Some Contests With March & April 1 Deadlines
Totally Entwined: Family Business. Genre: Novellas, 30,000–50,000 words. Theme: Mafia romance. Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
The Beast Hunt. Genre: Speculative fiction. “Theme: Monsters have feelings too, even if it’s used to rage against the machine.” Payment: Royalties. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Write or Die. Genre: Short fiction. Length: Up to 4000 words. Payment: $200. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Gordon Square Review. Genre: Poetry, short stories, personal essays, and hybrid prose works. Payment: $25 per prose piece and $10 per poem. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Toronto Journal. Genre: Short stories from anywhere in the world. “We will also consider non-fiction pieces about local history (Toronto, GTA, and surrounding).” No word limit. Payment: $50 CAD per piece. All published writers will also receive two printed copies of the issue in which they appear. Deadline: April 1, 2024.
Poetry and Fiction
[MARCH 9TH]
Dark Moon Books: Horror Library Anthology
They want unthemed fiction for this anthology series.
Deadline: 10 March 2025
Length: 1,500-5,000 words
Pay: $0.02/word
Details here
Poetry and Micro Fiction
[MARCH 12th]
Thread is an alternative magazine from ChillSubs – it is hosted entirely on social media, and they publish micro fiction and poetry. They’re reading submissions on the ‘Stasis’ theme.
Deadline: 12 March 2025
Length: Up to 500 characters
Pay: $85
Details here, here, and here
Poetry and Fiction
[MARCH 14TH]
Poetry, Prose, Hybrid, Translation, Reviews, and Visual Art
[MARCH 15TH]
Poetry, Prose, Flash, and Photography
[MARCH 15TH
“Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is a quarterly ezine dedicated to publishing heroic fantasy — in both prose and poetry.
Deadline: 15 March 2025
Length: Up to 10,000 words (can serialize longer – see guidelines)
Pay: $25-100 for fiction, $12.5-25 for poetry
Details here.
Hearth Stories
They have detailed guidelines about the kind of stories they want, including, “Hearth Stories publishes slice-of-life stories with a focus on nature, forests, connection, family, romance/relationships, and comfort/kindness.
Deadline: 31 March 2025
Length: 1,000-10,000 words (see guidelines)
Pay: $0.01/word
Details here.
Andrew Siderius Memorial Contest
- our Classic 75-100 word contest, prize £50 to the winner;
- the Longer, 151-500 word contest, £25 to the winner;
- the Short Poetry contest, £25 to the winner.
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Where to go and what to research:
Contests and Markets for Any Month
It’s February. What are you submitting this month?
It’s hard to see your own mistakes. Need a proofreader before you submit? Writer Advice offers a useful service at reasonable rates. Learn what we offer here. Then tell me how many words are in your piece (prose only) and I’ll send you a quote for proofreading.
Thanks to Hope Clark and Fan Story for these listings for February. More are coming soon.
Emotions Poetry Contest
Pick an emotion and write a poem of any type. This contest has a cash prize.
Deadline Feb 12th
Two Line Poem
Write an essence poem. This is a poem of two lines with six syllables per line, each containing an internal rhyme and an ending rhyme. See the announcement for an example. This contest has a cash prize.
Deadline Feb 18th
5-7-5 Poetry Contest
For this contest you are to write a short poem. It should only have three lines. But the structure is that of a Haiku. The first line has 5 syllables. The second line has 7 syllables. The third line has 5 syllables again. Write about anything. Enter for your chance at the cash prize.
Deadline Feb 25th
Thanks to Erica Verrillo for “Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity.” You’ll find more at https://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/2025/01/50-calls-for-submissions-in-february.html?utm_source=emailoctopus&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=February%202025%20Newsletter, so it’s worth a look around.
Unnerving. Genre: Crime and Mystery. Word count: 2,000 – 6,000. Payment: 1.5¢ CAD/word. Deadline: February 14, 2025.
Crimson Quill. Genre: Fantasy. Payment: $25. Deadline: February 14, 2025.
The Lorelei Signal. Genre: Fantasy short stories, flash fiction, and poetry with strong female characters. Payment: $15 for short stories, $5 for poems and flash (<1000 wds) fiction pieces, $5 for reprints. Deadline: February 15, 2025. Accepts reprints.
Stanchion. Genre: Short stories (1000-ish word max), flash fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry, prose poems, stray thoughts, monologues, interviews with inanimate objects, reviews of everyday items and moments, and the like. Payment: $5. Deadline: Opens February 15, 2025. Closes when cap is reached.
Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for each story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: February 21, 2025.
Farmer-ish. Genre: Nonfiction, CNF, poetry related to farming (including recipes). Payment: $25 for print journal. Deadline: February 28, 2025. See themes.
Ripples in Space. Genre: Science fiction stories that fit snugly within the imagery, concept, and theme of first contact. Payment: $20. Deadline: February 28, 2025.
New Orleans Review. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Payment: $300 for prose, $100 for poetry. Deadline: February 28, 2025. In celebration of Black History Month, there are no submission fees for Black writers for the month of February.
Recurring Awards
Continual
Reader’s Digest 100-Word-Story Competition wants true stories about you, in 100 words. Prize: $100.
7-Day Writing Challenges are held throughout the year. You have seven days to write a story. Registration required. Prize: £500.
Monthly
Apparition Lit. Genre: Flash fiction on themes. Prize: $30. Deadline: 14th of every month.
Write the World Competitions. Restrictions: Young writers ages 13-18. Genre: Essay. Prize: Best Entry: $100; Runner up: $50.
53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline for entry is the 15th day of each month. Stories sent after the deadline will not be considered.
Furious Fiction. Genre: Flash fiction. Prize: $500AUD. “On the first Friday of every month, a new set of story prompts will be revealed. You will have 55 hours to submit your best 500-word (or fewer) story.
Napa Valley Writers is holding a Memoir Story Contest during the month of February. Details and guidelines are below. For more information and submission form, go to www.napavalleywriters.org/contests/2025-memoir-stories-contest.
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I’m not sure I’ve posted anything about fellowships before but this came in an e-mail from Jans Jacob, and I wanted to pass it along in case one of these applies to you. “These are grants, scholarships, fellowships, and residencies for writers of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, and for translators and journalists. The awards are up to $100,000. A number of them are open internationally. These opportunities are open now, or will open soon for applications.” You can find details about some wonderful grants here.
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January 2025
Here are over 300 publications seeking poetry, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and more. You’ll find more than you’re looking for and it might stimulate some new ideas for publishing and collaboration as well as writing.
Here’s a look at publications seeking fiction including short stories. Check the links since things change sometimes.
Chicken Soup for the Soul is seeking pieces about angels, pets, and more.
The New York Times seeks Opinion Guest Essays and more.
The Los Angeles Times Magazine publishes all kinds of nonfiction stories: narratives, profiles, memoirs, essays and style pieces. The best approach submitting a story is to write a short query letter outlining the proposed piece, including a resume or description of the writer’s experience. E-mail that to magazine@latimes.com.
There’s a fabulously comprehensive list of publications seeking personal essays at https://rafalreyzer.com/magazines-websites-that-publish-personal-essays/ As always, you’ll need to check individual links.
Want to publish book reviews? Potential markets are listed in the link.
Do you have a sci fi or fantasy story seeking publication? Click on the link.
This site is seeking new writers: http://www.ardorlitmag.com/literary-magazines-for-new-writers.html
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