If you’ve recently published a book, you can leverage no-fee contests to get more visibility for your work. Even writers who forego the traditional publication route are not always disqualified from entering their books into these contests. Fee-free contests can offer everything from extra promotion and notoriety to monetary awards or invitations to read at colleges.
Award categories range from art, business, fiction, poetry, memoir, history, and even children’s literature. While some awards are only open to authors from a specific state or region, others accept entries from writers around the U.S. Here are some of the annual published book awards that do not charge monetary reading fees.
While the National Book Critics Circle Award may not confer a monetary prize, winners – and finalists – receive a tremendous amount of publicity for their book, which can significantly boost its sales. Submissions are accepted through November 1 of the year of publication, although the organizers encourage publishers to submit as early in the year as possible. A PDF of the book can be uploaded to the system, or a publisher can mail a hard copy to a committee member. Awards are given in six categories: fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry, and criticism. Any book is eligible if it is published in English (including translations) in the United States.
Sponsored by Moorhead University, the Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writers presents a prize of $500 to an outstanding writer from the Appalachia region. Authors of all genres may nominate themselves by submitting three copies of their book. There is no monetary fee, and applications are accepted between September 1 and December 1 each year.
Each year, the Great Lakes College Association (GLCA) recognizes new writers who have published a first book in one of three genres: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The winners of the New Writers Award are invited to visit GLCA colleges, where they give readings and meet with students and faculty members. Four copies of nominated books must be submitted by the publisher, and the the deadline this year is May 25. Authors must live in the U.S. to be eligible for this award.
The Northern California Book Awards annually recognize and celebrate nominees and winners in multiple genres: fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Authors or translators must be based in Northern California to be eligible, and submissions – three copies of the book – are accepted from either authors or publishers (self-published books are eligible). There are no fees or forms required, but the deadline for submissions is in mid-January each year.
The American Association of University Women-Kansas City Branch presents the annual Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award for authors in the greater Kansas City area. Authors may nominate their works of fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, or poetry, including self-published works. There is a $300 first prize, plus $100 each for second and third prizes. Two copies of published print books, or one electronic copy of ebooks, must be sent by May 1 each year.
Though it focuses on poetry, it’s worth noting Claremont Graduate University’s prestigious Kate Tufts Discovery Award, which offers a $10,000 prize to an author’s published first poetry collection, and its Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, which provides $100,000 to an outstanding mid-career poet. There is no entry fee for this annual award, but authors must submit eight copies of the book for consideration by the July 1 deadline. Self-published books are eligible, but authors must be a citizen or legal resident alien of the United States.
Be sure to check any contest’s website to see the current rules and deadlines.
BIO: Bernadette Geyer is the author of The Scabbard of Her Throat and editor of My Cruel Invention: A Contemporary Poetry Anthology. Her writings have appeared in Oxford American, Bennington Review, Westerly, and elsewhere. Geyer’s second poetry collection is forthcoming from April Gloaming Publishing in October 2025. Her website is https://bernadettegeyer.com/.
