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Here are 29 reputable, well-reviewed, free writing contests for poets, fiction writers, essayists and more. Some legitimate writing contests do charge a small entry or “reading” fee, but often a fee can be a red flag for a scam, so you may want to stick to free writing contests — and there are certainly enough of them.
Fiction and nonfiction writing contestsReady to share your novel or personal essay with the world? Whether you’re a newbie or more established writer, you’re likely eligible for a few of these writing contests.
Whatever your feelings about L. Ron Hubbard’s work and philosophy, the prizes for this regular contest are nothing to sneeze at. Every three months, winners earn $1,000, $750 and $500, or an additional annual grand prize worth $5,000.
Submissions must be short stories or novelettes (up to 17,000 words) in the genre of science fiction or fantasy, and new and amateur writers are welcome to apply.
Deadlines: Quarterly on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1.
Awarded to “the most promising and innovative literary nonfiction project by a writer not yet established in the genre,” this prize provides a $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf Press.
If you live in the U.S. and have published at least one book (in any genre), you’re eligible to submit a current manuscript in progress for consideration. The judges look for winners who push the boundaries of traditional literary nonfiction.
Deadline: Annually; the 2016 deadline was January 31.
You can win $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press with this prize, awarded for a collection of short fiction.
You may submit an unpublished manuscript of short stories, two or more novellas or a combination of novellas and short stories in this writing contest. Your total word count should be between 150 and 300 typed pages.
Deadline: Annual submission window for the writing contest is May 1 through June 30.
Presented by St. Martin’s Press and WORDHARVEST, this prize awards the best first mystery novel set in the Southwest with $10,000 and publication by St. Martin’s Press.
This writing contest is open to professional or non-professional writers who have not yet had a mystery published, and there are specific guidelines for the structure of your story: “Murder or another serious crime or crimes must be at the heart of the story, with emphasis on the solution rather than the details of the crime.”
Deadline: Annually on June 1.
This biannual prize honors mid-career writers who have recently published their third, fourth or fifth work of fiction. The winner receives $50,000 but must be able to appear at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY to deliver a talk on their work and teach a mini-workshop in fiction to St. Francis students.
Deadline: Biannually; the deadline for work published between June 2015 and May 2017 has not been announced.
This $10,000 award recognizes “young authors,” which the rules define as any author aged 35 or younger. Submit any novel or short story published or scheduled to be published in the calendar year. Works must be written for adults; children’s or YA pieces are ineligible for this writing contest.
Deadline: Annually in August.
Some of the best website for online writing contest are writersdigest.com and writelife.com . You simply click the link and you can start register for your personal account.
http://thewritelife.com/27-free-writing-contests/
29 Free Writing Contests: Legitimate Competitions With Cash Prizes
There are several effective sites that offer plenty of valuable resources for writers, most notably, Writers Digest, (writersdigest.com), which offers a host of writing contests from short stories to self-published books. With regard to poetry contests, one of the best is Rattle (http://www.rattle.com/info/about-us/), a dedicated poetry site. They have seasonal contests with attractive rewards for winners, including good sums of money. You may participate by subscribing directly to these sites by submitting your email address to them where prompted. I hope this helps any aspiring writers.
You know what? You got me confused! You said you are experiencing a Writer's Block for some time now. And yet, you are interested in joining a contest. How is that? There's only on thing I can say to you; GET YOURSELF ORGANIZED! And of course, USE YOUR INITIATIVE, please and pretty please!
Humility aside, I have not actively applied to participate in any contest. But, contest organizers found me through my website. They invite me to join contests. While, other organizations submit my work to the contest committees for inclusion. In November, I was one of the6 Finalists to the Philippine Blogging Awards under the "Nature and Environment" category. The organizers saw my website and so they nominated me for it.
What I'm trying to tell you is that you don't need to spend extra effort to join contests. Let the organizers find you. Let your work speak for you. That means when you are nominated to participate, your work is commendable enough. What's the use of enrolling yourself to a contest if your work is only mediocre.
thanks for the invitation
I agree with specialties answers. Thanks.
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Campus Diaries (https://campusdiaries.com/) hosts several creative writing competitions throughout the year.
