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Gayle Drakes

FICTION  COMPETITIONS

The Cambridge Flash Fiction and Short Story Prize: is open internationally, anyone can participate. The word length for Flash Fiction is 400 and for Short Story is 2500.

The submission period is from 15th February 2021 – 14th May 2021 (ends midnight, UK time). Entry Fees are as follows: 15th February – 14th March £7.50; 15th March – 14th April £8.50, 15th April – 14th May £9.50.

The winning prizes are £1000 (1st), £300 (2nd), £200 (3rd), and all remaining shortlisted will be awarded £50. All shortlisted and winning writers will be published online across 2021.

The Ernest Hemingway Flash Fiction Prize is offered by Fiction Southeast. Entries should be approximately 1500 words or less. Submissions should be unpublished. Deadline: March 31^st, 2021. There is an entry fee of $10. All entries will be considered for publication in Fiction Southeast.

First prize is $200 and publication in Fiction Southeast. Finalists will be offered publication in Fiction Southeast

Smokelong Grand Micro Competition:

From March 1 to May 16, 2021, the SmokeLong editors will be considering work for inclusion in their June double issue. Word length must be 400 words or fewer and only unpublished work will be considered. Fiction, non-fiction, and hybrid narratives are considered.

The first place wins $1500; second place $500; third place $300; finalists $100. All winners and finalists will be published in the June issue SmokeLong Quarterly.

There is an entry fee of $6 for a single submission, $10 for two, $16 for four.

The Bridport prize (U K):

This competition has been previously mentioned but it’s worth a reminder. This yearly competition has been around since 1973. The Bridport Prize attracts many thousands of entries from across the world each year. It is a widely respected creative writing competition. It has four categories Novel, short story, flash fiction, poetry. Deadline May 31, 2021 (midnight UK time).

For poetry (up to 40 lines): first prize is £5,000 (entry fee: £10)

For short story (word length 5000 or less): first prize is £5000 (entry fee:£12).

For flash fiction (word length 250 or less): first prize is £1000 (entry fee £9)

For Novel Award (the first 8000 words and synopsis): first prize is £1500, a year mentoring from The Literary Consultancy through their Chapter & Verse scheme (worth £2,640), and a detailed critique from the novel judge (entry fee: £20).

Flash Fiction Magazine Editor’s Choice Award

During the first quarter of each year, the editors will vote on their favorite story of the previous year. The award is $1000. Word length must be between 300–1000 words. 

They pay $40 for stories selected to be in Flash Fiction Magazine anthologies.

Cinnamon Literature Award:
Annual competition open to all writers (new and established). You can submit poetry, short stories, or a novel (first 10,000 words). The winner will have their book published by Cinnamon Press. Opens for entries in late spring 2021.

Entry Fee: £16

Deadline: TBC— check website for full submission details and rules.

I Competitions for the year 2022 that are either free or ask for a small fee.

7 Day Story Writing Challenge. Globe Soup lets you register now for a 7-day story writing challenge. The challenge consists of a secret theme, a randomly assigned genre, and just 7 days to write a story of no more than 2,000 words. These 7 day story writing challenges take place throughout the year. The challenges are free and you can even get feedback on your story. Also, once you register you will remain registered for all the challenges until you unsubscribe. Entry is free: price for the winner: $500.

Elegant literature. Submission to the magazine is free. They also have monthly contests with fees. Submissions window opens on the first and closes at midnight on the final day of each month. The theme of each issue of the magazine is the same as the contest. All submissions to the contest are also treated as submissions to the magazine and are eligible to be published. Submitting your work to the contest could win you $3,000 in addition to publication. Word Limit: 500 – 2000 words, excluding the title. Pay Rate: ten cents ($0.10) per word, including the title. All genres accepted.

Secret Attic, UK magazine, has monthly competitions –free

Bridport poetry prize: submit poems up to 42 lines max. First prize £5000. In addition to the prize money, the top three winning poems are automatically entered into the Forward Prize for Poetry’s competition, with the chance to win a further £1000. Deadline: 12 midnight (UK time) on 31st May 2022. Postal entries postmarked 31st May but received later will be accepted. It also has competitions for short stories and flash fiction.

II Literary Magazines that are open to submissions for spring and summer issues.

MudRoom publishes poetry of all types. It is open for submissions until April 30th. Submissions are free. They pay fifteen dollars per accepted piece. Mudroom also publishes fiction, essays, and essays in translation. Four issues of prose and poetry are published per year.

Driftwood Press is a paying small press specializing in fiction, poetry, visual arts, and comics. It seeks submissions of short stories, novellas, single poems, poetry chapbooks, or comic collections. It also offers poetry submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission.

The New Verse News. Since 2005, it has covered the news of the day with “poems on issues, large and small, international and local.”  It seeks current events poetry. See the website for guidelines and examples. The website is updated daily. Deadline: all year-round.

Malahat Review: invites emerging poets to enter the Far Horizons Award for Poetry. The contest is open to Canadian and international writers anywhere in the world.

Deadline is 11:59pm (PDT) on May 1, 2022. One winner will receive a prize of CAD $1,000 and be published in the magazine's fall 2022 issue.

Avalon Literary Review: Electronic submissions only of poetry, fiction, flash fiction, and personal essays. It’s open for submission for their spring and summer issues.

Euphony Journal.  A literary magazine founded in 2000, Euphony is a student-run literary journal at the University of Chicago. It publishes poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, creative non-fiction, plays from accomplished and aspiring writers around the country and within the University community.

III For those interested in Micro and flash fiction

Blink-Ink is a quarterly journal archived in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. It publishes the best in stories of approximately 50 words since 2009.

Birdseed Magazine publishes micro fiction of 150 words or less from new writers, emerging writers, writers of all types. It wants fresh, surprising voices and writing that “feels like rain or maybe a birdsong morning.” Open also to nature writing.

Microfiction Monday Magazine seeks to publish exceptional stories told in 100 words or less on the first Monday of every month.  There are no restrictions on genre or content. The magazine also encourages artwork submissions as well.

New Flash Fiction Review. An online magazine originally devoted to Flash Fiction, max 500 words. It now also publishes creative non-fiction.

Some competitions of interest for 2020/2021

I University of Iowa Press

The Iowa Short Fiction Award & John Simmons Short Fiction Award Competition is open to any writer who has not previously published a volume of prose fiction. Previously entered manuscripts that have been revised may be resubmitted. Writers are still eligible if they have self-published a work in a small print run. Award-winning manuscripts will be published by the University of Iowa Press under the Press's standard contract. Deadline 9/30/20; 2021 TBD.

II Virginia Commonwealth University

The VCU Cabell First Novelist Award is for an outstanding debut novel published in the preceding calendar year. Self-published novels are not eligible, nor any novel published (via a hybrid press or otherwise) using an author's financial investment or fundraising efforts. The USA must be the country of first publication for the submission. For submissions for 2021, the postmark deadline is December 30, 2020.

III Minotaurbooks

The Hillerman Mystery Contest is open only to writers who are 18 years of age or older and are legal residents of one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or Canada (excluding Quebec). Each potential entrant must not be the author of a published mystery novel. The 2021 competition has not been announced yet.

IV The New York Public Library

Young Lions Fiction Award ($10,000 prize) is awarded each spring to a writer age 35 or younger for a novel or a collection of short stories. Each year, five young fiction writers are selected as finalists.

V Science Fiction and Fantasy competition

L. Ron Hubbard SF and Fantasy Contest. This is an opportunity for new writers of science fiction and fantasy to have their work judged by some of the masters in the field. There is no entry fee. Prizes of $1000, $750 and $500 are awarded quarterly every year.

VI Academy of American Poets

The Walt Whitman Award is a $5,000 first-book publication prize. The award was established in 1975 to encourage the work of emerging poets and to enable the publication of their first book. The winning manuscript is published by Graywolf Press. Submissions are accepted from September 15, 2020, to November 15, 2020. The entry fee is quite pricey: $35.

VII Ernest J. Gaines Award

The Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, now on its 14th year, honors Louisiana’s storyteller, Ernest J. Gaines. It serves to inspire and recognize emerging African-American fiction writers of excellence at a national level. There is an annual award of a $15,000 cash prize to support the writer and help her/him to focus on her/his art of writing. The deadline for 2020 is over, so look out for the 2021.

VIII The Omega Sci-Fi Awards

The Roswell Award competition offers cash prizes for science fiction writing on any theme. In addition, special prizes will be awarded for feminist-themed sci-fi. Stories must be original, 1,500 words or less, not published or posted, and not fan fiction. Deadline on December 15, 2020.