Thanksgiving is officially over in the US. Don’t let turkey-induced lethargy stop you for finishing out the year strong with your submission goals. Check out the most recent submission opportunities posted to or featured on NewPages this past week.
Calls for Submissions
View all active calls for submissions in our online Classifieds. Have a young writer? Check out our Young Writers Guide to Publications to help them find a market for their work, too.
November Submission Deadlines
Tint Journal is Open for Submissions by Non-native English Writers
Deadline: November 30, 2020 (midnight CET)
Tint Journal, the online literary magazine for English as a second language or non-native language writers, is open for submissions for their fifth issue, Tint Spring ’21, appearing on March 10, 2021. Tint Journal publishes poems, short stories, and creative nonfiction written by authors whose first language is something other than English. Emerging and well-established authors are welcome to submit. We also accept art submissions (paintings, photographs, collages, and more) to accompany our stories. The deadline to be considered for our Spring ’21 issue is Monday, November 30, 2020 (midnight CET). Writers and artists are asked to consider our submission guidelines at www.tintjournal.com/submit. Genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, photography, art.
December Submission Deadlines
Into the Void Wants Your Work in Issue #18
Deadline: December 7, 2020
Print & online journal Into the Void is open to submissions of fiction, flash, creative nonfiction, poetry, & visual art to Issue #18 through December 7. Payment is $10 per poem/flash/art or $20 per long-from prose piece, a contributor copy, & a one-year online subscription. No theme, & no reading fees until Submittable monthly limits reached. Send us something that makes us feel alive. Details: intothevoidmagazine.com/submissions/.
NOMADartx Review Seeks Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Art, Interviews, & Reviews
Deadline: December 20, 2020
NOMADartx is an emerging global creative network dedicated to sharing and amplifying creative potential, regardless of genre. Our new NOMADartx Review curates fresh voices that address creativity and creative process via fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, critiques, and reviews. Our “Industry Specials” column also provides a place for contemporary creatives to share wisdom (individual or collective) toward building success in their fields of practice. We currently consider work that addresses these themes in any way, with a special call for work about routine, ritual, and repetition (or their opposites). More information is here: nomadartx.submittable.com/submit.
Girls Right the World Issue 5
Deadline: December 31, 2020
Girls Right the World is a literary journal inviting young, female-identified writers and artists, ages 14–21, to submit work for consideration for the fifth annual issue. We believe girls’ voices transform the world for the better. We accept poetry, prose, and visual art of any style or theme. We ask to be the first to publish your work in North America; after publication, the rights return to you. Send your best work, in English or English translation, to girlsrighttheworld@gmail.com by December 31, 2020. Please include a note mentioning your age, where you’re from, and a bit about your submission.
Sky Island Journal: Issue 15 (Winter 2021) Call for Submissions
Deadline: Midnight (CST) December 31, 2020
Sky Island Journal is an independent, international, free-access literary journal dedicated to publishing the finest poetry, flash fiction, and creative nonfiction. We publish accomplished, well-established authors—side by side—with fresh, emerging voices. We provide over 75,000 readers in 145 countries with a powerful, focused, advertising-free literary experience that transports them: one that challenges them intellectually and moves them emotionally. We publish quarterly, and our average response time is 9 days. Every submission receives a prompt, respectful, and individualized response detailing what we appreciated. Enjoy our previous issues, and submit for Issue 15 before midnight (CST) on December 31st at www.skyislandjournal.com.
Call for Submissions: Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology
Deadline: December 31, 2020
While the pandemic has ravaged our world, certain populations have been impacted more deeply than others. Essential Voices strives to give voice to those who have been silenced. Send us your poems, stories, recipes, or works of art that reflect upon the experience of COVID and COVID related issues in your life. This anthology will be published by West Virginia University Press. Visit us at www.essentialvoicesanthology.wordpress.com for guidelines before submitting to essentialanthology@gmail.com.
January Submission Deadlines
Call for Submissions – great weather for MEDIA
Deadline: January 15 2021
great weather for MEDIA seeks poetry, flash fiction, short stories, dramatic monologues, and creative nonfiction for our annual print anthology. Our focus is on the fearless, the unpredictable, and the experimental. Please visit our website for guidelines: www.greatweatherformedia.com/submissions. Genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, cross-genre.
Call for Submissions: Heron Tree
Deadline: January 15, 2021
Heron Tree Volume 8 will be dedicated to found poems composed from public domain sources. We are accepting submissions in the following categories: found poems crafted from any source material(s) in the public domain in the United States; found poems created from How to Keep Bees (1905), a handbook by Anna Botsford Comstock; found poems fashioned from public domain sonnets other than Shakespeare’s. We are interested in any and all approaches to found poetry construction and erased or remixed texts. For details visit us at herontree.com/how/.
Rolling & Year-round Submission Deadlines
We Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open
Submissions accepted year-round.
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests. We also offer our submitters a premium option to receive an acceptance or rejection letter within one week of submission; many authors are offered editorships and interviews. To polish your fiction, note our editing services and seminars, too. www.driftwoodpress.net
Call for Submissions: Storm Cellar
Deadline: Rolling
Storm Cellar is a literary journal of safety and danger, in print and ebook formats since 2011. We seek the voices of Black, Indigenous, POC, LGBTQIA+, gender nonbinary, neurodivergent, fat, disabled, border-straddling, poor, and more marginalized authors. We encourage connections, in work or by creator, to the Midwest, broadly construed. Now paying. Send ambitious, surprising new art and writing through stormcellar.submittable.com; learn more at stormcellar.org. Genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, cross-genre, comics, translations, photography, art.
We Want the Best Stories in All Genres
Submissions accepted year-round.
The Blue Mountain Review launched from Athens, Georgia in 2015 with the mantra, “We’re all south of somewhere.” As a journal of culture the BMR strives to represent life through its stories. Stories are vital to our survival. Songs save the soul. Our goal is to preserve and promote lives told well through prose, poetry, music, and the visual arts. Our editors read year-round with an eye out for work with homespun and international appeal. We’ve published work with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings.
CHESTNUT REVIEW (“for stubborn artists”) Invites Submissions Year Round
CHESTNUT REVIEW (“for stubborn artists”) invites submissions year round of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, and photography. We offer free submissions for poetry (3 poems), flash fiction (<1000 words), and art/photography (20 images); $5 submissions for fiction/nonfiction (<5k words), or 4-6 poems. Published artists receive $100 and a copy of the annual anthology of four issues (released each summer). Notification in <30 days or submission fee refunded. We appreciate stories in every genre we publish. All issues free online which illustrates what we have liked, but we are always ready to be surprised by the new! chestnutreview.com
Palooka. Journal & Chapbook Submissions. Fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art, photography, graphic narratives, comic strips. $3 fee (journal); $8 fee (chapbooks). Deadline: Year-round.
Willow Springs. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translations. $3 fee. Deadline: Rolling. Paying Market.
Writing & Book Contests
You can view all current contest ads in our online Classifieds, plus don’t forget to check out our Big List of Contests to finish filling out your submissions calendar for the rest of the year. If you have a young writer, we do curate a list of contests for them as well, the majority without fees.
November Contest Deadlines
Baltimore Review Winter Contest: 1,000 Words or Less
Deadline: November 30, 2020
No theme for our winter contest. Subject matter is entirely up to you. Surprise us! But keep it short. Two categories: flash fiction and flash creative nonfiction. We want to be amazed at how you abracadabra 1,000 or less into magic. And maybe be a little jealous of how you do that. One writer in each category will be awarded a $300 prize and published in the winter issue. All entries considered for publication and payment. Final judge: Diana Spechler. See www.baltimorereview.org for complete details. Deadline: November 30, 2020. Fee: $5.
Announcing The Creative Block Essay Contest
Deadline: November 30, 2020
We seek previously unpublished personal essays up to 2,000 words about the creative endeavor that you paused. Yes, we want to hear about the dreaded creative block. Tell us a story about your circumstances and what was going through your head as you put down your work. Was it a relief to put aside your art? A regret? Is it still an idea that you kept coming back to, unable to shake? The winner will receive $650, and the submission fee is $10. The contest is open to writers worldwide until November 30. For more details see criticalread.submittable.com/submit.
2021 Submissions to Progressive Young Artist Awards (PYAA) Open January 1!
Deadline: November 2021
PYAA looks for original works that show cultivated proficiency, artistry, technical skill, and art that expresses students’ individualistic, creative voices and visions. 2021 submissions open January 1st! Visit our website to learn more about categories and how to submit.
December Contest Deadlines
The 2020 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1, 2020
The 4th annual Jane Underwood Poetry Prize is accepting submissions! Open to all poets, the prize is awarded for a single poem. For a fee of $15, submit one entry of up to three poems. The prizewinner will receive an award of $250, online publication of the winning poem, and an invitation to do a featured reading. This year’s final judge is David Hernandez. Full guidelines can be found at www.writingsalons.com/awards-resources/jane-underwood-poetry-prize/.
Interim Accepting Manuscripts for Test Site Poetry Contest 2020
Deadline: December 15, 2020
Submit your manuscript to Interim’s 3rd annual Test Site Poetry Contest! As our series title suggests, we’re looking for manuscripts that engage the perilous conditions of life in the 21st century, as they pertain to issues of social justice and the earth. The winning book will demonstrate an ethos that considers the human condition in inclusive love and sympathy, while offering the same in consideration of the earth. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches. The winner will receive $1,000 and their book will be published by University of Nevada Press in 2021.
2021 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Deadline: December 31, 2020
Awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of short stories. Reading Fee: $30. Award: $1,000 cash advance, publication, and fifty copies. Enter: Submit online with Submittable or by mail from September 1–December 31, 2020. Press 53 publisher and editor-in-chief Kevin Morgan Watson will serve as the only judge. Winner and finalists announced by May 1, 2021; advance review copies sent to major reviewers and outlets; publication in October 2021. Complete details at our website.
Acacia Fiction Prize! $1,200 & Publication
Deadline: December 31, 2020
The Acacia Fiction Prize winner is awarded $1,200, twenty author copies, plus publication and promotion by Kallisto Gaia Press for a collection of Short Stories, Flash Fiction, Novellas, or any combination of fiction totaling between 40K and 75K words. Richard Z. Santos (Trust Me, 2020) will judge. Runner up receives $100. Entry fee is $25. All entrants receive a copy of the winning collection! Deadline: December 31, 2020. Sponsored by Duotrope. More info at kallistogaiapress.submittable.com/submit.
January Contest Deadlines
Win a Full-Tuition Scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy
Deadline: January 14, 2021
Interlochen Arts Academy is now accepting submissions for the 2021 Virginia B. Ball Creative Writing Scholarship Competition. Apply to win a full-tuition scholarship to Interlochen Arts Academy. All students in grades 8-11 during this academic year are eligible to apply. Applicants must submit writing samples in two of the following genres: Literary Fiction; Poetry; Personal Essay or Memoir; Screenwriting; Playwriting; Experimental/Unclassifiable Writing. For submission guidelines and more information, visit write.interlochen.org. Use application fee waiver code: WRITE21.
March Contest Deadlines
The National Indie Excellence® Awards are Open for Entries
Deadline: March 31, 2021
The National Indie Excellence® Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors. NIEA is proud to be a champion of self-publishing and small independent presses going the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect. All entries for the 15th Annual NIEA contest must be postmarked by March 31st, 2021. Genres: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenplays, cross-genre, comics, reviews, interviews, translations, photography, art. www.indieexcellence.com
Rolling Contest Deadlines
Accepting Submissions: The Headlight Review Chapbook Prize
Deadline: After 80 submissions received
The Headlight Review’s Annual Chapbook Prize in Prose is open for submissions! Send us your very best literary fiction, 6k-10k words, and you will be considered by our expert panel of judges for a $500 cash prize and publication of your manuscript. Submissions are $20 each, and all finalists will also be considered for publication. Publication in THR’s regular genres (Poetry, Nonfiction, Fiction, Book Reviews, & Interviews) is also year-round, and it is free to submit. Submission Guidelines for The Chapbook Prize, and for our year-round submissions, can be found on our website. We look forward to reading your work!