It’s Friday! Did you survive April Fool’s Day unscathed? Fingers crossed you did. Check out the submission opportunities featured on NewPages this past week and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for early access to calls, contests, writing programs, and literary events + our monthly eLitPak.
March 31 has passed and a handful of contests extended their deadline to next week! Plus, it’s April, don’t forget to check out our Big List of Writing Contests for upcoming deadlines.
Call for Submissions Round-up
You can view all active calls for submissions by visiting our website. Plus, if you have a young writer in your house, don’t forget you can find publications for them to submit to in our Young Writers Guide.
The Roadrunner Review. Issue 8. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art. No fee. Deadline: May 2, 2021.
Escutcheon Review. Inaugural Issue. Poetry. No fee. Deadline: May 30, 2021.
Tolsun Books. Chapbooks, full-length books. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, cross-genre, translations. $10-15 fee. Deadline: May 31, 2021.
Submit to ABLE MUSE: A Review of Poetry, Prose & Art
Deadline: July 15, 2021
Able Muse is now accepting submissions for our forthcoming issue, Winter 2021/2022. Submit poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, art, and photography. Submission opens yearly January 1 and closes July 15. Read our guidelines and submit at at our website.
CHESTNUT REVIEW (“for stubborn artists”) Invites Submissions Year Round
Submissions accepted 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
We Pay Contributors: Driftwood Press Submissions Open
Deadline: 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. Submissions accepted year-round.
Submit your 50-word story to 50 Give or Take
Deadline: Rolling
50 Give or Take daily delivers micro-fiction of fifty words or less straight into your inbox. Please subscribe (it’s free!) to get an idea of what is published, before submitting your work. All accepted 50 Give or Take pieces will be published in a print collection at the end of every year, starting in 2021. All you have to do is submit your: 50-word story, one-line bio, website or social media URL, and a vertical photo of yourself to 50giveortake@vineleavespress.com. Good luck!
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 by and interviews with Jericho Brown, Kelli Russell Agodon, Robert Pinsky, Rising Appalachia, Nahko, Michel Stone, Genesis Greykid, Cassandra King, Melissa Studdard, and A.E. Stallings.
Storm Cellar. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art, comics, cross-genre, drama, translations. Limited no-fee submissions. Payment: Flat honorarium. Deadline: Rolling.
Literary Events & Writing Programs Round-up
Looking not just to submit your writing, but perfect it? Check out these great literary events and creative writing programs.
Study Online with Great Writers Who Are Also Great Teachers
Deadline: Year-round
Location: Virtual
The Constellation, A Place for Writers provides innovative, online creative writing workshops that inspire, instruct, nurture, and challenge. Our acclaimed instructors offer classes in short fiction, novel, essay, memoir, poetry, children and young adult, literary translation, publishing, and hybrid forms. We host sessions for writers at all levels. The brainchild of award-winning and bestselling author Connie May Fowler, The Constellation is a global community of writers who support and elevate each other as they engage in the important work of honing their art and craft. In addition to workshops, The Constellation mentors weekly free prompts, write-ins, and more.
Writing Contests Round-up
Don’t forget to check out all active contests on our website! Like to plan your submissions calendar in advance? The Big List of Writing Contests lists a variety of book, magazine, and chapbook contests by their deadline date. Plus don’t forget to go through our contests for young writers. The majority of those contests are fee-free.
2021 Able Muse Contests Now Open for Submissions
Extended Deadline: April 7, 2021
2021 ABLE MUSE CONTESTS :: SUBMIT NOW. BOOK AWARD (poetry): $1000 + book publication. Final Judge: Mark Jarman; $25 entry; extended deadline: midnight PDT on April 7, 2021, 2021. ENTER NOW—go to www.ablemusepress.com for details.
New American Voices: Post-Publication Book Prize for Immigrant Writers
Extended Deadline: April 7, 2021
Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research’s New American Voices Award recognizes recently published books that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants, whose work is historically underrepresented in writing and publishing. The prize will be juried by Irina Reyn, Justin Torres, and 2019 New American Voices winner Melissa Rivero. All three finalists and the judges will appear at the Fall for the Book festival in October 2021 for the fourth annual award presentation. The winning writer will receive $5,000 and the two finalists each will receive $1,000. Full guidelines: fallforthebook.org/submitnav/.
Fix the Future with Fiction and Win $8,700 in Prizes and Publication
Deadline: April 12, 2021
Fix, Grist’s solutions lab, is launching a new climate-fiction contest, Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Imagine calls for short stories envisioning the next 180 years of climate progress, judged by renowned authors Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Jerkins, and Kiese Laymon. The top contest winners will be awarded $3000, $2000, and $1000 respectively, and nine finalists will receive a $300 honorarium. Winners and finalists will be published in an immersive digital collection. We want to see—and share—stories that bring into focus what a truly just and regenerative future could look like. Submit your story by April 12 at grist.submittable.com/submit and contact us at imaginefiction@grist.org.
Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry Manuscript Contest
Deadline: April 15, 2021
“The world is full of paper. Write to me.”—Agha Shahid Ali, “Stationery.” Submit your poetry manuscript to the Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry, judged this year by Matthew Olzmann. The winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, publication by The University of Utah Press, plus a $500 honorarium for reading in the University of Utah’s Guest Writers Series. Deadline: April 15, 2021. Entry fee: $25. We are on Submittable. Read about our guidelines here. Email Hannah New with any questions.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest
Deadline: April 30, 2021
29th year, sponsored by Winning Writers, co-sponsored by Duotrope, and recommended by Reedsy. Submit published or unpublished work online to win $3,000 for the best story and $3,000 for the best essay. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $200 each. Length limit: 6,000 words. Entry fee: $20. Top 12 entries published online. Final judge: Dennis Norris II. Learn more at our website.
Cow Creek Chapbook Prize. Poetry. $15 fee. Prize: $1,000, publication, & 25 author copies. Judge: Kayleb Rae Candrilli. Deadline: May 15, 2021.
Baltimore Review Summer Contests. Flash fiction, flash creative nonfiction, prose poetry. $5 fee. Prize: $300/genre + publication. Deadline: May 31, 2021.
Flying South 2021 Call for Submissions – $2000 in Prizes
Deadline: May 31, 2021
$2,000 in prizes. From March 1 to May 31, Flying South 2021, a publication of Winston Salem Writers, will be accepting entries for prizes in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. Best in Category winners will be published and receive $500 each. One of the three winners will receive The WSW President’s Favorite award and win an additional $500. All entries will be considered for publication. For full details, please visit our website.
The 2021 Housatonic Book Awards are Open for Submissions!
Deadline: June 13, 2021
The Housatonic Book Awards at Western Connecticut State University’s MFA in Creative and Professional Writing are now open for 2021 submissions. The Awards are open to all books published in 2020 in the genres of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young adult/middle grade. Winners of the Housatonic Book Awards receive $1,500 and present a masterclass and reading at one of WCSU MFA’s residencies. The deadline for submissions is Sunday, June 13, 2021. To enter, click here.
Swan Scythe Press Announces its 2021 Poetry Chapbook Contest!
Deadline: June 15, 2021
Swan Scythe Press announces its 2021 poetry chapbook contest. Entry fee: $18. We are accepting submissions from March 1 to June 15 (postmark deadline). Winner receives $200 and 25 perfect-bound chapbooks. The 2020 winner is Lana Issam Ghannam for Evolution of Stone. For full submission guidelines, visit our website and submissions manager.
Poet Hunt 26, Judged by Indigo Moor, is Now Open!!
Deadline: June 15, 2021
Indigo Moor judges the MacGuffin’s 26th Poet Hunt contest, open April 1 through June 15! $500 first prize plus publication; up to two Honorable Mentions will also be published. All entrants receive one copy of this issue. Send no more than five poems per $15 entry fee. Include a cover page that lists your contact info and poem titles. On the following page(s), include your poem(s), beginning each poem on a new page devoid of personally identifiable information to preserve the blind review process. Enter via Submittable, or to enter by email or post, see full rules at schoolcraft.edu/macguffin/contest-rules.
North Street Book Prize for Self-Published Books
Deadline: June 30, 2021
Now in its seventh year, the North Street Book Prize is sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by BookBaby and Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Self-published books in seven categories can win up to $5,000 plus additional benefits. Submit online or by mail. Winning Writers is a partner member of the Alliance of Independent Authors, and this contest is recommended by Reedsy. Entry fee: $65 per book. Free gifts for everyone who enters.
2021 Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize Now Open for Submissions
Deadline: July 31, 2021
RED WHEELBARROW POETRY PRIZE 2021: Judged by Mark Doty. $1,000 for first place and a letterpress broadside printed by Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press, $500 for second, $250 for third. Top five published in Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Submit up to 3 original, unpublished poems. $15 entry fee. Deadline: July 31, 2021. For complete guidelines, see Submittable.
2022 Press 53 Award for Poetry
Deadline: July 31, 2021
$1,000 and 50 copies awarded to an outstanding, unpublished collection of poems of approximately 60 to 120 pages. Open to poets 18 years of age and older who live in the US or one of its territories. Tom Lombardo, Press 53 Poetry Series Editor, will serve as judge. Press 53 will publish the winning manuscript as a Tom Lombardo Poetry Selection; all prizes will be awarded upon publication. Deadline: Midnight Eastern, July 31, 2021. Winner and finalists announced on or before November 1. Reading fee: $30. Complete information at the Press 53 website.