These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from 32 outlets; a couple of outlets are open for more than one call. Some of the call themes are: Gilgamesh; Helen of Troy; of blood & petals; witness; more alternative liberties; feline frights – whiskers between worlds; tales from the little library; lost and found; bandits & botany; and love lies dying; home; and tales of steel and sorcery; and Van Helsing.
THEMED CALLS
Murderous Ink Press: Crimeucopia — Objection! Overruled!
They are reading crime fiction. Currently, they want submissions on the ‘Objection! Overruled!’ theme – they want courtroom based pieces. Scroll down the page for theme details – “we are going to open the parameters wider, to include Legal Process based (think Rumpole/Perry Mason/Law&Order/The Coroner (UK) in character STYLE – but no fanfic/pastiches etc) – it could be a lawyer turned detective, or a Coroner … or a kangaroo court come to that.”
Deadline: 8 November 2025
Length: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query first for longer)
Pay: £4 per 1,000 words
Details here and here.
Flame Tree: Five Anthologies
Flame Tree is reading fiction submissions for two anthologies in their Myths, Gods, & Immortals series (Gilgamesh and Helen of Troy), two romantic fantasy anthologies (Of Blood & Petals and The Tarot of Love), and a horror anthology (Ghost Lights).
— Gilgamesh: “The ancient hero from Mesopotamian mythology and possible historical king of Sumer, Gilgamesh is a hugely influential figure, not least on Homer’s famous tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also on modern culture. His stories, and later Babylonian interwoven narrative, have it all: quests to the underworld, epic journeys, ghosts, giants and beasts, a great flood, love and death. Together with the goddess Inanna (aka Ishtar) and his beloved companion Enkidu, Gilgamesh experiences adventure and self-discovery as gripping as any Hellenistic hero.
So as ever, we are seeking stories that really interrogate this character and all his flaws, traits and relationships. Whether as evidenced in the ancient tablets or extrapolated in your imagination, whether set 2000 years BCE or 2150 CE – your tales will be fresh with insight and inventiveness.” They want stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints, deadline 9th November 2025.
— Helen of Troy: “Renowned as the face that launched a thousand ships, Helen of Troy was the most beautiful woman in the world – sorry, the most beautiful of the mortal women, lest we incur Aphrodite’s wrath – and a crucial figure in the epic Trojan War, that most important of Greek mythology’s events. Though the cause of the war rests with another pesky goddess – Eris, the goddess of discord – rather than Helen herself, without Helen’s bewitching beauty, Paris would not have felt the need to abduct (entice?) her, incite Menelaus’s fury and instigate a conflict that was to rage for ten long years.
Now it is your chance to delve deeper into the character and backstory of Helen, to shine a light on more than her immediate link to the Trojan War. Whether you explore her beauty as a heavy burden (she was fought over by numerous suitors before Paris stole her from Menelaus), or the multiple viewpoints of her motivations and moral character as offered by the contradictory classical sources, or develop a whole new history, path to tread or time to inhabit, we look forward to seeing some original stories!” They want stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints, deadline 9th November 2025.
— Of Blood & Petals: “Where passion blooms, so too can peril… We’re seeking tales of forbidden love, of hearts pricked by the thorns of sacrifice, of beauty veiled by darkness, and a love that demands it all. Will a rose be a gesture of forever? Or will its petals drip in crimson and longing? The setting could be an enchanted garden or a fantastical castle; perhaps you’ll be inspired to explore a kingdom ruled by roses and ruin. We want tales where love and loss are inseparable, where petals fall like vows, fragile, fleeting, unforgettable.” They want 2,000-4,000 words, also accept reprints, deadline 10 November 2025.
— The Tarot of Love: “The Lovers Tarot card can signify attraction, love, and commitment, but reversed, it may represent failure and foolishness. Which fate will it be? Since ancient times, divination has been a tool for seeking answers through mediums such as readings, tangible objects, or tapping into other realms and spirit worlds to gain guidance. A new addition to Flame Tree’s enchanting new series of Romantic Fantasy titles, The Tarot of Love will feature tales of seers, soothsayers, and diviners. We seek answers to pave our pathway to harmony, happiness, and a fruitful love; we hope… whether it be in a relationship or within ourselves. However, perhaps when faced with a choice, we want something outside of our own power to determine our fate, in turn, protecting our own hearts. No matter the kind of love: the greatest love of all time, fearing temptation, or a love lost, we strive to have order in something as messy as love. But in these tales of romance, will lovers meet their fated end, and will the prophecy be fulfilled?” They want stories of 2,000-4,000 words, also accept reprints, deadline 10 November 2025.
— Ghost Lights: “Next year’s entry in the acclaimed ‘ABC of Horror’ series will be called Ghost Lights, and as ever, I’m looking for stories that are as disturbing, strange, and original as you can make them. I’m not averse to humour, and neither am I averse to horror tropes like zombies, vampires, and serial killers. But if you are going to write stories with such familiar, tried-and-trusted elements, then you need to find a new and unique way of presenting them. I want to be surprised and scared by your stories, and I want them to be populated by characters who are both believable and identifiable (even the evil ones). Your stories can be anything from 2,000-8,000 words, though the sweet spot is around the 4,000-5,000 word mark.” They do not want reprints for this anthology, deadline 14 November 2025.
Deadlines: See above
Length: See above
Pay: $0.08/word for originals, $0.06/word for reprints
Details here (all Flame Tree fiction calls are announced on this blog; see the links above for individual calls).
Usawa Literary Review: Witness
This India-based literary journal is dedicated to feminist literature and writings by and about underrepresented communities. They want submissions on the Witness theme for their Winter 2026 issue. “Someone is always watching. Is it you, or someone else? Sometimes it’s the eyes of a streetlamp, a neighbour at the window, or the phone you forgot was switched on. To witness is to know something you cannot unknow. It is not just seeing. It is also remembering, archiving, and re-remembering. What do you intend to do with that knowledge? Sometimes we surrender to it — in helplessness, in rupture, in solidarity. To witness is to be human.
History depends on witnesses. So does the present. What do you see, and what does your account leave out? Do your words belong to those who did not survive? Did you weep at an act of kindness? Which stories are being quietly culled into a deafening silence? And what does it mean to witness your own surveillance? Who is watching you, and why?
Mahasweta Devi’s dispossessed, Saadat Hasan Manto’s Partition, Agha Shahid Ali’s homesickness, Bessie Head’s exile, and Han Kang’s tenderness refuse erasure, reject silence. In their works, witness is not spectacle, but living— the slow, exacting work of attention.
For our Winter 2026 issue, we invite fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations, visual narratives, book reviews, and interviews that bear witness. … And if you want to go further, speculate. Let the strange, the impossible, the satirical, the darkly comic slip in. This is the first time we are asking for speculative writing”. Submission is via a form on the website.
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Length: 4-6 poems, 2,000-5,000 words for fiction, up to 5,000 words for creative nonfiction
Pay: INR1,000/$12
Details here.
The Fiddlehead: Disability – The Revolution
This well-regarded Canadian magazine is reading for a themed call, Disability: The Revolution. For this call, they want submissions from disabled writers only. “Revolution: from the old French revolution, originally referring to the motion of the stars. Later versions of the word in the 15th century played on this sense of cyclical revolving — in the changing of the seasons, but also — crucially — the revolving of the wheel.
What does revolution look like from a disability standpoint? How do we remember that disabled writers just taking up space is revolutionary? How do we, as disabled writers, consider that question of the wheel and its many manifestations — literal, temporal, and symbolic? How do we celebrate it, remake, and open ourselves to the revolution, ongoing and future, that must usher in a more accessible world?
For our Summer 2026 issue, The Fiddlehead seeks work from disabled writers on the theme of revolution. You can interpret the theme as broadly as you like.” They want submissions of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and pitches for reviews for the Disability call.
Their Submittable is open for several categories, please be sure to submit to the correct one.
Deadline: 20 November 2025
Length: Up to 6,000 words for prose, up to 6 poems
Pay: CAD65/page
Details here and here, submit here.
Channel Magazine
This Ireland-based magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. “We love work that speaks directly of a writer’s bond with and fear for our planet, and work that takes a local landscape, or a local flower, as its subject; equally, though, we love work that draws on an aspect of nature as setting, image or metaphor. We believe that all writing relies to some extent on historical engagement with nature, in that all human language has been shaped by our embeddedness in our shared environments.” Fiction and poetry are read during submission periods. Non-fiction (considered for both print and online) is accepted on an ongoing bases. They accept submissions in English and Irish.
Deadline: 20 November 2025 for fiction and poetry, ongoing for non-fiction
Length: Varies
Pay: €35 per printed page, up to €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €60 for single-page works; and €35 per 400 words, up to a maximum of €250 per piece and with a minimum fee of €60 for work published online
Details here.
B Cubed Press: More Alternative Liberties
“Our sequal to the Alternative Liberties volume. We will be buying stories, poems, and esssays about the potential consequences of the 2024 Presidential election told in current, near future or even similar situations where such a leader is in power.
This anthology is our vision what these next years will look like. Not just in the White House, but in the day-to-day world on our planet. Under such conditions people will adapt, people will suffer, people will prosper, people will axtively and passively resist, people will live, people will die.
We want stories of people who fight the change, endure the change, or embrace the change. But key word is people. We want the stories to be about the People (an maybe the animal liberation front in Springfield or a couch salesmen in Ohio who knows things.”
Deadline: 20 December 2025
Length: 1,500-3,000 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.10/word + royalties
Details here and here.
Eldredge Books: Fashionably Late 2 Anthology
They are accepting nonfiction submissions for the second volume of Fashionably Late, a nonfiction anthology featuring LQBTQIA+ people who came out later in life. “We want to hear about the challenges and joys you faced as part of your journey.” Topics of interest include (but are not limited to): Coming out during the pandemic; Breaking free of gender norms; Finding your place in the LGBTQIA+ community; Coming out in a conservative environment; Redefining relationships with your family; and more. Submissions are open to all LGBTQIA+ writers who came out later in life (generally defined as after the age of thirty).
Deadline: 28 November 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
APEP Press: Feline Frights – Whiskers Between Worlds
They want cat-themed horror stories. “”Feline Frights: Whiskers Between Worlds” is the first of a planned series of cat-themed horror anthologies. In this inaugural volume of Feline Frights, we delve into cosmic horror through the eyes of our feline companions. We seek stories exploring cats as witnesses, harbingers, and agents of incomprehensible cosmic forces. From cats that stare into dimensional voids to felines that serve as vessels for ancient entities, show us how these creatures exist at the intersection of our reality and the unfathomable beyond.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: $20 for originals, $10 for reprints
Details here.
BRB Books: Tales from the Little Library Anthology
This is a speculative fiction anthology, set in the libraries of your childhood. “Many of us are lucky enough to have memories of a special childhood library. Perhaps we remember a librarian who went out of their way to introduce us to books that stuck with us for the rest of our lives, or one who would waive overdue fees as a quiet kindness to an underprivileged family. We’re looking for stories that start from these real situations and tip over into the fantastic. What if your favorite librarian was a vampire? Or a time traveler? What if the teenage-you discovered that the library’s local history collection was haunted? What if animals from other planets were available to check out, right next to the DVDs? What if the childhood library has a collection of books famous children’s authors never wrote? What if the library used an interplanetary or alternate dimension delivery service to get your materials? There are so many possibilities.”
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: 3,000-5,000 words
Pay: $15
Details here.
Griffith Review: Lost and Found
Griffith Review is an Australian literary magazine and they want fiction and nonfiction submissions for issue 92; the theme is Lost and Found. “’Loss,’ wrote Marcus Aurelius, ‘is nothing else but change’. We lose face, lose time, lose heart, lose touch, lose ground, lose our keys (often); we can lose the things that hold us back or weigh us down, just as we can lose the people and places we love most. Loss, whether it offers us pain or reward, is fundamental to the experience of being human. What might we lose or gain as technology continues its rapid advance? How do we halt the loss of our natural world? What’s lost by growing up between cultures? Are we losing our sense of a shared reality? And what are the benefits to being a loser?”
Do not send poetry. They mostly accept work from writers in Australia, and some work from overseas writers.
Deadline: 30 November 2025 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose (for print)
Pay: AUD0.75/word
Details here and here.
(And, Zoetic Press’sNonbinary Review is scheduled to open for the Carnival theme during November; they want speculative fiction, nonfiction and poetry. They pay. Their submission portal had yet to open, at the time of writing. Details here.)
Silver Sun Books: Bandits & Botany Anthology
“Every quarter, we accept a selection of short fiction pieces that we feel fit our themes and readership well. We enjoy fantasy stories with clever hooks, strong characters, and interesting takes on our issue’s themes.” They want fantasy fiction on the theme, Bandits & Botany for their upcoming issue.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: £5
Details here and here.
(Silver Sun is also open for submissions on the Ruins & Rituals theme; the deadline for that is in February 2026.)
khōréō: Revolutions
This magazine only accepts speculative fiction submissions from immigrants or members of the diaspora. For this reading cycle, they want stories on the Revolutions theme. “Some aspects we are especially interested in:
- Cycles of revolution and counter-revolution
- Revolution as the starting point instead of the endpoint
- Quiet revolutions and alternative sites of resistance
- Disability, class and revolution”
They also accept flash fiction and translations.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words (prefers up to 3,500 words)
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here, here, and here.
Stygian Zine: Love Lies Dying
They want poems, short stories, personal musings, visual art, and comics on the Love Lies Dying theme. Submission is via a form on the website.
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Length: Up to 2,500 words
Pay: CAD20
Details here (scroll down).
Bold Strokes Books: Gender Ever After – Gender-Affirming Sapphic Romance Stories
This is a fiction anthology. “Gender Ever After is a sapphic romance (and erotic-romance) anthology celebrating the full, beautiful spectrum of gender expression and identity. I’m looking for stories that are both gender-positive and sex-positive, offering space for all women—including transgender, nonbinary, genderfluid, genderqueer, two-spirit, agender, demigender, gender non-conforming, and more.
All romantic and erotic pairings (or more) are welcome, exploring love in its many forms, provided the romantic arc remains central and culminates in a satisfying, affirming HEA (or HFN). I’d love to see a mix of couples getting to know one another, those in long-term relationships, those opening up their relationship, or those finding new love after a relationship.
While the anthology is not intended to be political or reactionary, stories that acknowledge real-world challenges—such as transphobia, gender dysphoria, homophobia/biphobia, and social bias—are welcome, so long as those themes are overcome or transformed by the joy of loving connections. I’m looking for stories about hope and love . . . about characters being seen, loved, and celebrated as they are.” … “I’m mostly looking for contemporary tales, but historical or futuristic settings are welcome as well, as are fantasy-based stories.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025 “(earlier submissions welcome and will stand the best chance of acceptance)”
Length: 2,500-4,000 words
Pay: $50
Details here.
Eternal Haunted Summer: Winter Solstice 2025 – The Good Neighbors
Their tagline is ‘Pagan songs & tales’, and they publish work on Gods and Goddesses and heroes of the world’s many Pagan/polytheist traditions – fiction (any genre), nonfiction, reviews, and poetry. For their upcoming issue, the theme is The Good Neighbors. “The fae. The fair folk. The hidden ones. Send us your best poems, short stories, and essays about the fae as seen from a Pagan/polytheistic, witchy, and mythological point of view. Send us poems about the peri of ancient Persia, Marie de France writing her famous lais, the favorite trees of the Good Neighbors, or Nicnevin of Scottish lore. Send us short stories about the armored fairies of the Orkney Islands, an urban fantasy about a lawyer who specializes in negotiating with fairies, a retelling of a classic fairy tale (with Fairy Godparent), or a story about a father trying to cure his child of elfshot. Send us essays about the impact of Lucy Allen Paton’s research on later scholars, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Theosophical view of fairies, fairies as fallen angels, or the collection and composition of the Childe Ballads.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 3,000 words for fiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: $5
Details here.
Rooted Literary Magazine: Home
They want poems, fiction (including flash), nonfiction (including reviews), visual art, audio, and video on the Home theme. “Home is where the heart is; it’s where people get their first pets, cry themselves to sleep, eat their favorite meals, and experience loneliness. It’s where we unwind after a long day, and the place we avoid when we get off work. It’s drenched in silence and raucous laughter. It’s where we can be ourselves and where we have to hide ourselves. Some of us never leave, while others hate to stay.
Home means a lot of things, whether it’s a physical place, a person, a hobby, or a sense of being we’ve all felt at home. And a home can provide comfort just as easily as it can cause pain. For November, we are seeking pieces that offer a glimpse into home. … We are especially drawn to speculative fiction and pieces that challenge conventions or reimagine reality.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems, up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 2,000 words for nonfiction
Pay: $10
Details here and here.
(Fiction submissions are also open for the Uncanny Valet anthology from Raconteur Press. “Robots, androids, drones. Stories about life with our synthetic helpers. Does artificial intelligence lead to artificial emotions? What happens when your kid wants to grow up to be just like his droid? Automatons with attitude.” They pay royalty share for stories of 5,000-8,000 words, and the deadline is 15th November 2025. Details here – scroll down).
Eldritch Cat Press: The Lantern Keepers
This is a fiction anthology. “We’re looking for tales that include characters who serve as guides, guardians, or messengers between the threshold of the living and the dead, lost or otherworldly. We want stories with haunting, dreadful, eerie, creeping or even sorrowful vibes”. And, “Your story must feature a light, a path and a guide of some kind (the more prevalent and central to the plot these three things are the better, but be creative with them!)”. The genres they want are: Horror, gothic, dark fantasy, paranormal, magical realism, mystery, crime…pretty much anything goes, even sci-fi, high fantasy, post-apoc and various time periods.
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: 1,500-4,500 words
Pay: $10
Details here.
IHRAM Press Magazine: Voices of the Unhoused
This is the literary magazine of the International Human Rights Art Movement (IHRAM). For their upcoming issue, they say, “Centering on homelessness and the unhoused, this issue explores the human stories behind stereotypes, societal failures, and the fight for basic rights like shelter and healthcare. Reflections on homelessness during COVID-19 and personal journeys to stability provide a stark reminder of the ongoing struggle for dignity and safety.
We are committed to publishing personal experiences of those who have been unhoused, factual retellings of stories about homelessness in the author’s life, reflections of the author’s personal experiences, and feelings of optimism and faith.”
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Length: Up to 2,500 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: $50 for written work, $25 for art
Details here (click on ‘Our publishing concerns for 2025’)
Book XI: A Journal of Literary Philosophy – What We Talk About When We Talk About…
“Book XI is a journal dedicated to publishing personal essays, memoir, fiction, science fiction, humor, and poetry with philosophical themes. … Book XI is housed at Hamilton College’s Arthur Levitt Center for Public Affairs.” They have opened a submission period – all submissions must include “What We Talk About When We Talk About” as part of the title for this reading period. Submissions opened on 15th October and will close mid-December or when their submission cap is met, whichever is earlier.
Deadline: 15 December 2025, or until filled
Length: 1,000-5,000 words for prose, or up to 5 poems
Pay: $200 for prose, $50/poem
Details here and here.
Oddity Prodigy Productions: Tales of Steel and Sorcery
“Do you have a story of epic adventure that you wish to share? Are there tales of knights, dragons, villains, and magics you can bring to bear? If so, you may be just the bard we are looking for! … We are looking for stories from across the vast genre, from the classic myth creation stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, Ursula L. Le Guin, or Terry Brooks, to the pulp majesty of Robert E. Howard’s Conan. The vast worldbuilding of Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman’s Dragonlance, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, or N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance books, all the way to the grim visions of George R.R. Martin and Joe Abercrombie. If your muse is more like the swashbuckling stories of Scott Lynch, or Brandon Sanderson’s detailed magic systems, or the thoughtful characters of K.S. Villoso, then we’re definitely interested. Fantasy is a deep and expansive genre, and we’d like to read what your imagination conjures!”
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: At least $10 (see guidelines)
Details here.
Dreamforge: Open Channel – The Art of Connection
They are open for speculative fiction submissions. They also accept poetry. They will read until the submission deadline, or until they meet their submission quota, whichever is earlier. Their theme for this year is, ‘Open Channel: The Art of Connection’ (see their submission system for details on the theme). “DreamForge Magazine celebrates connecting with the other. It shows how understanding can solve problems that seem impossible, and how communication and empathy—even in surprising ways—can help us through hard times.
Of course, core theme stories are always welcome too. Stories of “endurance, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit.” Stories that actively resist despair and offer constructive alternatives to dystopian futures, focusing on what builds rather than what destroys.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 7,000 words for fiction
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here and here
DBS Press: Dracula Beyond Stoker – Van Helsing
Dracula Beyond Stoker publishes fiction issues (with some poetry) featuring characters and more from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. You can read about the magazine here. For their upcoming submission period, they want work on Van Helsing. “The one you’ve all been waiting for.
Doctor. Professor. Lawyer. Monster hunter.
Abraham Van Helsing has become a legend—but how did he get there?
What shaped the man who would face Dracula? What monsters, mysteries, or miracles did he encounter before the novel—and what haunted him after? We want your tales of the world’s most famous vampire hunter: his triumphs, his obsessions, his failures, and his legacy.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.
THEMED CONTESTS
(There are some unthemed contests open now, as well, including:
— Polar Expressions: Student Contests for Short Story and Poetry: These are short story and poetry contests for Canadian students who are citizens and residents, from kindergarten to grade 12. Poems should be up to 32 lines and stories up to 450 words, on any topic; first prizes of CAD60-100 for students of various grades, as well as second and third prizes; additional cash prizes for schools; deadlines: 21 November 2025 for both, short stories and for poetry; details here.
— PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers: For 12 emerging fiction writers for their debut short story published during a given calendar year in a literary magazine, journal, or cultural website; submitted stories must be published in the calendar year prior to the corresponding awards ceremony; prizes $2,000 each, deadline: 25 November 2025, details here and here.
— ServiceScape Short Story Award: Submit a work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer; award $1,000, deadline: 30 November 2025, details here.
— The Hudson Review Short Fiction Contest: For a short story of up to 10,000 words; writers who have never published in The Hudson Review are eligible to submit; awards $1,000; and $500 each for second and third places; deadline: 30 November 2025; details here.
— The African Poetry Book Fund: Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry: For poets born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African, and who have not yet had a full-length poetry book published, for a poetry manuscript; awards $1,000, deadline: 1 December 2025, details here and here.)
Defenestrationism: 2025 Flash Suite Contest
This is a contest for at least three flash fiction pieces (up to 1,000 words each) that co-relate in some way. The theme for this cycle is ‘Community’. A single piece of the suite may have been published before, otherwise, no previously published material. Finalists will be published daily on the site, followed by at least two weeks of Fan Voting – winners will be selected by a judging panel, with Fan Voting counting as an additional judge vote.
Value: $75, $60
Deadline: 10 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival: Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize
This prize will be awarded to a Brooklyn- focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. “We are seeking compelling Brooklyn stories from writers with a broad range of backgrounds and ages (minimum age 18 years old) who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn.” Essays have to be 4-10 pages (up to 2,500 words). Value: $500
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (click on ‘Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize’.)
The Academy of American Poets: Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize
This is an opportunity for US poets. The Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize for “exceptional poems that help make real for readers the gravity of the vulnerable state of our environment at present.” Poems could also be submitted in Spanish but must be accompanied by an English translation. Entries must be uploaded to Submittable as .doc, .docx, or .pdf files; and for entries by Performance or Spoken Word poets, most audio formats are accepted. Send one poem.
Value: $1,000; $750; $500
Deadline: 15 November 2025
Open for: US poets
Details here , here, and here (click on the relevant category)
(The Academy of American Poets also has other prizes, including the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, a $1,000 award recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year, deadline 15 February 2026, details here; the Academy also runs the Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship of $25,000 and a residency in Rometo be awarded in 2026for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry by a US poet, deadline 15 February 2026, details here; see all the Academy of American Poets’ prizes here.)
Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize
This prize is for young UK-based writers. They want fiction or non-fiction of 1,000-1,500 words on the relevance of Benjamin Franklin’s relevance in our time. The quote for this year’s competition is “A republic, if you can keep it.” —Benjamin Franklin’s response to Elizabeth Willing Powel’s question: “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” – Monday, September 17, 1787.
Writers are asked to interpret this quote for its significance today. Winning entries will be published online.
Value: £750, £500
Deadline: 19 November 2025
Open for: UK writers aged 18-25
Details here.
(And, The Emerging Writer Award is open to “unpublished prose writers (fiction) living in the UK with a collection of short stories or novel in development. Writers can be writing for any age group (including children and young adults) and may have had excerpts or articles published in the past, but have not yet published any major body of work. We would particularly encourage applications from those who experience barriers to the writing process.” Winner gets a tailor-made package including tuition via open courses, retreat time and/or mentoring at Moniack Mhor. The deadline is 30th November 2025. Details here.)
C Magazine: Indigenous Art Writing Award
C Magazine is Canada-based and publishes work on art. This prize is open to Indigenous writers all over the world, for art writing. “We’re excited to launch the 4th annual Indigenous Art Writing Award, an initiative created to support, compensate, and platform three standout individuals who are advancing critical and creative thought about Indigenous contemporary art.
Indigenous writers are invited to submit a single non-fiction text about an artist, project, exhibition, performance, event, initiative, theme, or other art-adjacent subject. Suggested length for submissions is between 1,000-2,000 words.
The winner will receive $1,500 CAD; editorial support to prepare their article for publication in a future issue of C Magazine and to be shared across ICCA’s platforms; and a two-year C subscription. Two runners-up will receive $1,000 CAD; an open invitation to develop a pitch for a different text to be published in C Magazine; and a two-year subscription. All participants can request feedback on their submitted work, and will receive a one-year subscription.
Applicants must identify as an Indigenous person. Given the resonances of Indigenous sovereignty and colonial realities across the globe, there are no geographical restrictions, though for the context of where we are located, we strongly encourage those based in Canada to apply. Submissions should primarily be in English, but may include non-English words or phrases. For submissions entirely in another language, we kindly ask for translations.”
Value: CAD1,500; CAD1,000 for two runners-up
Deadline: 24 November 2025
Open for: Indigenous writers
Details here.
(See all of C Magazine’s calls and guidelines here.)
Speculative Literature Foundation’s Gulliver Travel Grant
This grant is to help writers of speculative literature (in fiction, poetry, drama, or creative non-fiction) in their non-academic research. It is to be used to cover airfare, lodging, and/or other travel expenses. Writing samples (speculative literature) are part of the application requirement (see guidelines). This grant is awarded on the basis of interest and merit. Applicants need not have prior publishing credits to apply. The application portal for this grant will open during the submission period. They also have other grant submission periods coming up.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here (Gulliver Travel Grant) and here (schedule for all grants).
Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition
This is an international contest for novel manuscripts in the malice domestic genre, for writers who have never been the author of any published mystery novel. “Murder or another serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story. Whatever violence is necessarily involved should be neither excessive nor gratuitously detailed, nor is there to be explicit sex. The suspects and the victims should know each other. There are a limited number of suspects, each of whom has a credible motive and reasonable opportunity to have committed the crime. The person who solves the crime is the central character. The “detective” is an amateur, or, if a professional (private investigator, police officer) is not hardboiled and is as fully developed as the other characters. The detective may find him or herself in serious peril, but he or she does not get beaten up to any serious extent. All of the cast represent themselves as individuals, rather than large impersonal institutions like a national government, the mafia, the CIA, etc.” The work must be at least 65,000 words. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Details here.
(Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition, the deadline for that is 14th December 2025.)
Dappled Things: The J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction
Dappled Things is a space for emerging writers to engage the literary world from a Catholic perspective. For this contest, they want stories of up to 8,000 words “with vivid characters who encounter grace in everyday settings—we want to see who, in the age we live in, might have one foot in this world and one in the next.” Please note, honorable mentions will also get publication and a subscription to the magazine.
Value: $700, $300
Deadline: 30 November 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.
One Teen Story Contest
This is a short fiction contest for writers ages 13-19, run by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest – ages 13-15, 16-17, and 18-19. “One Teen Story is looking for great short stories written by teens about the teen experience. Some examples of stories we look out for are ones that deal with issues of identity, friendship, family, and coming-of-age. Gratuitous profanity, sex, and drug use are best avoided. We’re open to all genres of well-written young adult fiction between 2,000 and 4,500 words.”
Value: $500
Deadline: 1 December 2025
Open for: Writers ages 13-19
Details here and here.
Eye Contact Award in Genre Flash Fiction
This is a prize for genre flash fiction by Eye Contact Magazine; for this cycle, they want a mystery story of up to 1,000 words, and the theme is Silence. The prize is sponsored by Seton Hill University and its MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. They have an open deadline.
Value: “a cash prize (or gift card equivalent) of $250”
Deadline: Open now
Open for: All writers
Details here.
(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— Minotaur, an imprint of McMillan, is running a First Crime Novel Competition, the prize is an advance of $10,000, and the deadline for that is 14th December 2025; details here.
— Defenestration.net Lengthy Poem Contest: They are reading entries for a lengthy poem, of at least 120 lines and up to chapbook-length (see guidelines). It is best to divide it into parts or sections, though this is not a strict requirement. Poem cycles will be considered. Please note, the shortlisted poems will be posted on the website, which will be followed by fan voting. The prize is $300, and the deadline is 1 January 2026. Details here.
— On the Premises: The Return Of… : They want a story based on a prompt on their website. For this cycle, the prompt is, “The Return Of…”. “For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which someone or something has returned after a significant absence. Does this return make people happy, unhappy, or somewhere in-between? That’s up to you. Also: Was this return a surprise, or was it expected? That’s also up to you.“ They do not want children’s fiction, exploitative sex, over-the-top grossout horror, or stories that are obvious parodies of existing fictional worlds/characters created by other authors. Prizes are $250, $200, $150, $75, and the deadline is 2 January 2026; details here (general guidelines) and here (theme details).
— San José State University: Center for Steinbeck Studies – The Steinbeck Fellows Program: This awards writers of any age and background a $15,000 fellowship to finish a significant writing project. Fellowships are currently offered in Creative Writing (excluding poetry) and Steinbeck Studies; Fellows may be appointed in many fields, including fiction, drama, creative non-fiction, and biography. The creative writing fellowship does not require that there be any direct connection between your work and Steinbeck’s. The emphasis of the program is on helping writers who have had some success but have not published extensively, and whose promising work would be aided by the financial support and sponsorship of the Center and the University’s creative writing program. Award recipients will be required to reside within the counties of the San Francisco Bay Area or adjacent counties of the California central coast or central valley during most of the fellowship period. There are up to 6 fellowships of $15,000 each, and the deadline is 4 January 2026. Details here and here.)
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
