Writing Competitions in January 2023
A happy new writing year to you! It’s a fresh start; time to give writing your best shot this year. We’ve once again, compiled free-to-enter writing competitions for you. Kindly go through the guidelines for submitting any that piques your interest, and be sure to visit this page regularly for updates to this list. Good luck!
The Fairy Tale Magazine
They’re currently reading fairy tales and poetry on the theme of “Love” for their 2023 issues. “Romance is preferred, but love between friends, family members, pets and their humans, etc., will be considered too…”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Deadline: 2 January 2023.
Prize: $50
Kenyon Review
They’re seeking works that explore ideas and questions of gender for their guest edited folio, ‘Luminous Gender Vessel’. According to them, “Because genre, like gender, is a construct. It’s rarely one thing or the other.”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Deadline: 5 January 2023.
Room Magazine
They want fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and art on the ‘Ghosts’ theme, from people of marginalized genders only, including but not limited to women (cisgender and transgender), transgender men, Two-Spirit and nonbinary people.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: CAD50/page, up to CAD150
Deadline: 5 January 2023.
The Island Prize
This literary prize that has been curated with the primary aim of helping African writers break into the UK publishing scene.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: Winner – £500 | Two Runners Up (Shortlist) – £200
Deadline: 6th January, 2023.
Wyngraf
This cozy fantasy magazine is currently open for short story submissions. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: One and a half cents per word
Deadline: 7 January 2023.
Cosmic Horror Monthly
This magazine want cosmic horror, Lovecraftian, and weird stories. For non-fiction, they want essays that explore the state of horror as well as the philosophies that are often found in cosmic horror, existentialism, nihilism, etc.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Deadline: 7 January 2023.
Prize: $0.06/word for fiction
Bennington Review
This literary magazine accepts fiction, non-fiction, poetry, translations, and film/TV writing. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $120 for six pages or fewer, $250 for more than six pages of prose, $25/poem.
Deadline: 9 January 2023
2023 International Student Essay Writing Competitions
This essay competition is open to students between the ages of 7 and 18, worldwide. Topic: “How can young people be better supported to thrive in green jobs?”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: Grand Prize trophy winner – a free international trip to a TSL Summit, including £500 spending money.
Top 10 essay medallists – receive eco-friendly e-mails with redeemable gift tokens.
All participating Teacher Champions, Essay Finalists & Honourable Mentions, and International Debate Participants, will receive personalised e-certificates.
Deadline: January 11, 2023.
French-American Foundation Translation Prize
This prize is for the best English translation of French in both fiction and non-fiction.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $10,000.
Deadline: January 13, 2023.
Encore Award
This award is open to British or Commonwealth citizens, and is open for second published novels that must have been first published in the UK.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: £10,000.
Deadline: January 13, 2023.
Apparition Lit
They run a monthly flash fiction contest of up to 1000 words based on their specified theme.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $30.
Deadline: January 14, 2023.
Solarpunk Magazine
They’re open for nonfiction/essay submissions on solarpunk themes. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $0.08/word for fiction, $75/essay, $40/poem
Deadline: 14 January 2023.
Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction
This prize is open to BIPOC writers. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $1,500 top prize.
Deadline: January 15, 2023.
The Levis Reading Prize
The prize is given annually for the best first or second book of poetry published in the previous calendar year. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $5000.
Deadline: January 15, 2023.
READ ALSO: >>Christmas In The Tin City – Alex Byanyiko | Short Story<<
Novella-in-Flash Award
They’re seeking to award good flash fiction/novella. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: £300 prize for the winner, two runner-up prizes of £100.
Deadline: January 15, 2023.
Stacey Doris Memorial Poetry Award
For this poetry contest, you can send one poem of 3 to 10 pages. They’re out for “a poet with a truly inventive spirit.” Works that don’t win will be considered for publication in Fourteen Hills.
Read the full details ad guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $500
Deadline: 15 January 2023.
Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Writing Competitions
This is a poetry contest open to writers of all backgrounds. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: 1st – $600 | 2nd – $400 | 3rd – $300 | 4th – $200 | Additional cash awards for honorable mentions.
Prize-winning and final poems results will be listed and published on the contest website in March 2023.
Deadline: January 15, 2023.
Alienhead Press
For their fiction anthology, they’re inviting writers of dark fiction to submit short stories of classic paranormal, poltergeists, ghosts, spirits, haunted places and objects, and the eerily unexplained that take place on or around the winter holidays.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $0.06/word.
Deadline: 20 January 2023.
The Saltbrush Review
They’re seeking fiction, creative non-fiction (including personal essays and life writing), cross-genre work and poetry on the ‘Intersections’ theme.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: AUD100/poem or flash piece; AUD150 for short fiction and non-fiction.
Deadline: 20 January 2023.
Bellona Magazine
This biannual journal and publishing collective is accepting pitches for their ‘Surplus’ issue.
They are looking for “speculative pitches on the political economy, aesthetics, rhythms and spatialities of surplus.”
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $150
Deadline: January 20th, 2023.
The Nine Dots Prize
This is a prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues. For this cycle, the question is: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’
“The aim of the Prize is to promote, encourage and engage innovative thinking to address problems facing the modern world. The name of the Prize references the nine dots puzzle – a lateral thinking puzzle which can only be solved by thinking outside the box.”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $100,000, residency, publication
Deadline: 23 January 2023.
As Equals
This is a series by CNN about systemic gender inequality. They are looking for “stories that reveal, explain, or investigate some facet of what it’s like to belong to certain categories of women whose stories remain largely out of view.”
These include (but are not limited to) sex workers, domestic workers, undocumented women, older women (45+), trans women, non-binary people, women from religious minorities, religious women defying the mainstream narratives, disabled women, and indigenous women. They will strongly prefer pitches for stories from the global south.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $350 for 2,000 words.
Deadline: January 24th, 2023.
AKO Caine Prize for African Writing
This prize is for a published short story by an African writer, of 3,000-10,000 words. The story must have been published in the five years preceding the submissions deadline, and submissions have to be made by publishers only.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: £10,000, and £500 for four short-listed candidates
Deadline: 26 January 2023.
Pulp Literature
They’re looking for any genre or between-genre work of literature, or visual art (black and white for interiors, colour for covers) up to 50 pages in length.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: $0.05 – $0.08 per word for short stories (to 5000 words) | $0.03 – $0.06 per word between 5000 and 10000 words. | $0.02 – $0.04 per word for works over 10000 words. | Poetry and interior illustrations pay between $25 – $50. | Sequential art (graphic novels and cartoons) and illustrations are at a rate of $25 to $75 per page.
Deadline: 31st January, 2023, or as otherwise stated.
Scriptlab Writing Competitions
You can submit a TV script or short screenplay. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: Up to $500.
Deadline: January 31, 2023.
Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Writing Competitions
They are interested in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America.
But while the writing should appeal to a reader with these interests, stories can be on any theme. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $150.
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
International Young Theatre Playwriting Writing Competitions
This prize is for bold and powerful plays for young audiences, written in any official European language. Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: €2,400 for Category A | €1,000 for Category B | €400 for Category C, + other prizes.
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
Air & Nothingness Press
They want “stories of massive engineering megastructures that reshape stellar systems; …tales of advanced civilizations, personal stories of the people who live in these spaces, the mythology that is created as these projects are born, to the time they crumble to stellar dust.”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $0.08/word
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
The Bureau Dispatch: Writing Competitions
They’re calling for entries on “Wayfinding; stories that explore our relationships with physical (and metaphorical) spaces and places, how we orient ourselves within or among them, and how we navigate and find our way.”
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $50.
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
Biopage Storytelling Writing Competitions
They’re accepting inspiring, heartwarming, and uplifting stories.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: $300, five prizes of $100.
Deadline: 31 January 2023.
The Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling: Another One of Writing Competitions
This award honours up-and-coming journalists in Africa who strive to strengthen people’s voices and illuminate the transformational change taking place on the continent.
The award entries must represent groundbreaking journalistic work published between December 1, 2021, and December 1, 2022.
Read the full details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prizes: $5,000 cash prize, a personalized crystal award, and an opportunity to spend up to two weeks at The Economist headquarters in London, or to complete a tailored study tour of US newsrooms.
Deadline: 31st January, 2023.
Mysterion Magazine
They are looking for speculative stories and artwork – science fiction, fantasy, horror – with Christian themes, characters, or cosmology.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: 8 cents per word for originals, 4 cents per word for reprints.
Deadline: January 31, 2023 (for fiction). Open to art submissions year-round.
Dread Central
They cover horror movies, games, comics, novels, toys, and more. As part of their Black History Month programming, they are specifically looking for pitches from Black genre fans.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $100 per accepted article.
Deadline: January 31st, 2023.
Dragon Gems Publishing Summer Anthology
This is an unthemed fiction anthology by Water Dragon Publishing. They want fantasy or science fiction containing fantastical elements.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $0.02/word
Deadline: 31 January, 2023.
Event Magazine
This Canadian magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and reviews. Submission for fiction is currently open while others are closed for now. “We look for compelling characters and voice, fresh plots, and narratives that move us.”
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $35/page for prose.
Deadline: 31 January, 2023.
The Bureau Dispatch
For their Volume 5, they’re open to all kinds of narratives but are particularly interested in ones themed “Wayfinding”; stories that explore our relationships with physical (and metaphorical) spaces and places, how we orient ourselves within or among them, and how we navigate and find our way.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $50
Deadline: 31 January, 2023.
Brink Literary Journal
They’re interested in publishing hybrid/cross-genre submissions, on the theme of “Gravity”.
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: $25/poem; $50-$100 for prose.
Deadline: 31 January, 2023.
Brigids Gate Press
This is a fiction and poetry anthology. They’re seeking works that have a spiritual element (prophecy, omen, vision, conversation with a higher power), and spiritual medium (Seer, Sibyl, Oracle, Shaman, Priestess, Prophet).
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Deadline: 31 January, 2023.
Prize: $0.08/word for fiction; $50 for poetry.
StepAway Magazine
They publish the best urban flash fiction and poetry by writers from across the globe. According to them, “Our magazine is hungry for literature that evokes the sensory experience of walking in specific neighborhoods, districts or zones within a city. This is flânerie for the twenty-first century.”
Read the details and guidelines for submission >>here<<
Prize: Publication
Deadline: Rolling
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