These are themed calls/contests from 37 outlets for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. A couple of the outlets are open for more than one call. Some call themes are: Shirley Jackson (tribute issue); dreams; cryptids; plants; beach reads; disability pride & magic; climate crisis; spirit of the wolf; pushing back; reversal; world horror; and making the choice.
Talk Vomit: The call is coming from inside the house
“Our spring edition theme is the call is coming from inside the house, however you interpret that. What does it look like — feel like — to find the threat is actually coming from within — your person, your community? We will accept traditional horror (light on the gore, please) as well as more experimental interpretations of this prompt.” They have detailed guidelines, including a section on the kind of work they like. Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 6 March 2025
Length: Up to 4,000 words for nonfiction, up to 2,000 words for fiction, up to 2 poems
Pay: $10-30 for prose, $5-15 for poetry
Details here and here.
Cosmic Horror Monthly: Shirley Jackson Issue
This is a weird and cosmic horror magazine. They want fiction paying tribute to Shirley Jackson for this call. “What’s that mean?
[Jackson’s] work as a whole is pervaded with an abiding sense of the weirdness that can emerge from the commonest elements of ordinary life. Her penetrating understanding of human character, and especially of human loneliness even in the midst of crowds, and the rapierlike satire that she frequently directed at the bountiful instances of greed, stupidity, smallmindedness, hypocrisy, and other lamentably common human foibles render much of her work chillingly terrifying even when nothing overtly bizarre occurs.” -ST Joshi, “Domestic Horror: Shirley Jackson Horror at Midcentury”
Need more ideas?
Malicious grannies and furious teenagers, the domestic space as the site of horror, the Uncanny, dark humor (Sugar?), the villagers have always hated us.” They’ll open next for unthemed submissions during the first week of July; see their reading periods on the general submission guidelines page here.
Deadline: 7 March 2025 for the Shirley Jackson call
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.03/word
Details here and here.
SubTerrain: Dreams
This Canadian literary magazine wants submissions on the ‘Dreams’ theme for their Summer / Fall issue. They charge a fee for online submissions but there is no fee for postal submissions. They accept fiction, nonfiction, commentary, and poetry. “Dreams are like short, strange films that our mind produces while we sleep. They take place in the theatre of the subconscious, that amorphous space that can seem familiar and unfamiliar at the same moment. A place where you wander, like a character in a shadowy noir mystery, trying to figure out what is going on, trying to make sense of a world that makes no sense … as if there is always an “explanation” for what is going on.
We invite you to mine the depths of your mind and send us your surrealist trips through dreamland — your beautiful nightmares, your daydreams, or dreams of the future.”
Deadline: 7 March 2025
Length: Up to 3,000 words for fiction, up to 4,000 words for nonfiction and commentary, up to 5 poems
Pay: CAD0.10/word of prose, up to CAD500, and CAD50 for poetry Details here (scroll down)
(Subterrain is also open for submissions for unthemed writing awards, which have a submission fee.)
Catapult: No Contact – An Anthology About Family Estrangement
They want personal essays and flash nonfiction about the following topics: “Estrangement from family members (including in-laws) due to politics. What caused the rift and how have you managed it and moved on?
Estrangement from family members as it connects to estrangement from land, culture, and/or ancestry. How did these estrangements parallel or exacerbate each other?
POV of parent estranged from children, due to divorce, legal system, addiction, or other reasons. Essay should be focused on the experience of estrangement (less than on the reasons) and the work done toward healing and repair.” And, “According to research, up to 27% of Americans are estranged from at least one family member. This reality affects over a quarter of our population, yet estrangement can be a source of great shame: rarely discussed and often stigmatized. The perspectives in this anthology will bring connection and validation to readers who have experienced estrangement, and will foster understanding and empathy in those who have not. ” They encourage writers from underrepresented and marginalized communities to submit.
Deadline: 9 March 2025
Length: 100-500 words for flash nonfiction, up to 1,500 words for personal essays
Pay: A minimum of $50 flash nonfiction and $100 for essays
Details here.
Mslexia
They accept submissions by women-identified authors only (see Eligibility here), of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, pitches, and fun projects. Their deadlines vary, please check the guidelines for details. For fiction and poetry, they want work on their showcase themes: Snakes (deadline: 10 March) and Blue (deadline: 9 June 2025) themes. They also have interesting sections in each genre; in fiction, for instance, they have a section called The World’s Wife, in which they want a fictional prose monologue in the voice of the wife, mistress, sister, daughter, mother of a famous real or fictional person; for nonfiction, there’s #amwriting, which ispitches – not submissions – from writers who manage to continue with their creative work despite a particular challenge; for poetry, they have a Poet Laureate feature – “Imagine you are the Poet Laureate whose task it is to respond poetically to news items and issues of topical importance. The subject matter is up to you, though we encourage you to think outside the box – local news as well as world news. No more than 14 lines”; for fun stuff, they have “Bear necessities – Tell us about an object, ritual or creature that helps with your writing: e.g. teddy, terrier or tea in your lucky mug” (text up to 50 words for Bear necessities). Some of their submission sections are for subscribers only, and a few are occasionally closed, but many of them are open to all writers.
Deadline: 10 March 2025 for Snakes theme
Length: Varies (see guidelines)
Pay: Start at £30 (see here, under Payment)
Details here (scroll down and click on various sections/genres).
Cast of Wonders: Seasonal Stories
Cast of Wonders, from the Escape Artists suite of magazines, publishes young adult speculative fiction. They’re open now for seasonal stories. “This is our submission window for special dates throughout the year. Christmas, Valentines, Pride, Halloween, International Workers’ Day, Speak-like-a-Pirate Day, or any other date which is particularly meaningful to you or other people. These can be serious dates of remembrance or celebration, or more frivolous events … We’re specifically looking for our Christmas and Halloween stories for 2025, but will be open to submissions targeted towards other dates of interest.” And, “Stories should be YA genre-fiction, and have a clear link to a particular seasonal holiday or event, e.g. Halloween, Valentines, Christmas, or other festivals.”
Deadline: 14 March 2025 (see their schedule)
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here, here and here (scroll down).
Plott Hound Magazine
This is “An e-zine for speculative fiction starring animals”. They also accept speculative poetry and essays on these themes. They want
“-Stories with anthropomorphized animals as 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 accept translations.
Deadline: 15 March 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words for fiction, up to 5 poems, 1,000-2,500 words for nonfiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $50 for poems, $100 for nonfiction
Details here and here.
(And, Androids and Dragons magazine is also open for speculative fiction; “We’ll consider any story with speculative elements, no matter how slight… We are particularly interested in stories featuring anthropomorphic characters such as dragons and other mythical creatures, animal-like aliens, or robots, androids, artificial intelligences, and other sentient machines. Dystopia, military science fiction, or stories that are primarily romances will be a hard sell, but they are not out of the question.” They pay $5 for stories up to 5,000 words, and the deadline is 5 March 2025. Details here.)
Graveside Press: Cryptid Anthology
They want fiction submissions for a cryptid anthology. ““Cryptids are animals or creatures that are mentioned in folklore or other accounts, but whose actual existence is questionable.” Unlike monsters or mythical creatures, which the general public believes do not exist, cryptids are the creatures many people…aren’t so sure about. They’re often local legends with occasional sightings, but no concrete proof of their existence. Cryptids can be found anywhere in the world. They do not have the be existing creatures! Make up your own, craft your own legends, start your own rumors. Editor note: I’m a sucker for a good cryptid. I love stories done in unique ways—found footage, news articles, texts, trail cams. Be creative. These cryptids don’t have to be urban legends. Your story could be about the first person to encounter one. (The Redwood Bureau Phenomenon podcast captures the vibe we’re looking for nicely, if you want some inspiration!)”
Deadline: 15 March 2025
Length: 2,000-6,000 words
Pay: $0.02/word
Details here.
(Graveside Press has another short fiction program, Tiny Terrors, which you can read about here.)
Eye to the Telescope: Plants
They want speculative poetry on the Plants theme. “Trees, flowers, shrubs; a green sea of liveliness, thrumming with energy. We have been using plants’ offerings for our survival ever since the dawn of time. Oxygen, food, clothes, tools, medicines: the list is endless and ever-growing. At the same time, the local flora have influenced our beliefs, blossomed in our myths and tales, seeded our science; we’ve made gods of the forests, of spring, of harvest season.
Plants and people coexist, co-depend, coevolve.
Send us poems in the theme of plants, from all cultural backgrounds. Show the impact of plants not only in life, but also in death. Poems about conspiring rainforests and singing Venus flytraps, roses that hide secrets and communities in their hundreds of petals, alien ferns that translate feelings. Poison ivies that survive deep space, thirty-meter azaleas terraforming Mars, myths about children made of pine needles.” They also accept translations. Deadline: 15 March 2025
Length: Up to 3 poems
Pay: $0.04/word (up to $25)
Details here.
Cat Eye Press: Modern Mummies Anthology
This is a fiction anthology; please note, they are only open in March for BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, Disabled, Neurodiverse, and other underrepresented voices; the window for general submissions (from all writers) is closed. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Modern Mummies is a new horror anthology looking to update the “mummy genre.” The anthology’s title has several possible interpretations to help guide submissions. First and foremost, it means stories that take place in the reasonably understood present day. That means a world in which the internet, social media, industrialization, urbanization, etc. exist. Sure, some elements can be fictionalized to make a story work, but we don’t want period pieces that take place in the 1920s or in the far-flung past. … Modern mummies could also mean a modern-day person being mummified and its ramifications. We’d like you to think about how social media or our politics might react to a “new wave” of mummification. And what does that say about death in the modern era?”
Deadline: 15 March 2025 (BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+, Disabled, Neurodiverse, and other underrepresented voices only)
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here.
Inkd Publishing: Two anthologies
They’re reading submissions for two fiction anthologies; Beach Reads, and Behind the Shadows III: Dark Secrets.
— Beach Reads: “we’re searching for the light and fun stories for those longer warmer days. These might be a slice of life or a simple romance – anything that might bring smiles, and maybe a tear.
There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story. … This is not the best place for your horror tale.” Length: 2,000-6,000 words, deadline 15 March 2025 (scroll down on the guidelines page for details).
— Behind the Shadows III: Dark Secrets: “This is horror. Humor and mystery beats are welcome. Express yourself as the theme moves you. There is no restriction as to how you incorporate the theme into your story as long as the genre falls within Speculative Fiction, including Sci-Fi or Fantasy.” 2,000-7,000 words, deadline: 31 March 2025Deadlines: See above
Length: See above
Pay: $20, or royalty share; please see their note about contributor copies
Details here.
Rainy Weather Days: Joy
Their tagline is, A defiant literary magazine. They’re reading submissions for issues 4 and 5 now. “Theme for this submission period—Joy! For this period, we would like to see more works focusing on joy, particularly POC and/or queer joy. This is also an act of protest. If submitting a work on this theme, please be a part of the community you are representing. … We are looking for works of protest that challenge our current status quo. This can be fictional prose of any genre, poetry, or nonfiction essays.
To be clear, the ideology of the work should oppose right-wing ideology, Nazism, Authoritarianism, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, etc. or uplift voices of dissent or marginalized voices.” Please note, they have a submission cap, and will close when this is reached.
Deadline: 20 March 2025, or until filled
Length: 1,500-15,000 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: $25 per prose piece, $10/poem
Details here, here, and here.
Riddle Fence: Knots, Nets, and Ties that Bind
This Labrador-based journal wants submissions on Knots, Nets, and Ties that Bind – “How do you share what’s most important? How do you keep it safe? How do you keep it alive?
We’re looking for your most ambitious, imaginative writing on any touchpoint within this theme, whether it’s the childhood games you played, the songs you can’t leave behind, the seeds you plant in the daylight, or the secrets you whisper in the dark.”At the time of writing, fee-free submissions of poetry and fiction on this theme were still open; they will close end-March, or when their submission cap is reached, whichever comes first.
Deadline: 31 March 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose, up to 10 pages for poetry
Pay: CAD50/page
Details here and here.
Banshee Press: It doesn’t have to be this way
They welcome submissions from Irish and international writers. They have detailed guidelines about what the fiction editor is looking for in this issue, including, “Speculative Fiction, or It doesn’t have to be this way’. It was Ursula K. LeGuin who coined this as a simple summary of what fantasy and sci-fi can achieve: a way of looking at the world and ourselves and imagining how else they might be. It is playful, she said, and it is also subversive. What excites me about speculative fiction is not really magic wands, elves or spaceships, but its ability to examine our world through the lens of another.”
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words for prose, poems up to 40 lines
Pay: €250 for fiction/nonfiction; €75 for flash fiction; €50/poem (see here – click on ‘Say what you pay’)
Details here and here.
PodCastle: Disability Pride & Magic
PodCastle, from the Escape Artists suite of magazines, publishes fantasy fiction in audio and online publishing formats. “We want to celebrate disabled authors, characters, and themes for (Disability Pride Month). We’re using a broad definition of disability here, including physical disabilities, neurodivergence, mental illness, sensory disabilities, chronic illness, and invisible and undiagnosed disabilities. … In fiction, disabled people — where we appear at all — tend to be left on the sidelines or treated as passive sources of inspiration (or worse: ridicule or disgust). In fantasy, we get our difficulties erased with superpowers or magical cures. We’re looking for stories that defy these trends. We want to see stories that show the dynamic nature of disability, that grapple with ableism (internal and external), and that, ultimately, see us as fully human — a depressingly low bar that is still failed all too often.
This call is open to everyone. While we believe disabled stories are best told by disabled voices, no one should have to disclose their status if they aren’t comfortable doing so. That said, this is an event centred around pride, visibility, and acceptance, on dismantling ableist notions of shame that silence and alienate disabled people. In that spirit, we strongly encourage authors to speak up about their disabilities, especially if their lived experience informs their story.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 2,000-6,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here, here, here, and here.
The Stinging Fly: Climate Crisis
This respected Irish journal is accepting creative non-fiction pitches only for the Climate Crisis theme. Please note, this is only a call for creative nonfiction pitches only – do not send complete submissions, or work in any other genre. “The Winter 2025-26 issue of The Stinging Fly, due to publish in November 2025, will have a special focus on the climate crisis, where we will showcase visionary, provocative, and original new work about the climate and the endangered future of our planet.
We now invite pitches for pieces of creative non-fiction engaging with this topic. Your pitch, which should be submitted through this form, should clearly outline what you wish to write about, how you intend to develop it, and what will make your essay effective, unique or compelling.” They will open for fiction and poetry submissions in May.
Deadline: 31 March 2025 for CNF pitches
Pay: €45 per magazine page of nonfiction, with a minimum/maximum payment of €325/€1,200; and for shorter essays (1 – 2 pages), they pay €150
Details here, here, and here.
WolfSinger Publications: Spirit of the Wolf
This is a speculative fiction anthology. “The wolf has been a creature of mythology and legend since humans first told stories. Feared and reviled, or worshipped and loved, the wolf symbolizes wildness and power. In Spirit of the Wolf, we’re hoping to capture the wolf in new stories that celebrate their wildness and freedom, their magic and mysticism.
We’re looking for well-constructed speculative fiction stories where wolves play a major role. The only thing we do not want to see is Wolves as evil.
Proceeds from sales of Spirit of the Wolf will be donated to Mission Wolf located in Westcliffe, Colorado.”
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 2,500-7,500 words
Pay: $20
Details here.
My Galvanized Friend: Pushing Back
This literary magazine only accepts works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art) from LGBTQ+ writers in the US. They want submissions on the ‘Pushing Back’ theme. “We invite submissions that explore resistance, defiance, and resilience. Whether through speculative worlds, subversive acts, or fantastical rebellion, show us queerness pushing back against power, violence, and injustice. Challenge norms, expectations, or boundaries – on any scale, in any genre.”
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 500-3,500 words
Pay: $25 for prose, $10 for poetry
Details here.
Cohesion Press: SNAFU – Contagion
They want fantasy, horror, or science fiction stories with a military focus for the latest in their SNAFU anthology series. “SNAFU: Contagion, featuring action-filled tales of viral, fungal and bacterial horror.
Whether it be giant brutish mutations, fungal infections gone wrong, or experimental nightmarish creatures made with super soldier experiments, it always ends with people fighting to survive the horrible, seeping creations that result from contagion and infection. … Please ensure the action is central to the story, from start to finish, and don’t forget monsters! It really should be in the style of military or paramilitary action.”
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 2,500-7,500 words
Pay: AUD0.05/word
Details here.
Barbecued Beef: Tales of Disagreement
They accept fiction and poetry. “We are now open for submissions for our Summer 2025 issue. The theme for that issue will be ‘Barbecued Beef: Tales of Disagreement’. Our themes are broadly interpreted. And, “Earlier submission within the submission window greatly improves the chance of publication.” Submission is via a form on their website.
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: Up to 2,000 words
Pay: $10 for poetry, $20-50 for fiction
Details here.
Foofaraw Anthology
“Every piece must align, at least a tiny bit, to one of these two definitions:
a great fuss or disturbance about something very insignificant.
an excessive amount of decoration or ornamentation, as on a piece of clothing, a building, etc.” They want fiction, comics, humor/satire, poetry, essays, “and anything else that fits the vibe”. And, “the general areas/genres of interest for fiction in foofaraw are: Magical Realism, Speculative Fiction, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Literary, LGBTQIA+, Horror, Mystery, Noir, Odd / Surreal / Absurdist / Experimental. Submission is via a form on their website.
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.01/word for fiction, $5 for poetry
Details here.
Ninth Letter: Reversal
The theme for their web edition ‘Reversal’. “In this winter of transition send us stories, essays and poems that portray the speaker’s u-turn, characters making their about face or the self coming full circle. We welcome reversals big and small, tragic or fortunate, long coming or sudden. We’ll be on the lookout for reversals of structure and form, theses refuted or contradictions embodied. In the best submissions, readers should feel the pull of two directions – in space, or time, or spirit.” Please note, they have a submission cap, and will close by genre when full.
Deadline: 1 April 2025, or until filled
Length: Up to 3 poems (see guidelines), up to 3,500 words for fiction and creative nonfiction
Pay: $75 per prose piece, $25 per poem
Details here
The Other Stories Podcast: Rot; World Horror
This is a horror/sci-fi/thriller fiction podcast from Hawk & Cleaver. They accept themed fiction submissions of up to 2,000 words. Two of their upcoming themes are:
— Rot(“Begin the disintegration. Mind, body, society, the fabric of reality itself. Unearth beauty in the grotesque, the life that springs from decay, the renewal of all things.”), deadline 1 April 2025; and
— World Horror (“We want to cast a shadow over the entire globe. Bring us tales of the Shakchunni from Bangladesh, the Djinn from the Middle East, the Yokai from Japan. There’s a whole world of horror and fantasy out there and we want to showcase it all.”), deadline 1 May 2025.
Deadlines: See above
Length: Up to 2,000 words
Pay: £15
Details here, here, and here.
Flame Tree Publishing: Afrofuturism Short Stories
For this call, they say, “The National Museum of African American History and Culture characterises Afrofuturism as expressing “notions of Black identity, agency and freedom through art, creative works and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life.” This is Africa, based in Kenya, defines Africanfuturism as located in “the African point of view, experience, culture, themes, and history with technology based in Africa, not the diaspora”. …. Authors must be writing from an authentic perspective of the Black experience, whether based in the diaspora or in Africa.” They also accept reprints. There is no set deadline, and this call will close when filled.
Deadline: Open now
Length: 2,000-4,000 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Sally Port Magazine: Making the Choice
They accept fantasy fiction only – for a general, mid-grade, and YA audiences. You can read about them here. Their upcoming theme is ‘Making the Choice’. They also accept nonfiction. There is no deadline given for the themed issue.
Deadline: Open now
Length: Varies (for general fantasy, YA, and mid-grade stories – see guidelines)
Pay: $0.05/word
Details here, here, here, and here.
THEMED CONTESTS
— Deborah Rogers Foundation: The DRF Writers Award: For writers of British Commonwealth countries, and Eire; for a first-time prose writer who would benefit from financial support to complete their work, fiction or nonfiction; awards £10,000, £1,000, deadline 31 March 2025, details here and here.
— America Media: The Foley Poetry Contest: Submit an unpublished poem; this Catholic magazine is also open for general submissions; award $1,000, deadline 31 March 2025, details here.
— The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers: Three-month fellowships to afford writers uninterrupted time to focus on their work at an apartment in Carson McCuller’s childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. A spouse or companion is welcome. Awards $5,000, residency; deadline: 1 April 2025; details here (scroll down to Academic Opportunities and click on Fellowships).
— Creative Capital Awards: For US creators; “provides unrestricted project grants of up to $50,000 to individual artists to create new work. For the 2026 Creative Capital Open Call, Creative Capital invites professional artists to propose experimental, original, bold new works in Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Film, and Literature from March 3–April 3, 2025.Multidisciplinary, technology, and/or socially engaged projects are welcome in all disciplinary categories.” Also see their State of the Art Prize which aims to recognize one artist from each U.S. state and inhabited territory, with an unrestricted artist grant of $10,000”; details here. )
The Waterman Fund Essay Contest for Emerging Writers
This contest is run by Appalachia, the mountaineering and conservation journal published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, and The Waterman Fund. The contest is for emerging writers – those who have not published a book-length work of fiction or narrative nonfiction on topics of wilderness, wildness, or the ethics and ecology of environmental issues are eligible. Essays should be 2,000 to 3,000 words. The theme is,
“The clash of wilderness preservation versus use and enjoyment by thousands is inherently unresolvable. But that does not absolve any of us from striving to resolve it, from doing the best our generation can to preserve the spirit of wildness.” – Wilderness Ethics by Laura and Guy Waterman, 1993 (see the detailed prompt here.) They welcome personal, scientific, adventure, or memoir essays. The contest is run by the Waterman Fund – their tagline is, “Fostering the Spirit of Wildness and Conserving the Alpine Areas of Northeastern North America”.
Value: $3,000; $1,000
Deadline: 10 March 2025
Open for: Emerging writers (see guidelines) in the US or Canada (see eligibility here)
Details here.
Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & Lewitt Studios Essay Prize
This is a prize for unpublished writers in the UK. “The judges will be looking for essays that explore and expand the possibilities of the essay form, with no restrictions on theme or subject matter. Initially made possible by an Arts Council Grant in 2015, the prize awards £4,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal. In addition to the £4,000 prize the winner will have the opportunity to spend up to two months in residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, to work on their book. The book will then be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.”
Value: £4,000, residency
Deadline: 17 March 2025
Open for: Unpublished UK/Ireland writers (see guidelines)
Details here and here.
Greater Good Science Centre: Spreading Love Through the Media
They have detailed guidelines, including, “The Greater Good Science Center’s “Spreading Love Through the Media” initiative … is a three-year effort aimed at harnessing the transformative power of love to tackle social challenges like polarization and loneliness. The initiative seeks to expand the concept of love beyond romantic relationships, emphasizing its role in fostering compassion, altruism, and social cohesion.
Drawing on current research, we will highlight the power of love to strengthen the social fabric, bridge divides, and contribute to a good, meaningful life. The project’s activities will promote research and stories about love, encouraging a cultural shift toward greater empathy and connection. In addition to content produced by the GGSC, we will work with other journalists and media creators to produce their own stories on love—from magazine articles to podcast episodes to videos for the web and social media—that will reach a broad and diverse audience.
We are offering two dozen grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 to report and produce stories on love.”
Value: $5,000 to $50,000
Deadline: 24 March 2025
Open for: Journalist or other nonfiction media producers located in North America (see ‘Who should apply?’ here.)
Details here.
On the Premises Short Story Contest: Somewhere Else
Their guidelines say, “For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which someone or something important to the story is not where it/they always have been, or where it/they would be expected to be located, or is in the process of changing their location from where it/they have always been. The distance someone or something has moved (or is moving) is not important, but the change in location must be important to the story. Whether this new location is an improvement or a problem is up to you.”
Value: $250, $200, $150, $75 (see here)
Deadline: 28 March 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here, here, and here.
Terrain.org Editor’s Prize
They welcome submissions on place, climate, and justice – fiction (short story, flash fiction series, novel excerpt, radio play, or other fiction piece), non-fiction, and poetry. They also accept translations, and art. Payment for general submissions is a minimum of $50. And, “All accepted submissions by writers of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and/or other marginalized communities whose contributions explore place particularly in the context of social, environmental, or climate justice are considered for our annual Editor’s Prize of $500 per genre.” There is no separate submission process or entry fee for this contest; they have other, fee-based contests too. Certain sections, like Letter to America and ArTerrain, are open year-round, and other sections have submission periods, or are open periodically.
Value: The Editor’s Prize for underrepresented writers is $500 per genre
Deadline: 31st March poetry, 30 April 2025 for fiction and nonfiction
Details here.
Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award
This international grant is for supporting the recipient in crime fiction writing and career development activities. She or he may choose activities that include workshops, seminars, conferences, and retreats, online courses, and research activities required for completion of the work. This is for an emerging writer (see guidelines). The application process includes a writing sample – an unpublished piece of crime fiction, written with an adult audience in mind. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress, 2,500 to 5,000 words. Their website says, you do not have to be a member of Sisters in Crime to apply for this grant.
Value: $2,000; the winner can choose from a range of activities
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Open for: Writers of color
Details here.
Parsec Ink Short Story Competition: Roots
Parsec Ink also publishes the annual Triangulation anthology series. They are open now for a short speculative fiction contest by non-professional writers, who have not met the eligibility requirements for SFWA Full Membership. The theme is Roots. “Roots. The point of origin, the source of life. Buried in earth and history, they are links to the unseen. Roots can crack stone and carry messages; they can bind us to solid ground or trip us up and send us sprawling. The 2025 Parsec Short Story Contest welcomes science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories that include all types of roots: family legends, genetic inheritance, plant-like aliens, root directories, symbiotic mycorrhizal systems . . . you get the idea.
Convey the theme through setting, plot, characters, dialogue; the only limit is your imagination. The theme must be integral to the story in some way and not just mentioned in passing.” Send stories of up to 3,500 words. The youth story category is for ages up to 19 years, if you are still enrolled in and attending high school at the time of submission.
Value: $200, $100, and $50 for the general category, and $50 for the best youth story
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Open for: Non-professional writers (see guidelines)
Details here and here.
The Loveliest Fellowship: Justice
The Loveliest Review invites work in various genres for their inaugural fellowship – fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, photography, art, and reviews. The theme is Justice. One winner will be chosen. A writing sample is part of the submission requirement – see guidelines.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 1 April 2025
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Alpine Fellowship Prizes: Fear
They have a Poetry Prize, a Writing Prize, a Theatre Prize, as well as Music, Philosophy, Refugee Scholar, and Visual Arts prizes. Please read the guidelines for each genre carefully. The theme for this year is Fear, and all works must address the theme.
Value: £3,000, and two runner-up prizes of £1,000 each in creative writing categories – poetry, writing, theatre
Deadline: 1 April 2025
Open for: all writers
Details here – click on individual tabs for various genres.
Maya Angelou Book Award
This award is for a work has demonstrated a commitment to social justice. It is for books published in 2024, or scheduled to be published until November 2025. The award alternates between poetry and fiction, and for this cycle, books of poetry are eligible. Entrants must be available for a two-week reading tour at partnering educational institutions in Missouri (see guidelines). Entries have to be made by publishers only, not writers. See the social media announcement here.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 1 April 2025
Open for: US writers
Details here, here, and here.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
This prize is for humor poetry. Submit a poem of up to 250 lines.
Value: $2,000 and a two-year subscription to Duotrope; $500; $250; 10 prizes of $100 each
Deadline: 1 April 2025
Open for: All poets
Details here.
Eye Contact Prize in Genre Fiction: Experience
Eye Contact is literary journal affiliated with Seton Hill University. To be eligible for the prize, submit historical flash fiction (up to 1,000 words) on the ‘Experience’ theme for their next issue. The best story submitted for the magazine will win a prize. There is no separate submission process.
Value: $250 (see guidelines)
Deadline: 4 April 2025
Open for: All writers
Details here and here.
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
