Pickpik
This September there are more than three dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes this month range from $70,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.
Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.
If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.
Good luck!
Note: I update this list continually throughout the month, so check back frequently for new contests.
________________________
American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes. Genre: English translations of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose originally written in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Swedish by a Scandinavian author born after 1800. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: Sept 1, 2024.
Stories Out of School. Genre: Flash fiction. The story’s protagonist, or its narrator, must be a K-12 teacher. Stories must be between 6 and 749 words and previously unpublished. Prize: First-prize winners receive $1000; second-prize winners, $500. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
AILACT Essay Prize. Genre: Papers related to the teaching or theory of informal logic or critical thinking, and papers on argumentation theory. Prize: $700 top prize. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
International Booker Prize. The International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. The work must be published by a UK or Ireland publishing house. Authors are not permitted to enter their own works. Prize: £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Debra E. Bernhardt Labor Journalism Prize. Genre: Article that furthers the understanding of the history of working people. Articles focused on historical events AND articles about current issues (work, housing, organizing, health, education) that include historical context are both welcome. The work must be published in print or online between August 31, 2022 and August 30, 2023. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Literature Matters. Restrictions: UK residents. Genre: "Awards will be given to individual writers or other literary creators, recognising their past achievements and providing them with financial support to undertake a proposed new piece of writing or literary project. Launched as part of the RSL’s new Literature Matters programme, priority will be given to proposals which (a) will help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or (b) will help generate public discussion about why literature matters." Award: £20,000. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
KSP Short Fiction Competition. Restrictions: Open to Australian residents and citizens. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $100 first place prize for youth. Deadline: September 6, 2024. (Free entry for youth only)
Young Lions Fiction Award. Restrictions: Open to US citizens 35 years of age or younger. Genre: Novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians. Submissions by publisher only. Authors may not submit their own work. Prize: $10,000.00. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Mavis Batey Essay Prize. Restrictions: Open to any student, worldwide, registered in a bona-fide university or institute of higher education, or who has recently graduated from such an institution. Genre: Nonfiction. Scholarly essay on gardening history. Prize: £250, free membership of the Gardens Trust for a year and consideration for publication. Deadline: September 8, 2024.
Furious Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction, 500 words max. "On each competition weekend, we’ll reveal a set of story prompts and you’ll have 55 hours to submit your best story of 500-words (or fewer)." Prize: $500AUD. Deadline: September 8, 2024. Opens September 6.
DC Reid Poets’ Grant. Restrictions: Open to poets of "modest means." Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, living in Canada, who have published at least two books of poetry with a traditional publishing house. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $5000. Deadline: September 9, 2024.
Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. Restrictions: Open to authors aged 18-35 as of December 31 of the deadline year. Books must have been first published in the UK and/or the Republic of Ireland, in the English language. Authors must be UK or Irish citizens, or residents for the three years preceding the award. Genre: Published or self-published book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Prize: £10,000. Deadline: September 13, 2024.
Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award. Restrictions: Open to writers who have not previously published any works of fiction for young readers. This includes self-published as well as commercially published work. Genre: Full-length work of fiction in English with universal appeal of Jewish content for readers aged 8-13 years, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It should reveal positive aspects of Jewish life. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 13, 2024.
The Garden Party Poetry Contest. Genre: Poetry on theme: Mental health. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 14, 2024.
Apparition Lit. Genre: Speculative fiction; under 1,000 words based on prompt. Prize: $30. Deadline: September 14, 2024. See theme.
Washington State Book Awards. Restrictions: Open to Washington State writers. Genre: Published book, fiction, nonfiction, poetry: adults or children. Prize: Recognition (?) Deadline: September 15, 2024. (For books published June 1-Aug.15, 2024.)
Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund. Restrictions: Australian citizens or residents. Applicants must be emerging, midcareer or established Australian writers and literary sector workers (not beginners) with a demonstrated publication and/or career history. Prize: $10,000 for travel expenses. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Ambroggio Prize. Restrictions: Poet must be a U.S. Citizen; Resident of the United States for the ten-year period prior to the submission deadline, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Legal Permanent Status (LPS), or any subsequent categories designated by the U.S. authorities as conferring similar enhanced status upon non-citizens living in the United States. Genre: Book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. Prize: $1000 and publication. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize. Restrictions: Free entry for marginalized groups. Genre: Micro, flash, and sudden fiction stories from 100-1,500 words. "For this contest, we want writers to show us the forgotten, the hidden, the otherworldly. We want your stories to take us on journeys and adventures in the worlds only you can create; whether you make the familiar strange or the strange familiar, we know you will take us elsewhere." Prize: $3,000. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Society of Classical Poets Haiku Competition. Genre: Haiku. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Canning Dock Flash Fiction Competition (UK). Genre: 500-word stories about the history of the Canning Graving Docks. Age categories: under 11, 11 - 17, 18+ Prize: National Museums Liverpool membership for a year, a book bundle from Writing on the Wall and a voucher to spend at NML shops and cafes. Deadline: September 22, 2024.
Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction. Restrictions: Open to residents of UK. Genre: Short stories between 2000-6000 words on the theme ‘The Unspoken’. Prize: £500 and 10 shortlisted authors will be published in an ebook anthology. Deadline: September 22, 2024.
Savage Science Fiction/Fantasy Writing Contest. Genre: Science fiction or fantasy short story. Prize: Winning stories are published in Toasted Cheese. If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card. If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card. Deadline: September 22, 2024. Opens September 20, 2024.
Palette Poetry Rising Poet Prize. Restrictions: Open to poets without a full-length collection published at the time of submission. Prize: $3000 and publication. Deadline: September 22, 2024. No entry fee for BIPOC and historically marginalized poets.
The Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year will be given to a poet whose previously unpublished series of poems brings most powerfully, to a wide readership, the subject of the environment and the place of the human within it. Prize: The Environmental Poet of the Year will have their short portfolio of poems published in a pamphlet that will be sold by Wordsworth Grasmere and the British Library. They will also receive £1,000, and be invited to read at a winner’s event at Wordsworth Grasmere. Deadline: September 27, 2024.
Cullman Center Fellowships. Fellowship. The Cullman Center’s Selection Committee awards up to 15 fellowships a year to outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, and creative writers. Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply. Award: A stipend of up to $70,000, an office, a computer, and full access to the Library's physical and electronic resources. Deadline: September 27, 2024.
50 Word Halloween Horror Story Contest. Genre: Horror: 50 words max. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 29, 2024.
Writers College Short Story Competition. Restrictions: Open to any writer who is unpublished, or has been published fewer than four times. Genre: Short story. Theme: It Didn't Have to Be This Way. Prize: First prize NZ $1000 and publication; second prize NZ $500 and publication. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry. Genre: Poetry that incorporates themes of justice, dignity, and resistance. Prize: First Prize: $150; Second Prize: $100; Third Prize: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Don't Text and Drive Scholarship. Restrictions: You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre: 500- to 1,000-word essay about texting while driving. Prize: $1000 scholarship. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is held four times a year. Restrictions: The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. Genre: Short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. Prizes: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Iowa Short Fiction and John Simmons Short Fiction Awards. Restrictions: Any writer who has not previously published a volume of prose fiction is eligible to enter the competition. Genre: Short story collection. The manuscript must be a collection of short stories in English of at least 150 word-processed, double-spaced pages. Prize: Publication by the University of Iowa Press, royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $150. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Sejong International Sijo Competition. Genre: Sijo poem. Prize: $500. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Fiction and Nonfiction. Genre: Novels and nonfiction books published in 2022. Book has to be set in one of the original eleven states in the Confederacy. (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.) Prize: $2,500.00. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry. Genre: Poem that evokes the South. Prize: $2,500 and expenses-paid trip to award ceremony in Oxford, Mississippi. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
SLF Working Class Writers Grant. Genre: Speculative fiction. "These grants are awarded annually, since 2013, to assist writers of speculative literature to working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction, due to the financial barriers which have made it much harder for them to have access to the writing world. Such lack of access might include an inability to attend conventions, to purchase a computer, to buy books, to attend college or high school, to have the time to write (if, for example, you must work two jobs simply to pay rent and feed a family, or if you must spend all your waking hours job-hunting for months on end). " Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Last Stanza Poetry Journal. Genre: Poetry on theme: Oops! Prize: $100. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge. Genre: Poem inspired by artwork. (See site for image.) Prize: $100. Deadline: September 30, 2024. This is a monthly contest.
Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: September 30, 2024. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.
Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.
If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.
Good luck!
Note: I update this list continually throughout the month, so check back frequently for new contests.
________________________
American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes. Genre: English translations of poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose originally written in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Swedish by a Scandinavian author born after 1800. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: Sept 1, 2024.
Stories Out of School. Genre: Flash fiction. The story’s protagonist, or its narrator, must be a K-12 teacher. Stories must be between 6 and 749 words and previously unpublished. Prize: First-prize winners receive $1000; second-prize winners, $500. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
AILACT Essay Prize. Genre: Papers related to the teaching or theory of informal logic or critical thinking, and papers on argumentation theory. Prize: $700 top prize. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
International Booker Prize. The International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. The work must be published by a UK or Ireland publishing house. Authors are not permitted to enter their own works. Prize: £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Debra E. Bernhardt Labor Journalism Prize. Genre: Article that furthers the understanding of the history of working people. Articles focused on historical events AND articles about current issues (work, housing, organizing, health, education) that include historical context are both welcome. The work must be published in print or online between August 31, 2022 and August 30, 2023. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Literature Matters. Restrictions: UK residents. Genre: "Awards will be given to individual writers or other literary creators, recognising their past achievements and providing them with financial support to undertake a proposed new piece of writing or literary project. Launched as part of the RSL’s new Literature Matters programme, priority will be given to proposals which (a) will help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or (b) will help generate public discussion about why literature matters." Award: £20,000. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
KSP Short Fiction Competition. Restrictions: Open to Australian residents and citizens. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $100 first place prize for youth. Deadline: September 6, 2024. (Free entry for youth only)
Young Lions Fiction Award. Restrictions: Open to US citizens 35 years of age or younger. Genre: Novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists by a reading committee of Young Lions members, writers, editors, and librarians. Submissions by publisher only. Authors may not submit their own work. Prize: $10,000.00. Deadline: September 6, 2024.
Mavis Batey Essay Prize. Restrictions: Open to any student, worldwide, registered in a bona-fide university or institute of higher education, or who has recently graduated from such an institution. Genre: Nonfiction. Scholarly essay on gardening history. Prize: £250, free membership of the Gardens Trust for a year and consideration for publication. Deadline: September 8, 2024.
Furious Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction, 500 words max. "On each competition weekend, we’ll reveal a set of story prompts and you’ll have 55 hours to submit your best story of 500-words (or fewer)." Prize: $500AUD. Deadline: September 8, 2024. Opens September 6.
DC Reid Poets’ Grant. Restrictions: Open to poets of "modest means." Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents, living in Canada, who have published at least two books of poetry with a traditional publishing house. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $5000. Deadline: September 9, 2024.
Sunday Times Charlotte Aitken Young Writer of the Year Award. Restrictions: Open to authors aged 18-35 as of December 31 of the deadline year. Books must have been first published in the UK and/or the Republic of Ireland, in the English language. Authors must be UK or Irish citizens, or residents for the three years preceding the award. Genre: Published or self-published book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Prize: £10,000. Deadline: September 13, 2024.
Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award. Restrictions: Open to writers who have not previously published any works of fiction for young readers. This includes self-published as well as commercially published work. Genre: Full-length work of fiction in English with universal appeal of Jewish content for readers aged 8-13 years, both Jewish and non-Jewish. It should reveal positive aspects of Jewish life. Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 13, 2024.
The Garden Party Poetry Contest. Genre: Poetry on theme: Mental health. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 14, 2024.
Apparition Lit. Genre: Speculative fiction; under 1,000 words based on prompt. Prize: $30. Deadline: September 14, 2024. See theme.
Washington State Book Awards. Restrictions: Open to Washington State writers. Genre: Published book, fiction, nonfiction, poetry: adults or children. Prize: Recognition (?) Deadline: September 15, 2024. (For books published June 1-Aug.15, 2024.)
Neilma Sidney Literary Travel Fund. Restrictions: Australian citizens or residents. Applicants must be emerging, midcareer or established Australian writers and literary sector workers (not beginners) with a demonstrated publication and/or career history. Prize: $10,000 for travel expenses. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Ambroggio Prize. Restrictions: Poet must be a U.S. Citizen; Resident of the United States for the ten-year period prior to the submission deadline, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Legal Permanent Status (LPS), or any subsequent categories designated by the U.S. authorities as conferring similar enhanced status upon non-citizens living in the United States. Genre: Book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. Prize: $1000 and publication. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Fractured Lit Elsewhere Prize. Restrictions: Free entry for marginalized groups. Genre: Micro, flash, and sudden fiction stories from 100-1,500 words. "For this contest, we want writers to show us the forgotten, the hidden, the otherworldly. We want your stories to take us on journeys and adventures in the worlds only you can create; whether you make the familiar strange or the strange familiar, we know you will take us elsewhere." Prize: $3,000. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Society of Classical Poets Haiku Competition. Genre: Haiku. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 15, 2024.
Canning Dock Flash Fiction Competition (UK). Genre: 500-word stories about the history of the Canning Graving Docks. Age categories: under 11, 11 - 17, 18+ Prize: National Museums Liverpool membership for a year, a book bundle from Writing on the Wall and a voucher to spend at NML shops and cafes. Deadline: September 22, 2024.
Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction. Restrictions: Open to residents of UK. Genre: Short stories between 2000-6000 words on the theme ‘The Unspoken’. Prize: £500 and 10 shortlisted authors will be published in an ebook anthology. Deadline: September 22, 2024.
Savage Science Fiction/Fantasy Writing Contest. Genre: Science fiction or fantasy short story. Prize: Winning stories are published in Toasted Cheese. If 50 or fewer eligible entries are received, first place receives a $35 Amazon gift card & second a $10 Amazon gift card. If 51 or more eligible entries are received, first place receives a $50 Amazon gift card, second a $15 Amazon gift card & third a $10 Amazon gift card. Deadline: September 22, 2024. Opens September 20, 2024.
Palette Poetry Rising Poet Prize. Restrictions: Open to poets without a full-length collection published at the time of submission. Prize: $3000 and publication. Deadline: September 22, 2024. No entry fee for BIPOC and historically marginalized poets.
The Michael Marks Environmental Poet of the Year will be given to a poet whose previously unpublished series of poems brings most powerfully, to a wide readership, the subject of the environment and the place of the human within it. Prize: The Environmental Poet of the Year will have their short portfolio of poems published in a pamphlet that will be sold by Wordsworth Grasmere and the British Library. They will also receive £1,000, and be invited to read at a winner’s event at Wordsworth Grasmere. Deadline: September 27, 2024.
Cullman Center Fellowships. Fellowship. The Cullman Center’s Selection Committee awards up to 15 fellowships a year to outstanding scholars and writers—academics, independent scholars, journalists, and creative writers. Foreign nationals conversant in English are welcome to apply. Award: A stipend of up to $70,000, an office, a computer, and full access to the Library's physical and electronic resources. Deadline: September 27, 2024.
50 Word Halloween Horror Story Contest. Genre: Horror: 50 words max. Prize: $100. Deadline: September 29, 2024.
Writers College Short Story Competition. Restrictions: Open to any writer who is unpublished, or has been published fewer than four times. Genre: Short story. Theme: It Didn't Have to Be This Way. Prize: First prize NZ $1000 and publication; second prize NZ $500 and publication. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Rhonda Gail Williford Award for Poetry. Genre: Poetry that incorporates themes of justice, dignity, and resistance. Prize: First Prize: $150; Second Prize: $100; Third Prize: $50. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Don't Text and Drive Scholarship. Restrictions: You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre: 500- to 1,000-word essay about texting while driving. Prize: $1000 scholarship. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future Contest is held four times a year. Restrictions: The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment of at least six cents per word, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits. Genre: Short stories or novelettes of science fiction or fantasy. Prizes: $1,000, $750, $500, Annual Grand Prize: $5,000. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Iowa Short Fiction and John Simmons Short Fiction Awards. Restrictions: Any writer who has not previously published a volume of prose fiction is eligible to enter the competition. Genre: Short story collection. The manuscript must be a collection of short stories in English of at least 150 word-processed, double-spaced pages. Prize: Publication by the University of Iowa Press, royalties. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: $150. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Sejong International Sijo Competition. Genre: Sijo poem. Prize: $500. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
The Willie Morris Awards for Southern Fiction and Nonfiction. Genre: Novels and nonfiction books published in 2022. Book has to be set in one of the original eleven states in the Confederacy. (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.) Prize: $2,500.00. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Willie Morris Award for Southern Poetry. Genre: Poem that evokes the South. Prize: $2,500 and expenses-paid trip to award ceremony in Oxford, Mississippi. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
SLF Working Class Writers Grant. Genre: Speculative fiction. "These grants are awarded annually, since 2013, to assist writers of speculative literature to working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction, due to the financial barriers which have made it much harder for them to have access to the writing world. Such lack of access might include an inability to attend conventions, to purchase a computer, to buy books, to attend college or high school, to have the time to write (if, for example, you must work two jobs simply to pay rent and feed a family, or if you must spend all your waking hours job-hunting for months on end). " Prize: $1000. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Last Stanza Poetry Journal. Genre: Poetry on theme: Oops! Prize: $100. Deadline: September 30, 2024.
Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge. Genre: Poem inspired by artwork. (See site for image.) Prize: $100. Deadline: September 30, 2024. This is a monthly contest.
Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: September 30, 2024. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.
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