So many opportunities. So little time.
Updates at the Beginning of November
Contests with November and early December deadlines. We’d love to hear if/when any listing on this page works for you. If your blog, ezine, publication, college, or Substack is running a contest, we’d love to help you spread the word. No charge for this service. There’s a contact box at the bottom of the home page. Please note: If you have a manuscript if progress or one that’s completed, we’re interested in giving you feedback. Check out our Latest Contest.
From www.freedomwithwriting.com
Blair: Lee Smith Fiction Prize
Blair’s mission is to publish emerging writers and writers from groups whose work has been historically neglected. They will open for a contest for a book-length literary novel or story collection.
Value: Unspecified
Opens on: 15 November 2026
Open for: Unspecified
Details here.
Brooklyn Film & Arts Festival: Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize
This prize will be awarded to a Brooklyn- focused non-fiction essay which is set in Brooklyn and is about Brooklyn and/or Brooklyn people/characters. Essays have to be 4-10 pages (up to 2,500 words). Value: $500
Deadline: 15 November 2026
Open for: Unspecified
Details here (click on ‘Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize’.)
Poetic Justice Institute: Editor’s Prize for BIPOC writers
This is a prize for a poetry manuscript. While there is a submission fee for the general category, there is no fee for BIPOC writers. Apart from the cash prize, the winning volume will be published by Fordham Press.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 15 November 2026
Open for: BIPOC writers (for fee-free submissions)
Details here and here.
C Magazine: Indigenous Art Writing Award
C Mag is a Canada-based contemporary art and criticism periodical; You can read about them here. Suggested length for submissions is between 1000-2000 words.
Value: CAD1,500; CAD1,000 for two runners-up
Deadline: 23 November 2026
Open for: Indigenous writers
Details here.
editing.services Short Story Award
This was formerly called the ServiceScape Short Story Award. Read the guidelines carefully – they reserve the right to modify or terminate the contest at any time without prior notice, and they pay by cheque.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 30 November 2026
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Dappled Things: The J. F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction
Dappled Things is a space for emerging writers to engage the literary world from a Catholic perspective. Please note, honorable mentions will also get publication and a subscription to the magazine.
Value: $700, $300
Deadline: 30 November 2026
Open for: All writers
Details here.
Minotaur Books/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Competition
This is an international contest for novel manuscripts in the malice domestic genre, for writers who have never been the author of any published mystery novel. The work must be at least 65,000 words. Minotaur is an imprint of Macmillan.
Value: $10,000 advance
Deadline: 30 November 2026
Open for: All writers (for a debut mystery fiction manuscript)
Details here (scroll down).
(Minotaur is also running a First Crime Novel Competition, the deadline for that is 13thDecember 2026.)
One Teen Story Contest
This is an international fiction contest for writers ages 13-19 by One Story Magazine; there are three categories divided age-wise for this contest. It is for a story of 2,000-4,500 words. The contest will open on 20th October and close on 1 December 2026, and the prize is $500. See this page for details about the prize; their submission portal will open during the submission period.
Value: $500
Submission period: 20 October to 1 December 2026
Open for: Teen writers
Details here.
After the End Poetry Competition
“The After the End project in partnership with the National Poetry Centre invites poets worldwide to submit original, previously unpublished work as part of an exciting research project exploring time, temporality, and the question of endings.
Send one poem of up to 40 lines. Submission is via a form.
Value: £200; £100 for runners-up
Deadline: 1 December 2026
Open for: All poets
Details here.
The African Poetry Book Fund: Sillerman First Book Prize
The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry is awarded annually to an African poet who has not yet published a collection of poetry. The winner receives USD $1,000 and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press.” Poetry manuscripts should be at least 50 pages long.
Value: $1,000
Deadline: 1st December 2026
Open for: African writers (for a debut poetry manuscript)
Details here and here.
Nieman Fellowships
These are for working journalists with at least five years of full-time media experience around the world, across media. Applications for the 2027-28 fellowships are now open. Essays (see guidelines), professional profile, study proposal, and work samples are part of the application requirement. Also see their FAQ. These are nine-month fellowships at Harvard.
Value: $87,500 and other expenses
Deadline: 1 December 2026 for international journalists (including those working in the US), and 31 January 2027 for U.S. journalists (including those working outside the US)
Details here.
From SubClub, which you can find on Substack.
The American Poetry Review | Theme: Essays, Book Reviews, and Interviews | Fee: Yes | Pay: $1-line OR $60/page | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry |☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️Reprints | R: 180 days | A: <1% | 35K+ followers | United States | 1972 — “APR is dedicated to reaching a worldwide audience with a diverse array of the best contemporary poetry and literary prose.”
AGNI → Deadline: Dec 15 | Fee: Some | Pay: $30-$300/page | Open for Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction, Multimedia | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 120 days | A:1.02% | 20K+ followers | United States | 1972 — “A literary magazine named after the Vedic fire-god. Transformative. The writer in witness, the imagination in combustion.”
Denver Quarterly → Deadline: Feb 15, 2026 | Fee: Some | Pay: No | Open for Nonfiction, Multimedia, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 90 days | A:4.89% | 10K+ followers | United States | 1966 — “Experimenting since 1966. Here, there, at the foreground of avant-letters.”
Joyland | Fee: $5 | Pay: $200 flat | Open for Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints |R: 112 days | A: <1% | 10K+ followers | United States | 2008 — “Joyland is based on the idea that fiction is an international movement supported by local communities. Our editors work with authors globally to highlight the most exciting voices in literary fiction and creative nonfiction.”
London Review of Books | Fee: No | Pay: No | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 400K+ followers | United Kingdom | 1979 — “A reader recently described the LRB as ‘the best thing about being a human’.”
Los Angeles Review of Books | Fee: No | Pay: Yes | Open for Nonfiction | ✖️ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | 300K+ followers | United States | 2011 — “Non-profit book review and literary essay publication, including a quarterly print journal.”
Mid-American Review | Fee: No | Pay: No | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 210 days | A: 6.93% | 200+ followers | United States | 1972 — “MAR seek to publish works of fine literary art from a diverse body of artists. We are on the lookout for work that has the power to move and astonish us while displaying the highest level of craft.”
Poetry | Fee: No | Pay: $10/line with a minimum honorarium of $400 per poem | Open for Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 240 days | A: 2.42% | 600K+ followers | United States | 1912 — “An independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture”
The Common | Fee: Yes | Pay: $100 flat | Open for Nonfiction, Poetry, Fiction |☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 240 days | A: 1.80% | 15K+ followers | United States | 2010 — “A literary organization whose mission is to deepen our individual and collective sense of place. Based at Amherst College, we aim to serve as a vibrant common space for the global exchange of ideas and experiences through three main areas of activity: publishing, public programming, and mentorship and education.”
Off Assignment | Fee: $2 | Pay: $100-$500 flat | Open for Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️Reprints | R: 65 days | A: 8.11% | 8K+ followers | United States | 2016 — “A non-profit online literary magazine with a penchant for journeys and a fascination with strangers.”
Prairie Schooner | Fee: No | Pay: No | Open for Nonfiction | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️ Reprints | R: 150 days | A: 4.97% | 40K+ followers | United States | 1926 — “Prairie Schooner, a national literary quarterly published with the support of the English Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Nebraska Press, is home to the best fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews being published today by beginning, mid-career, and established writers.”
The Hopkins Review | Theme: Special Call: From the Archive | Fee: Some | Pay: $100/piece or $1500 flat | Open for Nonfiction, Fiction, Poetry | ☑︎ Sim Subs | ✖️Reprints | R: 250 days | A: 3% | 1K+ followers | United States | 2007 — “The quarterly literary journal of the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, our mission is to publish today’s vital voices and visions in literature, culture, criticism, public-facing scholarship, and the arts.”
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How do you find the perfect market for your work? Research. Sometimes you get lucky and find lots of ideas on one site. Here are some great lists.
Get yourself a cup of coffee or tea, look for the genres you write in, and start clicking on links.
Looking for writing contests? I believe WriterAdvice’s Latest Contest is listed with Christopher Felden. So are a lot more.
Hope Clark shares quite a list on Funds for Writers.
Kris Ann Valdez has put together an extensive list for October on her Substack.
Here are paying markets from the Freelance Writing Network.
Have you considered submitting to Writer’s Digest? We’d love to hear what you find and where you get published. Or scroll to the middle of this page on Poets and Writers, look at the blue box, and see a wealth of tools.
Of course we’d love to have you consider WriterAdvice’s Latest Contest and share this page with your peers, colleagues, friends, family, and social media followers.
Please let us know using the Contact Box at the bottom of the home page.
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