These are calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: Unidentified Funny Objects; nightfall; timefuckery; tales from the concourse; Home on the Range (queer pastoral); transformations; tales of steel & sorcery; cozy fantasy; bad romance; and summer in the city.
THEMED CALLS
Unidentified Funny Objects Anthology
This anthology will open for submissions soon, for a brief period. “We’re looking for speculative stories with a strong humor element. Think Resnick and Sheckley, Fredric Brown and Douglas Adams. We welcome quality flash fiction and non-traditional narratives. Take chances, try something new, just make sure that your story is funny. Puns and stories that are little more than vehicles for delivering a punch line at the end are unlikely to win us over.” Also see guidelines for the kind of stories they do not want. The Kickstarter for this project has funded.
Reading period: 5th to 12th December 2025
Length: 500 to 8,000 words
Pay: $0.12/word
Details here.
Whytaker Lyon Press: Virginia Fantastic Anthology
“VIRGINIA FANTASTIC invites you to weave strange and wondrous speculative fiction that reimagines the Commonwealth of Virginia as a land of mystery, magic, and the unexpected. From the misty peaks of the Blue Ridge to the haunted shores of the Chesapeake Bay, we seek flash stories that infuse Virginia’s iconic landscapes, history, and culture with the supernatural. …. We crave tales that blend the eerie with Virginia’s natural beauty, historic depth, and quirky charm. Whether it’s a chilling encounter on the Appalachian Trail, a magical uprising in Richmond’s Fan District, or a futuristic twist on Norfolk’s naval legacy, your story should make readers see the Commonwealth in a haunting new light. We welcome speculative fiction of all stripes: fantasy, horror, sci-fi, or magical realism, that transforms Virginia’s landmarks, legends, and hidden corners into realms of wonder and unease.” And, “Stories must contain a speculative element (Fantasy, Horror, Science Fiction, Slipstream, Magical Realism) and take place in Virginia. Feel free to mash genres and include Mystery, Romance, Western, etc.” No erotica. While stories must take place in Virginia, writers from anywhere in the world are welcome.
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: 700-1,000 words
Pay: $5
Details here.
a thousand flowers books: Nightfall Poetry Anthology
“Nighttime is different from daytime, but our culture often fails to capture that simple feeling. Night falls, and we switch on the lights, going about our business.
Sometimes, it’s not until we switch off the lights that night enters us.
It has its own magic. Its own demons. It can be spooky or comforting. You can wrap the cloak around your shoulders and feel a sense of ease or fear, or both.
We are seeking poems that explore what nighttime means to you.”
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems
Pay: $50
Details here and here.
Plott Hound
This is a magazine of speculative fiction and poetry starring animals. They will soon open submissions for their Winter issue. Regarding the kind of stories they want: “Stories with anthropomorphized animals as viewpoint characters and protagonists
-Animal-centric speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror)
-Underrepresented voices (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent) that engage with animal myths, tales, and futures
-Stories with uncommonly written about animals as protagonists
-Stories that dig deep into the senses and experience of animals
-Stories that explore the cultures and societies of animals, not just cultures and societies with animals. Think of rabbit language and warren infrastructure in Watership Down, or the clans and warrior code of feral cats in Warriors.” They also welcome translations. They publish one essay per issue, as well. Their submission portal will open during the reading period.
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: 1,000-5,000 words (prefer 3,000-4,000 words) for fiction, up to 5 poems, 1,000-2,500 words for essay
Pay: $0.08/word for stories, $50 for poetry, $100 for essay
Details here and here.
Fourteen Poems: Home on the Range – Poems of the Queer Pastoral
They want work from queer poets only for this anthology about queerness and nature. “The book will celebrate and complicate a poetics of queer nature, from redefining the boundaries between the urban, the rural, and the wilderness, to rendering the ways in which queer people make their homes in the pastoral traditions which have so often excluded them.
Send us your strangest, sexiest, thirstiest, poems that, broadly speaking, fit with or interrogate the theme of queer pastoral. Published examples of the genre include Richard Scott’s poem, ‘Pastoral’, from his excellent collection Soho, Mícheál McCann’s ‘Late Blight’ from Devotion, or Seán Hewitt’s ‘Dryad’from Tongues of Fire, but many other possibilities abound. We welcome poems that celebrate queerness in nature; poems that queer the idea of nature; poems that bring the natural world into urban or queer spaces or situations; poems that complicate and/or interrogate these ideas.”
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems
Pay: £30/poem
Details here and here.
Neon Hemlock Press: Baffling Magazine
Baffling Magazine publishes “speculative stories that explore science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a queer bent”. They want unthemed submissions, as well as submissions on the timefuckery theme for their December submission period.
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: Up to 1,200 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
(Neon Hemlock Press is also open for We’re Here – The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025, a reprint anthology for queer speculative fiction published in 2025, up to 17,500 words. The deadline is 31 December 2025. Details here, and here – scroll down, and here.)
State of Matter
State of Matter usually publishes speculative fiction, poetry, and translations “which may broadly inform South Asian experiences.” For their 20th issue, titled “Folk Tales” / “Faux Trails” / “Fox Tails”; they will accept “three faux-tales: one science fiction, one fantasy, one horror. These folk-tails might emerge from any culture, any history, any landscape, but they should inform South Asian experiences. They should give us pause as readers from the subcontinent, as fox tales often do, and make us think about our specific place within the cosmos. … These tales should have: 1. A faux mythology, 2. An element (a folkus) of ‘faith’, loosely defined, 3. An innovative form (like fox trails usually have)”.
Deadline: 15 December 2025
Length: 1,000-15,000 words
Pay: CAD150
Details here and here.
Speck Magazine
This is a new magazine, and they’re reading for their first issue.
Please note, they can only publish work from writers in the US. Their tagline is, ‘Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature’. They want submissions on the Craft theme. “Be it witchcraft, spacecrafts, or something else you interpret…submit
your fiction, poetry, or visual art”. Submission is via a form on their website.
Deadline: 21 December 2025
Length: Up to 2,500 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $5/page (up to $50)
Details here.
Blue Cubicle Press: Workers Write! Tales from the Concourse
“Issue 22 of Workers Write! will be Tales from the Concourse and contain stories and poems from airport and airline workers’ points of view.
We’re looking for fiction and poetry about the people who work in airports and for airlines, such as passenger service agents, ramp agents, TSA agents, airport engineers, baggage handlers, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, pilots, and so on.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025, or until filled
Length: 500-5,000 words
Pay: $10-50
Details here.
(Blue Cubicle Press also publishes The First Line Journal, The Last Line Journal – which have announced their themes and deadlines for 2026 – as well as the Overtime series, and more.)
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.
Kilter & Rammel Publishing: Fun in the Dark Anthology Series – Transformations
This is a print fiction anthology. “Your story can be in any genre – horror, science fiction, fantasy, crime etc – as long as it clearly fits within both the theme of the individual anthology and within the overall tone of the series – fun yet dark!
When it comes to the specific theme of ‘transformations’, we’re open to your interpretation. You might want to write about the monstrous transformations of werewolves (or other ‘were’ creatures). Or perhaps grotesque physical transformations brought on by things like parasites, aliens, experiments gone wrong or rituals being enacted. Maybe it’s subtle psychological transformations that intrigue you, or even worldwide societal transformations. Or anything in between or outside of these suggestions”. They do not want extreme violence or horror. They will choose 5 stories from this call for the anthology.
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: £20
Details here.
Iron Faerie Publishing: Hawthorn & Ash Anthology
They want fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror stories for their Hawthorn & Ash anthology. (Past volumes are: Hawthorn & Ash 2019, Rowan & Oak 2020, Alder & Ebony 2021, Ivy & Sage 2022, Willow & Rose 2023, Holly and Broom 2024).
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 100 and 500 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.01/word
Details 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.
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.
Black Beacon Book of Horror (Volume 2)
They want horror fiction for this print anthology. They also accept reprints. Also, please note, “Stories are chosen on merit and suitability for the anthology. However, when it comes to choosing between equally worthy submissions, social media presence and engagement may be taken into account.”
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 3,000 – 9,000 words
Pay: $30
Details here.
The New York Times: Modern Love
Modern Love is a nonfiction column of the New York Times. They want “honest personal essays about contemporary relationships. We seek true stories on finding love, losing love and trying to keep love alive. We welcome essays that explore subjects such as adoption, polyamory, technology, race and friendship — anything that could reasonably fit under the heading “Modern Love.” Ideally, essays should spring from some central dilemma you have faced. It is helpful, but not essential, for the situation to reflect what is happening in the world now.” Send essays of 1,500-1,700 words. Modern Love has two submission periods, March through June, and September through December. Writers are paid. They especially welcome work from historically underrepresented writers, and from those outside the US.
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Length: 1,500-1,700 words
Pay: Unspecified
Details here.
Utopia Science Fiction: Weird Science Fiction
They publish utopian science fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. Their upcoming theme is Weird Science Fiction – “Send us your strange, outlandish, outside-the-box stories and poems!”
Deadline: 1 January 2026
Length: 100-4,000 words preferred for fiction, up to 6,000 words for nonfiction, up to 5 poems
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $30 for nonfiction, $30 per poem
Details here.
Butch Bait Anthology
They want art, poetry, fiction, erotica, and photography for this anthology. “Though there’s no formal prompt beyond “butch4butch”, we are going for a historical lesbian zine feel that captures the working-class grit and radical celebration of gnc lesbians seen in the 70s-early aughts publications. Think Set In Stone: Butch on Butch Erotica (2001), Persistent Desire (1994), Dagger On Butch Women (1994), The Little Butch Book (1998),etc.” And, “Subgenre doesn’t matter. Erotica, pulp horror, dead dove, taboo, romance, western, speculative—as long as it features butch4butch, GET CREATIVE!” The call is open to all writers, and “those who identify, align, or find themselves drawn to the prompt ‘butch4butch’…genderqueer, transmasc, transfem, nonbinary, etc: you are wanted and welcome here.”
Deadline: 1 January 2026
Length: 1,000-4,000 words for fiction
Pay: $10
Details here.
(Submissions are also open for Your Body is a Fever Dream anthology from Tenebrous Press, a fiction and narrative poetry anthology. “A cosmic body horror anthology from trans and GNC voices, a companion volume to YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY, and a charity drive all rolled into one.” And, “Only accepting submissions from creators who are: Trans, NB, agender, intersex, GNC, and generallyany gender identity other than binary cisgender.” They pay $0.03/word for stories up to 4,000 words; they also accept reprints and art; deadline 10th January 2026; details here and here.)
Book Worms Zine: Apocalyptic Horror
“We’re kicking off 2026 with all the optimism of a Threads viewing—yes, the 1984 nuclear war drama, not the app. … For our 10th issue of Book Worms Horror Zine, we’re chasing that same level of end-of-the-world dread. If our current political climate gives you the creeps, channel it. Or take us somewhere entirely different—your own futuristic nightmare is fair game, as long as the vision is dark.
We’re looking for stories and poetry that dive into nuclear winters, climate catastrophes, algorithmic uprisings, techno-anarchy, or whatever fresh brand of apocalypse your twisted imagination can conjure.” Please note, submissions have to be mailed.
Deadline: 10 January 2026 (must be received by the deadline, so mail early)
Length: Up to 1,500 words for fiction, up to 20 lines for poetry
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $25 for poetry
Details here.
River Glass Books: Writes of Nature
They are reading chapbook manuscripts (20-30 pages) till mid-January, in any genre or form. “We are interested in un-themed manuscripts as well as socio-environmental work for our new Writes of Nature series.” And, “Each manuscript will be considered for publication as a limited-edition chapbook in 2026 or 2027. Additionally, individual pieces may be selected for publication in a forthcoming anthology.
We are also reading shorter manuscripts (3-5 pages of any genre / form) for potential publication in a forthcoming anthology.”
Deadline: 15 January 2026
Length: See above
Pay: $75 for chapbooks; anthology copy for shorter works
Details here.
Eye to the Telescope: Immortality
Eye to the Telescope is the journal of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association. They want poems on the Immortality theme. They have detailed guidelines, including, “What does it mean to be immortal? How could such a thing even be possible – and what costs might it require? What are the benefits, and the downsides? As an immortal, what truths or lies about our lives might you come to understand?
As science develops at a breakneck pace, we watch people grasp for shreds of immortality in the real world. … Every day, we innovate new ways to extend our lifespans and fight back against the inevitable tide of death. In the world of fantasy and pop culture, immortality takes on even more flavors. Many supernatural beings – ghosts, vampires, zombies, fae – are described as having unnaturally long lifespans, or being impervious or immune to the effects of time. Sometimes, such a state exacts a price: the drinking of blood, the murder of innocents, the sacrifice of a soul. Sometimes, it allows for incredible things: knowledge and happiness and hope that extends across a blissful eternity. Immortality can be a gift, or it can be a curse. It can grant the bearer(s) wisdom, or foolishness – or both.
Immortality, as a concept, doesn’t have a clear-cut definition. This ambiguity is a gift, and I encourage you to play with it.” They also accept translations (see guidelines). Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 15 January 2026
Length: Up to 3 poems
Pay: $0.05/word (up to $25)
Details here.
Hollow Oak Press: Cozy Fantasy Anthology
They are accepting submissions for their 2026 cozy fantasy anthology. “We’re open to any definition of fantasy—second-world, urban, historical, paranormal, you name it—as long as it has cozy themes. We want whimsical, slice-of-life, optimistic stories and worlds that feel like a freshly laundered, warm blanket on a cool morning. We do still want something to happen in your story, though—this just isn’t the call for stories that center war, trauma, brutality, or world-ending plots. We will judge all stories by their own merits though, so if you think you have something that fits, we want to read it.
Some tips: We’re looking for character-driven stories that evoke themes of friendship, healing, and/or community. Think Practical Magic, Legends and Lattes, or The Hobbit. We prefer clean prose that makes every single word count.”
Deadline: 31 January 2026
Length: 3,000-8,000 words
Pay: $30
Details here.
(– Also see Hollow Oak Press’s Acorns series, their home for unthemed flash speculative fiction; pay is $5 for stories of 1,000-1,500 words.)
— Submissions are also scheduled to open on or after 1st December for Dreamforge; “we are always looking for positive science fiction and fantasy, including but not limited to hopepunk and solarpunk. We look for stories of “endurance, hope, and the triumph of the human spirit.” Stories that offer constructive alternatives to dystopian realities.For this call we will be especially but NOT exclusively looking for tales that fit our current year theme: Open Channel: The Art of Connection.” In a world divided by algorithms and “us versus them” narratives, we want to explore connection as the ultimate form of resistance. Rather than fighting division with more division, the stories focus on opening hearts and minds through unexpected forms of communication.” They also want speculative poetry. They pay $0.08/word for stories of 200-7,000 words, and will stay open until they hit submission caps or 31st December 2025, whichever is earlier, details here and here.)
Parsec Ink: 23rd Triangulation Anthology — Bad Romance
This is a speculative fiction and poetry anthology. “You know that friend who keeps falling for terrible people? That couple that not only fights all the time but makes each other a worse person, and they keep getting back together? Send us them.
We want stories or poetry about trashfire, toxic relationships, with a speculative element.” All stories must “contain a failed romance. Your protagonists may succeed at everything but love” and contain a speculative (science fiction or fantasy) element. They do not want stories with graphic trauma or abuse. They also accept reprints of both fiction and poetry
Deadline: 31 January 2026
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 60 lines for poetry
Pay: $0.03/word for original fiction, 25 cents per line for original poetry
Details here.
Ruadán Books: Summer in the City Anthology
Ruadán Books is an independent publisher of dark thrillers and speculative fiction. They are open for their Summer in the City fiction anthology from 1st December to 31st January 2026. They want “dark speculative fiction stories set in summertime cities that are as much characters in your narratives as the people are. These cities should exist (or have existed) in our world”. Also, “How do you determine if a city has been spoken for? We don’t. We tried that with WITC and it became a logistical nightmare. Understand that we are looking for cities world-wide and that your story should make a reader feel like they have been there. Rich descriptions and even a sentient setting will be looked at favorably. Understand that if we receive 19 stories about “New York” your chance of acceptance is markedly lower than if you send us a story about San Paulo, Lahore or Kinshasa.” The submission category for this anthology will appear on their Moksha portal during the reading period.
Submission period: 1st December 2025 to 31st January 2026
Length: 3,000-7,500 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.
THEMED CONTESTS
(There are some unthemed contests open too, including:
— RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers: This is for Canadian writers who have published work in literary magazines, but not in book form (a chapbook will not disqualify you). For this cycle, writers should submit up to 10 pages of either unpublished short fiction, creative nonfiction, or 5-10 pages of poetry. The prizes are CAD10,000 for winners in each category; CAD2,500 for finalists, deadline 2 December 2025; details here (overview), and here (Submittable).
— Eggtooth Editions Chapbook Contest: Their tagline is, ‘Home of the Any Genre Chapbook Contest’. They want a chapbook in any genre, of 15-50 pages. The prize accepts submissions from “anyone writing in the English language who has not previously published a full-length book (defined as a solely authored work of more than 50 pages, self-publishing included) .” Please note, they will only accept up to 100 fee-free submissions, so presumably those may close earlier than the deadline. Apart from a cash prize of $250, winner also gets 20 copies of the chapbook. The deadline is 15 December 2025, or until filled; details here.
— table//FEAST Literary Magazine: The Blossom Contest: This contest is fee-free and only open to BIPOC writers. There will be one winner for poetry or prose. Send up to 5 poems or one piece of fiction or creative nonfiction of up to 3,000 words. The prize is $250, and the deadline is 1 January 2026; details here. They have other contests too, for women and for writers over 50 years, which have submission fees.
— The Welkin Writing Prize: This is for a piece of microfiction, up to 100 words. “The competition is open to all forms of narrative prose (fiction and non-fiction), be that flash fiction, short-short, vignette, haibun, hermit crab, prose poem or work that sits outside such labels.” The prizes are £75, £40, £25, and £10, and the deadline is 2 January 2026 (15:00 GMT); details here.
— San José State University: Center for Steinbeck Studies – The Steinbeck Fellows Program: This awards writers of any age and background a fellowship to finish a significant writing project. Fellowships are offered in Creative Writing (including fiction, drama, creative non-fiction, and biography and excluding poetry) and Steinbeck Studies. The emphasis 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. Up to 6 fellowships of $15,000 each will be awarded. The deadline is 4 January 2026; details here and here.)
J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards
These awards are given for non-fiction works in progress which deal with a topic of American political or social concern, to aid their completion. Writers must already have a contract with a US-based publisher. One of the application requirements is 50-75 pages from the work in progress. Also, “The judges will make their decision on the basis of achieving maximum impact on a promising book project. Therefore, their selection criteria will represent a blend of the merit of the book and the financial need of the author. For this reason, the judges will need to know the amount of the author’s advance, as well as any other financial support for the book, such as a grant.”
There is no fee for the work-in-progress award. The prizes are run by Columbia Journalism School – they also have other awards, which charge entry fees.
Value: $25,000
Deadline: 4 December 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
Intrepid Times Travel Writing Competition
Their website says, “Write a true travel story about a moment of human connection. Focus on a specific incident, a meeting with a person from another culture, perhaps, or a time when you broke free of the tourist trail and gained genuine appreciation for the heart of a strange land.
Write 1500 – 1800 words, and win up to $300 USD.One winner and up to four runners-up will be published right here on Intrepid Times. We highly recommend writers take a moment to read some of our recent stories and past competition winners to get a sense of what we publish at Intrepid Times.”
Value: $300
Deadline: 10 December 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Your Paper Quest Writing Competition
Your Paper Quest is “A US based book of the month subscription box exclusively featuring books from self-published authors.” They are open now for their third short fiction contest: the prompt is, ‘The Great Outdoors and the strange things that live there.’ They want stories between 500 to 1,000 words. Details for the contest are on their social media, and submission (for contest as well as non-contest entries – see guidelines) is via a form on their website.
Value: $100, $25 for runners-up
Deadline: 10 December 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here (contest guidelines), here (contest guidelines), here (their website/Linktree), and here (submission form).
Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition
This is an international contest for crime novel manuscripts, for writers who have never been the author of any published novel in any genre and are uncontracted. The writing should be no less than approximately 60,000 words. Authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance against royalties
Deadline: 14 December 2025
Open for: Unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
The sine qua non prizes for prose and poetry
The sine qua non is sponsoring two creative writing competitions, for creative prose (send up to 15 pages) and poetry (send up to 3 poems); for this issue of the magazine, they want works that exemplify traits of New Romanticism – they have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. They have a submission quota, so may close earlier than the deadline. Submission is via Submittable. They’re also accepting works outside of this theme. For non-prize-winning entries they publish, including theory and craft submissions, they’ll pay $30.
Value: $500 each for poetry and prose winners, and $250 for runners-up
Deadline: 15 December 2025, or until filled
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
The Caribbean Writer Prizes
Their website says, “The Caribbean Writer (TCW) has issued a call for submissions for Volume 40 under the 2026 theme: 40 years of The Caribbean Writer: A Spectrum of Representation. … Using the TCW journal as a reference point, authors are invited to explore the themes, subjects, motifs, and topics over the 40 years of The Caribbean Writer” and present an analysis in one of the following contexts given on their website – including Building Regional Community, Connections and Transformations; Calypso and Conflict: Music and Politics in the Literature; Voices of the Diaspora: Migration and Belonging; Negotiating Nuances of Legacy, Ethnicity, Hybridity, Identity; and more. See guidelines for the detailed list of themes.
Apart from the usual call for creative works, they’ve also issued a call for papers focused on the diverse themes explored in The Caribbean Writer over the years; while the deadline for proposals/abstracts for the paper has passed (30th November), the submission deadline is mid-December.
And the literary submissions are also eligible for various prizes (there is no separate application process)
– The Daily News Prizeof $600 awarded to a resident of the US Virgin Islands or the British Virgin Islands.
— The Marvin E. Williams Literary Prizeof $500 awarded to a new or emerging writer.
— The Vincent Cooper Literary Prizeof $300 awarded to a Caribbean author for exemplary writing in Caribbean Nation Language.
— The Anacaona Prize of $500 is awarded to anyone published in the respective volume for their interpretation of the theme, level of technical skill, and originality.
Please note, the prizes are subject to change.
Value: $300-600
Deadline: Submissions due 16 December 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (also click on ‘show prizes) and here.
Poetry Society of America: The Four Quartets Prize
This is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in the US in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book in 2025. Poems in the sequence may have been published in different journals provided that they were published in 2025 and that brought together, they form a complete sequence. The minimum requirement is 14 pages of published poems unified by subject, form, and style. Entire books composed of a unified sequence, however long, are also welcome.Submissions will have to be mailed. Self-published work is not eligible. They have other awards also, though these have an entry fee, or do not have an application process.
Value: $1,000 for three finalists, an additional $20,000 for the winner
Deadline: 31 December 2025 (postmark date)
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (download the entry form).
Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest
This magazine publishes work of interest to Jewish women. They like work with both feminist and Jewish content. Submit fiction up to 3,000 words.
Value: $300
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Meridians: The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award
Meridians is a literary magazine affiliated with Smiths College. This award is for short works – poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and play scripts. “The Elizabeth Alexander Creative Writing Award celebrates an author whose work embodies the lyrically powerful and historically engaged nature of Dr. Alexander’s writing. We aim for this award to highlight different forms of knowledge production that emerge from the artistic, political, and cultural advocacy undertaken by women of color nationally, transnationally, and globally. Works engaging with feminism, race, and transnationalism will be prioritized. Translated works and manuscripts in languages other than English are encouraged as well.” And, according to their submission form, “Each year we award two winners: one in Poetry and one in Prose. Each winner will have the opportunity to spend a week-long residency at Meridians at Smith College the following Fall or Spring.”
Value: Residency
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here
The Lyric Magazine: College Poetry Contest
This is a contest open to undergraduates enrolled full time in an American or Canadian college or university. Poems must be original and unpublished, 39 lines or less, written in English in traditional forms, preferably with regular scansion and rhyme. Students can send up to three poems.
Value: $500, $200, $100
Deadline: 31 December 2025
Open for: Undergraduates in an American or Canadian college or university
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.
Value: $300
Deadline: 1 January 2026
Open for: All writers
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.
Value: $250, $200, $150, $75
Deadline: 2 January 2026
Open for: All writers
Details here (general guidelines) and here (theme details).
Shepton Snowdrops: In the Garden
Their website says, “The Shepton Mallet Snowdrop Project is a not for profit Community Interest Company run entirely by volunteers. We run and support the annual Snowdrop Festival each February and plant snowdrop bulbs each autumn across the town.” They’re also open for an international poetry contest. There is an entry fee for over-18s, and poets under 18 years can send one poem of up to 30 lines, on the theme, ‘In the Garden’, for free. There are two categories for under-18s: 11 and under (prize £50) and 12-17 years (prize £100). Entry is via a form on their website.
Value: £50-100 for under-18s
Deadline: 4 January 2026
Open for: Free for under-18s
Details here.
The Leon Levy Centre for Biography: Biography Fellowships
These are four resident fellowships at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, to nonfiction writers working on biographies. preference in the award of fellowships is given to those who have not yet published a biography or received fellowships for the writing of a biography. They also welcome applications from published and accomplished writers who are undertaking their first biography. The Leon Levy Center for Biography does not award fellowships for memoirs, essays, plays, films, or fiction. One of the application requirements is a sample of the proposed biography, a maximum of 2,500 words. (Also see the Sloan Fellowship, given annually to a writer working on a biography of a figure in the field of science or technology.)
Value: $72,000, residency
Deadline: 4 January 2026
Open for: Writers working on biographies
Details here and here.
(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— Jack Hazard Fellowship: This is an opportunity for US writers. “Jack Hazard Fellows are fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and memoir writers who teach full time in an accredited high school in the United States. We provide a $5,000 award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer.” The deadline is 9 January 2026. Details here and here
— Discoveries 2026: It is for UK- and Ireland-based unpublished and unrepresented women writers, for a novel-in-progress (adult fiction) – send the first 10,000 words and a synopsis. This prize is run by The Women’s Prize Trust, Audible, Curtis Brown Literary Agency, and Curtis Brown Creative writing school. Apart from a cash prize, the winner also gets literary representation. There are also non-cash prizes for shortlisted and longlisted writers. The prize is £5,000, and the deadline is 12 January 2026. Details here and here.
— Lunch Ticket: Diana Woods Award in Creative Nonfiction: This award is for a creative non-fiction piece of up to 3,500 words on any subject. The contest is open in February and August. The submission period will be 1st to 28th February 2026, and the prize is $250. It is open to all writers. Details here.
— Lunch Ticket: The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts: Translators and authors of multilingual texts are encouraged to submit their work for The Gabo Prize. Writers should indicate whether the translation falls under poetry or prose, and include the original work along with your translation. Original, bilingual work qualifies for the Gabo Prize. The contest is open in February and August. The submission period will be 1st to 28th February 2026, and the prize is $200. It is open to all translators. Details here.)
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
