These are themed calls and contests for writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the calls are: bleak midwinter; solarpunk; double; women and the sea; Sherlock is a girl’s name; food; crack in the code (robots going off programming); dark rainbow rising (LGBTQ+ horror); science fiction tarot; and oceans. Also see this list from last month, for a few upcoming themed calls.
THEMED CALLS
Sans. PRESS: Into Chaos Anthology
They are looking for stories of that respond to their title, Into Chaos, and/or cover art. “All genres of writing are welcome, as long as they explore a story of embracing the unknown (which can be as real or as magic as your heart desires)! More than any specific story or style, we want the emotional response the title and artwork evokes in you.”
Deadline: 6 September 2022
Length: Up to 5,000 words
Pay: €150
Details here.
Science Write Now: Science, Disability, and the Body
This is an Australian publication, and they support creative writing about science. They accept poems, short stories, book reviews, or literary or personal essays. For the upcoming issue, they want to “explore the myriad relationships between science, disability and the body in creative and engaging ways.” They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 12 September 2022
Length: Up to 2,500 words for prose, up to 4 poems
Pay: AUD0.30/word up to AUD390 for new writing, AUD70/poem up to AUD180 for poems
Details here.
Quill & Crow Publishing: Two themes
They are reading submissions for two fiction anthologies – Bleak Midwinter, and Rituals & Grimoires.
— Bleak Midwinter – An Anthology of Gothic Horror: They want winter horror stories for this anthology. “We are looking for stories that encompass the darkness of the season and literary themes over Christmas/Krampus gore. Think of stories like The Shining or even Dickens’s A Christmas Carol more than slasher-style Black Christmas.” They’re looking for psychological horror, slow-burn horror, themes of death/darkness, gothic horror, historical horror, literary horror, and gothic/macabre elements; modern settings will be considered only if they maintain a Gothic feel. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 13 September 2022
Length: 5,000-8,000 words
Pay: $40-45 (see guidelines)
Details here.
— Rituals & Grimoires – Gothic Tales of Dark Magic & Wizardry: For this anthology, Quill & Crow wants dark fiction that invokes “the nefarious spirit of the dark wizard. We’d love to see diverse characters, male witches, and stories that turn tired tropes right on their heads. Give us haunted corridors, wayward spellcasters, and secret societies. Give us tales that explore the mortal grays in witchcraft. … We will be open to explorations of dark academia, but this is an adult fiction anthology. If you do choose to write a dark fiction story with dark academia vibes, please keep the prose and themes mature. They want dark fiction, dark magical fantasy, magical horror, historical horror, dark themes, Gothic elements, literary horror, fantasy/horror blends, and dark academia. Also see the list of things they are not looking for, including young adult stories, and extreme horror/extreme erotica.
Deadline: 1 October 2022
Length: 5,000-8,000 words
Pay: $40-45
Details here.
(– And submissions are open for Winter of Wonder: Fauna stories from Cloaked Press. “Give us your fantastical creatures, supernatural beasts, genetically modified organisms, or even plain out of this world space monstrosities. Be they on Earth or some other world, we want to hear about them.” Send stories of 2,500-8,500 words. Pay is $15 or an author copy, and the deadline is 15 September 2022; details here.
— Submissions are also open for The Theatre Phantasmagoria’s October theme, which is Something Wicked – they want stories of autumn, Halloween, and witchcraft. The deadline is 30 September. Pay is £10 for stories up to 2,000 words. Details here.)
Solarpunk Magazine
They want solarpunk submissions for their 2023 issues – fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art; this section describes what solarpunk is. For fiction, they want “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.” For nonfiction, they want reviews, interviews, reports, articles, essays, and general audience-aimed overviews of academic papers relevant to solarpunk. Scroll down to see details of editors’ preferences. Please note, their November reading period is cancelled.
Deadline: 14 September 2022
Length: 500-7500 words for fiction, up to five poems, 1,000-2,000 words for nonfiction
Pay: $0.08/word for fiction, $40/poem, $75/essay or article
Details here.
(– And DreamForge Magazine will open for fiction and poetry submissions from 22 September through 15 October 2022 and they’d prefer to see more solarpunk and hopepunk, though they are also open to all genres of SF/Fantasy, provided they are not focused on horror and/or dark outcomes. Pay $0.07/word is for stories of 200-5,000 words, and $25 for poems. Details here.
— Submissions will also open for World Weaver Press’ Solarpunk Creatures anthology in October – do not send submissions now. Details here.
— And Strange Horizons opens for speculative fiction submissions on 3rd October and will close when a submission cap is reached, they publish stories up to 10,000 words and pay $0.10/word, details here.)
Aniko Press: Double
They publish poetry, flash fiction, short stories and creative nonfiction by writers from Australia and around the world. They want submissions on the ‘Double’ theme. “Think doppelgängers, body doubles, déjà vu. What does it mean to live a double life? Explore double crosses, double standards or double-edged swords. Or name a more iconic duo – we’ll wait.”
Deadline: 15 September 2022
Length: Up to 1,500 words for prose, up to 50 lines for poetry
Pay: AUD125
Details here.
Eye to the Telescope: Quest
This is a speculative poetry magazine. Their guidelines say, “The hero’s journey is one of the oldest forms of storytelling. It has many components that can go in a thousand directions with a thousand faces. Your quest, should you care to accept, is to use one part of the hero’s journey as the focus of your quest poem. It could be a call to adventure or the refusal of that call. Meeting of a new mentor and its consequences, or facing an ordeal that creates inner change. Perhaps it is the moment of return when the hero brings new understanding to her people. Let the twelve steps of the Hero’s Journey be your inspiration.” They also accept translations.
Deadline: 15 September 2022
Length: Up to 3 poems
Pay: $0.04/word (up to $25)
Details here.
Obsolescence: A Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Anthology
They want short stories focused on horrifying or fantastical interactions with technology. “We want to stress the definition of “technology” ranges from modern smartphones and smart house IOT devices, back to some of humanity’s earliest inventions, like the wheel or the written word itself.”
Deadline: 16 September 2022
Length: 2,000-5,000 words
Pay: $0.06/word
Details here.
Rough Cut Press: Exile
They publish work by LGBTQ+ artists – fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are open year-round, with cut-off dates for themed issues. They are reading submissions on the ‘Exile’ theme. According to their website, “We seek personal, lyrical, critical, and experimental work in under 650 words.”
Deadline: 27 September 2022
Length: Up to 650 words
Pay: $25
Details here.
Women and the Sea Anthology
This is a fiction anthology. “Deep, mysterious, beautiful, dangerous… women and the sea have a lot in common and have been tied together in myth and story from the beginning of time. Stories of women being drawn to the sea or being left on the shore, waiting for their men’s return, have been passed down through the ages. This anthology of stories about women and the sea will be filled with beautiful, atmospheric stories. I’m not primarily looking for fantastical creatures but rather setting, mood.
The mythic.
The gothic.
The tranquility of sunlight dancing upon placid waters and the deep moon energy of rising tides and waves slamming against rocks. I want lonely lighthouses on rocky outcroppings, wind-whipped hair and melancholia, transformation and exaltation. Salt and sorrow.” The editor also says, “Speculative elements and fantastical creatures are welcome in these stories but I’m also open to non-spec stories which fit the theme.”
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: CAD50
Details here.
(– Submissions are also open for the Merciless Mermaids: Tails from the Deep anthology, for fiction and poetry. “We’re sounding the ship’s bell for stories about malevolent and merciless merfolk of all kinds. Give us your mermaids who fought for the wrong reasons, made tough by their circumstances or by their own choices. Show us their schemes and villainous wiles, the fairytales that end in blood. Or laughter. Tempt us with their twisted workings across time and space, colors and creeds.” Also, “Original “dark mermaid” short stories and poetry in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror, humor, and romance, appropriate for a “PG-13” audience. Mermaids must be integral to the story. Diverse cultures and non-traditional legends and persons welcomed.” Pay is $0.07/word for stories up to 5,000 words. The deadline is 7 October 2022; details here.
— And Dead & Bloated – Extreme Horror Anthology submissions are also open, from The Evil Cookie Publishing. The theme is water, they want extreme horror, splatterpunk, and dark humor. Pay is $0.03/word for stories up to 3,000 words, the deadline is 1 October 2022. Details here.)
Mocha Memoir Press: Crack in the Code – Cybernated Stories of Rebellion
They publish diverse speculative fiction. They want “Science fiction and fantasy stories where the androids, robots, and/or cyborgs have been naughty, going off programming, cracking their internal code, etc. Give us dramatic stories, mischievous stories, stories that stun, but not offend us. This call is seeking unpublished short stories where the artificial lives become alive and share their stories. If you can take the story out of westernized culture, we’d love to see those, too! We want stories that speak of inclusivity. So, if your robot/cyborg/android is disabled or suffers from an ailment, send those stories too. LGBTQ+ stories are also encouraged.” For this anthology, they also accept reprints.
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Up to 7,500 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
Clan Destine Press: Sherlock is a girl’s name
This is an anthology about a female-identifying Sherlock Holmes, written by women. The detective can be young or old, and the stories set in any time, place, or culture. “Of course, wherever there is Holmes, Watson must follow – in this anthology Watson could be nonbinary, female- or male-identifying, queer or straight. Whatever suits your setting.
Who is Ms Sherlock Holmes in your story? Who is her Watson?
Her clients? And what are the mysteries only she can solve?” The detective’s name must be Sherlock Holmes, or the local cultural equivalent, and they’d love a Holmesian-style adventure and mystery.
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Up to 5,000 words (can write longer, but payment capped at 5,000 words)
Pay: AUD0.05/word
Details here.
(Belanger Books also has some great calls for Sherlock Holmes anthologies, and they welcome submissions by all writers – see here.)
Renaissance Press: There’s No Place – Tales of Home by Storytellers Who Have Experienced Homelessness
This is an international fiction anthology by those with lived experience of homelessness (inclusive – see guidelines). “The theme of the collection is, simply, HOME. This is not limited to physical spaces; home can be a person, an item, a memory, a sensation. The theme can be interpreted broadly, but home should be at the heart of your story.
This collection will be limited to short stories—we are seeking fiction only. While lived experience will inform the stories told, our hope is to share tales of home imagined into being.” While the publisher, Renaissance Press, will prioritize diverse Canadian voices, all writers who have experienced homelessness in some form are encouraged to submit. Stories can be in any genre. Also, “For this anthology, we are defining homelessness as:
Unsheltered (you have lived in a place not designated for human habitation, outdoors, in public spaces, etc.)
Emergency Sheltered (you have used an overnight shelter, a transitional shelter, a space for those impacted by violence, displacement, crisis, etc.)
Provisionally Accommodated (you have couch-surfed, lived in temporary accommodations, lived in a foster or group home, etc.)”
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: 500-3,500 words
Pay: CAD0.08/word
Details here.
Brigids Gate Press: Gothic Romance Anthology
This is a fiction call for women and non-binary authors only. They want “gothic romances that are equal parts horror and romance. The short stories should be mysterious, atmospheric, and include a HEA (or happy for now).”
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: 2,000-6,000 words
Pay: $0.08/word
Details here.
The Kenyon Review: Two themes
This prestigious magazine is open for two themed submission calls in September, as well as for unthemed work – fiction and nonfiction (including flash), poetry, and drama. The themes are Women’s Health, and Food.
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Up to 7,500 words for prose, up to 6 poems, up to 30 pages for plays
Pay: Unspecified
Details here.
Griffith Review: Counterfeit Culture
This prestigious Australian literary magazine wants nonfiction – essays, memoir, reportage – which responds to the theme of Counterfeit Culture. (Writers can send fiction too, but it doesn’t have to respond to the theme; and they will open a poetry call in October). “This edition of Griffith Review lifts the curtain on fakes, frauds and forgeries. Counterfeit Culture treads the tightrope between art and lies, exploring the appeal of stories, objects, bodies or experiences that offer the false promise of authenticity. How do we define what’s real and what’s not in a time of influencers and identity scams, counterfeits and cosmetic surgeries, disinformation and threats to democracy? From the imitation game and the uncanny valley to con artistry, trickery and scams, artifice makes the world go round – but perhaps all is not as it seems.”
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Prefer up to 4,000 words
Pay: Unspecified
Details here (general guidelines) and here (theme details).
Crystal Lake Publishing: Unspeakable Horror 3 – Dark Rainbow Rising
This is a fiction anthology, and they want submissions from all writers. They have extensive guidelines, including, “When the pendulum of civil rights and social change initiatives swings toward progress, the LGBTQIA community often holds its collective breath in anticipation of the inevitable backlash when the pendulum swings back. Even with these gains, we are constantly looking over our shoulder—waiting for the next shoe to drop, for the next attack on our personhood. The community’s enemies see progress as a perceived danger to their own heteronormative bubbles—and any advancement threatens to burst those fragile bubbles. Even as we hoist the rainbow flag in celebration, a dark rainbow rises on the horizon…For this third volume of the award-winning Unspeakable Horror series, we are seeking original short stories … that explore this idea of great terror growing from the LGBTQIA community’s great strides forward. We want your terrifying interpretations and extensions of this theme—not a literal reading.” Stories can be set in any time period, as long as the narrative includes some historical LGBTQ+ civil rights/social movement/moment as a direct or indirect backdrop. This is an LGBTQIA/horror anthology. Stories must have a strong, central gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer focus/slant/theme.
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Length: Up to 6,000 words
Pay: $0.10/word
Details here.
Mythulu Magazine: Symbiosis
They publish speculative fiction, nonfiction, and cartoons/graphic panels. They’re reading work for the Symbiosis theme. “Submit co-authored stories in any genre. Also looking for non-fiction commentary and experiences with co-created projects. Co-authoring is rising in popularity, both as a way to satiate the ravenous demand of readers more quickly, and to leverage team imaginative advantages. We’re curious about the pros and cons of this strategy. Naturally, we also host a Devil’s Advocate column to whoever provides the best cautionary advice regarding cooperative labor.” Deadline: 1 October 2022
Length: 500-2,800 words for fiction; 200-1,200 words for nonfiction; up to 8 pages for graphic-style stories
Pay: $0.04/word for creative works, capped at $75 for short stories; $0.08/word for nonfiction; $30/page up to $150 for graphic stories
Details here.
The Last Line Literary Journal
Writers have to send a piece of fiction which ends with a pre-set line: “The shredder roared to life, grinding the letter into tiny pieces of confetti.”
Deadline: 1 October 2022
Length: 300-5,000 words
Pay: $20-40 (please see their note about international payments)
Details here.
tdotSpec: The Science Fiction Tarot
This science fiction anthology “will contain 22 stories, one tale standing in for each of the cards of the major arcane. … Each author will be expected to submit a 1-3 word science fiction concept for a card, along with a story that exhibits that idea through character, plot or theme. Please have a clear archetype, setting, or SF subgenre and center your submission around the concept: the focus of the tale should be the idea conveyed, not tarot cards themselves.” Please see the website for examples. They also accept reprints.
Deadline: 4 October 2022
Length: Up to 7,500 words (but stories up to 5,000 words have the best chance of being accepted)
Pay: $0.03/word
Details here.
Hawk and Cleaver: The Other Stories – five themes
They publish horror, sci-fi, and thriller fiction on their podcast, The Other Stories, according to their website. They want tales that terrify, scar and haunt. They have some themed call deadlines coming up; and writers can send up to two stories per theme.
— Possession; deadline 15th October 2022
— Mother Nature; deadline 1st November 2022
— Tunnels; deadline 1st December 2022
— Strange Weather; deadline 1st January 2023
— Imaginary Friends; deadline 15th January 2023
Deadlines: See above
Length: Up to 2,000 words
Pay: £15
Details here (click on submission form for length and other details).
Stormbird Press: Our Ocean’d Earth
Their website says, “This call is for nonfiction or fiction writing that conveys one clear and unified message: that our oceans are worth fighting for.
To help restore a culture of inspiration and reverence towards Earth’s oceans we are looking for masterfully woven stories from a range of perspectives—from marine life researchers to conservationists, free divers to writers with a deep connection to the sea, and more—who can reveal secrets of the oceans and their inhabitants, or have in some way formed a unique bond with an ocean or its marine life.” Their ideal submissions will be about defending nature and empowering communities.
Deadline: 30 October 2022
Length: 1,000-3,000 words
Pay: €200
Details here.
(And Reckoning Magazine is also reading submissions on the Oceans theme, deadline 22 September 2022, a paying market, details here.)
Farmer-ish: Solstice Hygge
This magazine wants creative and engaging content on farming, homesteading, raising animals, cooking, making, and raising a family. They publish expository essays, poetry, personal essays, creative nonfiction, instructional or how-to essays, farmer profiles, recipes, and book reviews. They have a list of the things they like to cover in the magazine; some of these are nature, gardening, sustainable living, transcendentalism, recipes, and food and health. They are reading submissions on the Solstice Hygge theme for the Winter Solstice 2022 issue. They accept pitches, as well as direct submissions.
Deadline: 25 November for pitches, 1 December 2022 for submissions
Length: 1,000 words for general essays and how-to essays; 1,000-2,000 words for personal narrative essays; poetry can be any length, but they prefer short to medium
Pay: $25
Details here.
THEMED CONTESTS
The Blackness on Sea Poetry Prize
Their website says, this “is a quest to find a poem of genuine literary merit to become a lasting legacy for The Lobster Pot Pub and this delightful Village on the Firth of Forth. (The prize) will be awarded for the poem judged to be of most literary merit containing a reference, not necessarily complimentary, to “The Lobster Pot” and “Blackness on Sea” somewhere in the composition. … Remember the poems do not need to be about the Pub or the Village, just a fleeting mention of these to give a point to the competition.”
Value: £1,000; £200
Deadline: 7 September 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here.
National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship
This is an international mentorship program for emerging translators (there are no residency requirements, barring the one supported by their Visible Communities programme). The programme aims to develop successive new cohorts of literary translators into English, particularly for languages whose literature is currently under-represented in English translation. The scheme matches up experienced translators with emerging translators for a six-month period during which they work together on practical translation projects. The confirmed languages for the 2022 NCW Emerging Translator Mentorship programme are Latvian and Norwegian. There are also 2 x Visible Communities Mentorships: one mentorship for a UK-based Black or Brown literary translator and one for a UK-based literary translator from the diaspora, heritage or community languages of the UK. The mentorship will include a residential weekend as well as access to various (UK) industry events such as International Translation Day and London Book Fair. Samples of mentees’ work will also be published in an anthology. The application includes a sample translation of up to 2,000 words of prose or up to 100 lines poetry or dramatic text along with the corresponding source text.
Value: £500 bursary and reasonable travel expenses associated with the mentorship (see guidelines)
Deadline: 8 September 2022
Open for: Emerging translators
Details here.
University of Bristol: The Secret Life of Data – short story competition
This is an international fiction contest, and they want stories on The Secret Life of Data. “When we think about the security of data on our phones and computers, we might think about passwords and permissions, or about data encryption – but we rarely think about what our data looks like, or what it does as it moves around hidden inside our phones, computers, digital devices, our apps and networks. This secret life of data – the traces, bits, and fragments of personal information that we leave behind us online – is the focus of this short story competition.
We are looking for creative stories that bring to life the secret life of data – perhaps imagining this life as a journey, a quest, a romance, or a tragedy; thinking of a computer’s internal architecture as a house, a jungle, a zoo, or a city; and the data as characters facing danger in the form of various digital threats and vulnerabilities.” Send stories of up to 4,000 words. Stories can be written in any style and can be based on any genre (e.g. Myth, Mystery, Crime, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Horror, Romance, YA, Children’s, etc.).
Value: £1000, 2nd prize – £500, 3rd prize – £250
Deadline: 12 September 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Last Stanza Poetry Journal: Who are You?
They award one prize to an outstanding poem, from general submissions to their journal. The theme for issue #10 is Who are You? “As with every issue, poems submitted do not need to follow the prompt/theme. … A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem. There is never a reading fee. An interview with the prize winner will be published in the same or next issue (optional).
Poems can be any style, but preferably non-rhyming. Submit up to five poems, each no longer than 64 lines”.
Value: $100
Deadline: 15 September 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here.
Ayn Rand Institute: Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest
This is an international essay contest for students. It is for 12th graders, college undergraduates and graduate students. Write an essay of 800-1,600 words on one of three specific topics centred around Ayn Rand’s novel, Atlas Shrugged — click on ‘Topics’ under the ‘Atlas Shrugged’ tab. (Submissions are also open for student contests centered around Anthem and The Fountainhead, with deadlines next year.)
Value: $10,000, $2,500, $500, $100, $25
Deadline: 26 September 2022
Open for: All 12th graders, college undergraduates and graduate students
Details here.
Speculative Literature Foundation’s Working Class Writers Grant
This grant is to help writers of speculative literature. This grant is awarded annually to assist working class, blue-collar, poor, and homeless writers, and writers from these backgrounds, who have been historically underrepresented in speculative fiction due to financial barriers. Unlike their other grants, writers may receive this grant anonymously or pseudonymously. They have other grant submission periods coming up.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Open for: All writers from working class background
Details here (Working Class Writers Grant) and here (schedule for upcoming grants).
Bracken Bower Prize
The Financial Times and McKinsey & Company have announced that they are open for the Bracken Bower Prize. This is an international award for young writers – the award will go to the best proposal for a business book “about the challenges and opportunities of growth” by an author, or authors, under the age of 35. The proposal should take the form of an essay or article, of up to 5,000 words, that conveys the argument, scope, and style of a proposed full-length business book and includes the description of the structure of the proposed work. The award is intended to fuel further research leading to publication of a full-length work.
Value: £15,000
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Open for: All writers under 35
Details here and here.
Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing
These awards are for works that evoke the American South. For fiction and nonfiction, the awards are for published work; for poetry, send a poem of up to 3 pages on the theme.
Value: $3,000
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
International Human Rights Arts Festival: Two awards
They have two awards for writers.
— Creators of Justice Literary Awards: They want submissions of fiction (up to 2,500 words), essays, and poetry on any human rights theme, “and highlighting the IHRAF values of beauty, sincerity, vulnerability and celebrating diversity” – see guidelines.
Value: $100, $75, $50 each for fiction, essays, and poetry
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Details here.
— Art of Unity Creative Award: They accept literary (poetry; essays and short stories under 2500 words); video; music; dance; performance or visual work around the theme: “Never again: Remembering to heal and overcome. The most important hallmark of Holocaust remembrance and education is the phrase ‘never again.’ Unfortunately, tribal divisions, ethnic cleansing and genocides continue in the 21st Century. We are looking for submissions in any creative media (which can be exhibited online), and which highlight aspects of human unity, and positive cross-pollination between groups, ethnicities, religions and/or nations.” There is also a Youth award for under-18s
Value: $100, $75, $50
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Details here.
Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
They want a short story on any theme. Stories should ideally be up to 3,000 words, though those up to 5,000 words are accepted. Readers of the magazine are interested in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. Their newsletter subscribers include publishers, artists, musicians, and fellow writers. Their guidelines say, “While your writing should appeal to a reader with these interests and in these creative professions, all story themes are considered.”
Value: $100
Deadline: 30 September 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Furious Gazelle’s 2022 Halloween Writing Contest
The Furious Gazelle literary magazine wants submissions of Halloween-themed poetry, fiction, short plays, and creative non-fiction. Each writer can submit either one short story (max 4,000 words) or up to three shorter pieces (any combination of flash pieces / poems is ok as long as they don’t exceed 3 submissions). Poems shouldn’t exceed one page; flash pieces should be capped at 1,500 words each.
Value: $50; $5
Deadline: 1 October 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
The Perito Prize
They want fiction of 1,000-2,000 words, centred around the theme of accessibility, inclusion, diversity & inclusive environments. Apart from the cash prize, the winner will also receive mentoring, as will the runners-up. Commended stories will be included in an anthology. Submission is via the Zealous platform.
Value: £500
Deadline: 1 October 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— The 2022 Commonwealth Short Story Prize – a contest for writers from the Commonwealth – send a piece of short fiction of 2,000-5,000 words. They take entries in several languages apart from English. The top prize is £5,000, and the deadline is 1 November 2022. Details here.
— 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 or cultural website. The prizes are $2,000 each, and the deadline is 1 November 2022. Details here. (PEN America has other opportunities listed too, both fee-free and fee-based.)
Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached here.
