Submit your contest for possible posting. But first, please read what we DON’T post. Then if your contest appears to meet our guidelines, submit your contest. (We need the basics: Name of contest, brief description of what is to be submitted, awards, entry fee, deadline, website URL, and contact email for our follow-up questions.)
Most recently added contest(s) noted in orange — Contests posted by deadline dates
Read Writing Contest Cautions on our companion site
23rd Annual Gival Press Short Story Award for a previously unpublished original (not a translation) stand- alone short story of 5,000 to 15,000 words and of high literary quality. Award: $1,000 and publication on website. Entry fee: $25. Deadline: August 8, 2026 postmark. Info: https://www.givalpress.com/contests and https://givalpress.submittable.com/submit (scroll down that page).
Tuliptree Publishing’s Stories That Need to Be Told: The Contest. The prompt: What if the only way to save yourself from this reality is to write yourself a new one? There is only one category: the Story. That means fiction, nonfiction, or poetry – as long as it tells a story, it fits. Length limits: Prose 10,000 words; Poetry 5 pages per poem. Awards: $1,000 and a 2-year ($100) gift certificate to Duotrope. Five additional prizes of $200 for stories that excel in the merits of Humor, Passion, Depth, and (any form of) Love. An additional $200 prize will be awarded in a wild card category, to be determined by the entries. Entry fee: $20. Deadline: August 9, 2026. Info: https://www.tuliptreepub.com/thecontest
The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) Best in Business Book Awards to recognize the best business book published from August 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026, in each of three categories: (1) Business Reporting; (2) Career and Financial Development; and (3) Management and Leadership. Awards not confirmed, but prior years, each category: winner $1,000 and two finalists $500. Entry fee: $125. Deadline: August 12, 2026. Info: https://sabew.org/best-in-business-book-awards/
Writer’s Digest’s 14th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards – eight of the most popular categories; fiction and nonfiction. Awards: $13,000 in total cash prizes, plus all entrants will receive a brief review of their book from one of Writer’s Digest’s competition readers. Entry fees: Early-Bird: $100; Regular: $125. Deadlines: Early-Bird: August 14, 2026; Regular: September 15, 2026. Info: https://tinyurl.com/3uya2d9u
FFF Competition Thirty-Five for a flash fiction piece of between 100 and 300 words, on any theme. Awards: £200, £100, £80 and publication. Entry fee: £4.95 fee per entry/story via PayPal or Stripe. Deadline: August 25, 2026 at 10:00 pm (UK Time). Info: https://freeflashfiction.com/current-competition/
Writory Monthly Poetry Contest – worldwide, ages 13+, any language, any theme. Results: 30th of the month, with judge scores visible to every entrant. Awards: $12 cash + free entry to the next contest; participation certificate for all entrants. Entry fee: $5 per poem ($8 for two, $15 for five). Deadline: August 25, 2026, then the 25th of each month. Info: https://writoryofficial.com
The Masters Review Short Story Award for New Writers – open to any writer who has not published a novel or memoir with a major press. Submit previously unpublished fiction or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words. Awards: $3,000, $300, $200 along with online publication. All finalists will receive agency review from our six partnered agencies. Entry fee: $20. Deadline: August 30, 2026. Info: https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/
2026 University of New Orleans Press Publishing Lab Prize for the best unpublished novel or short story collection. No word limit. Award: $10,000 advance on royalties and a contract to publish with the University of New Orleans Press. Entry fee: $28. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://www.uno.edu/unopress/lab
Howling Bird Press 2027 Book Prize in Poetry. The press welcomes innovative, original, unpublished work from established and emerging authors. Manuscript length should be between roughly 48 and 72 pages. Award: $2,500 advance and book publication via a standard book contract. Entry fee: $20. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://tinyurl.com/4j6dsm3c
WOW! Summer 2026 Flash Fiction Contest. Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250–750 words. Reprints/previously published; and simultaneous submissions are okay. Open internationally. Limit: 300 entries. Awards: $1,350 in prizes. Top 10 stories are published in the WOW! Women On Writing e- zine, and contestants are interviewed on WOW’s blog, The Muffin. Entry fee: $10; critique option for an additional $10. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php#FlashFictionContest
The 2027 Kenneth Patchen Award for the Innovative Novel. Any length. Award: $1,000 and book publication by Journal of Experimental Fiction and JEF Books. Entry fee: $25. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://tinyurl.com/2ny8cjrf
Gemini Magazine 18th Annual Flash Fiction Contest – must be unpublished but stories on personal blogs are eligible; any subject or style; word limit 1,000. Awards: $1,000, $100, 4 HM $25 each. All six finalists will be published online in the Fall 2026 issue of Gemini. Entry fee: $8. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://gemini-magazine.com/flash-fiction-contest-2026/
Charleston Writing Contest for original works, using an open theme, about Charleston, South Carolina. Stories/poems can be created using its history, beauty, contradictions, resilience, secrets, and soul. Submissions may be rooted in the past or present, real or imagined, but they must be grounded in Charleston on its place, presence, or setting. Award: $500 plus publication. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: August 31, 2026. Info: https://www.chatoyantmagazine.com/2026-contest-1
Writer’s Digest Personal Essay Awards – 2,000 words maximum. Awards: $2,500, $1,000, $500, $100 plus more. Entry fees: Early-Bird: $30; Regular $35. Deadlines: Early-Bird: September 1, 2026; Regular October 1, 2026. Info: https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions/personal-essay-awards or https://tinyurl.com/yjapavef
Dogwood Literary Awards for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Awards: $1,000 each category. Entry fee: $10. Deadline: September 5, 2026. Info: https://dogwoodliterary.wordpress.com/submissions/
Eyelands Book Awards 2026. Published and unpublished book sections. Categories (fiction, short story collection, poems, historical fiction/memoir, children’s/YA books, LGBTQIA+, sci-fi – crime/thriller, self-published) in each section. Awards: Grand prize (published books): Five-day holiday in Athens. Grand prize (unpublished books): Translation into Greek and publication from Strange Days Books. 14 more prizes. Entry fees: Early bird $35; Regular $45. Deadlines: Early bird: September 20, 2026; Regular October 20, 2026. Info: https://eyelandsawards.com/
Six Word Wonder 2026 annual international writing competition celebrating the art of telling a complete story in exactly six words – stories, memoirs, poems or jokes. Award: $100; shortlisted entries published in the next Six Word Wonder anthology. No entry fee for up to 5 entries. Deadline: September 30, 2026. Info: https://dougweller.net/contest
National Writers Association Poetry Contest – any form and style, maximum 40 lines. Must be unpublished. Awards: $100, $50, $25. Entry fee: $10. Deadline: October 1, 2026. Info: https://nationalwriters.com/contests-1 – PDF entry form: https://tinyurl.com/5n6e827u
2027 Next Generation Short Story Awards – 30+ categories; 5,000 words or less. Awards: $500, $300, $200, $75 plus gold medals. Entry fee: $25 per story for the first category entered and $20 for each additional category entered for the same story. Deadline: January 28, 2027. Info: https://shortstoryawards.com/
Our Contest Posting Rules & Guidelines
We will NOT knowingly post or leave posted contests that retain all rights to either submitted or winning entries. Nor will we knowingly post contests that retain ownership to all entries or assume the right to publish all entries, either on the Web or in print, thereby costing the creators the ability to eventually sell first rights. Such contests are simply attempting to get free content or, even worse, are getting the writers to pay for their content. If winners only are posted or published, the writer can determine prior to entering whether or not the winning prize money is sufficient for transferring first or one-time rights.
Thus, we will not post contests where entries are posted for general judging by site visitors.
We do not post “sweepstakes” – or contests where winners are determined by drawings or chance. Our intent is to publish only those contests where the writing itself is judged against other entrants; not where the luck of the draw determines winners.
Similarly, we will not post contests where the entrants must post their entries on their own sites or blogs, or get them published on others’ sites or blogs, with the intent of linking back to the sponsor’s directed Web site or blog, and particularly using key words that will be of benefit to the sponsor. Our feeling is that if an author or Web site owner wishes to use others’ material to drive traffic to them, or to rev up their ad click revenues, they should simply pay writers for their promotional or content writing.
Also, we do not post contests sponsored by book publishers that have entry or reading fees, with the reward being a published book and/or advance. Viable publishing houses treat manuscript reading and advances as costs of doing business, and do not charge authors for submissions.
We do not knowingly post contests sponsored by or promoting websites or services that offer writing of academic essays, term papers, or other assigned papers for enrolled students or applicants for enrollment..
We also do not knowingly post contests requesting material that is pornographic or promotes violence.
We do not post contests where the “prize money” is really a certificate or credit toward products or services that will cost the writer additional money in order to accept the prize.
We post literary contests that offer cash, publication, or book (or related) prizes, but not those where the prize is a house or other property. These contests are illegal in a number of locations.
We may post “Calls for Anthology Submissions” on our Contests page; however, we will not post anthology notices if (1) there is a submission fee required, (2) rights to *entries* are retained, or (3) rights to *winning entries* extend beyond one-time use in that anthology. This also applies to magazine contests with the “prize” being publication in an upcoming “contest” issue.
If your contest appears to meet our guidelines, submit the following basic information: Name of contest, brief description of what is to be submitted, awards, entry fee, deadline, website URL, contact email in case we have follow-up questions, to contestadd@writers-editors.com.
