Deadlines: September & October 2020
Every middle of the month: new deadlines, new contests, and new opportunities for your voice to find the world. The next four weeks include: Frontier’s Award for New Poets, Gasher Chaps, Writer’s Digest Award, The Puritan, The Windhover, multiple residencies and grants, and more.
DEADLINE: 9/20
Submissions are open to new and emerging writers (poets with no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission). The winning poet will be awarded $3000 and publication on Frontier Poetry. Second and third place will win $300 & $200 respectively, as well as publication. The top fifteen finalists will also be recognized. We do not hold preference for any particular style or topic—we simply seek the best poem we can find. Send us work that is blister, that is color, that strikes hot the urge to live and be. We strongly invite poets from all communities. You, & your words, are welcome here. Judges this year: Paige Lewis, Camonghne Felix, and Jake Skeets.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 9/15
This prize is awarded annually, in conjunction with the Anzaldúa Literary Trust, to a poet whose work explores how place shapes identity, imagination, and understanding. Special attention is given to poems that exhibit multiple vectors of thinking: artistic, theoretical, and social, which is to say, political. First place is publication, $1,000 prize, and 25 contributor copies. Up to five finalists will be announced, and all poems will be considered for publication as a general submission. Submit 15 to 30 pages of poetry. Please include no more than one poem per page. The author’s name should not appear in the document. Guest Judge: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 9/15
Given to artists and writers of exceptional promise to pursue independent projects at Princeton University during the academic year. They are selected more “for promise than for performance.” Given the strength of the applicant pool, most successful Fellows have published a first book or have similar achievements in their own fields; the Hodder is designed to provide Fellows with the “studious leisure” to undertake significant new work. Hodder Fellows spend an academic year at Princeton, but no formal teaching is involved. An $84,000 stipend is provided for this 10-month appointment as a Visiting Fellow. Fellowships are not intended to fund work leading to an advanced degree. One need not be a U.S. citizen to apply. Please submit a resume, a 3,000-word writing sample of recent work, and a project proposal of 500 words.
DEADLINE: 09/15
Green Mountain Review
Green Mountain Review is currently accepting submissions for the Black Voices issue. Please submit a cover letter and include up to 5 poems or up to 25 pages of prose. We publish poetry, essays, fiction, interviews, book reviews, and art. We are also always looking for work that pushes these boundaries and are open to audio and video submissions; we’re also happy to be surprised. Surprise us.
DEADLINE: 09/25
The Puritan
Baffle us, tangle us up, or break our hearts. We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Send up to four poems at a time. Feel encouraged to push boundaries with your fiction. We have diverse tastes; try us out. Length is up to you, but a story over 10,000 words will only be considered if it is of exceptional quality (and nothing over 12,000 words, please). Only send one story at a time, unless you are writing flash fiction (or stories under 500 words), in which case you can send up to three. We accept essays as pitches–no more than 250 words–or finished essays.
Reading fee.
DEADLINE: 09/30
Nowhere
Nowhere publishes literary travel writing. Entries may be fiction, nonfiction, poetry or essay, but please indicate which genre at the top of your manuscript. We publish traditional features as well as travelogues, journal excerpts, character sketches, profiles, conversations, poetry, reviews, notes, video, audio… We like rich detail, elliptical story lines, unusual perspective, lean, evocative writing and tight collections of perhaps a dozen thematic images. Stories should run between eight hundred and five thousand words. Poetry may be any length, and several poems, themed together, may be submitted as one entry. Previously published work is eligible. Please indicate this, with proper attribution details, in your cover letter.
DEADLINE: 09/30
T E X L A N D I A
T E X L A N D I A seeks your most compelling & original fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, reportage, visual art & hybrid works. We are drawn to work that redefines or defies our expectations of people & place. All poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction submissions are automatically entered in the “Best in the Land” Prize Series, which awards $1000 to the best piece in each genre. While there is no word limit, we rarely publish work over 9,000 words. Poets may submit up to 3 pieces. Prose writers, please send us 1 submission per reading period.
DEADLINE: 09/30
Hammond House Publishing International Literary Prize
Sponsored by the University Centre Grimsby, our annual writing competition, now in its fifth year, attracts entries from 27 different countries. This year’s competition theme, SURVIVAL, is intended to inspire, not restrict, suggesting anything from an environmental crisis, a zombie apocalypse, a broken relationship, or just a bad day at the office. We’re excited to read your interpretations. Alongside cash prizes for winners, shortlisted entries in the short story and poetry category receive worldwide publication, plus a Televised Awards Ceremony for winners and shortlisted entries in all three categories at the University Centre Grimsby. Short stories should be 1000 – 5000 words. Poems are not restricted but 40 lines or under is recommended.
Reading fee.
DEADLINE: 09/30
Gasher Chapbooks
We are currently accepting submissions for poetry chapbooks. Manuscripts must be between 25-45 pages. We accept simultaneous submissions. Please, let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Currently, GASHER is only accepting submissions from those who reside in the U.S.
Reading fee.
DEADLINE: 10/1
Rockford Review Youth Poetry Award
Deadline: October 1, 2020. Ages: up to 18. Submit up to three new, previously unpublished poems (50 lines or less). Include name, age, address, phone number, email address in upper right-hand corner of Word document. Winners in two age categories: 13-18 and 12 and under. Cash prize of $20 in each age category and the two winning poems will be published in the 2021 Winter-Spring edition of The Rockford Review. No theme. Simultaneous submissions are fine, as long as you notify us if any or all of your submissions have been accepted elsewhere. Please include your bio, 50 words or less. Notification by November 1, 2020.
DEADLINE: 10/01
Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards
We’re on the look out for poems of all styles–rhyming, free verse, haiku, and more. Enter any poem 32 lines or less for your chance to win $1,000 in cash. 2nd place will receive $250 in cash and publication and 3rd place will $100 and publication.
Reading fee.
DEADLINE: 10/01
The Lindenwood Review
Submissions are welcome from both emerging and established writers.We publish short stories, flash fiction, personal essays, lyric essays, flash nonfiction, and prose poems (block format). Submissions are welcome from both emerging and established writers. We are looking for prose poems with a distinctive atmosphere and interesting use of language; and mostly, work that moves us as readers and inspires us as writers.
Murphy Writing of Stockton University is offering scholarships to our one-day programs for first-time participants. We will select at least one scholarship recipient per program, and notify the recipient approximately 10 days before the program. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis through October 10, 2020. Submit 1 poem or 3 pages of prose; excerpts of longer pieces are okay.
DEADLINE: 10/15
The Watering Hole Manuscript Coaching Fellowship
The Watering Hole invests in pursuing the craft of poetry. We are a home where poets of color in the South can learn and grow at each others’ feet. The purpose of this fellowship is to give up to six unpublished poets of color guidance with their manuscript in progress. The poets will spend Dec. 26-30 in community with each other and under the guidance of one of our former TWH Retreat facilitators. (This is not the application for the Winter Retreat.) Please submit a query letter and a manuscript of 10 pages, up to 10 poems. Do not include your name on these documents; judging will be blind. If you are accepted, you will need to turn in your full manuscript 40 to 65 pages within 15 days of acceptance and send your deposit within 30 days of acceptance. Manuscript Coach: Tyehimba Jess.
Reading fee.
DEADLINE: 10/15
Amy Lowell Travelling Scholarship
Any poet of American birth who is able and willing to spend one year outside the continent of North America is eligible. There is no age requirement, and there is no requirement that applicants be enrolled in a university or other education program. While many recent winners have been published poets, there is no requirement that applicants have previously published their work. The submitted writing sample must consist of either (1) up to 40 typed pages or (2) a printed volume of your poetry and no more than 20 additional typed pages. The 2021-2022 Scholarship award will be approximately $60,500, adjusted for inflation.
DEADLINE: 10/15
The Windhover
The journal is dedicated to promoting poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction that considers Christian perspectives and engages spiritual themes. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable provided that you let us know that your work has been accepted elsewhere. Send one prose piece or no more than five poems submitted in one document. (Works longer than 4,000 words are not considered.)