Deadlines: November & December 2020
Every middle of the month: new deadlines, new contests, and new opportunities for your voice to find the world. The next four weeks include: Frontier’s OPEN, The Fiddlehead, Iowa Review, Blue Mountain Review, TriQuarterly so many great book prizes, and more.
DEADLINE: 11/15
In our pursuit to recognize today’s best poets, we want to celebrate one outstanding piece of poetry, OPEN to all poets, with a $5000 award and publication. Ten finalists will also receive $100 each and all winners will earn publication with Frontier Poetry. The Frontier staff will select the winners and finalists. The winners and honorable mentions will be announced in February 2021.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 11/16
Interim: A Journal of Poetry and Poetics is happy to announce the inaugural season for the Test Site Poetry Series. A prize of $1,000 and publication by the University of Nevada Press will be given for a new, full length collection of poetry. All entrants to the contest will also receive a free print issue of Interim. Series editor Claudia Keelan, along with series board members Sherwin Bitsui, Donald Revell, Sasha Steensen, and Ronaldo V. Wilson will choose the winning book. 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. Because we believe the truth is always experimental, we’ll especially appreciate books with innovative approaches.
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 11/16
CV2 magazine has created a new annual poetry contest exclusively for writers under the age of 35. The YOUNG BUCK Poetry Prize is awarded to the author of the single best submitted poem, along with $1000 and publication in CV2. Two honourable mentions are also awarded, each with a cash prize. Open to Canadian and international poets. Your entry may consist of 1-3 poems, and is not to exceed 80 lines.
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 11/30
The Fiddlehead is open to good writing in English or translations into English from all over the world and in a variety of styles, including experimental genres. A short fiction submission should be one story, double spaced and maximum 6,000 words. Unless a story is very, very short (under 1000 words), please send only one story per submission. A poetry submission may be single-spaced. Please submit no more than 6 poems per submission. Creative nonfiction (CNF) is construed widely and can include personal essays, narrative non-fiction, think pieces, etc. Submissions in this genre should be double-spaced and maximum 6,000 words. Unless a CNF work is very, very short (under 1000 words), please send only one work per submission.Pay is $60 CAD per published page, plus two complimentary copies of the issue with your work.
DEADLINE: 11/30
The A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize is awarded to honor a poet’s first book. Entrants must be a U.S. citizen, a legal resident of the U.S., or have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or Legal Permanent Status (LPS). Only manuscripts by poets who have yet to publish a full-length book collection of poetry will be considered. Minimum of 48 pages, maximum of 100 pages of poetry. Winner receives book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in spring 2020 and $1,000 honorarium. Judge: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 11/30
Judges: Nickole Brown and Jessica jacobs. All those who enter must be a member of the LGBTQ community. The entry fee is $25.00. No more than 20 pages of poetry. A page of acknowledgements and/or dedication is not counted in the 20 pages. Please note in acknowledgements any previously published poems. The contest is blind. Please put your name and contact information in the cover letter. 1st Place receives 100 copies of the book and $200.00. 2nd Place receives $100.00. 3rd Place receives $50.00. All those who place will be interviewed in the Blue Mountain Review and on the NPR show, Dante’s Old South.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 11/30
Open to any poet writing in English, regardless of publication history. $1000 prize + 50 author copies (perfect bound, full-color cover). Winning chapbook distributed to every BPJ subscriber + sold separately (print run of approximately 1,500). BPJ editors will read all submissions and select a manuscript for publication. Submissions open October 1-November 30. The results announced in January. Selected manuscript published in spring. Submit (via Submittable) a manuscript of 20-35 pages; each poem should begin on its own page.
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 11/30
The Iowa Review looks for the best poetry, fiction, and nonfiction being written today and is often pleased to introduce new writers. Fiction: TIR publishes short stories, flash fiction, graphic novels, self-contained novel excerpts, and plays. We pay $0.08 per word for prose ($100 minimum). Poetry: TIR publishes poetry of all kinds, including verse plays and longer work. Please send up to eight pages of poetry for consideration. We pay $1.50 per line for poetry ($50 minimum).
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 11/30
Submit 1-3 poems, one short story (really, just one, no more than 5,000 words) or one to three pieces of flash fiction (in one document), or one creative nonfiction piece (no more than 5,000 words). Payment for non-contest submissions is Web exposure, a copy of the annual compilation in which the author’s work appears, and a small payment ($40 Amazon gift certificate or $40 through PayPal, if preferred).
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 12/01
For prose, submit one story or essay. (You may submit both a story and an essay if you wish; please submit them separately.) We rarely publish work that is longer than 8,000 words, though we will consider it. The Southern Review pays $50 for the first printed page and $25 for each subsequent printed page with a maximum payment of $200, plus two copies of the issue in which the work appears, and a one-year subscription to The Southern Review.
DEADLINE: 12/01
We want poems that leap somewhere strange and take us along. We want lines that strike and flash, that haunt us when we’re alone. Your submission should contain 3-5 poems combined in a single document with no more than one poem per page. We consider stories and nonfiction from 1,000 to 5,000 words in length, with 8,000 words as our maximum acceptable total for general fiction, double-spaced and paginated. We’re open to a wide range of styles and aesthetics, both traditional and innovative. For nonfiction, we’re looking for personal essays, memoir, and creative nonfiction that offers insight into the inner working of the writer’s own world or the greater, shared world to which they connect. If you intend to submit shorter works of fiction or nonfiction (1,000 words or less), we encourage you to include 3-5 pieces in a single document and submit them to our flash fiction category.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 12/01
We are especially interested in work that embraces the world and continues, however subtly, the ongoing global conversation about culture and society that TriQuarterly pursued from its beginning in 1964. Poets should submit no more than six poems per cycle, and should place all poems in a single document. Prose authors may submit multiple pieces in a single document, but the total submission should weigh in at 5,000 words or less.
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 12/02
Prize: $1,000 cash, publication by Meadowlark Books, including 50 copies of the completed book All entries will be considered for standard Meadowlark Books publishing contract offers, as well. Full-length poetry manuscripts (55 page minimum, 90+ pages preferred) will be considered. Poems may be previously published in journals and/or anthologies, but not in full-length, single-author volumes. Poets are eligible to enter, regardless of publishing history. Previous winners and published finalists of the Birdy Poetry Prize competition are NOT eligible to enter.
Reading fee
DEADLINE: 12/03
Faultline welcomes previously unpublished submissions of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction. Poetry: up to five poems. Fiction and Creative Nonfiction: one submission, up to twenty pages.
DEADLINE: 12/05
2020 JuxtaProse Poetry Prize
$1,000 and publication in JuxtaProse Literary Magazine will be awarded to the winning poem. Up to three additional poems, each by a different author, may be awarded an “Honorable Mention” status, for which they will receive $100 and publication. All entries will be considered for publication, regardless of whether they receive honorable mention status. Entries should contain between one and five poems, and each poem should be no longer than two pages.
DEADLINE: 12/15
Please send more than six poems in a single submission or one story or essay of no more than 20 pages each.
Reading Fee
DEADLINE: 12/15
Exposition Review
Theme issue: “Hunger.” Hunger, at its core, is a need driven by a deep and unrelenting desire. It requires an ache to satiate or itch to scratch — something that we often give ourselves to. In our day-to-day, hunger can be the simple act of needing to eat or the more complex drive towards success, change, or power. Short stories and stand-alone novel excerpts should not exceed 5,000 words. You can also send up to three pieces of flash fiction, 750 words or fewer. Pieces that exceed this limit will not be read. Memoir, personal essays, and creative nonfiction, again should not exceed the 5,000 word limit. Poetry of up to three poems of any form and in traditional or experimental styles are also welcome.
Reading fee