54 Writing Contests in May 2026 - No entry fees!

This May there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range from $50,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.

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: Pexels]

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Confluence Poetry Prize. Genre: Japanese short form poem on the theme of death and dying. Prize: $500 in total prize money. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

World Historian Student Essay Competition. Restrictions: Open to students enrolled in grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools, and those in home-study programs. Genre: Essay that addresses one of the following topics and discuss how it relates to you personally and to World History:  Your view of a family story related to a historical event or your personal family cultural background, or an issue of personal relevance or specific regional history/knowledge, such as "My ancestor walked with Abraham Lincoln from Illinois to fight in the Black Hawk War of 1832." Prize: $500. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors Contest. Genre: Poetry, short fiction, essay, and photography, plus publication in annual anthology from Northwest Missouri State University's GreenTower Press. Prize: $250 in each category. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

Teen Nib Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to students attending high school (Grades 9-12) in the state of Virginia. Genre: Short story, poetry, nonfiction. Prize: $100 top prize. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

Rabbi Sacks Book Prize. Genre: Published nonfiction book that contributes significantly to the arena of modern Jewish thought. Prize: $50,000. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

Molly Keane Creative Writing Award. Restrictions: Open to Irish residents. Genre: Unpublished short story, maximum 2,000 words. Prize: €250 plus a course at the Molly Keane Writers Retreat. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

CINTAS Creative Writing Fellowship. Restrictions: Open to any Cuban author (including those of direct Cuban lineage; need not reside in Cuba). Genre: Novel excerpts, short stories, plays, or poems of up to 25 pages. Prize: $25,000 fellowship. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

The Waterston Desert Writing Prize. Genre: Literary nonfiction, desert theme. Prize: $3,000. Deadline: May 1, 2026.

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: May 1, 2026.

Casa Africa Essay Prize. Genre: Essay on the theme, 'Disinformation in Africa: local, regional and geopolitical impacts and the role of Artificial Intelligence.’ 15,000-20,000 words. Prize: €2,000. Deadline: May 2, 2026.

The Future Bookshelf: Mo Siewcharran Prize. Restrictions: The contest is open to BAME writers in the UK. Genre: Picture book. Prize: £2,500, £1,500 and possible publication. Deadline: May 2, 2026.

Creative Future Writers’ Award. Restrictions: Open to underrepresented writers in the UK only, who are over 18 years old. Genre: Poetry, fiction. This year’s theme is ‘Material.’  Prize: Publication, GBP £75.  Deadline: May 5, 2026.

Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant. Genre: Articles, books, and short-form writing about contemporary art—the grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences, from short reviews for magazines and newspapers to in-depth scholarly studies. The program also supports art writing that engages criticism through interdisciplinary methods and experiments with literary styles. Grant: $15,000 to $50,000. Deadline: May 6, 2026.

RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award. "The RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award is an annual award that aims to encourage new writing and to provide a space where unpublished Canadian writers can submit short stories, creative nonfiction, journalism, and poetry. The shortlisted submissions are judged by a distinguished jury of Canadian writers." Prize: The winning entry will receive a $3,000 CAD cash prize and mentorship from a distinguished Canadian author. Deadline: May 7, 2026.

Havok. Genre: Flash fiction. See themes. Payment: $50 via PayPal for one story selected for an Anthology. No payment for online publication. Deadline: May 8, 2026.

Boroondara Literary Awards. Restrictions: Open to Australians. Genre: Prose and poetry. Prize: More than $5,000 in prize money across various age groups in the Young Writers’ category; more than $3,500 in prize money in the Open Short Story category. Deadline: May 8, 2026.

BSME Young Writers Prize. Restrictions: Open to UK residents aged 18-25. Genre: Nonfiction. Short piece of original writing based on the subject of ‘something you love’. Length 800 - 1000 words. Prize: £12,000 cash prize. Deadline: May 8, 2026.

Pulitzer Center's "Fighting Words—Poetry in Response to Current Events" Contest. Restrictions: Current K-12 students anywhere in the world may enter. Students may write in any language, and are welcome to submit multilingual poems. Judges will have reading fluency in English and Spanish. Genre: Poetry. Theme: How can poetry be an effective response to current events and the issues impacting our communities? How can creative expression help us process our personal responses to issues we encounter in the news? Students and young adults are invited to explore these questions and make their voices heard in their entries to the Fighting Words Poetry Contest. Prize: $300 top prize. Deadline: May 10, 2026.

WWPH Writes Pride Contest. Restrictions: Open to LGBT writers living in Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Genre: Poetry, prose, hybrid. See theme. Prize: $100. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Brown's Mart Theatre Award. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: Script. There is no word limit. Scripts must have a performance time of more than 30 minutes. Script treatments are ineligible. Prize: The winner of the Brown’s Mart Theatre Award will receive a $1,000 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to select shows in Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Flash Fiction Award. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: A blog post, fan fiction, short story, fictional diary entry or fictional letter. Word limit: 500 words. Entries limited to three entries per person. Prize: The winner of the Flash Fiction Award will receive a $600 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Kath Manzie Youth Award. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: A piece of creative writing, either poetry or short story, by a person aged 12 to 18 years as of 1 January 2023. Limit of three poetry entries with a 300-line limit OR a short story with a 3,000-word limit per person. Prize: The winner of the Kath Manzie Youth Award will receive a $600 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

NT Writers' Centre Poetry Award. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: A single poem up to 300 lines. Entries limited to three separate poetry entries per person. Prize: The winner of the NT Writers’ Centre Poetry Award will receive a $1,000 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Charles Darwin University Creative Non-Fiction Award 2024. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: A factually accurate work, written with attention to literary style and technique. Can take the form of a biography, autobiography, memoir, diary entry, travel writing, food writing, literary journalism, or criticism. Word limit: 3,000 words. Prize: The winner of the Charles Darwin University Creative Non-Fiction Award will receive a $500 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Charles Darwin University Essay Award 2024.  Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: A referenced academic essay on a topic relating to the Northern Territory. Word limit: 3,000 words. Prize: The winner of the Charles Darwin University Essay Award will receive a $1,000 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

Zip Print Short Story Award 2024. Restrictions: Open to all writers from across the Northern Territory, Australia. Genre: An original work of short fiction. Word limit: up to 3,000 words. Prize: The winner of the Zip Print Short Story Award will receive a $1,000 prize, an NT Writers’ Centre membership and a double pass to Brown's Mart’s performance program. Deadline: May 11, 2026.

The Pattis Family Foundation Creative Arts Book Award. Genre: Works of fiction or nonfiction. Prize: $25,000. The award-winner will participate in a 2-3 day residency at Interlochen Center for the Arts in April 2027. Deadline: May 15, 2026.

Leeway Foundation: Transformation Award. Restrictions: Women and transgender poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers in the Philadelphia area who have been creating art for social change for five or more years. Writers who have lived for at least two years in Bucks, Camden, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, or Philadelphia counties, who are at least 18 years of age, and who are not full-time students in a degree-granting arts program are eligible. Award: $15,000. Deadline: May 15, 2026.

Dear Aliens Contest. Genre: A written document from humanity to aliens. Prize: $2,000 USD to the best submission. Second and third place get $250 each. Deadline: May 15, 2026.

RTÉ Radio Short Story Competition. Restrictions: Open to Irish writers and residents of Ireland. Genre: Short story. Prize: Up to 5,000 euros. Deadline: May 15, 2026.

Page One Media 2027 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: May 15, 2026.

IHRAM SADC Writing Climate Resilience 2026. Restrictions: Open to Southern African writers. Genre: Narratives, essays, poetry and short stories on theme. Prize: $100. Deadline: May 15, 2026.

Quay Words Young Writers’ Flash Fiction Competition. Restrictions: Open writers aged 10 to 18-years. Genre: Flash fiction on theme ‘Between the Lines.' Prize: £200 top prize. Deadline: May 18, 2026. (Conflicting information on website.)

The Kentucky State Poetry Society Student Contest. Restrictions: Open to public, private, and homeschool students in grades 3-12. Genre: Poetry. Prize: 1st prize - $75, 2nd prize - $50, 3rd prize - $25. Winners are invited to read their poems at the annual meeting. Deadline: May 18, 2026. (Conflicting information on website.)

Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse. Genre: Novel-in-Verse. Prize: $500 and publication for a novel-in-verse, 90-160 pages. Deadline: May 25, 2026.

Great Lakes Colleges (GLCA) New Writers Award. Restrictions: Open to Americans and Canadians.  Genre: Poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. In each category, the submitted work must be an author’s first published volume. Prize: $500. Deadline: May 25, 2026.

A Voice for Animals Teen Essay Contest. Restrictions: Open to students between the ages of 14-18. Genre: Essays on an animal rights topic. In the 16-18 year olds category, essays must be 800-1,000 words long and be accompanied by a photograph; in the 14-15 year olds category, essays should be between 1,400-1,500 words. Prize: $200 - $500. Deadline: May 25, 2026.

Irene Adler Prize for Women Writers. Restrictions: Open to Canadian women. Genre: Creative nonfiction. Prize: $1,000 scholarship to a woman pursuing a degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution in the U.S. or Canada. Deadline: May 30, 2026.

CNO Naval History Essay Contest. Genre: Scholarly essay on naval history.  Prize: First Prize: $5,000. Second Prize:$2,500. Third Prize: $1,500. Deadline: May 30, 2026.

The Jeff Sharlet Memorial Award for Veterans. This creative writing contest for U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel is hosted by The Iowa Review and made possible by a gift from the family of Jeff Sharlet (1942–69), a Vietnam veteran and antiwar writer and activist. The contest is open to veterans and active duty personnel writing in any genre and about any subject matter. Prizes: First place: $1,000 plus publication in The Iowa Review. Second place: $750. Three runners-up: $500 each. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Furphy Literary Award: Junior and Youth Competition. Restrictions: Open to  juniors & youth age writers who live in the Goulburn Valley, Australia. Genre: Short stories and poetry. Prize: First prize of $300. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

African Human Rights Prison Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to currently incarcerated persons and also to formerly incarcerated individuals in Africa. Genre: Essays or articles. Prize: $50 - $100. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Kellman Prize for Immigrant Literature. Restrictions: Open to first-generation residents of the United States. “First-generation” can refer either to people born in another country who relocated to the U.S., or to American-born residents whose parents were born elsewhere. Genre: Unpublished nonfiction books. Prize: $10,000 and publication. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

The Wolfe Pack Black Orchid Award. Genre: Mystery novellas in the style of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novellas. Manuscript length: 15K-20K words. Prize: $1,000, plus recognition and publication in a forthcoming issue of AAMM. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

bpNichol Poetry Chapbook Award. Restrictions: Canadian publishers only. Genre: Published poetry chapbook. Prize: The author receives $4,000 and the publisher receives $500. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

James Bartleman Aboriginal Youth Creative Writing Awards. Restrictions: Open to aboriginal youth, 18 years or younger, residing in Ontario, Canada. Genre: Creative writing. Prize: $2,500. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Indie Author Project. Genre: Indie-published fiction. (See site for list of genres.) Prize: $2,500 to the 1st place winner and $500 each to two runner-ups in each genre.  Deadline: May 31, 2026.

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: May 31, 2026.

Reedsy Prompts. Genre: Short story (2,000 to 5,000 words) in response to one prompt. Prize: $1500. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Vancouver Writers Fest's Youth Writing Contest. Restrictions: Open to students in British Columbia. Genre: Short stories and personal essays: 1,000 word limit (for elementary school student submissions) and 1,500 (for high-school student submissions). Prize: $100 top prize. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest. Genre: Unpublished fiction approximately 1,000 - 5,000 words. Story should pertain to music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theater, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-twentieth century America. Prize: $150 and publication in Jerry Jazz Musician. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

The Gwen Ifill Award. Genre: Journalism. "The award is open to journalists working in the United States. Candidates for the award will be evaluated on criteria including their record of outstanding achievement in journalism, and the extent to which they represent the values Ifill embodied, including in the areas of mentorship, leadership and commitment to a diversity of perspectives in journalism." Prize: Each Gwen Ifill awardee will receive a cash prize. Deadline: May 31, 2026.

Apex Flash Fiction Contest. Genre: Speculative fiction, 1000 words max. Prize: 8 cents/word or $10, which ever is greater. Deadline: May 31, 2026. Note: Apex Magazine’s Flash Fiction Contest is open from the 7th until the final day of each month. The contest is themed.

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: May 31, 2026. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.