We found nearly three dozen excellent free poetry and prose contests with deadlines between September 15-October 31. In this issue, please enjoy the final set of pages of "The Burial of the Dead" from "The Waste Land" by T. S. Eliot, illustrated by Julian Peters.
This month's Annie Mydla column interviews long-time Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest judge Lauren Singer. Great Wergle poems have humor to be sure, but they often offer heart, healing, and humanity as well.
It's last call to enter our 22nd annual Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. We will award $3,500 for a poem in any style or genre and $3,500 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $300 each (any style). The top 12 entries will be published online. The top two winners will also receive two-year gift certificates from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value). Length limit: 250 lines per poem. Entry fee: $22 for 3 poems. Multiple entries welcome. Final judge: Michal 'MJ' Jones, assisted by Briana Grogan and Dare Williams. Deadline: October 1. Submit online here.
Coming next month, we'll announce the winners of our 32nd Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest.
View past newsletters in our archives. Need assistance? Let us help. Join our 130,000 followers on X and 56,000 followers on Facebook. Advertise with us,
starting at $40.
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Deadline: November 15
A home doesn't have to be a structure with four walls. It can be a state of being. We want to know what exactly "home" means to you! Submit published or unpublished poems, up to 20 lines each. Fee: $10 per poem.
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1st Prize — $200, Certificate and Publication
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2nd — $100, Certificate and Publication
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3rd — $50, Certificate and Publication
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All Finalist poems published in Anthology
Enter at Oprelle.
We congratulate our 2023 winners:
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1st Prize: "Northern Needles" by Rose Antol
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2nd: "Evening" by Pardeep Jindal
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3rd: “Where the Heart Lives” by Ann Chiappetta
Read their poems.
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Congratulations to Joseph Howse, Jed Myers, Gloria Mindock, Annie Dawid, Teresa Burleson, S. Mei Sheng Frazier, Tamara Kaye Sellman, Anna Scotti, and Cheryl J. Fish.
Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter won the 2024 Gival Press Oscar Wilde Award for their poem "Vita Sackville-West Wins the Golden Wedding Award at the Cummington Fair", which was published on the Gival Press website. Their poem "Why the Sunrise Is Trans" was also a finalist in this contest. Both poems were published in ArLiJo Issue #201, an online journal from Gival Press. The most recent deadline for this $500 award for poetry about LGBTQ life was June 27. In other news, Jendi's essay "Companions in the Mirror: How My Novel Characters Are Allies in My Healing" was published on the website of the abuse survivors' organization Time To Tell. Their essay "8 Graphic Novels About Healing from Sexual Abuse" was published in Electric Literature on August 29. Their new novel, Origin
Story (Saddle Road Press, 2024), was favorably reviewed by Richard Cambridge in Solstice Lit Mag (Summer 2024): "Reiter's investment in Peter and Julian is so deep we cannot help falling in love with them. Peter: yoga coach, gym trainer, and mentor to a homeless teen; Julian: rising star fashion photographer. We are moved by their emotional and physical intimacy...Their intimate dialogue sparkles with wit and innuendo, spontaneous and improvised, like jazz."
Learn about our subscribers' achievements and see links to samples of their work.
Have news? Please email it to jendi@winningwriters.com.
Do you use TikTok or Instagram? Send your news to the @winningwriters account so we can share it!
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Jendi Reiter's new novel Origin Story (Saddle Road Press, 2024) features a gay comic-book writer in 1990s New York City who recovers traumatic memories through his art and breaks toxic family patterns with the help of his loving partner.
In their article "8 Graphic Novels About Healing from Sexual Abuse", published August 29 in Electric Literature, Reiter recommends several works that demonstrate the potential of graphic storytelling as a container for experiences that shatter our conventional meaning-making structures.
Goodreads reviewers say about Origin Story:
"Steeped in nerd culture, and a celebration of queer culture in the midst of the AIDS apocalypse, there's more joy and kink and friendship and healing than the heavier description of trauma would imply."
"Origin Story felt very transformative to me because I connected a lot with the issues of gender, and how if you've experienced trauma, others may 'blame' your gender orientation on your trauma and not validate you as a person...This book will also be especially great for people who have found solace in comic books."
Upcoming readings:
September 28, 7pm EDT, New York City and livestreamed
Join Jendi Reiter and Ella Dawson, author of But How Are You, Really (Dutton, 2024), for a reading from their new novels at the Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, located in Room 210 of the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street, New York City. A bisexual love story with a theme of healing from intimate partner abuse, Dawson's witty novel is set at a 5th-year college reunion where journalist Charlotte Thorne must contend with her bullying boss, the friend group who wonders why she ghosted on them, and the lovable almost-boyfriend who got away.
October 23, 7pm EDT, virtual
Jendi will be a featured reader in The Publishing Triangle's OUTspoken monthly reading series. Visit their website for details.
November 3, 3pm EST, virtual
Jendi will read with fellow Saddle Road Press author Donald Mengay (The Lede To Our Undoing and Ojo) in SRP's First Sundays online reading series. Just published on September 9, Ojo is a coming-of-age novel about gay men in a New Mexico mountain town at the start of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Booklife says, "This moving, challenging novel...pulses with moments of connection and freedom, explored in prose that exults in its own liberation." Contact info@saddleroadpress.com for the Zoom link.
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Want to spend October writing new poems?
We've got what you need. Our 9th Annual Online Poetry Writing Retreat from Two Sylvias Press!
WHAT YOU NEED: Access to email and a desire to write new poems.
WHAT WE PROVIDE: Poem prompts, sample poems, a Two Sylvias Press publication, ideas where to send your poems after the retreat ends as well as reflection questions/activities to guide and inspire. All prompts, writing exercises, and inspiration sent daily or weekly to your email (your choice!)
AND—at the end of the retreat an editor from Two Sylvias Press will critique and respond to one of your new poems!
RETREAT DATES:
July 1-July 28 (SOLD OUT)
August 5-September 1 (SOLD OUT)
October 7-November 3 (A few spots remaining!)
Note: If you participated in last year's online retreat (summer or fall), you will find that this retreat has all-new prompts, exercises, and reflection questions. Same style as previous years' retreats, but with new material to inspire you!
Space is limited
Praise for Two Sylvias Press Online Poetry Retreat
"I decided to take the Two Sylvias Press Online Poetry Retreat as a way to reignite my passion for writing poetry and reconnect with my 'poet's mind' after not writing poetry for several years. The format was perfect for me—it enabled me to work alone and at my own pace while still feeling connected through daily prompts and encouragement. The result: I wrote more poems in that four-week period than I had written in as many years and new poems are still coming. The feedback I received was insightful and improved the poems while still showing respect for the essence of the work."
—Cathy J. (read other testimonials here)
Click here to learn more and register.
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Early-bird deadline: September 30
Entries are now being accepted for the 2025 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the most exciting and rewarding book awards program open to independent publishers and authors worldwide who have a book written in English and released in 2023, 2024, or 2025 or with a 2023, 2024, or 2025 copyright date. The Next Generation Indie Book Awards are presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group.
Enter by the early-bird deadline of September 30 and you can pick a second category for your book for free. There are 80+ categories to choose from, so take advantage of this exciting opportunity to have your book considered for cash prizes, awards, exposure, possible representation by a leading literary agent, and recognition as one of the top independently published books of the year!
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Deadline: October 1
$5,000 Fiction | $5,000 Nonfiction | $5,000 Poetry
Winners receive a cash prize, publication in the Spring 2025 issue of the Missouri Review, and promotion across our social media channels.
Guidelines
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Submit one piece of fiction or nonfiction up to 8,500 words or any number of poems between 6 to 12 pages. Please double-space fiction and nonfiction entries.
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Multiple submissions and simultaneous submissions are welcome, but you must pay a separate fee for each entry and withdraw the piece immediately if accepted elsewhere.
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Entries must be previously unpublished.
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Standard Entry fee: $25. Each entrant receives a one-year subscription to the Missouri Review in digital format (normal price $24) and a digital copy of the latest title in our imprint, Missouri Review Books, a short story anthology by former contributors (normal price $7.95).
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"All Access" Entry fee: $30. In addition to the one-year digital subscription to the Missouri Review and TMR Books e-book, Life Support: Stories of Health & Medicine, entry fee grants access to the last 10 years of digital issues and the audio recordings of each digital issue.
Submit online or by mail.
Read prize-winning stories by Melissa Yancy, Rachel Yoder, and Thomas Dodson, essays by Peter Selgin and Dave Zoby, and a selection from poetry winners Katie Bickham, Kai Carlson-Wee, and Alexandra Teague.
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Sponsored by Winning Writers
TOM HOWARD PRIZE: $3,500 for a poem in any style or genre
MARGARET REID PRIZE: $3,500 for a poem that rhymes
or has a traditional style
The top two winners will also receive two-year gift certificates from our co-sponsor, Duotrope (a $100 value)
Honorable Mentions: 10 awards of $300 each (any style)
Submit published or unpublished work. Top 12 entries published online.
Judged by Michal 'MJ' Jones, assisted by Briana Grogan and Dare Williams.
Recommended by Reedsy as one of The Best Writing Contests of 2024.
Submit 1-3 poems for one $22 entry fee.
Enter via Submittable by October 1
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Deadline: October 20
Submit to Eyelands Book Awards 2024 and win a five-day stay in Athens or have your book translated into Greek from Strange Days Books. This is the seventh consecutive year of the one and only international book award based in Greece. We seek talented writers from all over the world.
New this year:
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Second chance for grand prize: Writer's choice award!
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See your story or poem translated into Greek and published!
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Self-published books category—with a reduced entry fee!
Eleven more prizes, one for each category of every section. Win a special handmade ceramic designed especially for the Awards. Certification document for every prize. Online certification for the finalists. Video promotion across our social media for grand prize and prize winners.
Eligible submissions include poetry, novellas, short story collections, novels, children's and YA books, historical fiction/memoir, and graphic novels.
Finalists will be announced on November 20. Winners will be announced on December 30.
Learn more and submit online!
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Lauren Singer won an Honorable Mention in our 2011 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest for "regarding eggplant". We learned she lived within a mile of headquarters here in Northampton and swiftly recruited her to be an assistant judge. Lauren has now evaluated tens of thousands of submissions to this contest. Annie Mydla joins her in a deep dive into what makes a poem funny.
See the video interview and transcript.
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 From Two Sylvias Press
Subscriptions to the Weekly Muse now include 2 NEW CLASSES featuring the legendary Carolyn Forché and the amazing Dorianne Laux!
By becoming a paid subscriber to the Weekly Muse, you'll gain access to these incredible poets PLUS a FULL YEAR of Zoom classes featuring an all-star lineup including Danusha Laméris, Susan Rich, Kelli Russell Agodon, Melissa Studdard, Lana Hechtman Ayers, Ruben Quesada, Elena Karina Byrne, Gloria J. Burgess, Luisa A. Igloria, and Jane Wong!
But that's not all! Each week, you'll also receive:
☆ Weekly poetry prompts
☆ Submission opportunities
☆ Insider publishing tips
☆ Exclusive interviews
☆ Your questions answered by our editors
☆ Your poetry news amplified to our community
☆ Journaling/creativity exercises, and more—all delivered to your inbox every Sunday morning!
PLUS 12 inspiring Zoom classes along with ongoing prompts and resources for just $198 a year! (Monthly payment options available!) Sign up here.
The Weekly Muse has been called "the best poetry resource for poets publishing today!"
Sign up now and start benefiting like so many others.
P.S. The Weekly Muse is risk-free! If it's not for you, one click and you're out. Easy!
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Deadline: January 6, 2025
Submissions are now open for the DISQUIET Literary Prize! This contest is for writing in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry by a writer who has not yet published a full-length book. The first prize winners in each genre will be published:
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the fiction winner in Granta.com
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the nonfiction winner in Ninthletter.com
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the poetry winner in The Common
One grand prize winner will receive a full scholarship including tuition, lodging, and a $1,000 travel stipend to attend the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon in 2025 (June 22-July 4). Genre winners will receive full tuition waivers. Cash prize available in lieu of travel. Reading fee: $15.
Read the full contest guidelines or enter at Submittable.
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Deadline: February 27, 2025
Entries are now being accepted for the 2025 Next Generation Short Story Awards, a not-for-profit international awards program for authors of short stories. The Short Story Awards offers 30+ categories to choose from and accepts original, unpublished stories (5,000 words or fewer) written in English by authors in the US, Canada, or internationally.
Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to have your story considered for 30+ cash prizes, gold medals, complimentary gold digital stickers, literary exposure, and recognition as one of the top stories of the year! Winners will have their story published in an annual Anthology of Winners (you maintain copyright) and will receive a complimentary copy of the Anthology of Winners. Enter today.
The Short Story Awards is brought to you by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international book awards program in the world for independent and self-published authors.
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Deadline: June 30, 2025
July 2024 saw the launch of the 9th To Hull And Back short story competition, a biennial writing contest with a humorous twist that celebrates the most imaginative and amazing short stories from writers all over the world.
This contest accepts both published and unpublished stories up to 2,500 words long. Any style or genre of story will be considered, including children's, as long as it is humorous or funny in some way.
1st Prize: £1,000
2nd Prize: £200
3rd Prize: £100
3 x Highly Commended: £70
14 x Shortlisted: £35
All winners and short-listed entries will be published in the To Hull And Back Short Story Anthology. This will be available as a professionally published, printed book and as a Kindle download. And there's more…
 You Will Win the Most Awesomely Awesome in its Awesomeness Writing Prize in the Known Macrocosm
The winner will be taken to Hell Hull and back.
Allow me to explain. The winner's face will appear on the front cover of the To Hull And Back Anthology. They will be depicted riding a flaming motorcycle and holding a quill of wrath. Each year, the cover will be unique and created by a different artist.
The winner will also receive a printed copy of the anthology. Before being sent to them, their book will be strapped to the handlebars of a two-wheeled chariot of delight (otherwise known as a Harley Davidson FLSTFi Fatboy 1584cc V-Twin motorcycle) and filmed being ridden to Hull and back.
Enter by March 31, 2025 to qualify for the early-bird fee: £10 for one entry, £17 for two, and £20 for three.
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Grand Prize Winner, 2023 North Street Competition sponsored by Winning Writers
"A sensitive, tragic love story between a modern-day Romeo and Juliet who transgress religious boundaries."
—Judges, North Street Book Prize
This year's North Street judges selected The Evil Inclination from over 1,850 competing submissions, calling the book "a brilliant novel that works on many levels—theological, personal, cultural—with high stakes and sharply observed humorous moments that make the characters achingly real." See their full critique.
Lev Livitski, devoted son and upright young man, walks the path of Jewish observance without giving it a second thought. But one day in college, Lev encounters Angela Pizatto, a dark-haired knockout, and suddenly, what used to mean everything to him is no longer enough.
Layered into this love story are themes about identity and longing: how desire—what traditional Judaism calls the "evil inclination"—can define who we think we are. It's a novel not only about the burdens of tradition clashing with the power of passion, but also about the struggle to understand how the people we fall for can change us in profound and unexpected ways.
"An exhilarating, spellbinding tale...that will surprise, astonish and move you deeply."
—Joseph Telushkin, best-selling author of Words That Hurt, Words That Heal.
"A captivating love story pitting passion against faith...an irresistible read..."
—Judith Shulevitz, best-selling author of The Sabbath World.
"A riveting—and surprising—book about family, faith, lust, heresy, temptation, wisdom and God."
—Ari Goldman, Professor and author of the best-selling The Search for God at Harvard.
The Evil Inclination is available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Learn more at the author's website.
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Some contests are best suited to writers at the early stages of their careers. Others are better for writers with numerous prizes and publications to their credit. Here is this month's selection of Spotlight Contests for your consideration:
Emerging Writers
Bennington College's Young Writers Awards. Bennington College will award online publication and prizes up to $1,000 in each of three categories (poetry, fiction, and nonfiction) to high school students. Finalists and winners are also eligible for sizeable, four-year undergraduate scholarships at Bennington if they ultimately enroll there. Entries must be sponsored by a high school teacher; writing by homeschooled students must be sponsored by a mentor. This is an international contest. Must be received by November 1.
Intermediate Writers
Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets. The Wordsworth Trust and the British Library will make two top awards of 5,000 pounds: one for the author of a poetry chapbook published or self-published in the UK between September 23 of the previous year and the contest deadline, and one for an outstanding UK publisher of poetry chapbooks. Winning poet will become Harvard University's Michael Marks Poet in Residence in Greece. Books should be no more than 36 pages. Must be received by September 27 (new deadline).
Advanced Writers
Natan Notable Books Award. The Jewish Book Council and Natan will award $5,000 and marketing support for a recently-published or about-to-be published nonfiction title that will catalyze conversations aligned with the themes of Natan's grantmaking: reinventing Jewish life and community for the twenty-first century, shifting notions of individual and collective Jewish identity, the history and future of Israel, and the evolving relationship between Israel and world Jewry. Submit books slated for first publication between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025 to compete for the High Holidays/Fall award. This is an international contest. Must be received by October 1 (new deadline).
See more Spotlight Contests for emerging, intermediate, and advanced writers within The Best Free Literary Contests database.
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Winning Writers finds open submission calls and free contests in a variety of sources, including Erika Dreifus' Practicing Writer newsletter, FundsforWriters, Erica Verrillo's blog, Authors Publish, Lit Mag News Roundup, Poets & Writers, The Writer, Duotrope, Submittable, and literary journals' own newsletters and announcements.
• Reckoning
(creative writing on environmental justice - September 22)
• Kenyon Review: "Visitation" Issue
(poetry, fiction, essays on this and other themes - September 30)
• My Galvanized Friend
(poetry, fiction, essays by LGBTQ writers - September 30)
• The Garlic Press
("extra pungent" poetry, literary fiction, essays, and hybrid texts - September 30)
• Stonecoast Review: "Safety" Issue
(poetry, literary and genre fiction, essays, short dramatic works, and visual art on this theme - September 30)
• manywor(l)ds
(leftist journal seeks creative writing by queer, disabled, or neurodivergent authors - October 31)
• The Citron Review
(short poems and flash prose - December 6)
• Bard Books
(new imprint seeks poetry collections, chapbooks, and manuscripts of literary prose - December 31)
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Here is the final set of pages from Julian Peters' 16-page comic of "The Burial of the Dead", the first section of "The Waste Land". We published the previous set last month.
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Cat Pee Hegemony
With the obvious caveat that human beings can warp any worldview to justify primitive monkey-brain status fights, I propose that there's a connection between our cultural legacy of monotheism and American imperialism. As a survivor of abuse and gaslighting, I used to be comforted by the idea that someday everyone would agree on the same reality, on earth as in heaven. But Bible passages anticipating Jesus as sole acknowledged ruler of the earth hit me differently in this era of resurgent Christian nationalism.
[read more]
Jendi Reiter is the editor of Winning Writers.
Follow Jendi on X at @JendiReiter.
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