will each receive $3,500. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $300 each.
2024 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Deadline: 1 April 2024
You may submit one humor poem, in English. Your poem should not exceed 250 lines in length. The competition is free to enter. • 1st prize: $2,000 • 2nd prize: $500 • 3rd Prize: $250 • 10 honorable mentions, $100 each