Submit your best entries to the writing competitions USA 2023. These writing contests 2023 USA awards the best writers with cash prizes.
Writing Competitions 2023 USA List
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Note: This is only for writers who are residents in United States of America.
To check other writing Competitions that are available for writers in other regions and continents, check the category section below or use the search box.
Also Read: Writing Competitions USA 2022
These writing contests 2023 USA are a new wave of opportunities for writers to test their writing skills and earn more than stipends from it. Aside winning cash prizes, most of these competitions in USA 2022 doubles with publication and sometimes additional fellowship.
Writing Opportunities In 2023
Poetry Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Writing Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Poetry Competitions UK 2023
Magazines That Pay Per Poem In 2023
Short Story Competitions 2023
Literary Magazines Accepting Submissions 2023
Poetry Competitions In Africa 2023
Short Story Competitions In Nigeria 2023
Literary Magazines In Nigeria/ Africa 2023
Enjoy these writing competitions in USA 2023!
List Of Writing Competitions USA 2023
The contests are organized based on the days and months of deadlines.
January Writing Competitions USA 2023
- European Writing Prize 2023
The European Society of Literature hosts many writing competitions each year, but the European Writing Prize is the most prestigious of them all. The annual competition will help showcase a variety of writers from different backgrounds, and this year marks the first.
The theme is usually quite vague so as to give authors room to add as much of their own individuality and creativity to their pieces as possible.
Submissions will open on 1 October 2022, and will close on 1 January 2023. The longlist will be published 2 weeks later, on 15 January 2023
Theme For The European Writing Prize 2022
The theme for this European Writing Prize is ‘Anxiety’. Writers should incorporate the notion of anxiety into their work however they see fit.
What matters most is whether you submit a fine piece of writing — it isn’t so much about how close to the prize theme you make your work.
Who can submit?
Anyone! Despite ‘European’ being in the title, you can submit a piece of writing regardless of where you are in the world. We only ask that your submission be written in English, as our judges mostly speak that as their first language.
What’s the prize if I win?
- The prize for the winner will be as follows:
- 50 euros paid via PayPal or bank transfer
- Automatic lifetime membership into The European Society of Literature
- Publication in the following quarterly literary journal of TESL
- Potential talks with literary agents — they may scout the shortlist and winners.
- The prestige associated with being victorious! An unmatched opportunity to get your foot in the burgeoning literary industry of Europe and the Americas.
There is no entry fee
- International Student Essay Competition 2023
The international student essay competition for 2023 has been announced open to students all over the world. To submit your essay for the contest, read further on the prescribed guidelines and form of submission.
The competition is open to students who are between the age of 7-18 years
Each student is invited to submit one essay in English, entitled: “How can young people be better supported to thrive in green jobs?”
Prizes For The International Student Essay Competition 2023
One overall Grand Prize trophy winner will receive a free international trip to a TSL Summit, including £500 spending money.
The Top 10 essay medallists will receive eco-friendly e-medals with redeemable gift tokens.
All participating Teacher Champions, Essay Finalists & Honourable Mentions, and International Debate participants, will receive personalised e-certificates.
Deadline: 11 January 2023
- In Profile In Courage Essay Contests 2023
In Profiles in Courage, John F. Kennedy recounted the stories of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers to do what was right for the nation. These leaders demonstrated political courage by taking a stand for the public good in spite of pressure by interest groups, their political party, or even their constituents. The Profile in Courage Essay Contest challenges students to write an original and creative essay that demonstrates an understanding of political courage as described by John F. Kennedy in Profiles in Courage.
The maximum word count is 1,000 with a minimum of 700, not including citations and bibliography. Use at least five varied sources such as government documents, letters, newspaper articles, books, and/or personal interviews.
All submissions must adhere to contest requirements.
The contest deadline is January 13, 2023.
RECOGNITION AND AWARDS
The winner receives a $10,000 cash award. If the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation holds the 2023 Profile in Courage Award event in person, the winner and her/his/their family will be invited to travel to Boston to accept her/his/their award in May 2023. Travel and lodging expenses will be paid for the trip to Boston for the winning student and her/his/their parents.
Second-place winner receives $3,000.
Five finalists receive $1,000 each.
Eight semifinalists receive $100 each.
Ten students receive honorable mentions.
The nominating teacher of the first-place winner is also invited to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library to receive the John F. Kennedy Public Service Grant in the amount of $500 for school projects encouraging student leadership and civic engagement. Travel and lodging expenses will be paid for the trip to Boston.
All participants receive a Certificate of Participation.
Winners and finalists will be notified by April 30.
All participants will receive a letter announcing the winners and finalists by the end of May.
- Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry 2023
The Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry supports outstanding poets from the upper Midwest and brings their work to a national stage. Expanding on the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, which was established in 2011, this prize awards $10,000 and publication by Milkweed Editions to a poet residing in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Selected from a small number of finalists by an independent judge, the prizewinning poet will also receive a standard royalty contract, national distribution, and a comprehensive marketing and publicity campaign.
A public book launch and celebration for the winning poet will be held in Minneapolis around publication.
Submissions Open: December 1–January 15
Finalists & Winner Announced: April
Publication: January
- Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award 2023
We are now accepting submissions for the Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award. The winning poet will receive $500 and publication in the Spring 2023 issue of Fourteen Hills. There is no submission fee. Poems not chosen for the award will be considered for publication in Fourteen Hills.
About Stacy Doris
Stacy Doris was a poet, translator, and an Associate Professor in San Francisco State University's Department of Creative Writing, where she taught for ten years. Her poetry is widely recognized; Fledge: A Phenomenology of Spirit, published shortly after her death, is available from Nightboat Books. Poet Maxine Chernoff has referred to it as “a miracle of attentiveness.”
She was also highly regarded for her writing in French and her contribution to interactions among contemporary French and American poetry and poets.
Doris created new worlds with her unexpected poetics. Following upon her spirit of creative invention, engaging wit and ingenious playfulness, discovery in construction, and radical appropriations based on classical forms, pastiche, etc., and love, the Stacy Doris Memorial Poetry Award is given to a poet with a truly inventive spirit.
Deadline: January 15, 2023
- The Elie Wiesel Prize In Ethics Essay Contest 2023
The Elie Wiesel Prize In Ethics Essay Contest 2023 is announced open for submissions. The competition is organised by Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.
2023 Writing Contest Prompt
What challenges awaken your conscience?
Is it the conflicts in American society? An international crisis? Maybe a difficult choice you face or a hard decision you had to make?
Engage us. Enlighten us. Explore the ethics of any problem, question, or issue, whether close to home or in the world at large. We are eager to learn from you.
Submission Guidelines For Elie Wiesel Prize In Ethics Essay Contest 2023
Students are eligible to enter the 2023 contest if:
They are registered undergraduate full-time juniors or seniors at accredited four-year colleges or universities in the United States during the Fall 2022 semester, or
They fulfill the guideline requirements and are studying abroad during the Fall 2022 semester, as long as they are registered as full-time juniors or seniors at their home schools in the U.S., or
They are international or non-citizen students who fill the guideline requirements and are attending schools in the U.S.
- Nine Dots Prize 2023
The Nine Dots Prize has now revealed the question it will pose as part of a global problem-solving competition, offering US$100,000 and a book deal with Cambridge University Press for the winning response.
The question for the 2023/2024 cycle is: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’
First launched in 2016 and now in its fourth cycle, the Nine Dots Prize encourages innovative thinking and engaging new writing that confronts some of the most significant issues of our time. The Prize is judged entirely anonymously and seeks submissions from both established names and emerging talent, including those who may not have been published before.
Entrants must respond to the set question in 3,000 words and provide an outline showing how they would expand their response into a short book of between 25,000-40,000 words, backed up with relevant research and evidence.
The winner will receive editorial support from Cambridge University Press as well as the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), at Cambridge University, to help develop their ideas and focus on their writing.
Deadline: Monday 23rd January 2023
- Zocalo Poetry Prize 2023
Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is currently accepting submissions. The deadline for entries is January 23, 2023 at 11:59 PM PST. There is no fee required to enter the contest.
According to the organizers of the Zocalo literary prize:
Since 2012, the Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize has recognized the U.S. writer of a poem that best evokes a connection to place. Zócalo is currently accepting submissions. The deadline for entries is January 23, 2023 at 11:59 PM PST. There is no fee required to enter the contest.We are on the lookout for that rare combination of creativity and clarity, excellence and evocation. The prize interprets “place” in many ways: A location may possess historical, cultural, political, or personal importance, and may be literal, imaginary, or metaphorical.Our 12th annual winner will be selected by the Zócalo staff, working in conjunction with a poetry prize selection committee. The winner will receive $1,000 and will have the opportunity to deliver their poem at the Zócalo Book Prize event in the spring. Zócalo will also publish the poem on our site alongside an interview with the poet. In addition, we plan to recognize our honorable mention submissions.
Entries will be judged based on originality of ideas, theme, and style. Judging is at the sole discretion of Zócalo Public Square and our poetry prize committee.
The winner will be announced in spring 2023, and the winning poet will receive $1,000, a published interview, and an opportunity for a public reading hosted by Zócalo.
The winning poem will be published on zocalopublicsquare.org. They will also be celebrating our honorable mention submissions
Deadline: January 23, 2023.
- Welkin Writing Prize 2023
From the organizer:
I’m running this competition as a thank you to the writing community which has done so much to support both my writing and my freelance work over the past few years. In September 2022, I was lucky enough to receive a DYCP grant from Arts Council England to fund paid research and writing time, and this competition feels like a small thing that I can do to pay forwards my good fortune. As such, the competition is free to enter and I hope it will be a welcoming space for all writers. The competition is open to all forms of narrative prose, be that flash fiction, short-short, vignette, haibun, hermit crab, prose poem or work that sits outside such labels. There is a whole universe (or welkin) of possibilities.
Prizes For Welkin Writing Prize 2023
The competition will award prizes for:
- 1st place (£150 + annual membership of Writers' HQ worth £190)
- 2nd place (£75 + AdHoc Fiction book voucher worth £25)
- 3rd place (£50 + a copy of "Deflection" by Roberta Beary)
There are additional prizes of £25 for the best non-placed:
writer with a disability or chronic health conditionL, GBTQ+ writer, working class writer, writer whose first (or home) language isn't English carer for an adult dependent, new writer (for a writer with five or fewer publishing credits).
Deadline: 28th February 2023 at 11:59pm GMT.
- Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest 2023
Three times a year, Jerry Jazz Musician awards a writer who submits, in our opinion, the best original, previously unpublished work of short fiction.
The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. Our newsletter subscribers include publishers, artists, musicians, and fellow writers. While your writing should appeal to a reader with these interests and in these creative professions, all story themes are considered.
No entry fee is required. One story entry only. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.
The contest is open to entrants from anywhere in the world (English language only please)
A prize of $150 will be awarded for the winning story.
Deadline: January 31, 2023
- Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest 2023
Celebrate and participate in the 10th Anniversary of LTHS’ popular program with your fictional story about Little Tokyo. Winners of Adult, Youth (18 and under) and Japanese language categories will receive a special prize of $1,000.
Story submission deadline is January 31, 2023.
The story must be original, fictional, written in either Japanese or English by the submitting author and never been published (even online).
- Jack Hazard Fellowship For Fiction 2023
Jack Hazard Fellows are fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir writers who teach full-time in an accredited high school in the United States. We provide a $5,000 award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer.
Applications for the Jack Hazard Fellowship is now open.
Below, you will find the eligibility requirements, an FAQ, and the link to the online application.
ELIGIBILITY FOR A JACK HAZARD FELLOWSHIP 2023
Three years minimum of full-time grades 9-12 teaching experience.
Teaching full-time grades 9-12 in the 2022-2023 school year in an accredited high school in the United States and committed to return to that school in 2023-2024.
February Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- Deep Wild 2023 Graduate Student Poetry Contest
Grad students, send us your three best poems that are backcountry infused and inspired, and that together add up to no more than 100 lines. There are no fees to submit, and the top three winners will receive cash awards.
The winners will receive: The 1st Place prize is $300, 2nd Place $200, and 3rd Place $100.
The editors of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry invite students currently enrolled in graduate studies to submit work for our 2023 Graduate Student Poetry Contest.
Timeline For Submission: Submissions will be accepted from November 1 through February 1 2023
- Global Essay Competition 2023
Compete in our Global Essay Competition and qualify for participation as a Leader of Tomorrow in the world’s premier opportunity for cross-generational debates: The St. Gallen Symposium.
Meet 300 of society’s brightest young minds. Present and debate your ideas with 600 senior leaders. Be inspired by some of the world’s most impressive speakers. Gain a unique and new perspective on this year’s topic. Become a member of a unique global community. Participate in the symposium with us. Win prize money of CHF 20,000 split amongst the three winners.
Topic Question For Global Essay Competition 2023
The best or worst legacy from previous generations: How to preserve or replace it?
Deadline: 1 February 2023, 11:59 p.m. last time zone (UTC-12)
- Center For African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize 2023
Founded in 2020, the CAAPP Book Prize is a publishing partnership between the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics and Autumn House Press with the goal of publishing and promoting a writer of African descent. The prize is awarded annually to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African and African diasporic experiences.
The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation. The winning manuscript will be published by Autumn House Press and its author will be awarded $3,000.
Deadline: February 15, 2023
- The Diana Woods Memorial Award 2023
The Diana Woods Memorial Award in creative nonfiction was established in Diana’s memory by her family, friends, and the Antioch University Los Angeles MFA community. Diana Woods Memorial Award serves as a special opportunity for authors worldwide to be published in the literary journal Lunch Ticket. Launched in the spring of 2012, Lunch Ticket is produced by the Antioch University Los Angeles MFA program, an innovative creative writing graduate program devoted to the education of literary artists, community engagement, and the pursuit of social justice.
Twice each year an author of a work of creative nonfiction will be selected for the Diana Woods Memorial Award award by a special guest judge. One author will be chosen for the Summer/Fall issue of Lunch Ticket and one in the Winter/Spring issue. The winning submissions will be published in Lunch Ticket and the recipient will receive $250.
- Academy of American Poets Ambroggio Prize 2023
The Ambroggio Prize 2023 is a $1,000 publication prize given for a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation.
The winning manuscript is published by the University of Arizona Press, which is nationally recognized for its commitment to publishing the award-winning works of emerging and established voices in Latinx and Indigenous literature, as well as groundbreaking scholarship in Latinx and Indigenous studies.
Established in 2017, the Ambroggio Prize is the only annual award of its kind in the United States that honors American poets whose first language is Spanish.
Deadline: February 15
- The Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize 2023
January 3, 2023—Graywolf Press is pleased to announce that the submission period for the fourth Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize 2023 will run from February 1-28, 2023.
The prize will be awarded for a first novel by an African author primarily residing in Africa and will be judged by Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of the Booker Prize short-listed This Mournable Body and the forthcoming Black and Female, in conjunction with the Graywolf editors.
Graywolf Press, a nonprofit American publisher, publishes work that is distinctive, artistically singular, and of a high literary quality. For this prize, the judge and the Graywolf editors are seeking novels that are engaged with the current moment and that approach contemporary issues with innovative prose and fresh perspectives.
Submissions must be full-length, previously unpublished first novels, or first novels published in Africa that have not been distributed or available for sale outside of the continent of Africa.
Deadline: February 28
- Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA) Self-Publishing Literary Awards 2023
Black Caucus of ALA (BCALA) Self-Publishing Literary Awards 2023. Through this contest, the BCALA honors the best self-published eBooks by an African American author in the U.S. in both fiction and poetry genres.
These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora. The purpose is to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and scholarly research including biographical, historical, and social history treatments by African Americans. The judging committee will be comprised of a BCALA-appointed panel, which will select one winner in each genre.
Each genre prize winner shall receive: $2,500.00, formal recognition at the Black Caucus of ALA Literary Awards, and a BCALA Literary Award Seal to use in their marketing.
Deadline: February 28
March Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- Annual BSFS Poetry Contest 2023
The contest deadline is March 1.
Entries should address the themes of science fiction/fantasy/horror/science.
1st prize: $100; 2nd prize: $75; 3rd prize: $50.
Limit: 3 poems/person, maximum 60 lines each.
No entry fee.
- Please no previously published submissions.
- Winners will receive a cash prize, convention membership and be invited to read their winning entries at Balticon. Attendance at Balticon is not required to win.
- Winning poems will be published one time in the BSFAN, the Balticon convention souvenir book. In addition, a pdf version of the winning poems as they appear in the BSFAN will be available on the Balticon Poetry Contest website. Writers retain all rights to their work. By submitting to the contest, entrants agree to these terms
- Pen America Free Expression Essay Competition 2023
PEN America is inviting submissions for a national student essay competition 2023 about the role of free expression in today’s world. If you’re in high school or college, PEN America wants to know what you think about the threats to this crucial right! Essays will be judged for their originality, clarity of thought, and relevance to free expression by experts at PEN America and prominent guest judges. Winning essays will be published on PEN America’s website, and promoted on our social media channels. We are very pleased to offer a total of $7,500 in prizes to the competition winners.
The submission window will close on March 1, 2023. Winners will be announced in May 2023.
For each competition level, we will honor 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The top three college-level essayists will receive $2,000, $1,500, and $1,000 respectively; and the top three high school-level essayists will receive $1,500, $1,000, and $500 respectively.
- The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards 2023
The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards 2023 recognize outstanding translations into English of modern Italian poetry through a $10,000 book prize and a $25,000 fellowship, given in alternating years.
The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards Fund was established in 1995 through a bequest to The New York Community Trust by Sonia Raiziss Giop, a poet, translator, and long-time editor of Chelsea. The Trust has selected the Academy to administer the award.
The Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship will be given in 2023 to enable an American translator to travel, study, or otherwise advance a significant work-in-progress. The Academy invites applications from American translators currently engaged in the translation of twentieth-century Italian poetry. The winning translator will receive an award of $25,000 and a five-week residency at the American Academy in Rome.
The judges for the 2023 Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship are Graziella Sidoli, Jennifer Scappettone and John Taylor. Submissions are accepted from September 30, 2022, to March 1, 2023 (11:59 p.m. ET).
- The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowships 2023
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Literature Fellowships program offers $25,000 grants in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) and poetry to published creative writers that enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement. Applications are reviewed through an anonymous process in which the criteria for review are the artistic excellence and artistic merit of the submitted manuscript.
Through this program, the NEA seeks to sustain and nurture a diverse range of creative writers at various stages of their careers and to continue to expand the portfolio of American art.
The program operates on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose and poetry available in alternating years. For FY 2024, which is covered by these guidelines, fellowships in prose (fiction and nonfiction) are available. Fellowships in poetry will be offered in FY 2025 and guidelines will be available in January 2024. You may apply only once each year.
Competition for fellowships is extremely rigorous. We typically receive more than 1,600 applications each year in this category and award fellowships to fewer than 3% of applicants.
July Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- Stephen Spender Prize 2023
The Stephen Spender Prize is the leading annual prize for poetry in translation, with categories for pupils, teachers and individual young people in the UK and Ireland, as well as an Open category for adults from all over the world. The rules are simple: translate into English any poem from any language – from French to Farsi, from Spanish to Somali—and win publication and cash prizes!
Deadline: July 14
- 2023 Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest
Helen Schaible was a poet, mother, teacher, classicist. The Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest was established in her memory in 1998 by the Poets Club of Chicago and funded by a gift from Helen's daughters Jane Edwards, Lucy Parker, and Katherine Martin, and her son, the late David Schaible.
First Prize: $50. Second Prize: $30. Third Prize: $20.
Three Honorable Mentions and three Special Merits will be named per category, ranked.
Contest Rules & Submission Period
Submission Period: June 1 – July 15, 2023. Free and open to all!
- The Black Voices in Children’s Literature: Writing Contest 2023
Us&Canada
The Black Voices in Children’s Literature: Writing Contest 2023 is sponsored by Strive Publishing and Free Spirit Publishing.
Open for submissions from June 19 to July 24, 2023.
First Place: $1,000 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, a tote bag from Free Spirit, and a meeting with Mary Taris, founder of Strive, and an editor from Free Spirit to discuss the winner’s project.
The winning submission will be seriously considered for publication by Free Spirit, cobranded with Strive; however, publication is not guaranteed.
Second Place: $500 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, and a tote bag from Free Spirit
Third Place: $250 cash prize, a T-shirt from Strive, and a tote bag from Free Spirit
- Winchester Poetry Prize 2023
First Prize: £1,000, 2nd Prize: £500, 3rd Prize: £250.
A prize is also available for the best poem written by a Hampshire-based poet.
Closing Date: 31 July 2023 (11:59pm)
- The 1729 Book Prize in Poetry 2023
In collaboration with The Ivy Bookshop, the 1729 Prize is an annual contest provided by Mason Jar Press. Free to enter, with a $1,000 award and guaranteed publication, the Prize seeks the finest unpublished manuscripts of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
The 1729 Prize alternates yearly between Poetry and Prose. Our inaugural Prize in Poetry is currently being judged by Diane Zinna and our forthcoming Poetry Prize will be judged by Chen Chen. More details within
Deadline: July 31
- SURGING TIDE: THE ANNUAL SUMMER WRITING CONTEST
Surging Tide is pleased to launch our Second Annual Writing Contest 2023 this summer.
Please find below a more detailed prompt as well as guidelines on how to submit.
Surging Tide editors will shortlist 3-5 writers in each category (poetry and prose).
We will forward this list onto the judges, who will select a winner and a runner-up. All shortlisted writers and artists will be guaranteed publication in Surging Tide Issue 10, though all pieces submitted will be considered.
In addition, the winner and runner-up will receive written commentary from their respective contest judges.
Entrants can submit ONE piece per category per submission or up to FIVE pieces with a donation to Surging Tide. Multi-genre submissions allowed (i.e. you can submit one poem and one flash fiction, but not six poems.)
In addition to publication, the winner of each category will be awarded $100 and each runner-up will also be awarded $25.
Deadline: July 31
- 2023 Platt Family Scholarship Essay Contest
1st Prize $1500 | 2nd Prize $750 | 3rd Prize $500
The scholarship essay contest is designed for students who are FULL TIME, undergraduate students in an AMERICAN COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY during the Spring 2023 semester.
Topic for Platt Family Scholarship Essay Contest 2023
“2023 is the 160th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Does Abraham Lincoln deserve the title of ‘The Great Emancipator’? Why or why not?”
Deadline: July 31
- 3rd Singapore Unbound Awards for the Best Undergraduate Critical Essays on Singapore and Other Literatures 2023
3 Awards of USD250 each
Submission deadline: July 31, 2023
For the third year running, Singapore Unbound, a NYC-based literary non-profit, will be giving out three awards of USD250.00 each for the best three undergraduate critical essays on topics in Singapore and other literatures. The purpose of these awards is to encourage the teaching and study of Singapore literature at college level and the cultivation of general appreciation for the character and achievements of Singapore literature.
August Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- The Granum Foundation Prize 2023
The Granum Foundation Prize will be awarded annually to help U.S.-based writers complete substantive literary works—such as poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs—or to help launch these works.
Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to support the completion of a work translated into English by a U.S.-based writer.
Funding from both prizes can be used to provide a writer with the tools, time, and freedom to help ensure their success. For example, resources may be used to cover basic needs, equipment purchases, mentorship, or editing services.
Prize: One winner will receive $1,500 or more
Deadline: August 1
- The Yale Drama Series 2023
The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2024 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Jeremy O. Harris. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press, and a celebratory event.
The prize and publication are contingent on the playwright’s agreeing to the terms of the publishing agreement.
Deadline: August 15
- Lucky Jefferson Poetry & Prose Summer Contest 2023
Lucky Jefferson is currently accepting submission for its inaugural poetry and prose competition. Interested writers are to read further on the guidelines for submissions.
20 finalists will receive publication in Lucky Jefferson's digital 365 Collection.
Two finalists from that group (one poetry and one prose) will each receive $100, publication, and a swag box.
Deadline: August 1
- Palette Poetry's Chapbook Prize 2023
Poetry chapbook manuscripts of all styles are accepted with no specific theme or aesthetic preference in request.
The winner will receive $2,000 and Summer 2024 publication, which includes a free, downloadable digital chapbook on their website, fifty physical author copies to share and sell, and the option to enable drop-shipping sales at Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble, earning 50% royalties on your chapbook.
Additionally, thousands of readers, editors, and journals will receive chapbook access through our newsletter.
The winner will have creative agency over cover art/design, and also be offered the opportunity to work with Palette editors to revise the manuscript.
According to the Palette Poetry, there is an extended editorial process for any book that they believe in, so please feel welcome to submit promising work that may not be fully polished yet.
Deadline: August 20
- The Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism 2023
Journalists are invited to apply to The Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism 2023 for the grant of $5,000. Kari’s family and friends, together with the International Women’s Media Foundation, are honored to offer grants to support the narrative journalism she championed.
Deadline: August 20
- RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards for Non-Fiction 2023
Three annual awards — of £10,000, £5,000 and £2,500 — are available for authors engaged on their first commissioned works of non-fiction
These Awards are for writers with a publishing contract for their first work of non-fiction and can be entered by publishers, agents or writers. This year’s judges are Tom Burgis, Fiona St Aubyn and Kieran Yates.
Deadline: The closing date for entries is Friday 25 August 2023 at 5pm (BST).
- Nan Shepherd Prize 2023
We’re delighted to announce that the 2023 Nan Shepherd Prize is now open to entries. Between now and 25 August 2023, unpublished nature writers are invited to submit their book proposals.
The prize is open to previously unpublished writers based in the UK and Ireland who consider themselves underrepresented in nature writing, whether through ethnicity, disability, class, sex, gender, sexuality or any other circumstances.
Deadline: August 25
- The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers 2023
It’s time for the Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers is a biannual contest that recognizes the best short prose from today’s emerging writers.
We welcome submissions of previously unpublished fiction or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words.
Prize: The first-place winner of this contest, selected by our guest judge, will receive a $3,000 grand prize, along with online publication. Second- and third-place winners will receive $300 and $200 respectively, along with online publication.
Deadline: August 27
- The Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction
The Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction 2024 is open to writers for submissions. £2,000 prize for writers worldwide and stories on any topic up to 250 words.
Deadline: Open for entries, 1 June to 31 August 2023
First Prize £2,000
Second Prize £300
Third Prize £150
- Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2023
Aesthetica is looking for the best new writing talent. The £5,000 international literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction entries on any theme, celebrating innovation in content and form.
Deadline: August 31
- Aesthetica Creative Writing Award 2023
Aesthetica is looking for the best new writing talent. The £5,000 international literary prize is open to poetry and short fiction entries on any theme, celebrating innovation in content and form.
Deadline: August 31
- The Val Wood Prize for Creative Writing 2023: The Hungry Tide 30th Anniversary Special
This year, in celebration of Val Wood, they are back with a brand new theme and a brand new judging panel. Having previously been associated with Hull Libraries, the competition is now solely independent and all of its entries will be received by and judged directly by the competition’s namesake, Val Wood.
The winner of the competition will receive £100 and a signed copy of The Hungry Tide. The winning entry will be published on the website valwood.co.uk and shared via various social media outlets.
There will be two further prizes and the winners will receive signed copies of the Hungry Tide upon it’s re-release in October.
Deadline: Entries should be submitted by 5.00pm (BST) 31st August 2023
- The Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing
The Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing is currently open for submission. The entry is free. The 2023 Beauchamp Prize will be judged by Micki Meng.
Entries for the Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing should be a single piece of prose, written in English, not exceeding 1,500 words.
There will be one first place prize of $3,000 dollars, and two runners up, awarded $1,000 each. The winning essay will be featured in GC's printed journal, and the two runners-up will be considered for publication. For previous winners, see the sidebar.
Deadline: August 31st
- The Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award 2023
The Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award 2023 is a £20,000 literary prize recognising outstanding writing. It is open to writers publishing in English in any genre, who publish their work through Kindle Direct Publishing. Readers play a significant role in selecting the winner, helped by a panel of judges including various book industry experts.
Deadline: The Kindle Storyteller Award 2023 is open for entries between 1st May and 31st August 2023.
September Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- Academy For Teachers: Stories Out of School Flash Fiction Contest 2023
We hold periodic contests that help us highlight the rich, challenging, and underappreciated world of the teachers. Judged by accomplished experts, these contests are open to everyone. Enter for a chance to win a cash prize!
“STORIES OUT OF SCHOOL” FLASH FICTION CONTEST
Teachers have the most fascinating, difficult, and important job on the planet, and their workdays are filled with stories. Yet teachers seldom appear in fiction. This annual contest was created to inspire great stories about teachers and the rich and crazy world of schools.
Deadline: September 1
- Source Writing Prize 2023
We are always looking for new writers to contribute to Source. If you've not written for Source before we invite you to send us an article. If we like it we will either publish it or commission you to write articles for us in the future.
As an incentive we will give £500 to the person whose article we like the best.
Deadline: September 20
- Mslexia Women's Fiction Competition 2023
This competition is for unpublished complete short fiction of up to 3,000 words.
Prizes
The winner will receive £3,000.
Three additional finalists will each receive £100.
The winning entry and three finalists will be published in the December 2023 edition of Mslexia.
The winning entry, three finalists and eight additional shortlisted stories will also appear in Mslexia’s ebook anthology, Best Women’s Short Fiction 2023, published in December 2022.
Deadline
The deadline for all entries is 23.59GMT, 18 September 2023.
- The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts 2023
Lunch Ticket is honored to host The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts. The Gabo Prize is funded by writers, translators, and Antioch University Los Angeles MFA Alumni Allie Marini and Jennifer McCharen, who launched the prize to support the work of peer translators.
The winner, selected by a guest judge, will receive $200, and the winning piece will be published alongside two semi-finalists in the upcoming issue of Lunch Ticket. The Gabo Prize is awarded twice each year.
Deadline: September 1
- The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts 2023
Lunch Ticket is honored to host The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts. The Gabo Prize is funded by writers, translators, and Antioch University Los Angeles MFA Alumni Allie Marini and Jennifer McCharen, who launched the prize to support the work of peer translators.
The winner, selected by a guest judge, will receive $200, and the winning piece will be published alongside two semi-finalists in the upcoming issue of Lunch Ticket. The Gabo Prize is awarded twice each year.
Deadline: September 1
- The Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction, Issue 24
Lunch Ticket is honored to serve as the host for the Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction 2023. The submission window for Lunch Ticket’s Issue 24 is August 1st to September 1st.
The winning submissions will be published in Lunch Ticket and the recipient will receive $250
- The New York Labor History Association’s Bernhardt Prize 2023
The New York Labor History Association’s Bernhardt prize awards $1,000 to an article that exemplifies great writing for a general audience and furthers the understanding of the history of working people. The prize and the forum honor the vision of the late Debra E. Bernhardt, who worked in so many different realms to share the hidden histories of working people.
The deadline for the 2022-2023 contest is Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
- Frontier Poetry's Roots and Roads Prize 2023
Frontier Poetry is currently open for submission for its Root and Roads inaugural prize. Read further on the submission guidelines.
The submission is free for BIPOC writers. A total amount of $3000 will be awarded to the first place prize winner, $300 to second place, and $200 to third place.
About The Roots & Roads Prize
The organizers of the prize has the following to say about the prize:
"Not only are root systems vital for a tree to channel sustenance from the soil, but they are also communicators, connecting the plant to its environment and to other plants. Roads, too, are connectors, telling a story of movement and distances. This year, for our inaugural Roots & Roads Prize, Frontier Poetry invites you to imagine your poems as roots and roads, reaching both inward and outward.
We are in search of work that explores the tensions between these ideas, the relationships we have between origin and becoming, between our foundations and the possibilities that are sustained and/or troubled by them. We encourage you to interpret these words loosely and expansively, to let the poem take you where it wants. Bring us your ghosts, your maps, your homes, your alienations, your dreams of the future—lead us somewhere unexpected!"
Deadline: September 18
- The César Egido Serrano Foundation 2023
The César Egido Serrano Foundation periodically calls for an International Short Story Contest that is part of the activities that the Foundation carries out to achieve its objective, which is none other than that the word is the tool against all violence and harmony between different cultures, religions and ideologies.
This contest is the best endowed by word in the world with a first prize of $20,000 and three second prizes of $2,000 each. In the last edition, 43,185 authors from 172 countries participated in the contest. On this occasion and as the main novelty, it will be the participants themselves who will have the opportunity and responsibility to choose the winners, through a computerized, random and anonymous voting system.
Deadline: September 30
- The Iowa Short Fiction Award & John Simmons Short Fiction Award 2023
The Iowa Short Fiction Award & John Simmons Short Fiction Award 2023 is currently open for submission. The awards are organized by the University of Iowa Press, and are open to previously published writers of prose fiction.
Deadline: September 30
October Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize 2023
$5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry
Winners receive publication, promotion, and a cash prize.
Deadline: October 1
- The Peter Poetry Prize 2023
The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is one of Australia’s most lucrative and respected poetry awards. It honours the life and work of the great Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010), an honoured contributor to ABR for many years. All poets writing in English are eligible to enter.
First prize: AU$6,000
Four other shortlisted poets: AU$1,000
Deadline: October 9
- The National Poetry Competition 2023
The National Poetry Competition is now open for entries until 31 October 2023
Judges: Jane Draycott, Will Harris, Clare Pollard
Run by The Poetry Society since 1978, The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines, open to all poets worldwide aged 18 or over
November Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- The ServiceScape Short Story Award 2023
The ServiceScape Short Story Award 2023 is currently open for submission. The award is open to short story writers who wants to contest for the cash prize of $1,000.00 USD.
For this award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted. All applicants should submit their original unpublished work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer, to be considered.
Along with receiving an award for $1,000.00 USD, the winner will have his or her short story featured within the organizers' blog, which reaches thousands of readers per month. Rules and exclusions apply.
Deadline: November 20
December Writing Competitions 2023 USA
- The Sarah Maguire Poetry in Translation Prize 2023
The Sarah Maguire Poetry in Translation Prize is offered biennially for the best book of poetry in English translation by a living poet from beyond Europe, published anywhere in the world. £1,500 is awarded to the winning poet and £1,500 to the winning translator (or shared if there is more than one translator).
Deadline: December 31
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