Here are 25 contests, grants, and fellowships for writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and plays, with prizes ranging from $100 to $72,000. None charge an application fee. They are, very roughly, divided by geography. Deadlines are approaching quickly. – S. Kalekar
PRIZES OPEN FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
The Delacorte Review Grants
This magazine only publishes narrative non-fiction, driven by reporting – see their archives for the kind of work they publish. For grant applicants their guidelines say, “The Delacorte Review is offering three grants intended for candidates whose work will contribute to diversity and excellence. Each grant will pay $1000 and will run for five months. Our goal is to help each recipient work to bring their voice to life in a work of ambitious narrative nonfiction.
Each recipient will be assigned an editor who will work with them on every step of the process, from story inception, framing, reporting, to writing, with the goal of publication with the Review.” Applicants should send a CV, writing samples – three non-fiction pieces – and a letter proposing an idea for a story they would like to work on, and how they would go about reporting the piece.
Value: $1,000 each for three writers
Deadline: 1 December 2020
Open for: All narrative non-fiction writers
Details here (scroll down).
Washington College: Patrick Henry Writing Fellowship
This is a full-time residential writing fellowship, for writing on American history and culture. Applicants should have a book currently in progress. Their guidelines say, “The project should address the history and/or legacy – broadly defined – of the American Revolution and the nation’s founding ideas. It might focus on the founding era itself, or on the myriad ways the questions that preoccupied the nation’s founders have shaped America’s later history. Work that contributes to ongoing national conversations about America’s past and present, with the potential to reach a wide public, is particularly sought.”
Value: $45,000, other allowances, residency
Deadline: 1 December 2020
Open for: Published writers
Details here.
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets
This is a poetry contest for African writers. Manuscripts must be at least 50 pages long.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 1 December 2020
Open for: African writers (see guidelines)
Details here
Brunel International African Poetry Prize
This 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. Writers need to submit 10 poems exactly. These poems, though, may have already been published.
Value: £3,000
Deadline: 2 December 2020
Open for: African poets
Details here and here
The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2021
The award is for a short story of up to 6,000 words, and is open to any novelist or short story writer from around the world who has been published in the UK or Ireland. Read the terms and conditions carefully; see this post from Writer Beware in 2019 about some of the contest terms.
Value: £30,000; £1,000 each for five runners-up
Deadline: 4 December 2020
Open for: Those who’ve been published in the UK or Ireland
Details here
Comedy Crowd: Chorts 2020
They want a comedy script with a run time of 2 to 3 minutes. There is no nationality or age bar. Scripts can be submitted by writers who want to perform it themselves, and by those who do not. One of the prizes is on evaluation by industry judges, and another is based on social engagement on their platform.
Value: Two prizes of £250 each
Deadline: 4 December 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here
J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Awards
Two awards are given for non-fiction works in progress which deal with a topic of American political or social concern, to aid their completion. Writers must already have a contract with a US-based publisher. There is no fee for the work-in-progress award. The prizes are run by Columbia Journalism School – they also have the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and the Mark Lynton History Prize, and these awards have an entry fee.
Value: $25,000
Deadline: 9 December 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here
Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize
They want an essay which is set in Brooklyn, is about Brooklyn, and/or Brooklyn people/characters. They want work from writers of all backgrounds and ages, “who can render Brooklyn’s rich soul and intangible qualities through the writer’s actual experiences in Brooklyn.”
Value: $500
Deadline: 10 December 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (click on Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize).
The Roswell Award
The Roswell Award is an international short science fiction story competition for emerging writers age 16 and older; send a story of 500-1,500 words. (The “Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award” for feminist sci-fi is co-presented by Artemis literary journal. This is an additional special prize category for a feminist themed sci-fi story. The winner will be published by Artemis literary journal with more prizes to be announced.) Also see their award for Los Angeles County high school students.
Value: $500, $250, $100 for the Roswell Award
Deadline: 15 December 2020 for the Roswell Award
Open for: All writers
Details here.
New York Encounter 2021 Poetry Contest: When Reality Hits
New York Encounter, an annual three-day public cultural event in the heart of New York City, is sponsoring its fifth annual poetry contest to celebrate its 2020 theme: ‘When Reality Hits’ (see guidelines for details). They invite all poets writing in English to submit up to 3 poems (maximum 40 lines each), related in some way to the theme. The winners will be invited to read their poems in an online forum in January.
Value: $300, $200, $100
Deadline: 19 December 2020
Open for: All poets
Details here.
International Young Theatre Playwriting Contest
This prize is for bold and powerful plays for young audiences (no plays for children or adult audiences, or musicals), written in any official European language. Performance time for Category A is 60-120 minutes and for Category B, 30-60 minutes. They accept plays co-authored by more than one writer. Writers can send up to three entries. The play must be a new and original piece of work. Writers of any age or nationality can enter the contest.
Value: €2,400 for Category A, €1,000 for Category B + other prizes
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Open for: All playwrights
Details here
Poetry Society of America: The Four Quartets Prize
This is for a unified and complete sequence of poems published in America in a print or online journal, chapbook, or book in 2020. Poems in the sequence may have been published in different journals provided that they were published in 2019 and that brought together, they form a complete sequence. The minimum requirement is 14 pages of published poems unified by subject, form, and style. Entire books composed of a unified sequence, however long, are also welcome. Submissions will have to be mailed. Self-published work is not eligible. They have other upcoming awards also, though these have an entry fee.
Value: $1,000 for three finalists, an additional $20,000 for the winner
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
Blue Mountain Arts: Poetry Card Contest
This biannual contest is for poetry for the greeting card company. Poems can be rhyming or non-rhyming, though they find non-rhyming poetry reads better. Poets can enter the contest as often as they like.
Value: $350, $200, $100
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Open for: All poets
Details here
Lilith Magazine Fiction Contest
This magazine publishes work of interest to Jewish women. They like work with both feminist and Jewish content. Submit up to 3,000 words.
Value: $250
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Open for: All writers
Details here
The Society of Classical Poets: 2021 Poetry Translation Competition This is for poetry translations, which should not exceed 108 lines. Translated poetry should be from the Romantic period or earlier. Translations should be metered. Include the poem in its original language. Rhyme and other traditional techniques are encouraged as well, but not required. They have other classical poetry contests, including one for students, which have entry fees.
Value: $100
Deadline: 31 December 2020
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
St. Martin’s Minotaur/ Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition
This is an international contest for crime novel manuscripts, for writers who have never been the author of any published novel in any genre. The writing should be no less than 220 pages, or approximately 60,000 words. Minotaur is an imprint of St Martin’s Press, which is part of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance against royalties
Deadline: 1 January 2021
Open for: Unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here
Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies: Steinbeck Fellowships
These are fellowships to help writers complete a book project. Up to six Steinbeck Fellows are selected each year from disciplines including fiction, creative non-fiction, biography, drama, and Steinbeck studies. Applications in poetry will not be accepted.
Value: $15,000, residency at San José State University
Deadline: 2 January 2021
Open for: Unspecified
Details here
The Leon Levy Centre for Biography: Biography Fellowships
These are four resident fellowships at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, to nonfiction writers working on biographies. Preference in the award of fellowships is given to those who have not yet published a biography or received fellowships for the writing of a biography. They also welcome applications from published and accomplished writers who are undertaking their first biography. The Leon Levy Center for Biography does not award fellowships for memoirs, essays, plays, films, or fiction. One of the application requirements is a sample of the proposed biography, a maximum of 2,500 words. (Also see the Sloan Fellowship, given annually to a writer working on a biography of a figure in the field of science or technology.)
Value: $72,000, residency
Deadline: 4 January 2021
Open for: Writers working on biographies
Details here
WRITERS IN THE US (AND CANADA)
Polar Expressions: Student Contest for Short Story
Polar Expressions has announced their 15th annual short story contest for Canadian students, from kindergarten to grade 12. Stories should be up to 450 words, on any topic.
(The deadline for their poetry prize is earlier, 27 November 2020.)
Value: First prizes of $60-100 (Canadian) for students of various grades, as well as second and third prizes; additional cash prizes for schools
Deadlines: 4 December 2020 for short stories
Open for: Canadian students
Details here.
Academy of American Poets: Inaugural Poem Project and Contest for Students
Their website says, “Only five poets in American history have been commissioned by Presidents Elect to pen poems to be shared at their Inaugurations. These poems have uplifted millions of viewers of these historic events as they’ve conveyed the country’s challenges, strengths, and hope for its future.
The Academy invites students to study these poets and poems and to try their hand at writing their own Inaugural poems as part of the Inaugural Poem Project, and to submit them to the 2021 Inaugural Poem Contest.” Submitted poems can be any length. In the spirit of past inaugural poems, the poem must reflect on the country’s challenges, strengths, and hope for its future.
Value: $500, $300, $150
Deadline: 30 December 2020
Open for: Students living in the US (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 US defence (see guidelines for details on the theme). 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 December 2020
Open for: “All contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians”
Details here
Minotaur Books: The Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest
This is for US and Canadian writers, for a first novel (manuscript) of mystery – in which a serious crime or crimes is at the heart of the story, and the emphasis is on the solution rather than the details of the crime – of approximately 60,000 words. The story’s primary setting must be one or more of the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and/or Utah. Each manuscript will be assessed based on the following criteria, weighted as indicated: publishable quality of manuscript (60%); creativity (20%); and originality (20%). In the event of a tie, the tie will be broken based on the higher score in the “publishable quality of manuscript” category. Minotaur is an imprint of St Martin’s Press, which is part of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance against royalties
Deadline: 2 January 2021
Open for: US and Canadian writers
Details here
Homebound Publications: The Prism Prize for Climate Literature
This is for a work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry manuscript in the genre of climate literature. The final manuscript of up to 75,000 words (for fiction and non-fiction) and a market assessment and/or statement of marketing intentions are part of the submission requirement. The contest is for authors living in the US or UK.
Value: $1,000, publication contract
Deadline: 10 January 2021
Open for: US and UK authors
Details here and here
WRITERS IN THE UK & IRELAND
(Also see ‘Homebound Publications: The Prism Prize for Climate Literature’)
Royal Society of Literature: Literature Matters Awards
These awards aim to reward and enable literary excellence and innovation. They are given to individual writers or other literary creators, recognising their past achievements and providing them with financial support to undertake a proposed new piece of writing or literary project. Priority will be given to proposals which (a) will help connect with audiences or topics outside the usual reach of literature, and/or (b) will help generate public discussion about why literature matters. The project may be a piece or pieces of writing, a publication, an event, or a production on any subject and in any form, including (but not limited to) prose fiction, short stories, poetry, playwriting, screenwriting, graphic fiction, biography or travel-writing. Projects will need to be safe, demonstrable and actionable, in light of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 7 December 2020
Open for: Permanent UK residents
Details here, here, and here
Cove Park Residencies
These two- to six-week residencies are to provide artists with the time and support required to focus on their practice. These are for UK-based writers in any genre who have published at least one book-length publication (or the equivalent thereof, e.g. spoken word or drama), emerging writers of any genre based in Scotland (who need not have published a book), and UK-based literary translators of any language into English (who need not have published a book). International artists are not eligible to apply for residencies in this round. They also have residencies in craft and design, experimental film and moving image, as well as visual arts.
Value: £425 per week, accommodation at Cove Park, overlooking Loch Long on Scotland’s west coast
Deadline: 7 December 2020
Open for: UK- and Scotland-based writers and translators
Details here and here
Author Bio: S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She is the author of 182 Short Fiction Publishers. She can be reached here.
