Free International Writing Competitions For You To Enter | June 2022
New months bring new opportunities for writers across all genres. In this article, we’ve compiled over 20 international writing competitions with no entry fees for you to enter, most of which have June or no Deadlines. The descriptions contain a link to the main page, where the guidelines for submission are detailed.
Voice Club Flash Fiction Contest
They want entries of 350 words or less, family-friendly, and including some reference to the month’s theme.
Prize: $50 Amazon gift card
Guidelines for submission here.
HAVOK Flash Fiction Contest
This is a constant flash fiction contest, with rolling deadlines. Each season is split into monthly competitions with thematically connected prompts in a range of genres.
Prize: $100
Guidelines for submission here.
Anansi Archive Writing Awards
This competition runs in three categories throughout the year. All categories are open-themed.
Poetry: Up to 500 words | Prize: First £20, runner-up £10
Flash Fiction: Up to 500 words | Prize: First £20, runner-up £10
Short Fiction: Up to 3,000 words | Prize: First £50, runner-up £20
In addition to cash prizes, Anansi will showcase the work on their website. They also hope to publish the best entries in their periodical anthologies.
Guidelines for submission here.
Jane Austen Society of North America 2022 Essay Contest
The topic for this competition is ‘Sense and Sensibility’, and it’s open for students who are in high school, college, and graduate school from any part of the world.
Length: 6-8 pages
Prizes: $1,000 for first place winners | $500 for second place winners | $250 for third place winners. Plus, one year of free membership in JASNA, and publication of winning essays on JASNA’s website. The winners will also receive a set of North Critical Editions of Jane Austen’s novels.
Deadline: June 2, 2022
Guidelines for submission here.
BlackInk New Writing Competition 2022
They’re looking for creative writers from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora to submit short stories for the 2022 edition of BlackInk’s Writing Competition.
Word count: stories of up to 2,000 words for consideration.
Prizes: Two winning short stories will be published in BlackInk magazine for Black History Month in October 2022 and each writer will receive £500 in prize money.
Deadline: June 6, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The 2022 Ocean Awareness Contest
The theme of this edition is “THE FUNNY THING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE”. They challenge students to learn about climate change and its impact on the ocean, and to explore new ways to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis.
Eligibility: Students ages 11-18 from around the world are invited to participate.
Deadline: June 13, 2022.
Prizes: Up to $1500
Guidelines for submission here.
Sapiens Plurum Short Fiction Contest
The theme of this competition is Inventing Beautiful Futures, and they’re looking for short stories “that uses technology to transform something harmful into something beneficial or even beautiful. From crisis through chaos to social good. Let the reader see this future world through your eyes. Show us how your characters develop and use technology to bring our world to a better place. But most of all, tell a good story, with characters we care about, setting, conflict and resolution.”
Prizes: First prize – $1,000 | Second prize – $500 | Third prize – $300
Deadline: June 15, 2022
Guidelines for submission here.
The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awardé
They’re “committed to discovering new writers, as well as superlative books by established authors and, upon discovery, sharing those writers and their works with new readers.” There are a large number of both fiction and non-fiction categories you can enter.
Prize: $250
Deadline: 15th Jun, 2022
Guidelines for submission here.
2022 International Essay Contest For Young People
The competition is open to anyone up to 25 years old. This year’s theme is My Values, and it is “organized in an effort to harness the energy, creativity and initiative of the world’s youth in promoting a culture of peace and sustainable development. It also aims to inspire society to learn from the young minds and to think about how each of us can make a difference in the world.”
Prizes: 1st Prize: Certificate, prize of 100,000 Yen (approx. $840 ) and gift … 1 entrant. | 2nd Prize: Certificate, prize of 50,000 Yen (approx. US$420) and gift … 3 entrants | 3rd Prize: Certificate and gift … 5 entrants | Honorable Mention: Certificate and gift … 25 entrants.
Deadline: June 15, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
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The Bureau Dispatch
They publish short stories between 500 to 1,500 words. The focus for Volume 03 is epistolary stories and/or found things.
Prize: $50
Deadline: June 17, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award
This competition requires entrants are asked to create a completed half-hour to one-hour television drama script.
Prize: $2500
Deadline: June 29, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition
Word Count:
Senior – 1,500 words
Junior – 750 words
Prizes:
Winner and Runner Up from each category will be brought to London for a week of educational and cultural events, culminating in a special Awards ceremony. A number of Gold Finalist, Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards will be given in both the Senior and Junior Categories, rewarding excellence in writing. All successful entries will receive a Certificate of Participation.
Deadline: June 30, 2022
Guidelines for submission here.
The Willowherb Review
They are open to nature writing, broadly interpreted, from writers of color all over the world – non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.
Prize: £100 for poetry and £250 for prose.
Deadline: 30 June 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Mud Season Review
They are interested in “deeply-human works that will teach us something about life, but also about the craft of writing or visual art, and work that in some way, moves us.
Prize: $50
Deadline: 30 June, 2022, or until filled up.
Guidelines for submission here.
Loana Press
For this forthcoming issue, the theme is “Leaving”. They want you to share your experience of “abandonment, neglect or loss of a loved one.”
Genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry
Deadline: 30 June, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The Aleph Writing Prize
The judges of this competition will be looking for innovative and creative writing that explores and expand the possibilities of the form. “We encourage submissions from all literary genres, and there are no restrictions on theme or subject matter.”
Prize: A limited edition handmade publication to the best piece of fiction
Deadline: June 30, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
Blue Mountains Arts Poetry Prize
The subject for this poetry competition is open, and multiple entries are welcomed.
Prizes: First prize – $350 | Second prize – $200 | Third prize – $100
Deadline: June 30, 2022
Guidelines for submission here
Beagle North Short Story Competition
The theme for this quarter is ‘Connections’ and entries should be no longer than 2500 words.
Prizes: 1st prize: £20 (or equivalent) Amazon voucher. | 2nd and 3rd prizes: £10 (or equivalent) Amazon voucher. The top three entries will also appear on their site.
Deadline: June 30, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The Drue Heinz Literature Prize
They recognize and support “writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. The award is open to authors who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals.”
Prizes: Winners receive a cash prize of $15,000, publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press, and support in the nation-wide promotion of their book.
Deadline: June 30, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
The Lindisfarne Prize for Crime Fiction
To be considered, entrants must submit a short story of no more than ten thousand words or the first two chapters and a synopsis of their work in progress.
Prizes: The winning entry will be awarded a prize of £2500 to support the completion of their work and funding towards a year’s membership of both the Society of Authors (SoA) and the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi), and smaller financial awards to shortlisted candidates.
Deadline: June 30, 2022.
Guidelines for submission here.
