There are so many contests and opportunities out there that it’s hard to keep track of what’s new and appealing. Want to help? Send your contest information–name of contest, URL, deadline, fee, and prizes, and we’ll post it as often as we can.
From Writer’s Digest: https://www.writersdigest.com/writers-digest-competitions
DEADLINE: 10/14/19
Writer’s Digest’s Popular Fiction Awards is currently accepting entries. This is the only Writer’s Digest competition that celebrates short fiction in today’s most popular genres. Winners will appear in our May/June issue.
DEADLINE: 11/15/19
Writer’s Digest’s competition for short fiction. Send us your best…in 1,500 words or fewer.
From The Write Life, https://thewritelife.com/writing-contests/
fresh.ink
fresh.ink (that’s an intentional lowercase), a new platform that connects writers with beta readers, is offering a writing contest with $7,500 in prizes. Submissions will be judged by readers on the fresh.ink mobile app, based on how many people finish reading your work and how they rate it.
The prizes are spread across four fiction categories:
- Short story (under 7,500 words): $1,000 prize
- Novelette (7,500-17,499 words): $1,500
- Novella (17,500-39,999 words): $2,000
- Novel (40,000+ words): $3,000
It’s free to enter; the company is offering the contest to help their platform gain traction. Authors who submit retain ownership of their work.
Deadline: December 1, 2019
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Honoring the best work of fiction published by an American author in a single calendar year, this award has been given to the likes of John Updike, Philip Roth and Ann Patchett. Novels, novellas, and collections of short stories are all eligible.
The winner receives a hefty cash prize — up to $15,000 in the past — and an invitation to read at the award ceremony in Washington, DC. Plus, there are no submission fees or application forms to deal with; just mail four copies of your book (or bound proofs) to the organization to be considered.
Deadline: Annually on October 31 for books published that calendar year.
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Fiction and nonfiction writers who have recently published a book that “contribute[s] to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of cultural diversity” are eligible for this award, which offers $10,000 cash as well media and publicity opportunities.
Submissions must be published in the prior year (so books published in 2019 are eligible for the 2020 award).
Deadline: Annual submission window is September 1 through December 31.
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction
If you’re a war buff, this competition is for you. It awards $5,000 — and a 24-karat-gold-framed citation of achievement — the best piece of fiction set during a period when the U.S. was at war (war may either be the main plot of the piece or simply provide the setting). Submissions may be adult or YA novels.
Deadline: Annually on December 1.
Biopage Mini-Essay Writing Contest
There’s no denying it: social media is a huge part of our 21st-century lives. It’s easy to get used to limit our communications to 140-character, emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this marketing firm is hosting an essay writing contest to “remind people of the benefits of writing.”
Essays of up to 5,000 characters (roughly 1,000 words) will be accepted, and can tackle just about any topic you want. The grand prize winner will receive $1,000, and three runners-up will be awarded $200 each.
The contest is free to enter, but you’ll need to register for a Biopage account to be eligible.
Deadline: Recurrent contests throughout the year — be sure to check the website for deadlines!
Prose.
Stuck with writer’s block and looking for a way to jumpstart your escape? Prose offers weekly challenges meant to spark your creativity; many are just for fun, but look for the weekly numbered challenges posted by Prose (rather than community members or sponsors) for a chance to win money.
Prizes are typically between $100 – $200 and word counts are low — some as low as under 150, some as high as 500, but all say “quality beats quantity.” So even if all you get from the prompt is a chance to flex your brain, it’s not a bad deal.
Deadline: Weekly.
Winning Writers
A number of the contests found on our list came highly recommended by this site, which compiles some of the best free literary contests out there. Along with a wide range of recommended contests for writers of all stripes, Winning Writers also lists some contests and services to avoid — which is just as useful!
They also offer a handful of contests themselves, including the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (which sounds delightful).
Poets & Writers
Another fantastic source for legitimate writing contests we consulted when compiling this list, Poets & Writers vets competitions, contests, awards and grants to make sure they’re following legitimate practices and policies. It’s worth checking out regularly as it features both annual and one-time contests.
And from Jerry Jenkins, https://jerryjenkins.com/writing-contests/, 
Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests Through 2019. Take a look at the collection. Then pick and choose.
