Free-to-enter International Writing Competitions in August 2022
August is here and it’s a great time to flex your creative muscles once again. You’ll find in this article, free-entry writing contests in different genres such as short stories, flash fiction, poetry, essays, playwriting, articles, etc. There’s also a link to the main contest page with the full details and guidelines for submission. These are free-to-enter international writing competitions in August 2022.
Youth Writing Contest
For this contest, young writers can submit one entry to each of four contest categories: short stories, poems, comics, and the random category.
Prizes: Cash prizes, publication in a commemorative anthology, and celebration at an awards gala in October.
Deadline: August 3, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Apparition Lit
This is a recurring flash fiction contest, always based on the theme selected.
Word count: Max. 1000 words.
Prize: $30.
Deadline: August 14, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Wintermute Lit
This magazine is open to emerging writers who have not published a full-length manuscript or chapbook. Also, the work can be previously published but not awarded large national/international awards.
Genre: Speculative fiction, 4500 words max.
Prize: Cash prizes, speculative books, and publication in Wintermute.
Deadline: August 14, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Yale Drama Series 2023
The Yale Drama Series is intended to support emerging playwrights. They’re seeking plays unpublished full-length plays, written in the English language.
Prize: The winner will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of their manuscript by Yale University Press, and a celebratory event.
Deadline: August 15, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
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Ligonier Valley Writers
They’re seeking flash fiction on the theme of “mermaids, selkies, and other water dwellers”.
Prizes: 1st– $50, 2nd – $25, 3rd – $15.
Deadline: August 15, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Exisle Academy
They’re seeking short story entries – in any genre, fiction or fact – that helped or would have helped you at a pivotal moment in your life. Theme: “The story I needed.”
Prizes: One winner will receive up to $2000 worth of training and coaching with Exisle Academy, including the opportunity to discuss developing a book with our editors.
Deadline: 28th August 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Debra E. Bernhardt Labor Journalism Prize
They’re seeking articles that further the understanding of the history of working people. The work should have been published in print or online between August 31, 2021, and August 30, 2022.
Prize: $1000.
Deadline: August 30, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Sweetycat Press
For this edition, they want stories about animals for a Zooanthology.
Prize: Publication in a Sweetycat Press anthology
Deadline: 30th August 2022
Guidelines for submission here.
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Diana Woods Memorial Award in Creative Nonfiction
For this open-themed award, they’re seeking essays with a maximum of 5,000 words.
Prize: $250 top prize, and publication in Lunch Ticketz.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation or Multi-Lingual Texts
This competition is open to translators and authors of multi-lingual texts, both in poetry and prose.
Prize: $200.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Storyhouse
This magazine is seeking biographical nonfiction stories, 1000–10,000 words in length, and suitable for children.
Prize: $200.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Poetry Archive NOW! WordView 2022.
For this contest, they want participants to make a video/film recording of themselves reading or reciting a single poem which they have written in 2022.
Prize: £100.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Preservation Foundation Essay Contest for Unpublished Writers
The contest is open to biographical nonfiction writers whose creative writing has never produced revenues of over $750 in any single year.
Prize: First prize – $200. Runners-up – $100. Finalists – $50.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing
They’re seeking scholarly essays that must have been written or published within the last year.
Prize: $3,000.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Val Wood Prize for Creative Writing
This competition is about writing a short story with an overall word count of 2000 on the theme: ‘Storytelling”.
Prize: £100.
Deadline: August 31, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
