If you’re not at the beach this Memorial Day, why not apply to some writing contests with a June 1 deadline? There is no entry fee for three generous awards: the Bard Fiction prize, which comes with $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as a writer-in-residence at Bard College; PEN America’s PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants, which offer awards of up to $4,000 to support the translation of book-length works; PEN America’s PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History, which offer awards of $15,000 to two nonfiction works-in-progress that “use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.” All other contests offer a cash award of $1,000 or more and publication. Good luck, writers!
American Short Fiction
Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize
A prize of $2,500 and publication in American Short Fiction is given annually for a short story. The winner also receives a weeklong, all-expenses-paid writing retreat at the Tasajillo Residency in Kyle, Texas. Entry fee: $20.
Bard College
Bard Fiction Prize
A prize of $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College is given annually to a U.S. fiction writer under the age of 40. The recipient must give at least one public lecture and meet informally with students but is not expected to teach traditional courses. Entry fee: None.
Boulevard
Emerging Poets Contest
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Boulevard is given annually for a group of poems by a poet who has not published a poetry collection with a nationally distributed press. The editors will judge. Entry fee: $18.
PEN America
PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants
Ten grants between $3,000 and $4,000 each are given annually to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that have not previously appeared in English or have appeared only in an “outdated or otherwise flawed translation.” An additional $5,000 grant, the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature, is given to support the translation of a book of fiction or nonfiction from Italian into English. Manuscripts with up to two translators are eligible. Entry fee: None.
PEN America
PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History
Two grants of $15,000 are given annually for nonfiction works-in-progress that “use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement.” Entry fee: None.
Salamander
Fiction Prize
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Salamander is given annually for a short story. Kirstin Valdez Quade will judge. Entry fee: $15
Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and translation.