Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.
If you want to get a jump on next month's contests go to Free Contests. Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.
Good luck!
(Image: Goodfon)
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Dan Veach Prize for Younger Poets. Restrictions: Open to poets aged 18-23. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $100 and publication in the Atlanta Review. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
PEN/Bare Life Review Grants. Restrictions: Open to immigrant and refugee writers in the US and abroad. Genre: Unpublished work-in-progress that will not be published prior to April 1, 2026. The project must be a work of a literary nature: fiction, creative nonfiction, or poetry. Prize: $5000. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
The PEN/Heim Translation Fund. Genre: Book-length works of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama in translation. Prize: $2000 - $4000. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
The PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature. Genre: Translation. Work-in-progress of a book-length translation of an Italian work of literary fiction or nonfiction into English. Prize: $5,000 grant. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists. Restrictions: Candidates must have published one or more novels for children or young adults that have been warmly received by literary critics, but have not generated sufficient income to support the author. Genre: Book-length children's or young-adult fiction. Prize: $5000. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
The PEN/Jean Stein Grant for Literary Oral History. Genre: Literary work of nonfiction that uses oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. Prize: $15,000 each. (Two prizes) Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Bard Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Open to a writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. Genre: Published fiction book. Prize: $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Cromwell Article Prize. Restrictions: Open to early career scholars. Genre: Articles published in the field of American legal history. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards. Genre: Haiku. Prize: First Place - $200, and a miniature crystal turtle; Second Place - $100; Third Place - $50. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
International Wizard of Oz Club Annual Contests. Genre: Short Fiction, Art & Academic Nonfiction Research Papers. All work must be related to the world of Oz. Prize: $100 in each genre. 2nd Prize $50 in each genre. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Republic of Letters: Republic Book Club. Genre: Nonfiction. Review of David Szalay’s Flesh. Prize: $50. Deadline: June 1, 2025.
Dream Foundry Emerging Writers Contest. Restrictions: You have published a total of less than 4,000 words of paid or income-earning speculative fiction in English. You have earned a total of less than USD 320 from those words. You have never been nominated for any award listed here as a major award in speculative fiction. Genre: Short speculative fiction, up to 10,000 words. Prize: $200 - $1,000. Deadline: June 2, 2025.
The International Audio Drama Competition is sponsored by the BBC World Service and British Council in partnership with Commonwealth Writers. Restrictions: Open to non-UK residents. Genre: A script for a 53 minute radio play with up to six central characters. Prize: £2500 sterling and a trip to London. Deadline: June 4, 2025.
Fraser Institute Student Essay Contest. Restrictions: Canadian high school, college, and graduate students. Genre: Short essay on "What would our Essential Scholars say about Canadian economic prosperity today?" Prize: CAD$1,500 in each age category. Deadline: June 5, 2025.
Anne Brown Essay Prize. Restrictions: Entrants must be aged over 16 and resident in Scotland, born in Scotland or have a longstanding association with Scotland. Genre: Literary essay, published or unpublished. Prize: £1,500. Deadline: June 6, 2025.
Icelandic Festival of Manitoba Poetry & Short Stories Contest. Genre: Poetry and short stories. Length; 1200 words max. Prize: $50 - $125. "You do not need to be of Icelandic descent to submit an entry however material reflecting Icelandic culture and interests will be given preference." Deadline: June 7, 2025.
Ocean Awareness Youth Contest. Restrictions: Open to students in grades 6 - 12. Genre: Art, poetry, prose, film. "Use humor, positivity, irony, or other unconventional approaches that are not typically used in environmental communication to address the climate crisis. Think outside the tackle-box, beyond clichés, to create something that makes the topic of climate change and our oceans more approachable and accessible." Prizes: $100 - $1,500. Deadline: June 9, 2025.
Solid Essay Contest. Restrictions: Open to high school students. Genre: Essay (See site for topics.) Minimum number of words is 600 and maximum is 800. Prize: Scholarship of $1000. Deadline: June 9, 2025.
Baltimore Science Fiction Society Amateur Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to Maryland residents or students at a MD 2- or 4-year college, and not a member of the Science Fiction Writers of America or published in a professional science fiction/fantasy magazine Genre: Science fiction short stories. Prize: 1st place is $250; 2nd place is $100; 3rd place is $50. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
The Pomegranate Tent Review. Genre: All genres, as well as audio, art, visual, recipes, spells. See theme. Prize: $25. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Page One Media 2026 Grant. Genre: A book being published by a US based publisher and published in the US sometime between January and December 2026. Adult books only. Prize: The 2026 grant will provide one full book publicity campaign spanning eight months for a book publishing in 2026. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Little, Brown Emerging Artist Award. Genre: High-quality picture books that resonate with readers of diverse backgrounds and experience. Diversity includes literal or metaphorical inclusion of characters of underrepresented ethnicity, religious background, gender identity, class, mental or physical disability, or any other nondominant populations. Prize: American Express® gift cards totaling $1,500, round trip travel to New York City, and the honor of a one-day mentorship with a Little, Brown Books for Young Readers’ professional children’s book design and editorial team. Submission will be reviewed for publication. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
Norton Writer's Prize. Sponsored by W.W. Norton & Company. "The Norton Writer’s Prize will be awarded annually for an outstanding essay written by an undergraduate. Literacy narratives, literary and other textual analyses, reports, profiles, evaluations, arguments, memoirs, proposals, mixed-genre pieces, and more: any excellent writing done for an undergraduate writing class will be considered." Genres: Creative Nonfiction, Scholarly Essay. Prize: Three cash prizes of $1,000 apiece will be awarded in 2025 for coursework submitted during the academic year. Deadline: June 15, 2025.
53-Word Story Contest. Genre: Flash fiction of exactly 53 words based on monthly theme. Prize: Publication and a free book. Deadline: June 15, 2025. (Note: This is a monthly contest)
Channel 4 Writing for Television Awards. Restrictions: Open to writers from Northern England who would like to work in television. Genre: TV writing. Prize: Mentoring support and a bursary worth £3000. Deadline: June 16, 2025.
Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing. Genre: Editorial writing. The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship was established to enable a mid-career editorial writer or columnist to have time away from daily responsibilities for study and research. Freelancers may also apply. Fellowship: Up to $100,000. Deadline: June 19, 2025.
Giller Prize. Restrictions: Open to books published in Canada in English. Must be nominated by publisher. Genre: Fiction. Full-length novel or collection of short stories published in English, either originally, or in translation. Prize: $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 to each of the finalists. Deadline: Books published between May 1, 2025, and June 30, 2025 must be received on or before June 20, 2025.
Griffin Poetry Prize. Restrictions: One prize goes to a living Canadian poet or translator, the other to a living poet or translator from any country, which may include Canada. Genre: Poetry. Books must have been published in English during the calendar year preceding the year of the award. Prize: The winner receives C$130,000 and the other shortlisted poets each receive C$10,000. Deadline: June 20, 2025, for works published between January 1 and June 30, 2025.
Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for one story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: June 20, 2025.
Guppy Books. Restrictions: Open to unpublished and unagented authors. Genre: Novel for middle grade readers. Prize: Publication. Deadline: June 20, 2025.
A Midsummer Tale Narrative Writing Contest. Genre: Non-genre fiction and creative nonfiction. Theme: Summer Olympics. Length: 1,000 words minimum; 5,000 words maximum. Prize: $35 - $50 Amazon gift card. Deadline: June 21, 2025.
International EJCA Spring Haiku Contest. Genre: Haiku. Prize: $20 - $30. Deadline: June 21, 2025.
Vweta Chadwick Poetry Prize. Restrictions: Open to female high school and college students in Nigeria. Genre: Unpublished poems, 40 lines maximum. See theme. Prize: $200. Deadline: June 22, 2025.
Sine Theta Prize. Restrictions: Open to members of the Sino diaspora. Genre: Fiction (prose) and poetry. See theme. Prize: All authors published in sinθ receive a $10 USD honorarium. For the two contest winners, there is an additional $200 USD prize, amounting to a total of $210 USD. Deadline: June 22, 2025.
Write the World Competitions. Restrictions: Young writers ages 13-19.5. Genre: Essay: Making meaning. Prize: Best Entry: $100; Runner up: $50. Deadline: June 23, 2025. (Note: This is a monthly contest.)
Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Titles must be published in Canada and written by Canadians. No self-published works. Genre: Novel or short story collection. Prize: $60,000 will be awarded to the novel or short story collection published between April 30, 2025 and September 30, 2025. Deadline: June 25, 2025.
Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Restrictions: Books must be English-language, first-edition trade books published by a Canadian press, written by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Titles must be published between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. Genre: Literary nonfiction including, among other forms, works of personal or journalistic essays, memoirs, commentary, criticism both social and political, history, and biography. Prize: Winner: $60,000; Finalists: $5,000. Deadline: June 25, 2025.
Writers' Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers. Restrictions: Open to Canadian LGBTQ+ writers. Genre: Debut book published between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. Prize: $12,000. Deadline: June 25, 2025.
Wingate Literary Prize. Genre: Published book that explores Jewish themes. Book must be published between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025, must be published, distributed or easily available in the UK and Ireland, and must be published in English, whether originally or in translation. Prize: £4,000. Deadline: June 27, 2025.
Dave Greber Freelance Writers Book and Magazine Awards for Social Justice Writing. Restrictions: Open to “continuing residents of Canada” who at the date of application have “lived in Canada for the last twelve months” and who are “working a minimum of seventy per cent of their work time as a self-employed freelance writer.” Genre: Nonfiction books and articles. Prize: $5000 for books, $2000 for articles. Deadline: June 27, 2025.
Apex Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Speculative fiction, 1000 words max. Prize: 8 cents/word or $10, which ever is greater. Deadline: June 30, 2025. Note: Apex Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest is open from the 7th until the final day of each month. The contest is themed.
My Writing Journey. Genre: Essay on the theme: The worst writing mistake I’ve ever made. Length: 600 words. Prize: $200 (R2 000 or £100). Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Raleigh Review Flash Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Open to US residents. Genre: Flash fiction. Prize: $300. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Science Me A Story. Genre: Scientific stories or poems for children (ages 6-12) of up to four pages by authors over age 18. Stories can be in English or Spanish. Prize: £150, £100 or £50. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for a young science journalist. Restrictions: Open to applicants whose 31st birthday is July 1, 2025 or later. Genre: Science journalism. Prize: $1,000 and expenses to attend ScienceWriters2025 in the fall. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Genesis Emerging Writers' Programme. Restrictions: Open to emerging writers over 18 years of age, of any background living in the UK. Genre: Fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Prize: Up to £1,500 and mentorship. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Lee & Low Books New Voices Award is sponsored by Lee &Low Publishers. Restrictions: The contest is open to writers of color who are residents of the United States and who have not previously had a children’s picture book published. Genre: Children's picture books - fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Prize: $5,000 and publication. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Chapter House Indigenous Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Open to Indigenous writers. Genre: Fiction. Prize: $250. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Harbor Editions: Restrictions: Open to BIPOC writers and previous finalists. Genre: Hybrid chapbooks. Prize: Publising contract. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Writers College Short Story Competition. Restrictions: Open to any writer who is unpublished, or has been published fewer than four times. Genre: Short story. See theme. Prize: First prize NZ $1000 and publication; second prize NZ $500 and publication. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
The Drabble Harvest Contest. Genre: Drabble on theme of The Witch's Broom. A "drabble" is defined as a short story containing exactly precisely no more and no fewer than 100 words. It has a title, which can be from 1 to 15 words-- but no more than 15. Prize: $5. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Sargeson Prize for Secondary Schools. Restrictions: Open to students enrolled at a New Zealand secondary school and aged between 16 and 18 years. Genre: Short story, Length: 5,000 words max. Prize: First Prize: $2000; Second Prize: $1000; Third Prize: $500. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Sargeson Prize. Restrictions: Open to New Zealanders. Genre: Short stories. Length: 5,000 words max. Prize: First Prize: $15,000; Second Prize: $1000; Third Prize: $500. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Storyhouse: Preservation Foundation Essay Contest for Unpublished Writers. Restrictions: The contest is open to writers whose creative writing has never produced revenues of over $250 in any single year. First prize winners of previous contests, while ineligible for prizes in regular contests, can compete in this one. Genre: Nonfiction. Prize: First prize is $200; Runners-up will receive $100. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Restrictions: The award is open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals of national distribution. Online and self-publication does not count toward this requirement. Genre: A manuscript of short stories; two or more novellas (a novella may comprise a maximum of 130 double-spaced typed pages); or a combination of one or more novellas and short stories. Novellas are only accepted as part of a larger collection. Prize: $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press under its standard contract. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Digital Privacy Scholarship. Restrictions: You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre: 500- to 1,000-word essay about digital privacy. Prize: $1000 scholarship. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. Restrictions: Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium. Professional publication is deemed to be payment and at least 5,000 copies (or 5,000 hits for online publication). Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi or Horror. 17,000 words max. Prize: $1,000 1st Prize awarded each quarter; one of those winners also receives the $5,000 annual "Golden Pen Award" grand prize. 2nd Prize $750, 3rd Prize $500. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Utah Division of Arts and Museums Original Writing Competition. Restrictions: Open to Utah writers. Genres: Poetry and prose. Prize: $1,000 top prizes for book-length manuscripts of novels, creative nonfiction & history, collection of poetry or short stories, and juvenile book; $300 top prizes for individual poems, short stories, and personal essays. 2nd Prize $500 for the book-length categories, $150 for poetry. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Eden Mills Teen Poetry Contest. Restrictions: Open to Canadian teens. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Two $50 prizes, two $25 prizes. Deadline: June 30, 2025.
Washington State Book Awards. Restrictions: Open to Washington State writers. Genre: Published book, fiction, nonfiction, poetry: adults or children. Prize: Recognition (?) Deadline: June 30, 2025 (for books published Jan. 1-May 31, 2025).
Last Stanza Poetry Journal. Genre: Poetry. Prize: A single $100 award will be given for an outstanding poem. Deadline: June 30, 2025. See theme.
#GWstorieseverywhere. Genre: Micro fiction. Your story must be no longer than 25 words, with a max of 280 characters, including spaces and the hashtag. See themes. Prize: Free Gotham class. Deadline: June 30, 2025. This is a monthly contest. Registration required.
Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to "revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful." Genre: Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize: $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline: June 30, 2025. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.
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