These are contests and grants/ fellowships for writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and plays, and for journalists. Prizes are up to $71,000, and none charge a submission fee. They are, very broadly, divided by geography. – S. Kalekar
PRIZES FOR INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSIONS
Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award
They want a short story, of up to 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration. They want to see Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, realistic spacecraft, heroics, sacrifice, adventure. They do not want stories that show technology or space travel as evil or bad, galactic empires, paranormal elements, UFO abductions, zombie stories, thinly veiled copies of previous winners, non-standalone novel excerpts, or screenplays.
Value: 8c/word, and various non-cash awards
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
(They also have a fantasy short story contest, the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, with a later deadline.)
New America National Fellows Program
This international program brings on thinkers—journalists, scholars, filmmakers, and public policy analysts—whose work enhances the public conversation about the most pressing issues of our day. Fellows advance ideas through research, reporting, analysis, and storytelling. The organizers look for projects that are original and ambitious, with viable plans for their implementation. Their goal is to find bold, impactful thinkers and to fund them for a year; long enough to make progress on a book, develop a series of articles, produce a documentary, or work on another project that is accessible. Fellows have to attend two cohort gatherings throughout the fellowship year. There are no residency or nationality requirements, though fellows need to be involved in the New America community.
Value: Generally $15,000-30,000
Deadline: 1 February 2022 (letters of reference are due 4 February)
Open for: All journalists, scholars, filmmakers and public policy analysts
Details here.
The Roadrunner Review Prizes
These are for writers who are students at a college or university when they submit. The prizes are for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry (send up to 1,000 words for prose, or up to 3 poems). For poetry, they will stop taking submissions when a cap is reached.
Value: $100 each for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: Students at college or university
Details here.
St Gallen Symposium Global Essay Competition
The symposium aims “to connect all generations around relevant cross-generational issues to find best possible ideas and solutions”, according to their website. They are running an essay contest for students enrolled at a regular university, who are matriculated in a graduate or postgraduate programme, born in 1992 or later. The essay theme is ‘Collaborative Advantage: What should be written into a new intergenerational contract?’ See guidelines for details on the theme, and send an essay of up to 2,100 words.
Value: CHF20,000, split between three winners
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: Graduate/postgraduate students (see guidelines)
Details here.
Narrative ‘Tell Me a Story’ High School Contest
They want poetry on the ‘Blind Spots’ theme by students in grades 9-12 all over the world – see guidelines for suggestions on what the theme can entail. Poems must be 10 to 50 lines long, and submitted by the student’s English teacher.
Value: $500, $200, $100; $50 for four finalists
Deadline: 4 February 2022
Open for: High school students
Details here.
Golden Haiku Poetry Contest
Poets around the world can submit up to two haiku, on the theme ‘Reboot and Rebloom’. It is open to poets of all ages, and there is also a regional/DC winner prize ($200).
Value: $500, $200, $100 for adults; $150 for high school winner; $75 for elementary/middle school winner
Deadline: 6 February 2022
Open for: All poets
Details here.
Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship in Creative Writing
For this cycle, there is one fellowship each, open to writers of poetry and fiction, completing their first book. It provides a stipend and office space. Each fellow teaches a creative writing workshop at Colgate University each semester and gives a public reading of his or her work. Those who have completed MFA, MA or PhD in creative writing and working on their first book are encouraged to apply.
Value: $42,745, travel expenses, health and life insurance; residency at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York
Deadline: 15 February 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
University of Pittsburgh: The 2022 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize
This is for a poetry manuscript, of 48-168 pages. The prize will be awarded to a first or second book by a writer of African descent and is open to the full range of writers embodying African and African diasporic experience. The book can be of any genre that is, or intersects with, poetry, including poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation.
Value: $3,000
Deadline: 15 February 2022
Open for: Writers of African descent
Details here.
NYU Journalism: Two awards
They are open for two awards currently.
— Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award: This is for promising early-career non-fiction writers to research and write an article that tells the truth about a human condition.
Deadline: 16 February 2022 for proposals
Value: Up to $12,500
Open for: All journalists, early career non-fiction writers
Details here and here.
— Reporting Award: They are open for their Reporting Award as well, which also pays $12,500 and is “for a significant work of journalism, in any medium, on an under-reported subject in the public interest.”
Deadline: 23 February 2022 for applications; 6 December 2022 to deliver the final work
Value: Up to $12,500
Open for: Unspecified
Details here and here.
Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest
This is a short fiction contest run by the Little Tokyo Historical Society in Los Angeles. Stories must take place in Little Tokyo, and can be set in the past, present, or future. Stories can be in Japanese (5,000 ji or fewer) or English (up to 2,500 words). There are three categories: Youth (under 18s), Japanese, and English.
Value: $500 in each category
Deadline: 28 February 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center: Writer in Residence
The residency includes lodging at a loft apartment in Piggott, Arkansas. The writer-in-residence will also have the opportunity to work in the studio where Ernest Hemingway worked on ‘A Farewell to Arms’. The writer is expected to serve as mentor for a week-long retreat for writers at the educational center. Candidates with an MA or MFA in a relevant field are preferred.
Value: $1,000, residency
Deadline: 28 February 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award for Playwriting
Playwrights have to write to a prompt: What does it mean to be a human in a computerized world? Apart from a cash award, the winner also gets a workshop, and a public reading.
Value: $5,000
Reading period: 1 February-28 February 2022
Open for: All playwrights
Details here.
Lunch Ticket: Diana Woods Award in Creative Nonfiction
This award is for a creative non-fiction piece of up to 5,000 words on any subject. The contest is open in February and August.
Value: $250
Reading period: February 2022
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Lunch Ticket: The Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts
Translators and authors of multilingual texts are encouraged to submit their work for The Gabo Prize. Writers should indicate whether the translation falls under poetry or prose, and include the original work along with your translation. Original, bilingual work qualifies for the Gabo Prize. The contest is open in February and August.
Value: $200
Reading period: February 2022
Open for: All translators
Details here.
Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize
This is for a previously unpublished, full-length manuscript of literary nonfiction. “Graywolf awards the Nonfiction Prize to a previously unpublished, full-length work of outstanding literary nonfiction by a writer who is not yet established in the genre.
The Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize seeks to acknowledge—and honor—the great traditions of literary nonfiction. Whether grounded in observation, autobiography, or research, much of the most beautiful, daring, and original writing over the past few decades can be categorized as nonfiction.” The submission portal for this prize will open in February.
Value: Unspecified
Reading period: 1-28 February 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Hippocrates Young Poets Prize for Poetry and Medicine
This is an annual international award for an unpublished poem on a medical subject. Poems must be no more than 50 lines in length and not have previously been published in any form. They must be written in English. They also have prizes for adults and medical professionals, which have an entry fee, and an earlier deadline.
Value: £500
Deadline: 1 March 2022
Open for: All poets ages 14-18
Details here and here.
Deep Wild: Student Essay Contest
This is a contest for students currently enrolled in graduate studies. Send an essay of up to 3,000 words that is backcountry infused and inspired.
Value: Unspecified cash prize for up to three authors, publication
Deadline: 1 March 2022
Open for: Students enrolled in graduate studies
Details here.
A couple of contests with later deadlines are:
— The Fountain Essay Contest – They want an essay of ideally 1,500-2,500 words on the theme, of (post-pandemic) ‘Revival’ – see guidelines for details. Prizes are $1,000, $500, $300, and two prizes of $150 each; the deadline is 1 April 2022.
— The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers – These three-month fellowships are 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. The application includes a writing sample of up to 20 pages. The grant is $5,000, and the deadline is 1 April 2022.
— the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award – They want stories in all fantasy genres and pay $0.08/word for work up to 8,000 words; will read submissions from 1 February to 30 April 2022. (They also have a science fiction contest, with a 1st February deadline – see the section above.)
FOR WRITERS IN US AND CANADA
Fund for Investigative Journalism Grants
Their regular grants are for articles by US journalists that break new ground and expose wrongdoing – such as corruption, malfeasance, or abuse of power – in the public and private sectors. FIJ encourages proposals written for ethnic media as well as those submitted by journalists of color. “The Fund provides grants for print and online articles, television and radio stories, documentaries, podcasts, and books.” Also, “foreign-based story proposals must come from US-based reporters or have a strong US angle involving American citizens, government, or business; all stories must be published in English, in a media outlet in the United States.”
Value: Up to $10,000
Deadline: 31 January 2022
Open for: US journalists and writers
Details here.
Roth Residence in Creative Writing
This residency is offered by Bucknell University, and provides writing time of up to four months. It is open for writers of fiction or creative non-fiction working on a first or second book. There are two residencies, in fall and spring semesters. Some record of publication is desirable.
Value: $5,000 and residency
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here.
National High School Poetry Contest at Gannon University
This is a poetry contest for US high school students, grades 9-12.
“Poems may be in rhyme, free verse, Haiku or other accepted poetry forms and of any length, up to a maximum of 40 lines.”
Value: A monetary award, and publication
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: US high school students in grades 9 through 12
Details here.
US Writers Aid Initiative
This is intended to assist fiction and non-fiction authors, poets, playwrights, screenwriters, translators, and journalists. To be eligible, applicants must be based in the United States, be professional writers, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping them to address an emergency situation. Writers do not have to be PEN members. The U.S. Writers Aid Initiative is not intended to subsidize writing-related expenses, such as equipment, printing, shipping, travel, or publicity services. They have a few deadlines through the year, and the upcoming one is 1st February. Other deadlines are in April, June, August, October, and December.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: US-based writers
Details here.
RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers
This is for Canadian writers under age 35 who have published work in literary magazines, but not in book form. For this cycle, writers should submit 5-10 pages of either unpublished short fiction or unpublished poetry.
Value: CAD10,000; CAD2,500 for finalists
Deadline: 14 February 2022
Open for: Canadian writers
Details here and here.
Milkweed Editions: The Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry
This contest, previously called the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for Poetry, is a manuscript contest for poets in the upper Midwest – Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, or Michigan. Poets should send a poetry manuscript, of 48 or more pages.
Value: $10,000
Deadline: 15 February 2022
Open for: Upper Midwest poets in the US
Details here.
Academy of American Poets: Ambroggio Prize
They want a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. Poets may translate their own work or collaborate with a translator who may or may not be a poet; the poet and translator must share the prize. The original manuscript in Spanish must be between 48 and 100 pages. Established in 2017, the Ambroggio Prize is the only annual award of its kind in the United States that honors American poets whose first language is Spanish.
Value: $1,000, publication
Deadline: 15 February 2022
Open for: US poets (see guidelines)
Details here.
West Chester University: Five contests
They run seven contests, five of which are free to enter.
— Iris N. Spencer Poetry Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for poems composed in the traditional modes of meter, rhyme and received forms. Prizes are $1,500, and $500.
— Sonnet Award: This is a new contest for undergraduate poets in the US. Submissions may be a combination of poems submitted to the Iris N. Spencer Award, Sonnet Award, Villanelle Award, the Myong Cha Son Haiku Award, or the Rhina P. Espaillat Poetry Award. Limit of three poems per contest. The prize is $1,000.
— The Villanelle Award: This new contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university, for villanelles. Submissions may be a combination of poems submitted to the Iris N. Spencer Award, Sonnet Award, Villanelle Award, the Myong Cha Son Haiku Award, or the Rhina P. Espaillat Poetry Award. Limit of three poems per contest. The prize is $1,000.
— Myong Cha Son Haiku Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for unpublished, original haiku. The prizes are $1,500, and $500.
— Rhina P. Espaillat Award: This contest is for undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university for original poems written in Spanish, and translations of English poems to Spanish. The prize is $500.
Deadline: 21 February 2022 for all West Chester University contests
Open for: Undergraduate poets in the US
Details here (scroll down) for all the West Chester University poetry awards; click on each contest name for details.
Black Caucus of American Library Association Awards
This is for the best self-published ebooks by African American authors born in the US. The prizes are for fiction and poetry genres.
Value: $1,000 in each category
Deadline: 28 February 2022
Open for: African American authors born in the US
Details here.
The Waterman Fund Essay Contest
The contest is for emerging US and Canadian writers. Essays should be 2,000 to 3,000 words. Their guidelines say, “We have no specific prompt for the 2022 essay contest. Just keep in mind when you pick up your pens or turn on your computers that Laura and Guy Waterman spent a lifetime exploring, living, and writing within the boundaries of culture and nature, and through our annual contest, the Waterman Fund seeks new voices on the role and place of wilderness in today’s world. Please send us your essays on what the wild and wilderness means to you.” They welcome personal, scientific, adventure, or memoir essays.
Value: $1,500; $500
Deadline: 1 March 2022
Open for: US and Canadian writers
Details here and here.
Scripps Fellowships for Environmental Journalism
Five fellowships are awarded each year at the University of Boulder, Colorado. This is for journalists interested in deepening and broadening their knowledge of environmental issues. Applicants must have a minimum of five years full-time professional journalism experience and have completed an undergraduate degree. Applicants may include reporters, editors, producers, photojournalists, documentarians, and feature writers. Both salaried staff and full-time freelancers are welcome to apply. Prior experience in covering the environment is not required. They welcome applications from international applicants; however, the applicants must be authorized to work in the US to be eligible for this position.
Value: $71,000
Deadline: 1 March 2022
Open for: All journalists (see above)
Details here and here.
National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Writing Fellowships
This is for US-based writers, and they are accepting applications for poetry this year. While the deadline is 10th March, they recommend submitting applications early. Several fellowships are awarded.
Value: Up to $25,000
Deadline: 10 March 2022
Open for: US writers
Details here.
The Creative Capital Awards
Submissions for these awards will open in March. They are for US-based artists, and they’ll will be accepting applications for different disciplines each year. The cycle for 2023 includes literature (fiction, poetry, non-fiction, genre-defying literary work, and socially engaged and/or sustainable text-based practices). The theme is ‘Wild Futures: Art, Culture, Impact’. The awards are “designed to assist artists who are working at the vanguard of their fields, or who have ideas to propel their artistic practices forward”. They accept proposals from collaborators, as well. They have extensive guidelines. For this cycle they’ll also accept applications for performing arts (including sound and multimedia performance, and more), and technology (including digital art, gaming, interdisciplinary arts, and more). They will award 50 fellowships per cycle.
Value: $50,000 each, and an additional set of services
Application period: 1 March-1 April 2022
Open for: US writers (see guidelines)
Details here.
FOR WRITERS IN UK AND IRELAND
Society of Authors’ grants for works in progress: Two awards
They have two grants for works in progress and the form is the same, for both.
— Authors’ Foundation Grants: This is for authors of fiction, non-fiction or poetry who are contracted, or who are published and working on a project that is likely to have interest from a British publisher. They are for works in progress. There are two rounds of funding annually; the next deadline is in July.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
— K. Blundell Trust Award – This is a work-in-progress award for young British writers of fiction or non-fiction. The work must contribute to the greater understanding of existing social and economic organisation.
Value: Up to £6,000
Deadline: 1 February 2022
Open for: British writers under 40 who have had at least one book published (see guidelines)
Details here (scroll down).
Christopher Tower Poetry Competition
This is the UK’s most valuable prize for poets aged 16-18 years. Submit a poem of up to 48 lines on the theme of ‘Dream’.
Value: £3,000 for the top winner
Deadline: 2 March 2022
Open for: Young poets studying in the UK
Details here.
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.
