{"id":13285,"date":"2026-09-18T06:27:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:27:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/?p=13285"},"modified":"2026-09-18T06:27:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T13:27:43","slug":"27-cash-grants-fellowships-and-contests-for-writers-up-to-78000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/uncategorized\/27-cash-grants-fellowships-and-contests-for-writers-up-to-78000\/","title":{"rendered":"27 Cash Grants, Fellowships and Contests for Writers (Up to $78,000)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


By S. Kalekar

<\/strong>These are contests, grants, and fellowships for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, playwriting, and journalism, with awards up to approximately $78,000. They are, very loosely, divided geographically. One deadline is in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Gold Line Press Chapbook Contests<\/strong>
They are running contests for chapbook-length fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with no-fee submissions from POC, Indigenous writers, and writers facing financial hardship. \u201cWe invite submissions of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry that are chapbook-length as a key element of their concept. \u2026 We welcome a wide range of styles and approaches. In past years, Gold Line Press has published both writing that is innovative or genre-crossing, as well as writing that is more traditionally structured. While we have a particular interest in promoting the work of emerging writers, we welcome and celebrate submissions from writers at any stage of their career who are creating innovative and resonant chapbook-length texts.
We seek works of prose that are purposefully planned as chapbooks: novelettes, carefully curated collections of vignettes, short stories, essays, or other projects that take the chapbook format as an instrumental element of their design. Excerpts of novels or short story\/essay collections should form a sustained and individual project in their foreshortened form. For poets, we also recommend that manuscripts be cohesive and self-contained in the chapbook length.
Length:\u00a020-30 pages of poetry, 7500-15000 words of prose.\u201d
Value: $750 each
Deadline: 30 September 2026
Open for: No-fee submissions from POC, Indigenous writers, and writers facing financial hardships; other writers pay submission fees
Details here<\/a> (see relevant categories).
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Camargo Fellowship
<\/strong>This is their flagship program; a residency at Cassis, France is for artists (including writers, playwrights and translators) and scholars\/thinkers, to think, create and connect. Applicants should have a publication and\/or grant track record. Teams of up to 3 people can apply. They also welcome spouses\/partners and dependent minor children \u2013 see guidelines. Fellowships span 10 weeks. They also say, \u201cPlease note that this year’s call will be the last to take place through an open public call.<\/strong> 
Beginning in July 2027, the Camargo Foundation will implement a new selection process that will no longer be based on a  public open call. This change is the result of a long process of  collective reflection. If you are considering applying for a residency in Fall 2027 or Spring 2028, we encourage you to do so through the  current open call.\u201d
Value: \u20ac350 per week (\u20ac3,500 for 10 weeks), basic coach class travel booked in advance for the fellow (see guidelines)
Deadline: 1 October 2026
Open for: All writers
Details here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>
(Camargo has several other programs, divided into various types<\/a>;  Stopovers, Incubators, Horizons, In the Long Run, and Impromptus; click on them to see the various programs they offer under each category. Their open calls are here<\/a>.)

JournalismFund Grants: European Cross-Border Grants<\/strong>
They have grants for journalists covering European affairs; one of the  upcoming deadlines is for the European Cross-border Grant<\/a> programme; it \u201caims to address the shortage of independent journalism by providing grants to investigative journalism projects in Europe and encouraging cross-border collaboration with an expert approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(It) supports cross-border teams of professional journalists and\/or (local and national) news outlets who have strong ideas for cross-border investigations and research on European topics.\u201d
Value: \u20ac2,000 to \u20ac14,000 and more (see FAQ<\/a>)
Deadline: 1 October 2026
Open for: Journalists covering European affairs
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>
(See all their grants, including for Dutch and French media, on the main guidelines page<\/a>.)

Story Street Writers: Nightmare on Story Street \u2013 100-Word writing contest
<\/strong>This is their annual Hundred Wordfiction contest. Send a story of up to 100 words: \u201cIn the \u201cspirit\u201d of the season, send us your creepy, ghouly, ghostly, and just-plain-off stories. Limit 100 words. Not a word more.\u201d It opened for entries mid-September and will run through 2nd<\/sup> October, or until they hit their submission cap, whichever is earlier. Submission is via a form.
Value: $100; $25 for runners-up
Deadline: 2 October 2026, or until filled
Open for: All writers
Details here<\/a>.

Horror Writers Association Grants  <\/strong>
They offer grants \/ scholarships for horror writers, some of which are open now. Most of them specify how these funds may be used, and require a writing sample as part of the application process \u2013 see their detailed individual guidelines for more information.
— Their Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Scholarship<\/strong><\/a> is for horror writers who identify as women; \u201cEach Scholarship is worth $2500, which may be spent on approved writing education over the two years following the granting of the scholarship.\u201d And, their Horror Writers Association Scholarship<\/strong><\/a>, also worth $2,500, is for all horror writers. Apply for these two scholarships here<\/a>.
— Their Diversity Grants<\/strong><\/a>, worth $500 each, are for \u201cunderrepresented, diverse people who have an interest in the horror writing genre, including, but not limited to writers, editors, reviewers, and library workers.\u201d Apply here<\/a>.
— The Rocky Wood Memorial Scholarship Fund for Non-fiction Writing<\/strong><\/a> is \u201can endowed fund providing grants for research and writing nonfiction relating to horror and dark fantasy literature. The Fund will provide grants annually (the amount is flexible).\u201d Apply here<\/a>.
— The Dennis Etchison Young Writers scholarship<\/strong><\/a>, which awards $500, \u201cwill be open to students in grades 10-12 (or the equivalent, if home schooled), with an interest in writing horror\/dark fiction.\u201d Apply here<\/a>.
— The Dark Poetry Scholarship<\/strong><\/a>, worth $1250, is \u201cfor anyone with an interest in writing horror\/dark fantasy poetry\u201d. Apply here<\/a>.
Value: Varies
Deadline: 2 October 2026
Open for: Horror writers
Details here<\/a> (links to individual grants\/scholarships) and here<\/a> (Submittable)
(HWA also organizes Bram Stoker Awards, the deadlines for which are in November and December. See the relevant categories here<\/a>.
And, submissions are also open for HWA\u2019s Young Adults Write Now fund<\/a>, which \u201cwill provide up to five (5) endowments of $250 each per year for selected libraries to establish new, or support ongoing, writing programs. The program is currently open to United States libraries\u201d.)

American Antiquarian Society: Fellowships for Creative and Performing Artists and Writers
<\/strong>These are fellowships for historical research by the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, Massachusetts, for those who wish to produce \u201cimaginative, non-formulaic works dealing with pre-twentieth-century American history.\u201d Typically, two Hearst Foundations Fellowships and two Robert and Charlotte Baron Fellowships are awarded annually. Fellowship projects may include (but are not limited to) historical novels, documentary films, TV programs, radio broadcasts, plays, screenplays, illustration and other graphic arts, magazine or newspaper articles, and non-fiction works of history for a general audience, either for adults or for children. \u201cThe fellowships will provide the recipients with the opportunity for a period of uninterrupted research, reading, and collegial discussion at the Society, located in Worcester, Massachusetts.\u201d
Value: $2,200, residency  
Deadline: 5 October 2026 (see guidelines)
Open for: All writers
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

The Cave Canem Fellowship
<\/strong>Cave Canem supports the work of Black poets through an annual retreat. There is no submission fee for the application, and the retreat is free to all Fellows. A sample of 6 pages of poetry is part of the application requirement. The fellowship includesinvitation to their annual retreat (consisting of intensive poetry workshops and readings, hosted at the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg, free to all Fellows), access to their Fellows & Faculty Fund, access to exclusive scholarships for select writing residences, inclusion in public programming (readings, panels, multi-genre collaborations, etc.), and more. Also, \u201cApplicants must confirm that they will be 21 years or older at the time of the 2027 Cave Canem Retreat, which will take place June 6-13, 2027<\/strong>.\u201d  
Value: Invitation to their annual retreat, access to their Fellows & Faculty Fund, and more
Deadline: 6 October 2026
Open for: Black poets
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Story: Adina Talve-Goodman Fellowship
<\/strong>This international fellowship 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 \u2013 see guidelines. \u201cWe 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.\u201d\u00a0Apart from the $2,000 stipend and tuition to attend One Story\u2019s week-long summer writers\u2019 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: 13 October 20276
Open for: Early-career writer of fiction who has not yet published a book or enrolled in an advanced degree program (see guidelines)
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>
And, One Story<\/strong><\/a> will open for fiction submissions in the fall; their One Teen Story Contest<\/strong><\/a> for teenagers will open in the fall, as well.

JournalismFund Grants: The Invisible Life Grant<\/strong>
They have grants for journalists covering European affairs; one\u00a0 upcoming deadline is for The Invisible Life Grant<\/a>, which supports\u00a0cross-border teams\u00a0of professional\u00a0journalists and\/or news outlets\u00a0investigating issues related to\u00a0farm animal welfare\u00a0and European interests, both within and beyond Europe; it is part of Journalismfund’s\u00a0Environmental Investigative Journalism Grant programme.
Value: \u20ac2,000 to \u20ac15,000 (see FAQ<\/a>)
Deadlines: 29 October 2026
Open for: Journalists covering European affairs
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>
(See all their grants, including for Dutch and French media, on the main guidelines page<\/a>.)

Preservation Foundation Essay Contest: Travel Nonfiction
<\/strong>They want essays, 1,000-5,000 words, by unpublished writers (see guidelines). They are currently reading for the Travel Nonfiction category \u2013 \u201cStories should be factual and true accounts of a trip taken by the author or a person or persons known by the author.\u201d Please read the guidelines carefully; \u201ccontest 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 2026
Open for: All unpublished writers (see guidelines)
Details here<\/a>.

The Society of Authors: The McKitterick Prize<\/strong>
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, \u201cThe 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’.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0
<\/strong>Value: \u00a34,000, \u00a32,000, \u00a31,000
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: Debut novelists over 40
Details here<\/a>.

The Open Notebook<\/em> Early Career Fellowship Program
<\/strong>This is an international opportunity for early-career science journalists. The fellowship is remote and part-time. Fellows will pitch, report and write four articles for publication at\u00a0The Open Notebook\u00a0<\/em>with the guidance of a mentor who will help shape story ideas, provide reporting and writing guidance, edit final copy, and offer career-development mentoring. Each fellow will receive a stipend. The fellowship is open to early-career science writers with less than three years of regular professional science writing experience. (Internships and student work do not count toward this requirement). Please note, though this is part-time, it requires significant time commitment \u2013 see their guidelines for details.
Value: $6,000
Deadline: 31 October 2026; letters of recommendation due 7th<\/sup> November 2026.
Open for: Early-career science journalists
Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Bennington College Young Writers Award
<\/strong>This is an international contest for young writers (two categories, grades 9-11 and grade 12), and the categories are fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. See guidelines for word limits\/requirements. There are first, second, and third prizes in each of the three categories. Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington of varying degrees, up to $70,000 per year (see their submission form for details).
Value: $2,000, $1,000, $500, $250 each in each category, and scholarships
Deadline: 1 November 2026
Open for: Students in 9th<\/sup> to 12th<\/sup> grades and 12th<\/sup> grade
Details here<\/a>.
(Apart from writing, Bennington College has awards in many disciplines \u2013 see all categories in their Young Creators Awards here<\/a>.)

(A couple of contests with later deadlines are:

— Poetic Justice Institute: Editor’s Prize for BIPOC writers:<\/strong> This is a prize for a poetry manuscript. While there is a submission fee for the general category, there is no fee for BIPOC writers. \u201cManuscripts must be formatted for 8 \u00bd x 11 letter sized paper; pages must be numbered\u201d and the suggested manuscript length is 50-100 pages (approximate). Apart from the cash prize, the winning volume will be published by Fordham Press. The award is $1,000 and publication, and the deadline is 15 November 2026; details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

— Minotaur Books\/Malice Domestic<\/strong> <\/strong>Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition:<\/strong> 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. \u201cMurder 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 \u201cdetective\u201d 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.\u201d The work must be at least 65,000 words. The prize is $10,000 advance against royalties, and the deadline is 30 November 2026. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Details here<\/a> (scroll down).
Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition<\/strong><\/a>, the deadline for that is 14th<\/sup> December 2026.

— One Teen Story Contest:<\/strong> This is an international fiction contest for writers ages 13-19 by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest. It is for a story of 2,000-4,500 words. The contest will open on 20th<\/sup> October and close on 1 December 2026, and the prize is $500. See this page<\/a> for details about the prize; their submission portal will open during the submission period.

— Nieman Fellowships:<\/strong> These are for working journalists with at least five years of full-time media experience around the world, across media. Applications for the 2027-28 fellowships will open in October. Essays (see guidelines), professional profile, study proposal, and work samples are part of the application requirement. Also see their FAQ<\/a>. These are nine-month fellowships at Harvard. The fellowship pays $87,500 and other expenses, and the application period opens first week of October; the deadline is 1 December 2026 for international journalists, and 31 January 2027 for U.S. journalists; details here<\/a>.)<\/strong>

<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTESTS FOR THE US\/CANADA
<\/strong>(US writers should also see the Horror Writers Association Grants<\/strong>,   American Antiquarian Society<\/strong>\u2019s fellowships, the Cave Canem Fellowship<\/strong>, and Nieman Fellowships<\/strong> in the international section.)

Fund for Investigative Journalism: Alicia Patterson Fellowships<\/strong>
These can be for six months (paying $20,000) or 12 months (paying $40,000) for in-depth written reporting. \u201cReporting projects must be for print\/online publication (i.e., written projects), and they must be U.S. focused. Fellows aren\u2019t required to live in the U.S., but the reporting project must be focused on the U.S., for publication in U.S. outlets.
Reporting projects should be in-depth and investigative in nature, and can cover any topic of public interest.\u201d They also say, \u201cFreelancers are strongly encouraged to apply for the fellowship. Applicants who are on staff full-time at media outlets may apply, if they intend to take a leave from their job for the fellowship.\u201d
Value: $20,000-40,000
Deadline: 1 October 2026
Open for: Journalists writing for US publications
Details here<\/a> \u2013 see the relevant category
(They have other opportunities listed as well.)

PEN America: US Writers Aid Initiative
<\/strong>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. They have various deadlines through the year; the next one is in October. Writers do not have to be PEN members to apply. Their submission portal will open during the application period.
Value: Unspecified
Deadline:5 October 2026
Open for: US writers
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>

(US writers should also keep a lookout for the Jack Hazard Fellowship<\/strong><\/a>, which is for writers of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and memoir who teach full time in an accredited high school in the United States. They provide a $5,000 award that enables these creative writers who teach to focus on their writing for a summer. Their website says that applications will open soon for the 2027 fellowship.)  

The McGraw Business Journalism Fellowship
<\/strong>The McGraw Fellowship provides editorial and financial support to US journalists who need the time and resources to produce a significant investigative or enterprise story that provides fresh insight into an important business, financial or economic topic. They accept applications for text, photo, audio, or short-form video pieces, and they encourage proposals that take advantage of more than one storytelling form to create a multimedia package. This is not a residency Fellowship. All Fellows work from their own offices. It is open to anyone with at least five years professional experience in journalism (you do not have to be a business journalist to apply; many of their many of their previous Fellows have been generalists, or cover beats such as health care, education, environment, corporate accountability or inequality). Freelance journalists, as well as reporters and editors currently working at a news organization or a journalism non-profit, may apply. The application includes a story proposal. Generally, they do not accept book proposals. They consider proposals of interest to U.S. readers from both foreign and American journalists based abroad, as long as the work is published in English in a U.S.-based media outlet. The October deadline is for the Fall fellowship. They will also consider time-sensitive projects on a case-by-case basis outside of the deadline periods. Also see their FAQ<\/a>. \u201cApplicants must be US citizens\/residents or pay taxes in the US. We are unable to support Fellows who are not subject to US income taxes.\u201d
Value: Grants of up to $15,000
Deadline: 12 October 2026
Open for: US residents \/ citizens
Details here<\/a>.

Neal Peirce Foundation Journalism Travel Grants
<\/strong>These grants are for freelance and fully employed journalists to cover under-told stories about ways to make cities and their metro regions work better for all their people. \u201cThe Neal Peirce Foundation anticipates offering up to seven journalists travel grants of up to $1,500 each in 2026 to support undertold stories about urban solutions to make cities and their larger regions work better for all people.
An ideal project for us to support is one where a journalist aims to inform a critical local debate in their home market by reporting on how a promising approach in another city is working.\u201d The grants \u201cenable journalists to travel to cities within the U.S. to produce one or more stories for publication.\u201d And, \u201cReporters, writers, editors, and photographers working in print, online, radio, television and multimedia are eligible for travel grant awards if they have had stories published or aired in the previous 3 years. We especially welcome applicants early in their journalism careers or from backgrounds underrepresented in today\u2019s news media.\u201d Submission is via a form.
Value: Up to $1,500 each
Deadline: 13 October 2026
Open for: Freelance and employed journalists in the US
Details<\/a> here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

Latino Voices in Children\u2019s Literature Writing Contest
<\/strong>Free Spirit and Con Todo Press are now open for their Latino Voices in Children\u2019s Literature<\/a> contest. \u201c<\/strong>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\u2019s mission is to elevate authentic, culturally relevant children\u2019s stories written by and about Latino people. Every entry is considered for publication and three cash prizes will be awarded.\u201d It is for children\u2019s books; there are two categories, ages 0-4 (50\u2013125 words) or for ages 4\u20138 (300\u2013800 words); stories must feature authentic, realisticLatino characters and culture. They have detailed guidelines. Apart from cash prizes, there are non-cash prizes as well. 
Value: $1,000, $500, $300
Deadline: 14 October 2026
Open for: Latino authors in the US
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a> (see the relevant category)

Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship
<\/strong>This is for a poet of American birth, who is willing to spend a year outside the continent of North America. One of the requirements is a poetry sample (either up to 40 typed pages or<\/strong> a printed volume of your poetry and no more than 20 additional typed pages). Applications have to be mailed.
Value: Approximately $78,000 adjusted for inflation; if there are two winners, each will receive the full amount
Deadline: 15 October 2026 (must be received by this date)
Open for: Poets of American birth (see guidelines)
Details here<\/a>.

U.S. Naval Institute General Prize Essay Contest
<\/strong>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 \u2013 see guidelines for theme details\/suggested topics. The contest is open to \u201call contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians\u201d, according to their guidelines.  
Value: $6,000, $3,000, $2,000
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: \u201cAll contributors – active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and civilians\u201d
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.
(See all of their contests that are currently open here<\/a>.)

Northwestern University Press: Drinking Gourd Chapbook Prize
<\/strong>This is for poets who are people of color withUS citizenship, who have not previously published a book-length volume of poetry, inclusive of chapbooks. Send a poetry manuscript of 25\u201335 pages \u2013 see guidelines \u2013 along with a completed entry form.
Value: $500
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: People of color withUS citizenship who have not yet published a poetry book
Details here<\/a> and here<\/a>.

CONTESTS FOR THE UK\/IRELAND
<\/strong>
(Writers should also seethe McKitterick Prize<\/strong>, as well as both JournalismFund Grants<\/strong> in the international section.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Solstice Nature Prize 
<\/strong>This is a prize for UK-based young writers (ages 7-25). \u201cThe Solstice Nature Prize is a national, annual writing competition for young writers, which invites young people to take a closer look at the natural world, explore their relationship with it, or examine the challenges it faces, and write short stories, poems, and thought-provoking blogs in response.
In 2026, we\u2019re looking for entries about any aspect of nature and offering prizes for winners in four age groups: 7-11, 12-14, 15-17 and 18-25 years. With regional prizes available in each age group for young writers who live in the East Midlands.\u201d Send prose up to 500 words, or poetry up to 40 lines. Submission is via their submission portal. Winners and runners-up will be published.
Value: \u00a3100 for winners in each age category
Deadline: 10 October 2026
Open for: Young UK writers
Details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Dinesh Allirajah Prize for Short Fiction: Found Fiction<\/strong>
This prize is run by Comma Press and the University of Lancashire. Send a short story between 2,000 \u2013 7,500 words; the theme is \u2018Found Fiction\u2019. They have detailed guidelines, including, \u201cThe theme for this year is Found Fiction. We are looking for work that uses found text as its format, mimicking real documents to tell a story. Found text is anything from letters to text messages, police reports to diary entries, newspaper articles to post-it notes. You can find a longer \u2013 but not exhaustive \u2013 list of possible forms here<\/a> to inspire you. 
Some examples of books written like this include: We Need to Talk About Kevin <\/em>(told through letters), Bridget Jones’ Diary<\/em> (told through diary entries), Dracula<\/em> (told through journal entries, letters, ship logs, telegrams, and various other media), Life on the Refrigerator Door <\/em>(told through short notes).
These kinds of stories are also called \u2018Hermit-crab\u2019 stories.\u201d The winning story, and shortlisted stories, will be published in an anthology.
Value: \u00a3500 for the winning story
Deadline: 11 October 2026
Open for: UK writers
Details here<\/a>.
The Society of Authors: The Betty Trask Prize
<\/strong>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: \u00a310,000 for the winner, and a fund of \u00a316,200 will be divided equally between shortlisted authorsDeadline: 31 October 2025
Open for: UK, North Ireland, Commonwealth writers (see guidelines)
Details here<\/a>.

(The Society of Authors<\/strong> also has other awards<\/strong>, including those with end-October deadline \u2013 The Queen\u2019s Knicker Awards<\/a> for children\u2019s picture books published in the UK; the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize<\/a> for a published novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home; Somerset Maugham Awards<\/a>, enabling young writers to enrich their work through experience of foreign countries, for a published work of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry; see all of SOA\u2019s prizes here<\/a> and grants here<\/a>.)

The Society of Authors: ADCI Literary Prize<\/strong> This is a prize for UK writers, for published and self-published novels, including on Kindle; \u201cthe ADCI (Authors with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses) Literary Prize seeks to encourage greater positive representation of disability in literature.\u201d The author must self-identify as disabled or chronically ill, and must be a British national OR resident in Great Britain and Northern Ireland for three years prior to the date of submission for the award. The prize is for a work of fiction that contains one or more characters that are disabled and\/or living with chronic illness (poetry, short stories, and works for children are not eligible). Submissions must have been published or self-published in the UK between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2026; Kindle submissions are eligible.
Value: Total prize fund of \u00a32,000
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: Disabled or chronically ill UK writers
Details here<\/a>

The Society of Authors: The Eric Gregory Awards
<\/strong>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. \u201cWinners of the Eric Gregory Awards are invited to a free solo week residency at Thomas Cottage<\/strong><\/a>. 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.\u201d 
Value: Unspecified, residency
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: Poets who are British nationals or living in the UK\/North Ireland aged 30 or under
Details here<\/a>.


The Young Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
<\/strong>This is a prize for UK writers for two categories, ages 11-15 and 16-19; send historical fiction of 800-2,000 words. The fiction can be in any form \u2013 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. Winners receive \u00a3500, and an invitation to visit the Borders Book Festival and Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott, and their work published.
Value: \u00a3500
Deadline: 31 October 2026
Open for: Young UK writers
Details here<\/a> (download entry form \/ T&C).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Bio:<\/strong>\u00a0S. Kalekar is the pseudonym of a regular contributor to this magazine. She can be reached\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By S. Kalekar These are contests, grants, and fellowships for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translation, playwriting, and journalism, with awards up to approximately $78,000. They are, very loosely, divided geographically. One deadline is in September. Gold Line Press Chapbook ContestsThey are running contests for chapbook-length fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, with no-fee submissions from POC, Indigenous writers,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13285"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13286,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13285\/revisions\/13286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomwithwriting.com\/freedom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}