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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

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Writing Contests, Grants & Awards

• See Recent Winners
• View the Submission Calendar

The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. Ours is the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Poetry Book Prize

A prize of $1,500 and publication by Gaudy Boy, an imprint of the New York City–based literary nonprofit Singapore Unbound, is given annually for a poetry collection by a...

New Letters

Literary awards.

Three prizes of $2,500 each and publication in New Letters are given annually for a poem, a short story, and an essay. Using only the online submission system, submit up...

Great Lakes Colleges Association

New writers awards.

Three prizes are given annually for first books by a poet, a fiction writer, and a creative nonfiction writer. The winners each receive an all-expenses-paid trip to several of...

Livingston Press

Changing light prize.

A prize of $500, publication by Livingston Press, and 20 author copies will be given annually for a novel-in-verse. Eleanor Boudreau will judge. Submit a manuscript of 90 to...

Michigan Quarterly Review

James a. winn prize.

A prize of $1,500 and publication in Michigan Quarterly Review will be given annually for an essay or a work of nonfiction in hybrid form. Elizabeth Goodenough will...

University of Georgia Press

Flannery o’connor award for short fiction.

A prize of $1,000 and publication by University of Georgia Press is given annually for a collection of short fiction. Lori Ostlund will judge. Using only the online submission...

BOA Editions

Short fiction prize.

A prize of $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions is given annually for a story collection. Peter Conners will judge. Submit a manuscript of 90 to 200 pages with a $30 entry...

Anhinga Press

Anhinga prize for poetry.

A prize of $1,000, publication by Anhinga Press, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of...

The Center for Fiction

Susan kamil emerging writer fellowships.

Nine fellowships of $5,000 each, a one-year membership to the Center for Fiction in New York City, and a year of access to the Writers Studio writing space are given annually...

John D. Voelker Foundation

Robert traver fly-fishing writing award.

A prize of $2,500 and publication in American Fly Fisher as well as on the John D. Voelker Foundation and the American Museum of Fly Fishing websites will be given...

Southern Poetry Review

Guy owen prize.

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Southern Poetry Review is given annually for a single poem. Submit three to five poems totaling no more than 10 pages with a $20...

Bridport Arts Centre

Bridport prizes.

Two prizes of £5,000 (approximately $6,383) each and publication in the Bridport Prize anthology are given annually for a poem and a short story. A second-place prize of £1,000...

Bard College

Bard fiction prize.

A prize of $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College is given annually to a fiction writer under the age of 40. The winner must give at...

PEN America

Pen/jean stein grants for literary oral history.

Two grants of $15,000 are given annually for nonfiction works-in-progress that “use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.” Using only the online...

Fiction Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Salamander is given annually for a short story. Kevin Wilson will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a story of...

Emerging Poets Contest

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Boulevard is given annually for a group of poems by a poet who has not published a poetry collection with a nationally distributed...

Moon City Press

Poetry award.

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Moon City Press is given annually for a poetry collection. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit a...

American Short Fiction

Halifax ranch fiction prize.

A prize of $2,500 and publication in American Short Fiction is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a weeklong, all-expenses-paid writing retreat...

Interlochen Center for the Arts

Pattis family foundation creative arts book award.

A prize of $25,000 and a weeklong residency at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Interlochen, Michigan, will be given annually for a book of fiction or nonfiction published in...

PEN/Bare Life Review Grants

Two grants of $5,000 each will be given annually for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works-in-progress “by immigrant and refugee writers, recognizing that the literature of...

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants

Ten grants of $3,000 to $4,000 each are given annually to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that have not previously...

Western Connecticut State University

Housatonic book awards.

Three prizes of $1,000 each are given annually for books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in the previous year. The winners also receive $500 in travel expenses and...

Omnidawn Publishing

Chapbook contest.

A prize of $1,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. T.J. Anderson III will judge. Using only the online...

Tusculum Review

Chapbook prize.

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Tusculum Review is given annually for a poetry chapbook, a short story, or an essay. This year’s prize will be awarded in nonfiction...

42 Miles Press

A prize of $1,000, publication by 42 Miles Press, and 50 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. The winner is also invited to give a reading at University of...

• Arthur Terry Postgraduate Essay Prize

Winners of the BCLA Arthur Terry Postgraduate Essay Prize 2022

The jury, which consisted of members of the  BCLA Executive Committee , awarded the following:

• 1 st prize (£200) to Han Hu, who has graduated with Distinction from St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, with a Masters degree in Modern Languages.  Her winning essay is entitled: “ Centres on the Margin and the Doubly Marginalised “. 
• 2 nd prize (£100)  to Matthias Beckonert, who will graduate with Distinction in November 2022 from the School of Modern Languages, University of St. Andrews, with a Masters Degree in German and Comparative Literature. His winning essay is entitled: “ Imagine (Other Beings): The Animal Gaze in Baudelaire, Robertson, and Varo “.

We warmly congratulate the winners on their success.

The British Comparative Literature Association offers an annual prize for an essay written in English on any aspect of comparative literature in memory of  Arthur Terry  (1927–2004), who served as President of the BCLA for many years. Arthur Terry was Emeritus Professor in the  Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies  at the  University of Essex , and one of the world’s most distinguished critics of  Catalan literature  for which he received many awards.

The aim of the Arthur Terry Postgraduate Essay Prize is to recognise work of outstanding merit at Master’s level. There are two prizes of £200 and £100, and the winning entrants are also given one-year free BCLA membership.

The winners for the 2022 prize have been announced. The deadline for the 2023 contest will be announced at a later date.

Conditions for entry:

• The essay should have been written in the same academic year by a postgraduate student at Master’s level registered at an institution of higher education in the United Kingdom or Ireland and submitted for assessment within that institution.
• The essay should be on an aspect of comparative literature and be written in English (maximum 8000 words). For the purposes of the Arthur Terry prize, ‘comparative literature’ is defined as the study of the interaction of at least two bodies of literature (writers, genres, etc.), usually across languages.
• The essay should be submitted using the application form below . It should adhere to the presentation guidelines specified on the application form.
• The entry requires a message from the student’s supervisor/tutor confirming the student’s status, the originality of the essay, the reasons for the mark awarded and that the essay is being submitted in its original form. This should be emailed separately by the deadline to the same two email addresses.
• Only one submission per candidate may be accepted, and no supervisor may submit more than three essays in any year.

Winning entries are eligible for publication in full on the website, and may be accessed and downloaded  here :

NB: All essays will be published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 on the BCLA website unless otherwise stated.

See the previous winners of the Arthur Terry Postgraduate Essay Prize, and read their works .

Application

Arthur terry essay prize application.

The Arthur Terry Prize is not yet open to new applicants. Please check back in September 2024.

Please use the form below to submit your entry. Your supervisor/tutor should send an additional message separately confirming your status, the originality of the essay, the reasons for the mark awarded and that the essay is being submitted in its original form, to [email protected] .

Presentation Guidelines

• Your name and department must not appear on the essay itself.
• The essay must be word-processed, double spaced, and the pages numbered.
• The essay must NOT exceed 8000 words in length.
• The essay must be submitted in its original form.
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Best Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 381 contests that match your search.

The Reedsy Prompts Contest

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Every Friday, Reedsy sends out five writing prompts. Enter your response within a week for a chance at $250. Winners may also be included in a future issue of Reedsy’s literary magazine, Prompted.

Additional prizes:

$25 credit toward Reedsy editorial services

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 31, 2024

Askew's Word on the Lake Writing Contest

Shuswap Association of Writers

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Essay, Memoir, and Short Story

Whether you’re an established or emerging writer, the Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest has a place for you. Part of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival in Salmon Arm, BC, the contest is open to submissions in short fiction (up to 2,000 words), nonfiction (up to 2,000 words), and poetry (up to three one-page poems).

Publication

💰 Entry fee: $11

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)

Black River Chapbook Competition

Black Lawrence Press

Genres: Poetry

Twice each year Black Lawrence Press will run the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or prose between 16-36 pages in length. The contest is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Prizes are awarded on publication.

💰 Entry fee: $18

📅 Deadline: June 01, 2024

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Learn more about Reedsy Studio .

First Pages Prize

Genres: Fiction and Non-fiction

First Pages Prize invites you to enter your first 5 pages of a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. Prizes in both fiction & creative nonfiction. Open to un-agented writers worldwide, the prize supports emerging writers with cash awards, developmental mentoring, & agent consultation. This year our judge is Edwidge Danticat! Opens March 2024!

Agent Consultation, Developmental Mentorship

💰 Entry fee: $20

📅 Deadline: April 24, 2024 (Expired)

Minute Poetry Contest

FanStory.com Inc

Share a minute poem to enter this poetry contest. It's a fun poem to write. It has three stanzas. Each stanza has the same 8-4-4-4 syllable count. So the first line has eight syllables. All other lines in the stanza have four. Cash prize to the winner!

💰 Entry fee: $10

📅 Deadline: April 13, 2024 (Expired)

WOW! Women on Writing Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

WOW! Women on Writing

Genres: Flash Fiction

Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity, great writing, and provide well-rewarded recognition to contestants.

2nd: $300 | 3rd: $200 | 7 runner-ups: $25 Amazon Gift Cards

📅 Deadline: February 28, 2024 (Expired)

Maggie Award for Published Writers

Georgia Romance Writers

Genres: Novel and Romance

The purpose of the Published Maggie Award for Excellence is to recognize the achievements of published authors of romantic fiction. The Maggie Award is a symbol of achievement given by the Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) to bring special attention to these authors. The Maggie, a silver medallion commissioned by GRW, receives national attention. Books will be ranked by librarians, booksellers, and other professionals in the publishing industry.​​

💰 Entry fee: $40

📅 Deadline: April 05, 2024 (Expired)

Fanstory Writing Contests

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Subscribe to Fanstory for $9.95 a month and enter as many contests as you like from their list of writing and poetry contests, updated daily. All participants receive feedback from a community of writers, and the winner of each contest receives a cash prize of up to $100.

Cash prizes of up to $100

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2023 (Expired)

Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize

Desperate Literature

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, and Short Story

The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is both to celebrate the best of new, boundary-pushing short fiction and to give winners the most visibility possible for their writing. That’s why we’ve teamed up with fourteen different literary and artistic institutions to not only offer cash prizes and writing retreats but also to ensure that all our shortlisters have the opportunity to be published in multiple print and online journals, have their work put in front of literary agents, and present their stories in multiple countries.

€2,000 + week's stay at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation artists' residency

2nd + 3rd: €1000 | All shortlisters: publication in our print collection Eleven Stories | All longlisters: One-year subscription to The Literary Consultancy's "Being a Writer" platform | One shortlister: two-week residency at Studio Faire, France

💰 Entry fee: $22

📅 Deadline: December 04, 2024

Science Fiction Writing Contest

Genres: Fiction, Science Writing, and Science Fiction

Share a Science Fiction themed story to enter this writing contest with a cash prizes. Let your imagination fly and enjoy sharing your writing.

Winning entries will be features on the FanStory.com welcome page.

💰 Entry fee: $9

📅 Deadline: April 12, 2023 (Expired)

Annual Short Contest

Gemini Magazine

Genres: Flash Fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

We hold three annual contests: Flash Fiction, Short Story, and Poetry. We are committed to keeping entry fees low so no one who wants to enter is excluded for financial reasons, and we sometimes waive fees for those in extreme circumstances. It’s not about the money—it’s about finding and publishing the best work available.

Publication in Gemini Magazine

💰 Entry fee: $8

📅 Deadline: January 04, 2024 (Expired)

F(r)iction Short Story Contest

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, and Short Story

We seek work that actively pushes boundaries, that forces us to question traditions and tastes. If your work takes risks, we want to read it. We like strong narratives that make us feel something and stories we haven’t seen before. We accept work, written in English, from anywhere in the world—regardless of genre, style, or origin—and welcome speculative writing and experimental literature. Strange is good. Strange with a strong character arc is even better. Keep it weird, folks.

💰 Entry fee: $15

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Expired)

True Story Contest

FanStory.com Inc.

Genres: Non-fiction and Short Story

Share a true story about your life. Write about any event that happened in your life that you would like to share. Cash prize to the winner.

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2024

Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Competition

Dzanc Books

The Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize celebrates imaginative and inventive writing in book-length collections (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). Past winners include Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh (Zan), Nino Cipri (Homesick), Anne Valente (By Light We Knew Our Names), Chaya Bhuvaneswar (White Dancing Elephants), Jen Grow (My Life as a Mermaid), Julie Stewart (Water and Blood), and Ethel Rohan (In the Event of Contact). The winning submission will be awarded a $2,500 advance and publication by Dzanc Books.

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: September 30, 2024

The Betty Award

Genres: Children's

As one of the few competitions for elementary and middle school students, The Betty Award grants cash prizes for written pieces below 1,000 words. The Betty Award has both a Spring & Fall contest.

📅 Deadline: May 04, 2024 (Expired)

CWA Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

Crime Writers' Association

Genres: Mystery and Short Story

Every year since 2014, the CWA and the Margery Allingham Society have jointly held an international competition for a short story of up to 3,500 words. Our mission is to find the best unpublished short mystery, and not only that, but one which fits into Golden Age crime writer Margery Allingham’s definition of what makes a great story. Entries are invited from all writers, published or unpublished, writing in English.

Two weekend passes to CrimeFest

💰 Entry fee: $16

📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)

Red Hen Press Women's Prose Prize

Red Hen Press

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Short Story, Essay, Memoir, and Novel

Established in 2018, the Women’s Prose Prize is for previously unpublished, original work of prose. Novels, short story collections, memoirs, essay collections, and all other forms of prose writing are eligible for consideration. The awarded manuscript is selected through a biennial competition, held in even-numbered years, that is open to all writers who identify as women.

Publication by Red Hen Press

Halloween Horror Contest

Genres: Horror

The spooky season is almost upon us. We're looking for your creepiest horror stories. The ones that make us lay awake in bed at night gnashing our teeth, wondering about the sound coming from under the bed. The story can be a maximum of 5,000 words. There is no minimum.

Two runner-ups: $50

📅 Deadline: November 11, 2022 (Expired)

Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction

Lambda Literary

Genres: LGBTQ and Novel

The Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction, in memory of the celebrated author Randall Kenan, honors Black LGBTQ writers of fiction. The award will go to a Black LGBTQ writer whose fiction explores themes of Black LGBTQ life, culture, and/or history. To be eligible, the winner of the prize must have published at least one book and show promise in continuing to produce groundbreaking work.

📅 Deadline: February 16, 2024 (Expired)

HNS 2024 First Chapters Competition

Historical Novel Society

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Novel, Romance, Thriller, and Young Adult

The HNS UK 2024 First Chapters Competition is for the first three chapters of a full-length historical novel that has not been previously published in any form. We are looking to recognize and promote excellence in storytelling and the craft of historical fiction and its subgenres. The competition coincides with the HNS UK 2024 conference and the overall winner will be announced at the conference.

Category winners: £500 and HNS UK 2024 conference ticket

💰 Entry fee: $50

📅 Deadline: February 15, 2024 (Expired)

The Letter Review Prize for Poetry

The Letter Review

This Prize is free to enter. 2-4 Winners are published. We Shortlist 10-20 writers. Seeking poems up to 70 lines. Judges’ feedback available. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, with no style / theme restrictions. Judged blind. All entries considered for publication + submission to Pushcart.

Publication by The Letter Review

📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024 (Expired)

Great American Fiction Contest

Saturday Evening Post

In its two centuries of existence, The Saturday Evening Post has published short fiction by a who’s who of great American authors, including Ray Bradbury, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louis L’Amour, Sinclair Lewis, Jack London, Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Tyler, and Kurt Vonnegut, among so many others.

📅 Deadline: July 01, 2024

MoonLit Getaway Grand Opening Contest

MoonLit Getaway

Genres: Flash Fiction and Poetry

This contest is intended to promote our website’s September 23, 2024 launch, while providing opportunities for fiction writers, poets, and visual artists.

Publication for runners up

📅 Deadline: August 01, 2024

Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry

Beloit Poetry Journal

We’re open to a wide range of forms and styles in contemporary poetry. We’re always watching for new poets, quickened language, and work that offers a fresh purchase on the political or social landscape.

George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest

Third Wednesday

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

The editors of Third Wednesday wish to honor the memory of George Dila, friend of Third Wednesday and the editor who originally brought fiction to 3W. To this end, we proudly announce the opening of The George Dila Memorial Flash Fiction Contest. We accept entries of previously unpublished stories of under 1000 words in length (including title).

100 x3 Winning Stories

Publication in Third Wednesday magazine

💰 Entry fee: $6

📅 Deadline: August 15, 2024

Diode Editions Chapbook Contest

Diode Editions

Open to all poets over 18 years old writing in English. Collaborations, hybrid works, and simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please notify Diode Editions if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024

Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction

Letter Review

Genres: Flash Fiction, Short Story, and Fiction

This Prize is free to enter. 2-4 Winners are published. We Shortlist 10-20 writers. Seeking stories 0-5000 words. Judges’ feedback available. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, with no theme or genre restrictions. Judged blind. All entries considered for publication + submission to Pushcart.

Bridport Short Story Prize

Bridport Arts Centre

Gail Honeyman was shortlisted in our competition and went on to write Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, winning the Costa debut novel award. All the winning and highly commended pieces are entered into the Sunday Times Audible competition, top prize £30,000. UK based writers are entered into the BBC short story competition. That's not all, literary agent A.M. Heath reads all the shortlist and considers representation. Long story short? You are 5,000 words away from success.

£1000 for 2nd, £500 for 3rd

💰 Entry fee: $17

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024

Debut Dagger

Crime Writer's Association

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Novel, Novella, Suspense, and Thriller

The Debut Dagger is a competition for the opening of a crime novel by a writer who isn’t represented by an agent by the time the competition closes, and who has never had a traditional contract for any novel of any length, or who has never self-published any novel of any length in the last 5 years. Writers submit their opening 3,000 words and a 1,500 word synopsis. Entries from shortlisted writers are sent to UK literary agents and publishers. Every year, authors find representation this way.

💰 Entry fee: $41

Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry

Lynx House Press

The annual Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry awards $2000 plus publication for a full-length poetry collection. The Prize is awarded for an unpublished, full-length volume of poems by a U.S. author, which includes foreign nationals living and writing in the U.S. and U.S. citizens living abroad. Lynx House Press has been publishing fine poetry and prose since 1975. Our titles are distributed by the University of Washington Press.

💰 Entry fee: $28

📅 Deadline: June 16, 2024

F(r)iction Contests

Brink Literacy Project

Genres: Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

For our contests, we seek writing that pushes boundaries and challenges us to think differently. We like work that features complex characters and strong narratives, and plays with genre, setting, voice, you name it. For Spring 2024, we have Wole Talabi judging Short Story, Sherrie Flick judging Flash Fiction, C. S. E. Cooney judging Poetry, and Marin Sardy judging Creative Nonfiction.

📅 Deadline: November 03, 2024

Lune Poetry Contest

A Lune is a 5-3-5 contest. That means the first line has five syllables. The second line of your poem will have three. And the final line will have five again. Your poem can rhyme. Write about anything. Cash prize!

📅 Deadline: April 07, 2024 (Expired)

Self-Publishing Literary Awards

Black Caucus

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Novel, and Poetry

Through this contest, the BCALA honors the best self-published ebooks by an African American author in the U.S. in both fiction and poetry genres. These awards acknowledge outstanding achievement in the presentation of the cultural, historical and sociopolitical aspects of the Black Diaspora. The purpose is to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and scholarly research including biographical, historical, and social history treatments by African Americans.

Passionate Plume

Passionate Ink

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Novella, Romance, and Short Story

The 2024 Passionate Plume celebrates the best in erotic fiction, both long and short, and features a special category for emerging authors.

Engraved award

Publication in the Passionate Ink Charity Anthology

📅 Deadline: March 21, 2024 (Expired)

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest

Winning Writers

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, and Short Story

Welcome to the 31st annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest. Submit published or unpublished work. $9,000 in prizes.

Two-year gift certificate from Duotrope; 10 Honorable Mentions will receive $300 each

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests. 

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course: How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether. 

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

How to Write a Novel

Understanding Point of View

Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love

Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

On Editing:

Story Editing for Authors

How to Self-Edit Like a Pro

Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites

How to Write a Short Story in 7 Steps

Reedsy's guide to novel writing

Literary Devices and Terms — 35+ Definitions With Examples

10 Essential Fiction Writing Tips to Improve Your Craft

How to Write Dialogue: 8 Simple Rules and Exercises

8 Character Development Exercises to Help You Nail Your Character

Bonus resources

200+ Short Story Ideas

600+ Writing Prompts to Inspire You

100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors

Story Title Generator

Pen Name Generator

Character Name Generator

After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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The following pages contain information about our Essay Prizes run for Lower and Upper 6th Students internationally, including how to apply.

The Robson History Prize will not run in 2024 but we are expecting to run it again in 2025.

Gould Prize for Essays in English Literature

Languages and Cultures Essay Prize

Linguistics Essay Prize

Philosophy Essay Prize

R.A. Butler Politics Prize

Robert Walker Prize for Essays in Law

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RES Essay Prize

Entries to the RES Essay Prize will reopen from 1 April until 30 June annually. The RES Essay Prize aims to encourage scholarship amongst postgraduate research students in Britain and abroad. The essay can be on any topic of English literature or the English language from the earliest period to the present. 

The winner will receive:

• Publication of the winning essay in a future issue of The Review of English Studies
• £500 worth of OUP books
• A free year's subscription to The Review of English Studies

Other entries of sufficient quality will also be considered for publication in RES .

How to enter

Entries should be submitted through our online submission system . 

The competition rules

The competition is open to anyone studying for a higher degree, or who completed one no earlier than January 2022. The winner's student status verification will be requested from their academic supervisor or head of department. The entry must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. 

Full details of the competition rules .

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Read a selection of past winners free online .

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• Search Results

Writing prizes and opportunities

There are many awards and development schemes available for authors at all stages of their careers. Below is a list of monetary awards, sponsored retreats, mentorships and training opportunities.

If you're looking for help both in development or funding from organisations near you, find information about local support here.

Take a look through the opportunities for new writers:

- Opportunities from Penguin - From other organisations - For published writers - Writing retreats

For new writers

From Penguin

WriteNow is run by Penguin Random House and aims to find, nurture and publish new writers from communities under-represented on the nation's bookshelves. It offers workshops and feedback, and includes the chance to join a year-long programme.

#Merky New Writers' Prize

#Merky Books is a home for underrepresented voices and provides a platform where their stories can be told, heard and uplifted. The winner of the New Writers’ Prize receives a publishing contract. All longlisted writers are invited to our Writers’ Camp, where they participate in writing workshops, panel talks, editorial one-to-ones, and meet the #Merky Books team.

Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize

The Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize aims to recognise the achievements of young translators at the start of their careers and to encourage and support the next generation of literary translators. It focuses on a different language each prize year and is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with no more than one full-length translation published.

Fern Academy Prize

The Fern Academy Prize, in association with Tortoise Media, is designed to find and nurture emerging non-fiction talent and will be awarded to an essay of literary merit with an international and multicultural interest. The prize is open to unagented and unpublished writers from around the world, writing in the English language.

From other organisations

The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize

Awarded for the best piece of writing on an annual theme. The winner of the Writing Prize receives a cash prize, and the runners-up receive travel expense support that must be used to attend their annual symposium which is hosted in a European country. All genres of writing are permitted, including fiction, non-fiction and non-academic essays. Open to unpublished writers only.

Anthology Poetry Competition

Established to recognise and encourage excellence in the craft of poetry writing and to provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Poetry Competition is open to original and previously unpublished poems in the English language.

Anthology Short Story Competition

Established to recognise and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. 

Aurora Prize For Writing

The Aurora Prize for Writing is a national competition run by Writing East Midlands, in partnership with the Society of Authors. It seeks outstanding new writing in short fiction and poetry.

The Bracken Prize

The Financial Times and McKinsey want to encourage young authors to tackle emerging business themes and ask entrants to submit a business book proposal. The prize aims to encourage a new generation of business writers and has already seen a number of shortlisted and longlisted proposals emerge as published books. 

The Bath Novel Awards

The Bath Novel Award and The Bath Children’s Novel Award spotlight emerging writers, and are open to unpublished and independently published novelists worldwide.

Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award

The First Novel Award is open to unrepresented and unpublished authors for a novel in any adult fiction genre.

Breakthrough Writers' Programme

Curtis Brown Creative, supported by the Curtis Brown and C&W agencies, run a programme of creative writing courses, mentoring opportunities and scholarships for under-represented writers – with all opportunities fully funded for the writers taking part.

Breakthrough scholarships

Curtis Brown Creative, supported by the Curtis Brown and C&W agencies, regularly offer funded places on their courses to talented writers facing barriers to entry.

Breakthrough Mentoring Programme

This mentoring programme is for talented writers who fulfil the eligibility criteria and are seeking targeted, detailed one-to-one feedback on a work-in-progress, plus industry advice. You can apply to be mentored for a project at any writing stage.

Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize

Entries of original short fiction between 1000 and 5000 words can be entered into the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize. The winner will receive £1,000 and 12 shortlisted writers will be included in an anthology. 

The Bridport Prize

The Bridport Prize has a number of categories: novel, poetry, short story and flash fiction. All the awards are for work which has not previously been published, while the novel award is only open to writers who are not represented by a literary agent.

The Bristol Short Story Prize

This is an annual international writing competition open to all published and unpublished, UK and non-UK-based writers.

The Caledonia Novel Award

An Edinburgh-based, international writing competition for unpublished and self-published novelists in all genres for adults and YA.

The Commonwealth Short Story Prize

The prize is open to all Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over entering a story of between 2,500 and 5,000 words. The regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives a total of £5,000. The winning stories are published online by  Granta  and in a special print collection by Paper + Ink.

Creators of Justice Literary Awards

The Creators of Justice Literary Awards is an annual, international contest featuring works which highlight the struggle for human rights and social justice across the world. Writers can submit one poem, essay, or short story on an annual theme.

The Creative Future Writers’ Award

The Creative Future Writers’ Award (CFWA) is a national writing development programme which celebrates talented, underrepresented writers who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, health or social circumstance. Prizes include £20,000 of cash and top writing development prizes supplied by prominent publishers and development agencies.

Criptic x Spread The Word

CRIPtic Arts x Spread the Word collaboratively produce a range of activities including salons, a retreat and research for deaf and disabled writers. Their work together aims to offer a range of activities to support, develop and empower deaf and disabled writers.

Discoveries

The Women’s Prize Trust, NatWest, Curtis Brown Literary Agency and Curtis Brown Creative Writing School have partnered to create Discoveries, a unique initiative searching for the most talented and original new female writing voices in the UK and Ireland. The winner will be offered representation by Curtis Brown Literary Agency and a cash prize of £5,000.

Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize

Footnote Press and Counterpoints Arts have partnered to launch the Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds. The £15,000 award, which includes an advance of £5,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press, is for narrative non-fiction centred around themes of displacement, identity and/or resistance. Writers can be published or unpublished.

Green Stories Writing Competitions

Green Stories writing competitions are a series of free writing competitions open to all across various formats to solicit stories that showcase what a sustainable society might look like. 

Grindstone Literary International Novel Prize

The 2023 Novel Prize is open to authors from all countries, provided their submissions are in English. To be eligible to enter, authors must be unrepresented .  Entrants are asked to submit the first 5,000 words of their manuscript.

The London Library Emerging Writers Programme

Geared towards supporting writers at the start of their careers, the programme includes writing development masterclasses, literary networking opportunities, peer support and guidance in use of the Library’s resources. With its extensive open-access book collection, dedicated writing spaces and diverse community of established writers, the benefits of Library membership are very valuable. 

The London Writers’ Awards

This is a development programme run by Spread the Word which aims to increase the number of writers from under-represented communities being taken up by agents and publishers. The awards support  30  London-based writers of  colour  and working class, LGBTQ+ and disabled writers  each year, and bursaries are available for writers in need. There is also an Access Fund for disabled writers. Writers on the awards scheme take part in group feedback sessions on their work and also attend one-to-one professional development sessions.

Mairtín Crawford   Awards

The Mairtín Crawford   Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, with the only stipulation being that they have not yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.

The Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices

City Lit’s Malorie Blackman Scholarships for Unheard Voices provide three annual awards worth up to £1000 each, to fund one year’s study within the Creative Writing department at City Lit. 

The Manchester Writing Competition

The Manchester Writing Competition for poetry and fiction, offers the UK’s biggest literary awards for unpublished work, with each category awarding £10,000.

Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing

The Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing is an annual short story competition open to writers across the globe. The prize awards £10,000 to the best short story that has food and drink at its heart.

Morley Prize for Unpublished Writers of Colour

Jointly run by Morley College London and the Rachel Mills Literary Agency, the prize is awarded to unpublished aspiring authors of colour. There are two prizes – one for works of fiction and one for Life Writing and Creative Non-fiction.

The Moth Prizes

The Moth Magazine runs an annual short story prize, nature writing prize and poetry prize open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their writing is original and previously unpublished.

The National Poetry Competition

The National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for an unpublished poem of up to 40 lines, open to anyone 18 or over.

New Writers Poetry Competition

Open to poets from around the world, the winner receives £1,000, with a second prize of £300 and a third prize of £200. 

The Nine Dots Prize

The Nine Dots Prize is a prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues. Entrants are asked to respond to a question in 3,000 words, with the winner receiving $100,000 to write a short book expanding on their ideas. The aim of the Prize is to promote, encourage and engage innovative thinking to address problems facing the modern world. Its name references the nine dots puzzle – a lateral thinking puzzle which can only be solved by thinking outside the box.

The Oxford Poetry Prize

The winner of the Oxford Poetry Prize receives £1,000, the runner-up £200, and third place £100. The winning poets are also offered publication in Oxford Poetry.

Poetry London Prize

The Poetry London Prize is a major, internationally renowned award for a single outstanding poem. The first prize is £5,000.

Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize

Run by Wasifiri , the magazine of international literature, in conjunction with Queen Mary University, this prize supports new writers.

Rhys Davies Short Story Competition

The Rhys Davies Short Story Competition is a distinguished national writing competition for writers born or living in Wales. The first prize is £1,000 and publication in a short story anthology to be published by Parthian Books.

The Royal Society of Literature V. S. Pritchett Short Story Prize

The annual prize of £1,000 goes to the best unpublished short story of the year. The winning entry is also published in  Prospect  magazine and the  RSL Review.

Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awards

The New Writers Awards is an annual awards programme supporting individuals committed to developing their writing. The award includes a cash award, a week-long retreat, training and mentoring.

Scottish Book Trust Next Chapter Award

The Next Chapter Award is an annual award supporting an emerging writer over the age of 40. The Award includes a cash reward, 2-week writing retreat, training and mentoring.

The Society of Authors' Awards

The Society of Authors runs annual awards, which are open to writers at all stages of their careers. Among them is The ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award for a short story (applicants need to have had at least one short story accepted for publication); and The McKitterick Prize, which is given annually to an author over the age of 40 for a first novel, published or unpublished.

Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition

The competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast short stories in the English language of 3,000 words or fewer. The first prize is €2,000 and a one-week residency at Anam Cara Retreat.

Searchlight Awards

Searchlight Writing for Children Awards is an international competition for aspiring authors writing for children or young adults. Categories are 'Best Children’s Picture Book Text' and 'Best Novel Opening for Children or Young Adults'.

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition

Chicken House are looking for original ideas, a fresh voice, and a diverse range of entries and stories that children will love! They'd particularly like to encourage entry from writers from underrepresented backgrounds. The first prize is a worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000, plus an offer of representation from an agent.

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize is an international prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. The Prize is open to writers of any nationality, writing in English. Awards are presented in three categories: Best Published Novel, New Voices and Author of Tomorrow.

W&A Working-Class Writers' Prize

Writers & Artists run the W&A Working-Class Writers' Prize – a celebration of stories as a mode of communication, and a reminder of how vital it is that everyone can share their ideas and experiences via the written word. The prize includes a cash prize and mentoring sessions with an acclaimed author.

The Writers Award

Run by The Deborah Rogers Found - set up in memory of a late literary agent - The Writers Award gives £10,000 to an unpublished writer to enable them to complete a first book. It is run biannually.

For published writers

These awards are for published writers only, and in order to be considered books must be nominated by their publisher or agent - authors cannot usually enter themselves (with the exception of the fellowships). However, as a writer looking to get published, it's always worth taking stock of the titles being longlisted and shortlisted for some of the top literary awards to give you a sense of which types of books are receiving critical acclaim. We've included prizes for fiction and non-fiction titles here. 

Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction

The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing across current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.

BBC National Short Story Award

An annual prize, entrants must have a prior record of publishing creative work in the UK. Stories up to 8,000 words are accepted and may be submitted by the author or by their agent. Shortlisted stories are awarded a prize of £600.

The Booker Prize

The leading literary award in the English-speaking world, which has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over 50 years. Awarded annually to the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK or Ireland. Although you have to be nominated by your publisher, many debut novels have been longlisted and shortlisted in the past.

The Desmond Elliot Prize

The Desmond Elliott Prize encourages publishers from across the UK and Ireland to submit literary fiction debuts for consideration, awarding one winning author £10,000 to shape their developing career.

Forward Prizes for Poetry

The Forward Prizes for Poetry honour excellence in contemporary poetry published in UK and Ireland.

FT & McKinsey Business Book of the Year

This prestigious £30,000 prize goes to the book that is judged to have provided the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, with £10,000 awarded to each runner-up.

Nero Book Awards

Celebrating outstanding writing by great authors living in the UK and Ireland, these awards list the best books of the year for their quality of writing and readability. There are four categories: Children’s Fiction, Debut Fiction, Fiction and Non-Fiction. An overall winner, given the Nero Gold Prize for the “Book of the Year”, is also be named.

Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize

Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories, and drama. The winner receives a prize of £30,000.

The Royal Society of Literature Christopher Bland Prize

The RSL Christopher Bland Prize is an annual award of £10,000 to a debut novelist or non-fiction writer first published aged 50 or over.

The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize

The annual award of £10,000 for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.

Scottish Book Trust Ignite Fellowship

The Ignite Fellowship supports established writers who are embarking on or working through a significant project. You can apply whether the project is in its very earliest stages or already a work in progress.

Women's Prize for Fiction

The Women's Prize for Fiction is the UK's most prestigious annual book award celebrating and honouring fiction written by women.

Writing retreats

Arvon runs an annual programme of creative writing courses and retreats for schools, groups and individuals. Their courses, tutored by leading authors, are held at three rural centres and include a mix of workshops and individual tutorials, with time and space to write, free from distractions of everyday life. Arvon courses are in a range of genres and they have different styles of courses. Grants are available to help with course fees.

The Garsdale Retreat

The Garsdale Retreat is a creative writing centre in the Yorkshire Dales. It provides inspirational courses tutored by professional writers, enabling participants to develop their individual creativity in a place of peace and tranquillity, away from the distractions and stresses of everyday life.

Gladstone's Library

Gladstone's Library is a residential library and meeting place which is dedicated to dialogue, debate and learning for open-minded individuals and groups, who are looking to explore pressing questions and to pursue study and research. They offer a programme of courses and events that keep them connected with a wide range of writers and thinkers.

Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre

Moniack Mhor is Scotland’s National Writing Centre. Based in the Scottish Highlands, they run courses in a range of genres tutored by some of the finest authors in the UK and beyond. They also sponsor awards, bursaries, and professional residencies to develop works in progress and a programme for young writers.

The River Mill

This former flour mill in South Down, Northern Ireland is now a boutique reading and writing retreat. They offer individual residencies and workshops. 

Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre

Tŷ Newydd is the National Writing Centre of Wales, run by Literature Wales specialising in residential creative writing courses.

Urban Writers Retreat

Providing residential retreats in Devon and one-day courses in London, they offer guidance and space away from everyday life.

We will keep this page updated with new opportunities as and when they become available. If you want to let us know about a new opportunity, please email us: [email protected]

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2024 Essay and Poetry Prizes

The English department wishes to recognize the creativity of its undergraduate students and continue to foster the talent of our poets and essayists. You are invited to apply to the following prizes. 

The Howard Babb Memorial Essay Prize is open to all Humanities Undergraduate Students. The best essay or research paper will be awarded $500. The essay or research paper has no minimum of maximum length, but should have some bearing on the topic of literature.  The Brett Baldwin Prize in Poetry   is open to all Humanities Undergraduate Students. Students may submit a total of 3 poems not to exceed a total of 10 pages. One winner will receive $500.  The James McMichael Prize for Excellence in Poetry  requires completion of one course from Writing 30 or Writing 90 by the end of Winter 2024 in order to apply.  Students may submit a total of 3 poems not to exceed a total of 10 pages. First place will win $2000.  The Undergraduate Award for Excellence in Poetry  also requires completion of one course from Writing 30 or  Writing 90 by the end of Winter 2024 in order to apply.  Students may submit a total of 3 poems not to exceed a total of 10 pages.  First place will win $3000. 

For additional submission information, please click on the submission links of the desired prize. The names of the prizes are the submission links.  The deadline for submission for all awards will be FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2024.  May the odds be ever in your favor!

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Luotto literature prize.

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Jim Luotto Literature Prize

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The prize is given in honor of Jim Luotto, a beloved literature instructor for more than 30 years in the De Anza College English Department. See below for previous prize winners .

• Prizes range from $100 to $300
• The winning essay will be published in the student edition of Red Wheelbarrow , the college's celebrated literary magazine 

Deadline to Apply

• Submit your essay no later than 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, 2024

Rules for Entry

• The prize competition is open to students who have written an essay for an English course at De Anza College in the past year. You can submit an essay written for class, or submit a revised or expanded version.
• Your essay must present an analysis of one or more literary texts.
• The essay must be a minimum of 3 pages and a maximum of 10 pages long.
• Include your name, email address, mailing address and phone number.
• Be sure to identify the course for which you wrote your essay.
• Send your entry (essay and cover letter) to Julie Pesano , chair of the English Department Literature Committee, at [email protected]  

For more information, please contact Julie Pesano at [email protected]  

Thank You for Your Support

Prize awards come from donated funds. Please consider donating through the Foothill-De Anza Foundation. 

2023 Grand Prize Winners

• Aiden Glennon : "Separate, But So Unequal: How Anne Bradstreet Found Power in Poetry" 
• Jennilyn Phee: "Finding the Secrets to Your Own Universe" 

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ANNOUNCING THE 2024 ESSAY PRIZE SHORTLIST

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the 2024 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize, an annual competition for unpublished writers. Initially made possible by an Arts Council Grant in 2015, the prize awards £3,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal. In addition to the £3,000 prize the winner will have the opportunity to spend up to three months in residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy, to work on their book. The book will then be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions. The shortlist, chosen out of 151 entries, is as follows: 

Postcards by Sophie Brown, which begins as an essay about the work of American artist Susan Hiller – in particular her ongoing installation Dedicated to the Unknown Artists, a series of postcards which were first exhibited in 1976 in Brighton, Sophie Brown’s hometown – and fans out to consider a series of ‘unknown artists’ (those whose work was marginalized during their lifetimes, or which sits outside of the dominant canon) who are connected by works featuring the sea, including Pauline Boty and Kate Chopin. In a richly associative style, Postcards moves from what Hiller perceived to be a British fascination with rough seas to form a deft excavation of the collective unconscious, considering spectacle and voyeurism, early forms of ‘true crime’ in the UK, rumours of occult forces behind a chain of crimes in Lewes, automatic writing, cognitive dissonance and an abandoned film project by Derek Jarman. Sophie Brown is a writer and film programmer from Brighton. Her writing has appeared in Astra Magazine , Sight and Sound , The Quietus and Dazed & Confused , and she’s had essays commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Arts and Club des Femmes. Brown is a documentary programme advisor for the BFI London Film Festival and reviews documentary funding applications for the Sundance Institute. She has recently taught writing and research on visual culture at Parsons School of Design. Understanding Eleanor by Tomara Garrod, an essay about trans history, erasure and intimate connection across time. It uses varied, unorthodox literary modes and sources to build an intimate biography of Eleanor Rykener, a transfeminine sex worker living in fourteenth-century England. Writing with and against the erasure that Eleanor has faced – and that trans people continue to survive today – Tomara Garrod looks to connect with the everyday realities of Eleanor’s life as they lived it. Understanding Eleanor is an attempt to write trans history not simply as the history of a category, but as a call to transhistorical relation, bringing the contemporary writer/reader into intimate connection with the historical subject. Tomara Garrod is a writer, performer and facilitator from South London. They write experimental work for the page and stage, playing with form in search of new possibilities for storytelling and connection. A full portfolio of their work is available at www.tomaragarrod.com.

Fire is Not a Metaphor by Rio Matchett, which braids memoir, cultural history and lyric essay. Fire is Not a Metaphor documents the search for the root cause of clinical pyromania, defined by the DSM-V as the deliberate and purposeful setting of fires. More specifically, the essay is an investigation into the author’s own history: at the age of eighteen, Rio Matchett committed an act of arson, setting fire to a church, and was subsequently sectioned and later incarcerated. At once a cultural history of fire, a meditation on the relationship between mental illness and the British legal system and an unpicking of fire’s ubiquitous symbolic significance across art, literature and religion, Fire is Not a Metaphor is ultimately about the experience of being denied the relief of intelligibility. The essay enacts the process of accepting that denial, offering insight into clinical compulsion and asking universal questions about the dramaturgical urge to make sense of an often senseless world. Rio Matchett lives in West Yorkshire and works at Leeds Playhouse, where she leads on the development of new plays. She gained her PhD in literary modernism and queer theory from the University of Liverpool in 2022 and now leads the MA in Dramaturgy at Leeds Conservatoire. As an academic, she has published reviews for journals including The Poetry Review and James Joyce Quarterly, and has spoken about her research at institutions including the University of Oxford, the Università IULM Milan and the Sorbonne.

Afterlife by Lucy Mercer, which explores mortality, small- and large-scale collective making, the animate within the inanimate and the afterlives of materials through the mimetic medium of wax. Spilling across poetic thinking, candlemaking, the everyday, culture and ecology, and absorbing a wide range of references including Madame Tussauds, Europe’s biggest industrial candlemaking factory and the work of poets such as Louise Glück and Mary Ruefle, this lyric essay re-approaches this familiar but critically neglected biosynthetic material. Secreted and reconstituted from nonhuman bodies, in its flesh-like malleability wax also remains the closest reproductive medium we have of our bodies, blurring boundaries between life and death, the human and the non-human. Prioritising the materiality of wax and its environmental intersections as a focal point, while also considering wax as an amorphous, interstitial model for thought, Afterlife asks how we might conceptualise mortality as we become more collectively conscious of our environmental connectedness. Lucy Mercer is a writer based in London. Her first poetry collection, Emblem (Prototype, 2022), was a Poetry Book Society Choice. Her poems have been widely published in magazines and anthologies and her essays and reviews in Art Review , Bricks From The Kiln, Granta, INQUE, LA Review of Books, Poetry Review, Port Magazine and The White Review . She was awarded the inaugural White Review Poet’s Prize and is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. Since 2020 she has made candles with the artist Jamie Shovlin as an ongoing collaborative project, Croydon Candles.

Another Happy Day by Emilia Ong, which takes a frank and deeply personal look at the reasons for, and the consequences of, shoplifting. A mix of research, reportage and memoir, the essay finds its beginnings in a radical ‘self-audit’: it figures as Ong’s attempt to expose, such that she might interrogate and ultimately exhaust, her decade-long compulsion to shoplift. Drawing from the confessional writing of Annie Ernaux, Deborah Levy and Constance Debré, the essay charts the roiling feelings of guilt, revulsion, craving and crippling terror that accompany the thief – as well as the less respectable emotions of entitlement and exhilaration – while attempting to break through the taboo of talking about theft. At a time when national rates of shoplifting are soaring, Ong considers our cultural obsession with celebrity thieves, the extent to which theft can be framed as an anti-establishment act, and the financial necessity of shoplifting. In so doing, one thing becomes clear: theft – which could not exist without an all-pervasive ethos of ownership – can, beyond the violation of property laws, also appear in less tangible and more sinister forms. Emilia Ong is a writer and journalist based in Margate. Scholarship recipient at the Faber Academy, her work has been shortlisted for The Observer/Anthony Burgess Prize for Arts Journalism, longlisted for the Laura Kinsella Fellowship Early Career Award and shortlisted for the Morley Prize. She has been published in Ambit , 3:AM , HOAX and Channel Magazine , amongst others, and was awarded Arts Council England funding in 2023.

The Raman Effect by Abhinav Ullal. In the summer of 2023, Abhinav Ullal’s parents called him to say that they were selling their 95-year-old ancestral property – a bungalow built by Ullal’s grandparents in Malleswaram, one of Bangalore’s oldest suburbs. The buyer was an ambitious young builder with plans to use the land as a development site for soulless high-rise flats, thereby altering the area’s social fabric: making it more attractive to wealthy expats and migrants from other parts of the country. Initially indifferent towards the sale, in early 2024 Ullal decided to visit the house one last time; The Raman Effect follows the four weeks he spent in his family’s neighbourhood, telling the story of Malleswaram, both personal and collective. Part-family memoir, part-social history, the essay is a poignant record of a historic neighbourhood at a crucial turning point, and a moving meditation on loss, longing and belonging, fulfilment and community. Abhinav Ullal is a British-Indian writer and advertising creative director based in London.

The 2024 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize, an annual competition for unpublished writers, was open to submissions from 8 January until midnight on 17 March 2024. The judges will be looking for essays that explore and expand the possibilities of the essay form, with no restrictions on theme or subject matter. Initially made possible by an Arts Council Grant in 2015, the prize awards £3,000 to the best proposal for a book-length essay (minimum 25,000 words) by a writer resident in the UK & Ireland who has yet to secure a publishing deal. In addition to the £3,000 prize the winner will have the opportunity to spend up to two months in residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios  in Spoleto, Italy, to work on their book. The book will then be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.

The prize aims to find the best emerging essay writers and to give them a chance to develop and showcase their talent. It also provides the winner with their first experience of publishing a book, from the planning, research and writing of it through to the editing, production and publicity stages. The prize is judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Max Porter and Jacques Testard. Full submission guidelines can be found below.

In 2023, Ghalya Saadawi was awarded the Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize for her proposal Between October and November , an essay on time and loss under an extended, capitalist modernity, on what we keep and what is taken away. The essay has its beginnings in a letter to a friend, in which Saadawi explored political family histories, fashion and music’s retromania, postponement of writing, and the eruption of the past in the present. Written in fragments and digressions that thread cultural criticism, family memoir and life writing, the essay continues to think through the continued cultural obsession with the past and the future, foreclosed revolutionary legacies, the contradictions of destruction and tradition, mourning and the mediation of memory. The other shortlisted authors, chosen from 107 entries, were Luke Allan for There is another world, but it is this one , Toby Chai for  Embryos Denied Mitosis , Pete Kowalczyk with  Time is a Border , Matthew Porges for  The Balkan Bridge by Matthew Porges, and Asa Serezin with The Divorce Plot . The 2023 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Max Porter and Jacques Testard.

Marianne Brooker won the 2022 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize for her proposal I ntervals , an essay about choice, interdependence and end-of-life care, to be published in February 2024. Blending memoir, polemic and feminist philosophy in order to transform grief into a resource for politics, Intervals explores the space between proximity and complicity, charting the author’s care for her mother as she refused food and water at the end of her life, determined to end her suffering from Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. The other shortlisted authors, chosen from 124 entries, were Chloe Evans for Elastic Bands , Holly Isard for Molecular Visions , Benoit Loîseau for Fast , Oliver Shamlou for Shabaneh and Radio Silence by Stephanie Y. Tam. The 2022 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Max Porter and Jacques Testard.

Heather McCalden was awarded the 2021 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize with The Observable Universe , a prismatic account of grief conveyed through images, anecdotes and Wikipedia-like entries, calibrated specifically for the Internet Age. Centred on the loss of her parents to AIDS in the early ’90s, The Observable Universe questions what it means to ‘go viral’ in an era of explosive biochemical and virtual contagion. It will be published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in March 2024. The other shortlisted entries were Q is for Garden by Jenny Chamarette, The Report by Joshua Craze, Terra Nullius by Joanna Pidcock, The Raven’s Nest by Sarah Thomas, and Broken Rice by April Yee. The 2021 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Max Porter and Jacques Testard.

Thea Lenarduzzi was awarded the 2020 Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize with her proposal for Dandelions , a family memoir and social history about two women piecing together themselves and each other from the fragments of four generations’ worth of migration between Italy and England, and the stories scattered along the way. Dandelions was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in September 2022. The other shortlisted entries were Not Revolving by Rashed Aqrabawi, Black Space in the Basement by Elliot C. Mason, Which As You Know Means Violence by Philippa Snow, We Blew Them Into Shards of Dust by Sean Stoker and Mrs Gargantua: Cuba, the United States and the New Man by JS Tennant. The 2020 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Paul Keegan and Jacques Testard. 

In 2019, Polly Barton was awarded the fourth iteration of the Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize for Fifty Sounds , an attempt to exhaust her obsession with the country she moved to at the age of 21, before eventually becoming a literary translator. From min-min, the sound of air screaming, to jin-jin, the sound of being touched for the very first time, from hi’sori, the sound of harbouring masochist tendencies, to mote-mote, the sound of becoming a small-town movie star, Fifty Sounds is a personal dictionary of the Japanese language, recounting her life as an outsider in Japan. Fifty Sounds was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in April 2021. The other four shortlisted entries were On Lunar Thinking  by Amy Budd,  There is California Champagne: Dignity and Work at the End of the World  by Michael Docherty,  Tender as Memory  by Maria Howard, and  Common Periwinkle  by Bryony White. The 2019 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Paul Keegan and Jacques Testard. 

In 2018, Joanna Pocock won the prize for Surrender , a narrative non-fiction work on the changing landscape of the West and the scavenger, rewilder and Ecosexual communities, inspired by a two-year stay in Montana.  Surrender  was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in May 2019 . The other five shortlisted entries were  A Woman’s Place  by Rachel Andrews, Oliver Basciano’s  Tichileşti , Felix Bazalgette’s  Natural Magic ,  Gay Bar  by Jeremy Atherton Lin, and Rebecca Perry’s  Four Invocations . The 2018 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Paul Keegan and Jacques Testard. 

In 2017, Katy Whitehead was awarded the prize for  Adventures in Synthetic Fun , an essay exploring the concept of ‘synthetic fun’ coined in the 1960s by Jeremy Sandford, and the changing nature of fun in an era of increasing automation, disputed oppression, widespread affective labour, illusory meritocracy, costly social mobility, divisive politics, and a degraded imagination. The other four shortlisted entries were  Wolf: An Anatomy of an Illness  by Elinor Cleghorn;  English as a Foreign Language  by Evan Harris;  Other, Mixed  by Will Harris; and  Possession by Rebecca Ley. The 2017 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Joanna Kavenna, Paul Keegan and Jacques Testard. 

In 2016, Matthew McNaught was awarded the inaugural Fitzcarraldo Editions/Mahler & LeWitt Studios Essay Prize for  Immanuel , an essay about faith, doubt and radical religion, inspired in part by his experiences growing up in an evangelical Christian community in the south of England. Immanuel was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in June 2022. The other four shortlisted entries were Corona  by Felix Bazalgette;  Bad For You  by Alice Hattrick;  Growing up Modern  by Jennifer Kabat; and  Double-Tracking by Rosanna Mclaughlin. The 2016 Essay Prize was judged by Joanna Biggs, Brian Dillon, Paul Keegan, Ali Smith and Jacques Testard. 

THE MAHLER & LEWITT STUDIOS

The Mahler & LeWitt Studios are established around the former studios of Anna Mahler and Sol LeWitt in Spoleto, Italy. The residency programme provides a focused and stimulating environment for artists, curators and writers to develop new ways of working in dialogue with peers and the unique cultural heritage of the region. For more information please visit  mahler-lewitt.org . 

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

Joanna Biggs is a writer and editor at Harper’s  and co-founder of Silver Press. Her book about the way we work,  All Day Long , was published by Serpent’s Tail in 2015. Her second book, A Life of One’s Own , was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in May 2023. 

Brian Dillon is a writer and critic. His books include  Suppose a Sentence (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020),  Essayism (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2017),  The Great Explosion  (Penguin, 2015),  Objects in This Mirror: Essays  (Sternberg Press, 2014), Sanctuary  (Sternberg Press, 2011),  Tormented Hope  (Penguin, 2009) and  In the Dark Room (Penguin, 2005; Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2018). He teaches creative writing at the Queen Mary. Affinities , a book about the intimate and abstract pleasures of reading and looking, was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in February 2023. 

Joanna Kavenna is the author of  The Ice Museum (Viking, 2006),  Inglorious  (Faber & Faber, 2007),  The Birth of Love  (Faber & Faber, 2011),  Come to the Edge  (riverrun, 2012),  A Field Guide to Reality  (riverrun, 2017) and  Zed  (Faber & Faber, 2019). Her writing has appeared in the  New Yorker ,  Guardian, Observer ,  Telegraph ,  Spectator ,  London Review of Books  and  New York Times  and she has held writing fellowships at St Antony's College Oxford and St John's College Cambridge. In 2011 she was named as one of the  Telegraph ’s 20 Writers Under 40 and in 2013 was listed as one of  Granta ’s Best of Young British Novelists. She lives in Oxfordshire.

Max Porter is the author of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers (Faber & Faber, 2016), winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Goldsmiths Prize; Lanny (Faber & Faber, 2019), longlisted for the Booker Prize; and an essay, The Death of Francis Bacon (Faber & Faber, 2021). His latest novel, Shy , was published in April 2023 by Faber & Faber. 

Jacques Testard is the publisher of Fitzcarraldo Editions and a founding editor of The White Review .  

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please read these eligibility and entry rules carefully before submitting. Submission of an entry is taken as acceptance of the entry rules. For any queries not covered below, please email [email protected]. 

1) The competition is open to unpublished writers residing in Great Britain and Ireland only.

2) Entrants should submit a proposal for a book-length essay (over 25,000 words) to [email protected]. The proposal itself should be no longer than 5,000 words. Entrants may also submit a separate writing sample of up to 5,000 words. Proposals and samples should be double-spaced, 12pt. 

3) Each proposal should outline the subject matter, scope, style and structure of the proposed essay, and include a word count, delivery date and biographical note.  

4) The proposals must be original, not previously submitted to a publisher. The writing sample may be previously published work. 

5) Entries can also be sent by post to Fitzcarraldo Editions, A103, 8-12 Creekside, London SE8 3DX. 

6) Only submissions received by email or by post by midnight on 17 March 2024 (GMT) will be considered.

7) Entries that are incomplete, are corrupted or submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

8) The entry must be the entrant’s own original creation and must not infringe upon the right or copyright of any person or entity.

9) Co-authored entries will not be accepted. 

10) Writers who have existing contracts, or who have previously held contracts, with publishers for books of fiction or non-fiction are not eligible to enter.

11) Writers who have published writing (fiction or non-fiction) in magazines and journals are eligible to enter.

12) Writers who have published books of poetry are eligible to enter.

13) Writers may submit only one proposal per iteration of the prize. 

14) The proposed essay must be written in English (no translations).

15) Submissions must be made by the author of the proposal.

16) There are no age restrictions.

17) When submitting, please include a short covering letter including your contact details, your name and the title of your proposed essay. The covering letter should be in the same document as your submission. Entrants should also submit a separate one-page cover letter on how they propose to use the residency at the Mahler-LeWitt Studios. 

18) Submissions from writers residing outside of Great Britain and Ireland will not be considered.

19) All submissions should include page numbers.

20) The essay must be original and should not have been previously published anywhere in full or in part. Published work is taken to mean published in any printed, publicly accessible form, e.g. anthology, magazine, newspaper. It is also taken to mean published online, with the exception of personal blogs and personal websites.

21) A meeting will be organised with all shortlisted writers to discuss their book proposal before the award of the prize. 

22) Unsuccessful entrants will not be contacted.

23) No editorial feedback will be provided to unsuccessful entrants.

24) The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into regarding the judging process.

25) Fitzcarraldo Editions will have the exclusive right to publish the winning essay once it has been written, but reserves the right not to publish. 

26) Only submissions which meet all Terms and Conditions will be considered.

27) By entering this competition, each entrant agrees to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

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