- Mark L. Keats
win, place, show: $10 or less writing contests
While it's NaNoWriMo now, take a look at some of the following contests for shorter work below. Though some of the contests have entry fees (no more than $10.00) many are free and come with a cash prize: River Styx even offers a case of beer! So, keep on writing your novels this month, get your shorter works ready to submit to these contests, and if you have anything somewhere in the middle, take a look at our call for our Trifecta issue which is currently open now. Happy writing and submitting!
A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem translated from any language into English. Willis Barnstone will judge. Submit up to 10 translated poems of up to 200 lines each, along with each original poem, with a $5 entry fee for the first poem and $3 for each additional poem by December 1. Send an SASE, call, or visit the website for complete guidelines.
Winner: $200 and publication in Fiction Southeast
Runners-up: publication in Fiction Southeast
1500 words or less. Judge: Daren Dean
Deadline: December 1, 2015
Fee: $10.00
A prize of $500 is given annually for a group of three to five poems on a theme. For this year's contest, one poem must address either the struggles of the Chinese people under communism or the persecution of the Chinese meditation practice Falun Gong; the remaining poems must address one or more of the following themes: beauty, great culture, humor, or issues of our age. Poems must incorporate meter and rhyme. Society president Evan Mantyk will judge. Submit three to five poems of up to 50 lines each by December 31. There is no entry fee. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
A prize of $1,500 and publication in River Styx is given annually for a short short story. The winner also receives a case of Schlafly microbrewed beer. Submit up to three stories of no more than 500 words each with a $10 entry fee, which includes a copy of the prize issue (for an additional $10, entrants will receive a subscription to River Styx) by December 31. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Deadline: December 31, 2015
Entry fee: $10.00
A prize of $500 and publication in Fourteen Hills is given annually for a poem. Chet Wiener will judge. Using the online submission system, submit one poem of three to ten pages by January 15, 2016. There is no entry fee. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
First Prize: $1,000
Second Prize: $250
Honorable Mentions: 10 awards of $100 each
Contest Opens: August 15, 2015
Deadline: April 1, 2016
Results Announced: August 15, 2016
No fee!