These are calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from 38 publishers/organizers. A couple are open for more than one call. Some of the call themes are: Objection! Overruled!; soilpunk; haunt; no laughing matter; Helen of Troy; Walpurgis witcheries; rebels; performance; swashes and buckles; alien celebrations; and the lantern keepers.
THEMED CALLS
Murderous Ink Press: Crimeucopia
They will read crime fiction, divided by themes/demographics – please send the work for a particular call only during its reading period:
“6th to 14th October – For A Coterie Of Dicks (All PI anthology)
13th to 21st October – For New Kids In Da ‘Hood (Previously Unpublished/Unpaid writers)
22nd to 29th October 2025- For Maple Leaf Ragging (All Canadian authors)
29th October to 8th November 2025 – Objection! Overruled! (Courtroom based pieces)”
Reading periods: See above
Length: 2,000 – 10,000 words (query first for longer)
Pay: £4 per 1,000 words
Details here and here.
(Fiction submissions are also open for a shared-world anthology, The Speculative Detective Agency (SDA), in which each story is a case completed by one of the agency’s detectives – who are created by you, the authors. Please read the guidelines for the premise. Some stories are invited via the open call. They pay $300 for stories of 4,000-5,000 words. The Kickstarter for this call has been funded. See the call on BlueSky here. The deadline is 31st October 2025.)
Cursed Morsels Press: FLESH Zine
“For this submission call, we’re looking for pieces (500 words or fewer) connected to the broad theme of FLESH. This zine will be included for free with Samir Sirk Morató’s Gore Poetics, a Cursed Morsels 2026 release. For context, this book is weird, erotic, grotesque, queer, transgressive, literary, and intense if that gives you a sense for the kinds of work (the editors) are looking for. Your submission can be fiction, poetry, or nonfiction.” This is a print zine; contributors also get copies.
Deadline: 7 October 2025
Length: Up to 500 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.
(And, Rat Bag Lit is open for drabbles of exactly 100 words on the theme, Funerary Raccoons, pays $1, deadline 13th October 2025, or until filled; also open for unthemed micro fiction up to 300 words, pays $3, deadline 15th October 2025, or until filled; details here and here.)
Vellum Mortis: Terraform the Damned
Vellum Mortis is a monthly ezine from Crystal Lake Publishing. They publish dark flash fiction on monthly themes. For this month, the theme is Terraform the Damned. “Planet colonization gone wrong, alien infection, isolation.”
Deadline: 7 October 2025
Length: Up to 1,000 words
Pay: $5
Details here (scroll down) and here.
Seaside Gothic
This UK-based magazine publishes art, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction that meet the criteria of seaside gothic literature (it is led by emotion, not reason, exploring the human experience mentally and spiritually as well as physically; it addresses duality—land and sea, love and hate, the beautiful and the grotesque; it connects to the edge, living on the seaside either literally or figuratively, and has one foot in the water and the other on solid ground). They will soon open for submissions.
Reading period: 13 to 19 October 2025
Length: Up to 1,000 words
Pay: £0.01/word
Details here.
Solarpunk Magazine
This is a magazine of solarpunk fiction. “Our fiction editors are interested in works that stir readers with themes of defiance, change, and achievement. This effect isn’t likely to come via high concept utopias alone, but rather, from vibrant characters whose struggles affect the reader. Speculative elements should be apparent but not dominating; our disbelief suspended not by necessity, but immersion. Any genre of science fiction, interstitial fiction, magic realism, or fantasy has potential as a solarpunk forum—we welcome robots and elves with equal excitement.” Nonfiction is open on an ongoing basis.
Deadline: 14th October 2025 for fiction and poetry, nonfiction open on an ongoing basis
Length: 1,500-7,500 words for fiction, 1 poem of up to 3 pages, 1,000-2,000 words for nonfiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction; $40/poem; $75/essay or article
Details here and here.
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.” All submissions must include “What We Talk About When We Talk About” as part of the title for this reading period. Submissions will open 15th October and close mid-December or when their submission cap is met, whichever is earlier. Their Submittable will open during the reading period.
Reading period: 15 October – 15 December 2025, or until filled Length: 1,000-5,000 words for prose, up to 5 poems
Pay: $200 for prose, $50/poem
Details here and here.
Tractor Beam
They publish soilpunk fiction and graphic fiction. “We are looking for original written and graphic works that have actionable soil-based technologies as their premise.
For our upcoming collections, we’re seeking stories exploring a positive future on Earth with an emphasis on soil and agriculture in the winter, the productive role of ice and snow in the seasons, frost and permafrost, future fashion and style, entertainment, and culture. We’re also interested in stories about the ocean and soil under water, soil as tech, soil as the origin of life, and anti-apocalyptic futures.
A perfect Tractor Beam story gets readers thinking: “What if this really could happen?” “What’s the soil science behind it?” “What do I need to learn to be a part of a thriving planet?”
Think optimism! Think cross-genre! A soilpunk romance, spy thriller, coming of age story. Interrogate what it would actually mean for us to successfully take on the climate crisis.”
Deadline: 15 October 2025 (extended)
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $1,000
Details here and here.
Into the Deep, Dark Woods Anthology
This is a fiction and poetry anthology. “Into the Deep, Dark Woods is an anthology exploring the magic and mystery of the primeval wilderness, where tangled branches create a foreboding canopy. Think of the creatures that inhabit the forest and the people who stumble upon them. Behind a towering hickory could be a fairy circle, a dragon’s lair, or a druid’s cairn. The deep, dark woods lurk everywhere—on an alien planet, in the wilderness of a virtual world, or even in your own backyard.
Your story might be about a desperate lost hiker who bargains with a forest creature to find the way home; revolutionaries who combat AI-powered logging machines; a bamboo forest with wish-granting pandas who have a twisted sense of humor; someone hiding from a deadly stalker; or a wood fairy and human whose ill-fated romance might just work out after all.” Accepted genres are fantasy, science fiction, horror, suspense, mystery, humor, and romance. “The setting of “deep, dark woods” must be central to the story. Diverse cultures and non-traditional legends and persons welcomed.” Stories must be PG-13.
Deadline: 15 October 2025
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here.
100-Foot Crow: Yard Sale; Haunt
They want speculative fiction drabbles, of exactly 100 words; horror must also have a speculative element (science fiction or fantasy). They want submissions on two themes for this reading period: Yard Sale and Haunt. Writers can send one story for each theme. See the kind of stories they do not want, and they also list their hard sells. Submission is via a form.
Deadline: 15 October 2025
Length: 100 words
Pay: $8
Details here.
Consequence Forum
They address the human consequences of war and geopolitical violence through literature and art. They accept non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and art. For this issue, their translation feature is The Congo, for which they have detailed guidelines. “For our Volume 18.1 Translations feature, Consequence invites literary translations from the languages of the Congo into English—especially from Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba, Kikongo, Kinyarwanda, and French—that engage with the lived realities and long shadows of war, colonialism, extraction, and displacement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the broader Congo Basin.
We welcome poetry, short fiction, nonfiction, oral histories, personal essays—whether historical or ongoing, collective or deeply personal.”
Deadline: 15 October 2025
Length: Varies
Pay: $20-50
Details here and here.
Flame Tree Anthologies
Flame Tree is open for some fiction anthologies. Please click on the links for individual calls for details.
— No Laughing Matter: This is part of their Beyond & Within series. “We are looking for fiction which embraces the horror/thriller genres with elements of bleak, black humour, wry observation, a touch of irony and satire, and hints of the absurd. Stories that might not be out of place in Psychoville or Inside No. 9. We are not after laugh-out loud humour, gags, shaggy-dog tales, obvious gallows humour – and no puns. We are not aiming to publish a horror version of Terry Pratchett – because, as the title says, it’s no laughing matter. We are after stories in the region of 4000 words.” They do not want reprints for this anthology. They want stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and do not want reprints for this anthology. Deadline 20th October 2025.
— Africanfuturism: “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”.
So, we’re expecting stories from Black African, African-diaspora, African–descent writers. … for this open submission call, the stories should be set in and about Africa – whether that’s a future Africa, an alternative Africa or a parallel Africa, the choice is yours. The genre implies a lean towards science fiction rather than fantasy, and towards positive scenarios and concepts, but of course is open to interpretation”. They want stories of 2,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints. Deadline 2nd November 2025.
— Gilgamesh: This is part of their Myths, Gods & Immortals series. “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: This is part of their Myths, Gods & Immortals series. “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 accept stories of 3,000-4,000 words, and also accept reprints. Deadline 9th November 2025.
Deadlines: See above
Length: See above (will also read stories slightly outside the range)
Pay: $0.08/word for originals, $0.06/word for reprints
Details here (Their blog, with links to all Flame Tree anthology calls)
The Suburban Review: Untrue
The Suburban Review is an Australian literary magazine, and they want submissions on the Untrue theme. “In a time of fake news and counterfeits, scammers and artificial intelligence, tell us how you’re sifting through the layers of conceit. Send us your most suspicious stories, fallacious arguments, and prose that teeters between fact and fiction.
What have you been covering up? Which appearances are deceiving? Is there something that rings false? We’re itching for unreliable characters, fabricated worlds, and deceptive turns of phrase. Is it time to come clean, or will you be keeping up the poker face?” They also take comics and art.
Deadline: 26 October 2025 (5 p.m. AEDT)
Length: 500-2,500 words for fiction, 1,250-2,000 words for nonfiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: Up to AUD450 for fiction, up to AUD550 for poetry, AUD400 for nonfiction
Details here and here.
Cloaked Press: Spring into SciFi Anthology
This is an annual anthology and they want all sub-genres of science fiction. “Spring Into SciFi” will contain stories of Space Exploration, Advanced Technology, AI, Cloning, Robotics and of course, Aliens. We are seeking fresh faces as well as seasoned Science Fiction pros for this yearly anthology.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: 2,500-9,000 words
Pay: $15 or a contributor copy
Details here.
DMR Books: Walpurgis Witcheries Anthology
Walpurgis Witcheries is a fiction anthology, a companion to their Samhain Sorceries anthology. They have detailed guidelines, including, “Like Samhain, Walpurgisnacht is a time when the veil between worlds is at its thinnest. Witches gather at Mount Brocken to celebrate the coming of the spring and to ward off evil spirits. A perfect backdrop for sword-and-sorcery tales!
For clarification, sword-and-sorcery is a genre that combines swashbuckling adventure with supernatural elements (usually of a horrific nature) in a pre-industrial setting. Some of the best-known characters of the genre are Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Cimmerian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric, and Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. … Due to the specific theme of the anthology, stories submitted for Walpurgis Witcheries must be set in Central Europe, and Walpurgis must be integral to the plot.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: 4,000-8,000 words
Pay: $0,01/word, up to $80
Details here.
Inkd Publishing: Rebels
This is a speculative fiction anthology. “Rebels – Rage against the machine, storm the castle, the space alliance against the hegemony, hackers against the oligarchy, or however you envision it.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: 2,000-8,000 words
Pay: Minimum $10 (see guidelines)
Details here (scroll down).
(Inkd Publishing is open for other themed calls too – Phantom Dusk, deadline 30th November and Dance, When They Want You to Cower, a fiction anthology with queer protagonists, deadline 15th December – details here.)
Cupid’s Arrow Publishing: Dalliances Anthology – Swashes and Buckles
Cupid’s Arrow Publishing accepts stories for themed romance anthologies. For the Swashes and Buckles anthology, “We are looking for lusty tales that take place upon the seven seas—and if they involve pirates, even better!” They do not want erotica. Submission is via a form on their website.
Deadline: 31 October 2025 (extended)
Length: 2,000-6,000 words
Pay: $0.02/word
Details here
(See their other calls, which are open until filled, on this page.)
My Galvanized Friend: Centering Joy
This literary magazine only accepts works (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art) from LGBTQ+ writers in the US. They want submissions on the Centering Joy theme. “We invite submissions that center joy, ways to protect the sweetness in your life, and to microdose pleasure wherever possible. Insisting on joy is crucial when the world and politics are trying to suppress queerness, pride, or anything that deviates from the repressed and espoused ideals. Share your joy, that tender resistance.”
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Length: 500-3,500 words for prose, up to 2 pages of poetry
Pay: $25 for prose, $10/page of poetry
Details here and here
(And, Foglifter journal, which accepts work by LGBTQ+ writers only, wants submissions on the Body Politics theme for their special online issue, the deadline for this is 15th October; they’re also reading for their unthemed print issue till 1st November 2025. They pay $100 for print, have a Writers in Need fund for contributors, and are also open for a poetry chapbook contest for SF Bay Area authors. Details here and here.)
Thema: Today’s Onerous Task
They publish three themed issues a year. They accept short stories, essays, poetry, and art. Their upcoming theme is Today’s Onerous Task, and the deadline is 1 November 2025; they have other themes too, with other deadlines. They also accept reprints. Only writers outside of the US can submit by email, US-based writers have to post their submissions.
Deadline: 1 November 2025 (see guidelines)
Length: Up to 20 pages for fiction, up to 3 poems
Pay: $10-25
Details here.
Ninth Letter: Performance
There is no fee to submit to their themed submission call for the web, for the Performance theme. “To perform is to, for some audience, create the illusion that reality is this, rather than that. We do this everywhere–our social (and social media) lives, our dress, our relationships, our feelings, our genders, all performed in their ways; all around us there is the low hum of wishful artifice imparting an intended impression onto seen and unseen—perhaps even imaginary–spectators. Taken to its logical conclusion, a reasonable, if cynical, truth emerges: performance, in our day-to-day, is so essential, so inextricable from our quote-unquote “authentic selves,” that perhaps the authentic self is simply the sum of a lifetime of performances–that the show has somehow become its own type of truth. In professional wrestling, the word for this is “kayfabe”–the unspoken agreement that not only is the show inextricable from reality, but that, in essence, the performance is the reality. Or is it? How do we perform, and for whom?”
Deadline: 1 November 2025 (for web)
Length: Up to 3,500 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: $75 for prose, $25/poem
Details here.
(There is a fee to submit to Ninth Letter’s unthemed print edition, with a fee-free period in December – see guidelines.)
The First Line Journal
They want fiction (any genre) and poetry that begins with pre-set first lines, one for each quarterly issue (they primarily want fiction, and also accept some poetry). For nonfiction, they want critical articles about your favorite first line from a literary work. For fiction and poetry, the first line for the Winter issue is:
‘When anyone in town needed help, they contacted Rocky Germain.’
Deadline: 1 November 2025 for the Winter issue
Length: 300-5,000 words for fiction; 500-800 words for nonfiction
Pay: $25-50 for fiction, $25 for nonfiction, $10 for poetry (less postage fee for international contributors – see guidelines)
Details here.
Utopia Science Fiction: Alien Celebrations
They publish utopian science fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art. They have detailed guidelines, please read them carefully. Their next upcoming theme is Alien Celebrations – “Bring us tales of celebrations from the far reaches of the galaxy!” This is also their Art special issue (see guidelines).
Deadline: 1 November 2025
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.
(Utopia Science Fiction has other themes listed too, with later deadlines; see guidelines.)
Full Bleed: Inheritance
Full Bleed is an annual print and online journal devoted to the intersection of the visual and literary arts. They have detailed guidelines for the Inheritance theme, including, “We are especially interested in innovative projects combining word, image, and design; collaborations between writers and artists; ekphrastic creations; and ambitious critical essays.
Inheritances take on many forms: wealth, land, keepsakes, genetic material, artifacts, entire archives. We can also be said to inherit ideas and aesthetic traditions, political conflict, inequities, trauma, ecologies, or systems of belief. An inheritance may be a blessing or a curse. It can be life-changing and marked by turmoil or escape notice entirely. In some cases, a rightful inheritance can be forsaken, destroyed, or stolen, leaving future generations deprived of access to or understanding of the past. Essentially, an inheritance can be seen as a measure of the past’s ties to the present and future, of the bonds between generations and disparate peoples. Likewise, acts of dispossession can sever or disrupt such bonds.” … “We will consider critical essays, creative nonfiction, poetry, short stories, visual art, and hybrid, genre-bending works.”
Deadline: 1 November 2025
Length: Up to 4,000 words for prose; up to 3 poems
Pay: $25-50
Details here and here.
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.
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 … Think:
- A cursed ferryman who chants the names of the dead to keep the living from being overrun by ghosts
- A haunted lighthouse that lights itself whenever someone’s soul is at risk
- A lost traveler guided through a place they should never have been in by a shadowy figure holding a flickering lantern”
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.
Lucky Jefferson: Bond
Lucky Jefferson publishes social change. For their upcoming print issue, they want submissions on the Bond theme. “In collaboration with currently incarcerated artist Juan Hernandez, Bond invites currently and previously incarcerated individuals, as well as those connected to them, to share creative works that explore the unconventional relationships shaped by incarceration. This could include connections to objects, communal ties, or bonds formed within the carceral system.
Participants—including friends, family, and pen pals—are encouraged to submit poetry, essays, comics, graphic art, and more to share stories that reveal the human need for connection.”
Deadline: Until filled
Length: Up to 1,000 words for prose, up to 3 poems
Pay: $30
Details here and here (see the relevant category on Submittable).
(And, for The Last Girls Club, afeminist horror magazine, the upcoming theme is Secret Police, ICE, and the Disappeared. Send up to 2,500 words for fiction, or up to 3 poems. Query for nonfiction/reviews. Pays $0.015/word for fiction, $10 for poetry, deadline 15 October 2025, or until filled. Details here and here.)
Angry Gable Press: Cozy in the Apocalypse Anthology
They speculative fiction (flash and short) and poetry (science fiction, fantasy, horror, and Weird) for this anthology. “Hoping to create contrasting emotions with apocalyptic settings, we require pieces that capture the interplay of two specific different themes in this call: cozy and apocalypse. What does cozy mean to us?
Cozy means comfortable or comforting: soft sunsets, kittens mewing in their sleep, or sipping coffee as the chickadees chirp in the morning. We want at least one scene exploring cozy in this manner.Okay… but what about apocalypse?
Apocalypse should be the setting in which you place your piece. It can be in a pre-, mid-, or post-apocalypse. And we see an apocalypse as a major event that changes the norms of a society. That includes our Earth, but any number of other Earths, or realities you feel like writing about.” Submission is via a form.
Deadline: Until filled
Length: 500-8,000 words for fiction, up to 3 poems (see guidelines)
Pay: $25 for fiction, $20 for poetry
Details here and here.
THEMED CONTESTS
(Apart from the themed contests below, there are also some unthemed contests open now, including:
— Hand to Mouth Books – Charles Potts Poetry Award: For a debut poetry manuscript, at least 85 pages; award $1,000 and publication; deadline: 15 October 2025, details here.
— Poetic Justice Institute: Editor’s Prize for BIPOC writers: For a poetry manuscript of 50-100 pages, no entry fee for BIPOC writers; award $1,000 and publication by Fordham Press, deadline: 15 October 2025, details here and here.
— Writers Omi Residency: Residency is at Ledig House, a couple of hours north of New York City; residency of one week to two months; no cash award; they also have a translation lab. Published writers and translators can apply; no cash prize; deadline: 15 October 2025; details here.
— The Society of Authors: The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Awards: For UK, Ireland, or Commonwealth based authors, for a short story of up to 5,000 words, published or unpublished; applicants must have had at least one short story published or accepted for publication; awards £2,000, £1,000, £500, deadline: 31 October 2025; details here.
— Bennington College Young Writers Award: An international contest for young writers (two categories, grades 9-11 and grade 12), for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry; Young Writers Award finalists and winners also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington of up to $60,000/year (see here); prizes $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250 in each category; deadline: 1 November 2025; details here and here.
— John Updike Tucson Casitas Fellowship: A cash award and a two-week residency at the Mission Hill Casitas in Tucson, Arizona; for writers with any type of literary project, including multimedia, and for scholars working on Updike criticism; award $1,000, residency, deadline: 1 November 2025; details here (scroll down for the Tucson Casitas Fellowship)
— The Commonwealth Short Story Prize: For writers from the Commonwealth, see eligible countries here – for short fiction, any genre, 2,000-5,000 words. They take entries in several languages apart from English, and translated stories. Award £5,000, regional prizes £2,500 each, deadline: 1 November 2025; details here.
— Cave Canem: Derricotte/Eady Prize: For chapbook-length manuscripts by Black poets, includes a monetary prize, publication, and a residency at The Writer’s Room at The Betsy Hotel-South Beach, deadline: 3 November 2025; details here and here.)
One Story: Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship
This is for an early-career writer of fiction who has not yet published a book and is not currently nor has ever been enrolled in an advanced degree program – see guidelines. “We are seeking writers whose work speaks to issues and experiences related to inhabiting bodies of difference. This means writing that centers, celebrates, or reclaims being marginalized through the lens of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, religion, illness, disability, trauma, migration, displacement, dispossession, or imprisonment.” Apart from the $2,000 stipend and tuition to attend One Story’s week-long summer writers’ conference, it offers free tuition for all One Story online classes and programming; a full manuscript review & consultation with One Story Executive Editor Hannah Tinti (story collection or novel in progress up to 150 pages/35,000 words). A fiction writing sample of 3,000-5,000 words is part of the submission requirement.
Value: $2,000
Deadline: 8 October 2025
Open for: Early-career writers of fiction (see guidelines)
Details here and here (see the relevant category)
(And, One Story will open for fiction submissions in the Fall; see here. Their One Teen Story Contest for teenagers is also open now, with a deadline in early December, see their Submittable.)
Latino Voices in Children’s Literature Writing Contest
Free Spirit and Con Todo Press are now open for a Latino Voices in Children’s Literature contest. “The contest is open to Latino authors who are at least 18 years of age or older and residing anywhere in the United States. The contest’s mission is to elevate authentic, culturally relevant children’s stories written by and about Latino people. Every entry is considered for publication and three cash prizes will be awarded.” It is for children’s books; there are two categories, 0-4 and 4-8; see their detailed guidelines. Apart from cash prizes, there are non-cash prizes as well.
Value: $1,000, $500, $300
Deadline: 13 October 2025
Open for: Latino authors in the US
Details here and here.
Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction: Fandoms
This prize is run by Comma Press and the University of Lancashire. Send a short story between 2,000 – 7,500 words, on the Fandoms theme. “The theme for this year’s prize is Fandoms, paying homage to Dinesh’s dedication to jazz and love of cricket. Your story could feature characters raving about a football team, mad about a boyband or deeply committed to their favourite hobby, be it chess, crochet or stamp collecting.
We encourage writers to think outside the box and consider both the positive and negative aspects of fandom and fanaticism. Feel free to play with style and genre as you navigate this all-encompassing world.” The winning story, and shortlisted stories, will be published in an anthology.
Value: £500 for the winning story
Deadline: 13 October 2025
Open for: UK writers
Details here.
Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship
This is for a poet of American birth, who is willing to spend a year outside the continent of North America. While many recent winners have been published poets, there is no requirement that applicants have previously published their work. Applications have to be mailed. One of the requirements is a poetry sample.
Value: Approximately $76,000 adjusted for inflation; if there are two winners, each will receive the full amount
Deadline: 15 October 2025 (must be received by this date)
Open for: Poets of American birth (see guidelines)
Details here (application instructions), here (FAQ – includes link to application form), and here (home page).
Preservation Foundation Essay Contest: Travel Nonfiction
They want essays, 1,000-5,000 words, by unpublished writers (see guidelines). They are currently reading for the Travel Nonfiction category – “Stories should be factual and true accounts of a trip taken by the author or a person or persons known by the author.” Please read the guidelines carefully; “contest runners-up and winners are expected to remain on the site for as long as the Preservation Foundation exists.”
Value: $200; $100
Deadline: 30 October 2025
Open for: All unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
U.S. Naval Institute General Prize Essay Contest
This prize is for an essay of up to 3,000 words on rethinking how the US Sea Services will have to address national, strategic, and operational challenges in an era of intense global competition, and how they will have to fight – see guidelines for the theme details/suggestions. The contest is open to “all contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians”, according to their guidelines.
Value: $6,000, $3,000, $2,000
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: “All contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians”
Details here and here.
(See all of their contests that are currently open here.)
Drinking Gourd Chapbook Prize
This is a prize for a poetry chapbook of 25-35 pages. It is for poets of color with US citizenship who have not previously published a book-length volume of poetry (inclusive of chapbooks). Apart from a cash prize, winner also gets publication by Northwestern University Press and fifteen copies of the book.
Value: $500
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: Poets of color with US citizenship, for debut poetry works (see guidelines)
Details here and here (download the entry form).
The Young Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
This is a prize for young UK writers for two categories, ages 11-15 and 16-19. They want historical fiction of 800-2,000 words. The fiction can be in any form – a story or an extract from a longer work, a poem or drama script, a fictional diary, letters, or reportage. The story can be set at any time in history, as long as it is an identifiable period before the author was born, in a world recognisably different from the present. They want mailed entries only.
Value: £500 travel voucher, publication
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: See above
Details here (download entry form / T&C).
The Society of Authors: The Eric Gregory Awards
These are for young UK poets. The work submitted may be a published or unpublished volume of poetry (up to 30 poems), drama-poems or belles-lettres. The prize purse for these awards is unspecified. “Winners of the Eric Gregory Awards are invited to a free solo week residency at Thomas Cottage. Part of a historic farmhouse in the Lake District hamlet of Hartsop, the cottage is in a beautiful location in the rising fells just south of Ullswater.”
Value: Unspecified, residency
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: Poets who are British nationals or living in the UK/North Ireland aged 30 or under
Details here.
(The Society of Authors also has other awards, including those with end-October deadline – The Queen’s Knicker Awards for children’s picture books published in the UK; the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize for a published novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home; Somerset Maugham Awards, enabling young writers to enrich their work through experience of foreign countries, for a published work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry; see all of SOA’s prizes here and grants here.)
The Society of Authors: The Betty Trask Prize
This is for UK, Ireland, or Commonwealth (see guidelines) based writers under 35, for a debut novel. Writers can enter a published or self-published book or an unpublished manuscript which must be in a traditional or romantic, and not experimental, style.
Value: £10,000 for the winner, and a fund of £16,200 will be divided equally between shortlisted authorsDeadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: UK, North Ireland, Commonwealth writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
The Society of Authors: The McKitterick Prize
This prize is for an author over the age of 40 for a debut fiction novel, published or self-published in the UK (see guidelines), or unpublished. The author must not have had a novel published before, barring works for children. For unpublished manuscripts, submit the first 30 pages; longlisted authors will be asked to provide the full manuscript. And, “The novel must be a full length work in the English language by one author (not a translation, poetry, or short story collection and not a work for children).
The work must be a work of ‘fiction or imagination or substantially of fiction or imagination’.”
Value: £4,000, £2,000, £1,000
Deadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: Debut novelists over 40
Details here.
The African Poetry Book Fund: Evaristo Prize for African Poetry
The African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) runs writing contests, and the deadline for the Evaristo Prize is in November. The Evaristo Prize for African Poetry was formerly called the Brunel International African Poetry Prize. It is 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 (self-published poetry books, chapbooks, and pamphlets are exempt). These poems, though, may have already been published. Writers need to submit 10 poems exactly, of up to 40 lines each. Only poems written in English can be considered, but they accept poems in translation too. In the case that the winning work is translated, a percentage of the prize money would be awarded to the translator. Submission is via Submittable.
Value: £1,500 their
Deadline: 1 November 2025
Open for: African poets
Details here (guidelines).
(APBG is also for the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, deadline 1 December 2025, see here and here.)
(A few contests with later deadlines are:
— PEN/Robert J Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers
This is an award 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 (see FAQ – scroll down on the guidelines page). The award is $2,000 each, and the deadline is 25 November 2025. Details here and here.
— ServiceScape Short Story Award: For this award, any genre or theme of short story is accepted. All applicants should submit a work of short fiction or non-fiction, 5,000 words or fewer. Read the guidelines carefully – they reserve the right to modify or terminate the contest at any time without prior notice. The winner gets $1,000, deadline 30 November 2025, and it is open for all writers. Details here.
— 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. The prize is $10,000 advance against royalties, and the deadline is 30 November 2025. Details here. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition, the deadline for that is 14th December 2025.
— One Teen Story Contest: This is a fiction contest for writers ages 13-19 by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest. The deadline is 1 December 2025, and the prize is $500. See this page for details about this prize, and go to One Story’s Submittable page to submit, and also for all open calls.)
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
