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: Pickpik)
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Embracing Our Differences Quotation Contest. Genre: An original quotation to accompany a piece of artwork. Length: 20 words max. Prize: $2000. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Richard J. Margolis Award. Genre: Journalism. Prize is awarded annually to a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice. Prize: $5,000 and one month of residency at Blue Mountain Center. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
ALCS Award for Educational Writers. Genre: The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) Educational Writers’ Award is awarded to an outstanding example of traditionally published non-fiction that stimulates and enhances learning. The total prize money is £2,000, shared between author and illustrator. The ALCS Educational Writers’ Award was established in 2008 by ALCS and the Society of Authors, “to celebrate educational writing that inspires creativity, encourages students to read widely and builds up their understanding of a subject beyond the requirements of exam specifications. Prize: £2,000.00. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Sponsored by Claremont Graduate University. Restrictions: Poets must be citizens or legal resident aliens of the United States. Genre: Poetry. Book must be author's first full-length book of poetry, published between between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Self-published books are accepted. Prize: $10,000. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest (BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize and BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Award for Writers in the Caribbean). Restrictions: All entrants must be of Caribbean heritage/of Caribbean descent or writers who were born/raised and holding nationality in the Caribbean. Genre: Unpublished short fiction (3000 words max). Prize: US$1750 for each contest. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards. Genre: Poetry. "The awards contest is an annual series of awards to encourage poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit." Prize: $200. Deadline: July 1, 2025. Free entry for poets age 12 and under.
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Sponsored by Claremont Graduate University. Restrictions: Poets must be citizens or legal resident aliens of the United States. Genre: Poetry. The work submitted must be a first book of poetry published between between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. Manuscripts, CDs, and chapbooks are not accepted. Prize: $100,000. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Emmy Awards - Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award. Restrictions: Non-US citizens under the age of 30 only. Prize: $2,500, a trip to New York City, and an invitation to the International Emmy® Awards Gala in November. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative. Restrictions: Applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Prize: Grant, amount not specified. Deadline: July 1, 2025.
Mountain Book Competition. Genre: Mountain literature. Prize: Over $29,000 in cash is awarded annually with 8 awards selected by an international jury of writers, adventurers and editors. Deadline: July 3, 2025.
Hubert Butler Essay Prize. Restrictions: Open to European Union citizens aged 18+. Genre: Essay on theme ‘With narratives of conflict currently distorted by misinformation and the substitution of memory for history, what are the chances of reconciliation?’ 3,000 words max. Prize: First prize of €1,500 and two second prizes of €500. Deadline: July 4, 2025.
Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards. Restrictions: Open to U.S. military service members and veterans and their immediate families. Genre: Prose and poetry. Prize: $250, $150, and $100. Deadline: July 4, 2025.
The Republic of Letters. Genre: CNF (?)"Character identification week. You may well at some point in your life have had the experience of overly identifying with a fictional character in something you read or watched. Tell that story! — about how you thought you were Captain Nemo or Maid Marian or whatever it was." Prize: $50. Deadline: July 6, 2025.
HG Wells Short Story Competition. Genre: Short story on theme. See site. Length: 1,500 to 5,000 words. Prize: £1,000 and publication in the annual HG Wells Short Story Competition Anthology. Deadline: July 8, 2025. No fee for writers under the age of 21. Those over 21 can enter for a fee.
The Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism. Restrictions: Open to women and nonbinary journalists. Genre: Narrative Journalism. Prize: $5,000. Deadline: July 13, 2025.
Palette Poetry Free Challenge. Genre: Poetry. Prize: $500 and publication. Deadline: July 13, 2025.
Stony Brook Short Fiction Prize. Restrictions: Only undergraduates enrolled full time in United States and Canadian universities and colleges are eligible. Genre: Fiction of no more than 7,500 words. Prize: $1,000. Deadline: July 14, 2025.
Boardman Tasker Prize. Restrictions: The prize will be awarded for a work first published or distributed in the United Kingdom between July 15, 2024 and July 15, 2025. Genre: Books with a mountain, not necessarily mountaineering, theme whether fiction, non-fiction, drama or poetry, written in the English language. Prize: £3,000.00. Deadline: July 14, 2025.
The Burlington Contemporary Art Writing Prize. Restrictions: Entrants must have published no more than six pieces of writing in print or online prior to their submission. Genre: Review of a contemporary art exhibition. Prize: £1,000. Deadline: July 14, 2025.
Donn Goodwin and Joseph Gahagen Poetry Prizes: Milwaukee Irish Fest. Genre: Poetry. Entries should have a culture/literary relation to either Ireland, Irish-America, or to Irish poetry. Prize: $100. Deadline: July 14, 2025.
Books Like Us. Genre: First novel. "The Simon & Schuster adult trade imprint is pleased to announce the fourth BOOKS LIKE US First Novel Contest to facilitate accessibility to underrepresented writers and celebrate the diversity of readers across the United States. As the nation continues to strive for progress, Simon & Schuster aims to help catalyze that change by amplifying voices that represent us, by publishing books like us. A two-week entry period will begin on June 30. At that time, writers are invited and encouraged to submit 25 pages of an original adult novel via the form on this page. The publisher welcomes inclusive, entertaining, and groundbreaking reads with expert pacing, depth, heart, and irresistible characters who leap from the page. At the end of the submission period, the editorial, marketing, and publicity teams at Simon & Schuster will review all submissions for originality, relevance to today’s publishing climate, and writing quality." Prize: In November 2025, the author of the selected novel will be awarded the opportunity to enter into a $50,000 book deal with Avid Reader Press." Deadline: July 14, 2025.
Iron Horse Prize. Genre: First book of collected prose. Prize: $1000, and the collection will be published in the summer of 2025 by Texas Tech University Press. Deadline: July 15, 2025. Free submissions on July 15 only.
Iron Horse Photofinish. Genre: Brief ekphrastic work that pushes beyond an absolute litera.l read of a photo prompt. "We're looking for work that recognizes what's hidden in the world we see, responding to the physical details that the picture offers or what emotion it conveys or both. We provide the photo on our website and social media platforms every mid-May. Responses should be no longer than 500 words for prose or 15 lines for poetry. Prize: Winner receives $250. The finalists receive: $50. Deadline: July 15, 2025. Free submissions on July 15 only.
The Governor General’s Literary Awards. Restrictions: Books must have been written, translated or illustrated by Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Genre: Best English-language and the best French-language book will be chosen in each of the seven categories of Fiction, Literary Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Children’s Literature (text), Children’s Literature (illustrated books) and Translation (from French to English). Prize: $25,000. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
Apex: Weird West Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Flash fiction: Weird West theme. 1000 words max. Prize: $100. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
Stone Canoe. Restrictions: Open to people who live or have lived in Upstate New York (not New York City). Genre: Fiction. Prize: $250 and publication. Deadline: July 15, 2025. (It is difficult to find this information on their website.)
Helen Schaible International Sonnet Contest. Genre: Poetry. Categories: #1 Traditional Sonnet – Shakespearean or Petrarchan; #2 Modern Sonnet. Prize: $50, 2nd Prize $30, 3rd Prize $20, three Honorable Mentions, three Special Recognitions. Deadline: July 15, 2025.
Young Scots Writer of the Year Award. Restrictions: You must be aged 11–18 to enter as an individual. Genre: Stories, poems, spoken word pieces, comics, videos or other pieces of writing. "We want to see it all, as long as it's in Scots and under 2500 words or up to ten minutes." Prize: £100 book token. Deadline: July 16, 2025.
Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for one story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: July 18, 2025.
FSG Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to emerging writers from an underrepresented community. US resident or citizen. Genre: Debut work of poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. Submit work samples as part of the application: 8-12 pages for poetry, and 40-50 pages for prose. Work samples can include previously published work and need not be from a single selection of the work. Prize: Stipend of $15,000 and mentorship. Note: Farrar, Straus & Giroux is part of Macmillan. Deadline: July 18, 2025.
Lauren Brown Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to women and nonbinary journalists from underrepresented backgrounds. Journalists must be based in the U.S. Genre: Journalism. Prize: $2000. Deadline: July 20, 2025.
Black Voices in Children's Literature Writing Contest. Restrictions: The contest is open to Black authors who at the time of entry are at least 18 years of age and residing anywhere in the United States. Genre: Original children’s books for ages 0–4 (50–125 words) or for ages 4–8 (300–800 words) featuring authentic, realistic Black characters and culture and focusing on one or more of the following topics: character development, self-esteem, identity, diversity, getting along with others, engaging with family and community, or other topics related to positive childhood development. Religious and fantasy themes will not be considered. Prize: First Place: $1000. Second Place: $500 cash prize. Third Place: $250 cash prize. Deadline: July 22, 2025.
International Booker Prize. The International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. The work must be published by a UK or Ireland publishing house. Authors are not permitted to enter their own works. Prize: £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline: For books published between 1 May 2025 and 30 November 2025: All submission forms, physical copies, PDFs, and additional assets must be submitted by July 24, 2025.
"The Masks We Wear" Drabble Contest. Genre: Speculative fiction drabble on theme: The Masks We Wear. Prize: $0.08 per word. Deadline: July 24, 2025.
Faber Children’s: Faber and Andlyn BAME (FAB) Prize. Restrictions: Open to undiscovered BAME writers and illustrators; entrants must be of black, Asian or minority ethnic background, and UK- or Ireland-based. Genre: Text or artwork for children. Prize: £1,500 and £500 each for a writer and an illustrator. Deadline: July 25, 2025.
Nakata Brophy Short Fiction Prize for Young Indigenous Writers. Restrictions: The prize is open to Indigenous Australian writers who are 35 years or younger at the closing date of the competition. Genre: Short fiction. Prize: First prize includes $5000, an optional writing residency at Trinity College, and publication of the successful piece in Overland. Deadline: July 27, 2025.
2025 BCSA Writing Competition. Genre: Fiction, nonfiction. See theme. Entries must deal with either (1) the links between Britain and the Czech and/or Slovak Republics, at any time in their history, or (2) society in those Republics since 1989. Entries should be in English and not more than 2,000 words long. Prize: First prize £400, second prize £150. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Dog Throat Journal Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Flash fiction. Length: 400-1,000 words. "We're looking for odd insightful work that doesn't conform to ordinary expectations." Prize: First place: $350; Second place: $100; Third place: $50. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Briefly Write. Genre: Poetry up to 10 lines. Prize: Total prize fund - £80. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Tanka Society of America Tanka Prose Contest. Genre: Tanka prose. Prize: $100 for first prize, $50 for second prize, and $25 for third prize, plus honorable mentions. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
SLF Diverse Writers and Diverse Worlds Grants. Restrictions: Open to writers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups, such as writers of color, women, queer writers, disabled writers, working-class writers, etc. -- those whose marginalized identities may present additional obstacles in the writing / publishing process. Genres: Book-length works (novels, collections of short stories) of speculative fiction. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Berggruen Prize Essay Competition. Genre: Essay. "We are inviting essays that follow in the tradition of renowned thinkers such as Rousseau, Michel de Montaigne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Submissions should present novel ideas and be clearly argued in compelling ways for intellectually serious readers." Prize: $50,000 USD for essays submitted in English and $50,000 USD for essays submitted in Chinese. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Blessing the Boats. Restrictions: Open to all women poets of color in the U.S., including poets who identify as cis, trans, and non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that centers on women’s experiences, regardless of citizenship and publication history. Genre: Full-length poetry manuscript. Prize: $2,500 honorarium and book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award. Restrictions: Open to young poets age 11 - 17. Genre: Poetry. Prize: Publication. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Polar Expressions Publications Short Story and Poetry Competition. Restrictions: Open to Canadians only. Genre: Short story, poetry. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
The Stephen Spender Prize. Restrictions: Open to UK or Irish citizens, or pupils at a British School overseas. Genre: Translated poetry from Portuguese to English. Prize: £50-£100. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
What’s Your Story? Restrictions: Open to Victorian residents. (Australia) Genre: Poetry, short stories, CNF. Prize: $500. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers. Genre: An unpublished work of crime fiction, aimed at readers from children’s chapter books through adults. This may be a short story or first chapter(s) of a manuscript in-progress of 2,500 to 5,000 words. Prize: $2,000. Deadline: July 31, 2025.
The Washburn Chapbook Prize. Restrictions: Open to women or non-binary writers. Genre: Chapbook exactly 10 poems long. Prize: $200 and publication of their micro chapbook online at Harbor Review. Deadline: July 31, 2025. Fees are waived for BIPOC identifying writers only.
Biopage. Genre: "Inspiring, uplifting, and heartwarming stories." Prizes: Up to $300. Deadline: July 31, 2025. 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: July 31, 2025. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.
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