Upcoming June Contest Deadlines [1]
Planning to submit to writing contests this summer? Here are several contests in poetry and prose with an application deadline of June 15 [5]. Each prize offers at least $1,000 and publication.
In poetry, the Bitter Oleander Press Library of Poetry Book Award [6] and the University of Akron Press Akron Poetry Prize [7] offer prizes for full-length poetry manuscripts. The winner of the Library of Poetry Book Award receives $1,000, and the winner of the Akron Poetry Prize receives $1,500. Allison Joseph will judge the Akron Poetry Prize.
In prose, the Curt Johnson Prose Awards [8] offer two prizes of $1,500 each and publication in December for a short story and an essay. One runner-up will receive $500. Anthony Marra will judge in fiction and Eula Biss will judge in nonfiction.
Two short fiction contests—the New Rivers Press American Fiction Short Story Award [9] and Rosebud’s Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award [10]—offer $1,000 for a short story. For the American Fiction Prize, a $500 second-place prize and a $250 third-place prize will also be given. The Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award gives awards of $100 each to four runners-up. Previous final judges for the American Fiction Short Story Award include Charles Baxter and Ann Beattie; this year’s judge has not been announced. Roderick Clark will judge the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.
For fiction writers with published books, the Bard Fiction Prize [11] offers $30,000 and a one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College for a published book. The prize is open to writers under the age of forty. Alexandra Kleeman won the 2016 prize for her book, You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine.
Visit the Grants & Awards database [12] and submission calendar [13] for more contests with upcoming deadlines. Complete submission guidelines, including eligibility requirements and entry fees, are available on the contest websites.