We found over two dozen excellent free poetry and prose contests with deadlines between July 15-August 31. In this issue, please enjoy the third set of three 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 explores effective book structures with Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter.
Open Now
TOM HOWARD/MARGARET REID POETRY CONTEST
22nd year. 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 a submission of 1-3 poems. Multiple submissions welcome. Final judge: Michal 'MJ' Jones, assisted by Briana Grogan and Dare Williams. Deadline: October 1.
Submit online here.
The Penn Journal of Arts and Sciences (PJAS) is still accepting submissions of creative articles, poetry, reviews, and art through its extended deadline of July 31. Some of you may have previously encountered a requirement of a $1 minimum fee, contrary to last month's ad which stated "no fee". To submit with no fee, please use this form and check the option, "Opt out of minimum fee requirement". We regret the confusion.
View past newsletters in our archives. Need assistance? Let us help. Join our 130,000 followers on X and 54,000 followers on Facebook. Advertise with us,
starting at $40.
Coming next month: We'll announce the winners of our Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest!
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Now available from Saddle Road Press, Jendi Reiter's Origin Story is an innovative literary novel that juxtaposes gay romance, radical theology, and the underground comix scene of the 1990s to tell a story of healing from childhood abuse. Listen to Jendi's interview with Megan Zinn on WHMP (18 minutes).
From Remi Recchia's review in Oyster River Pages:
"I've never read a book quite like Origin Story. Set against the backdrop of the AIDS epidemic and theological problems like the Binding of Isaac, the novel follows the story of Peter Edelman, a gay Jewish man, peer mentor for troubled teens, and aspiring writer, as he attempts to uncover the sexual trauma from his past that has colored his current interpersonal relationships. Some readers will recognize Origin Story as a narrative in the same universe as Jendi Reiter's 2016 novel, Two Natures, which foregrounds the inner workings of Julian Selkirk, Peter's partner, though Origin Story does not read like a sequel: It is a universe in and of itself.
"While I was first introduced to Reiter's work as a deliciously humorous poet, Origin Story—though funny at times—pulls the reader into a deep, uncertain landscape. It asks the reader, what do you do when you've been hurt in the most taboo way, knowing that there will be few—if any—repercussions for your abuser? How do you live with yourself and others after you have been violated? How do you inhabit a body?"
Buy Origin Story now on Bookshop.org.
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Congratulations to Tong Ge, William Huhn (featured poem: "Expedition"), Ruth Thompson, B.J. Buckley, Brooke Herter James, Mary K. O'Melveny, Allen Shadow, Léonie Rosenstiel, Alice McVeigh, Maureen Connolly, J Brooke, Sharon A. Harmon, Tamara Kaye Sellman, Maurya Kerr, Rick Lupert, John Reinhart, and Janet Ruth Heller.
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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Attention all writers across the globe! We're excited to announce the International Fiction Festival 2024, a global event to celebrate the best in fiction storytelling. Whether you're an emerging talent or an established author, this is your chance to showcase your work on a global stage.
IFF'24 offers a cash prize pool of USD 10,000. Additionally, winners receive story conversion to a cinematic novel and audiobook, marketing support, a certificate of excellence, and a showcase on the organizing partner Wuri's fiction reading app. There's NO ENTRY FEE, and the deadline for submissions is July 18, 2024.
The festival is open to writers of all ages from around the world. We're looking for prose fiction in three categories: Short story (less than 10,000 words), Novella (10,000-40,000 words), and Novel (more than 40,000 words).
Our judging panel comprises esteemed authors, literary agents, editors, and publishing professionals. Selected entries may even be offered publication opportunities with our partner publishing houses.
Submit your work today and join a community of talented writers! For more details, visit www.iff24.com or email us at queries@iff24.com. We can't wait to read your stories!
Good luck,
Team IFF'24
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Deadline: 11:59pm Pacific Time tonight, July 15
The annual Rattle Poetry Prize celebrates its 19th year with a 1st prize of $15,000 for a single poem. Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers' Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote. All of these poems will be published in the winter issue of the magazine.
With the winners judged in a masked review by the editors to ensure a fair and consistent selection, an entry fee that is simply a one-year subscription to the magazine—and a runner-up Readers' Choice Award to be chosen by the writers themselves—the Rattle Poetry Prize aims to be one of the most writer-friendly and popular poetry contests around.
We accept entries online and by mail. See Rattle's website for the complete guidelines and to read all of the past winners.
Please enjoy the very first Rattle Poetry Prize winner by Sophia Rivkin, published in Rattle #26, Winter 2006:
CONSPIRACY
The husband calls from two hundred miles away
to say he cannot stand it, his wife is dying
in a rented hospital bed in their living room
and he must put her away, somewhere, anywhere,
in a nursing home and she is crying looking up at him
through the bars like a caged animal—
she is an animal with foul green breath
and buttocks burnt raw with urine—
he cannot lift her, he cannot change her often enough,
and she is crying for the children's pictures on the mantle,
she cannot leave the silver candlesticks,
the high school graduation pictures.
And I say, yes, it is time to put her away,
I am the friend and I say it,
the living conspiring with the living,
death standing like a Nazi general or a stormtrooper
with a huge cardboard chest covered with metals,
and he leans over her and pins a gold star
through her skin and it pricks us,
pricks us through the brain,
through our skin
but we do not bleed
when death is pushing her
out of her bed, marching her away,
while everyone stands white-faced
among the white-faced crowd,
blending in, blending in.
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In this industry interview, I discuss book structure with Jendi Reiter, editor of Winning Writers, North Street Book Prize judge, and author of Origin Story, a literary novel about a gay man who recovers his traumatic memories by writing a superhero comic book in the 1990s.
I ask Jendi, what makes good book structure? What kinds of book structure do they typically notice in the North Street Book Prize, both effective and not-so-effective? How can self-publishers improve their book covers? How has Jendi's book structure been influenced by their North Street reading, and what words of advice do they have for North Street entrants?
See the interview and highlights.
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Deadline: August 4
Isn't the start of something new incredibly, deliciously exciting? Here at CRAFT, we want to share in that excitement by reading the first chapter(s) of your novel in progress. We long to immerse ourselves in novels over the summer, and what could be more thrilling than sampling the newest work out there? For the 2024 First Chapters Contest, we're eager to read your first 5,000 words. Guest Judge Kimberly King Parsons is equally keen:
I love it when the beginning of a novel (especially the very first line) contains the stylistic signature and the tonal genetics for the whole book. I'm always looking for attention and care at the sentence level, beautiful acoustics, and a voice that begs me to follow it. Not every novel has to do everything at once, but I value humor, the subversive, complicated characters (especially "unlikeable" or "unreliable" narrators), and plots that aren't afraid to swerve into the very weird or very dark. Most of all, I'm hoping for opening pages that feel as if only you—with your distinct authority, unique perspective, and precise choices—could have written them.
Ms. Parsons will choose three winning excerpts from fifteen anonymized entries.
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Please send excerpts of book-length fiction only—submit the first chapter or chapters of your unpublished novels/novellas (up to 5,000 words in all). Your novel need not be completely written.
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We allow simultaneous submissions.
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$20 entry fee per submission.
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First place will receive $2,000 and a full manuscript critique of the novel or novella, up to 100,000 words, by Artful Editor.
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Second and third place will receive $500 and $300, respectively.
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First, second, and third place will receive an agent query workshop by Annalise Errico of Ladderbird Literary Agency—Annalise will offer feedback on the first 5,000 words of the project, the summary, and a query letter.
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The top three excerpts will be published in CRAFT, each with an introduction by Ms. Parsons.
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Each publication will include an author's note (craft essay) written by each of the three winning writers.
Learn more and submit online via Submittable.
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Deadline: Friday, August 30, 2024, 11:59pm Eastern US Time
Last time we checked, 77% of web-based fiction magazines pay their fiction writers nothing.
So did 60% of print-only fiction magazines!
If you'd like to try getting paid for your fiction, why not consider us? Since 2006, On The Premises magazine has aimed to promote newer and/or relatively unknown writers who can write creative, compelling stories told in effective, uncluttered, and evocative prose. We've never charged a reading fee or publication fee, and we pay between $75 and $250 for short stories that fit each issue's broad story premise. We publish stories in nearly every genre (literary/realist, mystery, light/dark fantasy, light/hard sci-fi, slipstream) aimed at readers older than 12 (no children's fiction).
For our 44th short story contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which one or more characters with significant expertise in some area matter to the story. The expert(s) DO NOT have to be the story's main character(s), though it's fine if they are—the judges won't care either way. We're also open to the idea that your story's character(s) with expertise might be either wrong, or frauds, or idiots. (Or they're legitimate experts!) However, the idea of expertise, and at least one person who has it (or doesn't?) has to matter to the story.
Any genre except children's fiction, exploitative sex, or over-the-top gross-out horror is fine. We will not accept parodies of another author's specific fictional characters or world(s), and we do not accept fan fiction for the same reason. We will accept serious literary drama, crazy farces, and any variation of science fiction and fantasy you can imagine. Read our past issues and see!
You can find details and instructions for submitting your story here. To be informed when new contests are launched, subscribe to our free, short, monthly newsletter.
"On The Premises" magazine is recognized in Duotrope, Writer's Market, Ralan.com, the Short Story and Novel Writers guidebooks, and other short story marketing resources.
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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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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
Diverse Writers/Diverse Worlds Grants. The Speculative Literature Foundation will award two diversity-centered grants (Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds) of $500 apiece for book-length speculative fiction rich in diversity. Diverse Writers is for "underrepresented and underprivileged groups...whose marginalized identities may present additional obstacles in the writing/publishing process"; Diverse Worlds is for "work that best presents a diverse world, regardless of the writer's background". Submit an excerpt of 5,000 words or fewer from an in-progress manuscript. Must be received by July 31.
Intermediate Writers
Granum Foundation Prizes. The Granum Foundation will award $5,000 to a US resident age 18+ for a writing sample of a work-in-progress (all genres compete together). Authors must not have published more than five books or chapbooks. The prizes are meant to assist writers in "completing substantive literary works (poetry books, essay or short story collections, novels, and memoirs) or to help launch these works". A special Translation Prize of at least $1,500 is also awarded to a US-based writer age 18+ to support the completion of a translation into English. Must be received by August 1.
Advanced Writers
American-Scandinavian Foundation Translation Prizes. The American-Scandinavian Foundation will award the $2,500 Nadia Christensen Prize for unpublished English translations of modern poetry, fiction, drama, or literary prose originally written in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, or Swedish by a Nordic author born after 1900. The $2,000 Leif & Inger Sjoberg Prize will be awarded to an individual whose Nordic translations have not previously been published; the $2,000 Wigeland Prize will be awarded to a Norwegian translator; and the $2,000 Inger and Jens Bruun Prize also will be awarded for the best Danish translation. Submissions should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages of poetry or 50 double-spaced pages of prose.
Must be received by September 1.
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.
• Fence Magazine
(experimental poetry and short prose - July 31)
• At Length
(longform fiction and essays, poem sequences - August 31)
• Sundress Publications: Poetry Open Reading Period
(full-length poetry manuscripts - August 31)
• Roxane Gay Books
(literary fiction and nonfiction book proposals - October 15)
• Antiphony
(poetry manuscript samples, poems, book review pitches - November 1)
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Here is the third set of three pages from Julian Peters' 16-page comic of "The Burial of the Dead", the first section of "The Waste Land". We published the second set last month.
Continues next month
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July Links Roundup: Surviving Without Heroes
Many book-lovers are heartbroken over new revelations that the recently deceased fiction writer Alice Munro, a Nobel Prize for Literature winner, covered up her husband's sexual abuse of her daughter. Andrea Robin Skinner's July 7 essay in the Toronto Star describes how her stepfather, Gerald Fremlin, began molesting her when she was nine...
This story feels like a gut punch to a lot of readers because Munro wrote so insightfully about the psychology of families other than her own, and because she wasn't a typical literary bad boy. If she could have a secret like this, anyone could be next. [read more]
Jendi Reiter is the editor of Winning Writers.
Follow Jendi on X at @JendiReiter.
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