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Find details about every creative writing competition—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, grants for translators, and more—that we’ve published in the Grants & Awards section of Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it in the Writing Contests database, the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

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Writing Contests, Grants & Awards

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The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we’ve published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. Ours is the most trusted resource for legitimate writing contests available anywhere.

Delaware Division of the Arts

Individual artist fellowships.

Established Professional Fellowships of $8,000 each and Emerging Artist Fellowships of $5,000 each are given annually to at least four poets, fiction writers, and creative...

Prairie Schooner

Summer creative nonfiction contest.

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Prairie Schooner will be given annually for an essay. Submit an essay of up to 5,000 words with a $20 entry fee by August 1. Visit...

PEN America

Pen/bare life review grants.

Two grants of $5,000 each will be given annually for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction works-in-progress “by immigrant and refugee writers, recognizing that the literature of...

Granum Foundation

Granum foundation prizes.

A prize of $5,000 is given annually to a poet, fiction writer, or creative nonfiction writer to support the completion of a manuscript-in-progress. Up to three finalists will...

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants

Ten grants of $3,000 to $4,000 each are given annually to support the translation of book-length works of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction that have not previously...

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.” Using only the online...

Radar Poetry

Coniston prize.

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Radar Poetry is given annually for a group of poems by a poet who identifies as a woman. Using only the online submission system,...

Aspen Words

Literary prize.

A prize of $35,000 is given annually for a book of fiction published in the current year that “illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power...

Gival Press

Short story award.

A prize of $1,000 and publication on the Gival Press website is given annually for a short story. Submit a story of 5,000 to 15,000 words with a $25 entry fee by August 8....

Literary Arts

Oregon literary fellowships.

Fellowships of $3,500 each are given annually to aid Oregon writers in initiating, developing, or completing literary projects in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction....

TulipTree Publishing

Stories that need to be told contest.

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem, a short story, or an essay that “tells a story that needs to be told.” The winner also receives a two-year subscription to the...

Grayson Books

Poetry contest.

A prize of $1,000, publication by Grayson Books, and 10 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Chase Twichell will judge. Using only the online submission...

Other Futures Award

A prize of $1,000, publication by Futurepoem, and 25 author copies is given annually for a book of innovative poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or hybrid work “that...

Omnidawn Publishing

Open poetry book contest.

A prize of $3,000, publication by Omnidawn Publishing, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection. Katy Peterson will judge. Using only the online...

Masters Review

Summer short story award for new writers.

A prize of $3,000 and publication in Masters Review is given annually for a short story by an emerging writer. Writers who have not published a book, self-published...

Jennifer Weiner Fellowships

Six fellowships of $5,000, professional mentoring from fiction and nonfiction writer Jennifer Weiner, and access to creative writing workshops at the Philadelphia-based...

Off the Grid Poetry Prize

A prize of $1,000 and publication in print and audio formats by Grid Books is given annually for a poetry collection by a writer over the age of 60. Gregory Orr will judge....

Black Lawrence Press

St. lawrence book award.

A prize of $1,000, publication by Black Lawrence Press, and 10 author copies is given annually for a debut collection of poems, short stories, or essays. The editors and a...

Oxford Poetry

Oxford poetry prize.

A prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,268) and publication in Oxford Poetry will be given annually for a single poem. Submit a poem of up to 50 lines with a £10 (...

Utica University

Eugene paul nassar poetry prize.

A prize of $2,000 is given annually for a poetry collection published during the current year by a resident of upstate New York. The winner will also give a reading and teach a...

Gemini Magazine

Flash fiction contest.

A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gemini Magazine is given annually for a work of flash fiction. The editors will judge. Submit a story of up to 1,000 words with an $...

Howling Bird Press

A prize of $2,500 and publication by Howling Bird Press is given in alternating years for a book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. The 2025 prize will be awarded in...

Talking Gourds

Cantor prize.

A prize of $1,000 will be given annually for a single poem about the state of Colorado or written by a poet residing in Colorado. Juan J. Morales will judge. Submit a poem of...

Fischer Prize

A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a single poem. Juan J. Morales will judge. Submit a poem of up to three pages with a $10 entry fee ($25 for three poems) by August 31....

Creative Writing Award

Two prizes of £2,500 (approximately $3,171) each and publication in Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual are given annually for a poem and a short story. In addition, the...

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Best Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 383 contests that match your search.

WOW! Women on Writing Summer 2024 Flash Fiction Contest

WOW! Women On Writing

Genres: Flash Fiction, Fiction, and Short Story

Seeking short fiction of any genre between 250 - 750 words. The mission of this contest is to inspire creativity and great writing and provide well-rewarded recognition to contestants. Guest Judge: Tom Bromley, Head of Learning at Reedsy

$600 cash, Reedsy's How to Write a Novel class ($1249 value), $25 Amazon Gift Card

Additional prizes:

2nd: $300 | 3rd: $200 | 7 runner-ups: $25 Amazon Gift Cards

💰 Entry fee: $10

📅 Deadline: August 31, 2024

The Reedsy Prompts Contest

Genres: Fiction and Short Story

Every Friday, Reedsy sends out five writing prompts. Enter your response within a week for a chance at $250. Winners may also be included in a future issue of Reedsy’s literary magazine, Prompted.

$25 credit toward Reedsy editorial services

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 31, 2024

The Moth Poetry Prize

Genres: Poetry

The Moth Poetry Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem. The prize is open to anyone, as long as the poem is previously unpublished, and each year it attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries worldwide.

3x runners up: €1,000 | 8x further prizes of €250 | Publication online in Irish Times

💰 Entry fee: $16

📅 Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Expired)

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Honest Holiday Haiku

Gotham Writers Workshop

The holidays are a time of glad tidings and good cheer and, if we're honest, some not-so-glad tidings as well. In the spirit of Scrooge, Santa, and everything in between, we invite you to write your most honest holiday haiku. A reminder: a haiku consists of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 in the third line.

Free class from Gotham Writers Workshop

Publication on website

📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)

Fish Short Memoir Prize

Fish Publishing

Genres: Memoir, Non-fiction, and Short Story

Everyone has a memoir in them. Go for it! Write a piece of your life, send it to Fish. Qian Julie Wang, author of her memoir Beautiful Country, will select 10 short memoirs to be published in the Fish Anthology 2022, which will be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival.

2nd: Writing Course (online) + €300 | 3rd: €300

💰 Entry fee: $18

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)

Fairytales & Myths Competition 2024

Write the World

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, and Flash Fiction

Since the very first tale told by the fireside, the idea of mysterious worlds—rife with talking trees, dragons and beasts, and spells of all kinds—has captivated us humans. This month, dear writers, write a myth or fairytale that uses fantasy as a lens to understand the reality of everyday life.

Best entry: $100

Runner up: $50 | Best peer review: $50

📅 Deadline: March 04, 2024 (Expired)

Bridport Novel Award

Bridport Arts Centre

Genres: Fiction and Novel

Your novel doesn't have to be finished. We initially need only 5,000 to 8,000 words plus a 300 word synopsis. If you're long listed we'll ask for a total of 15,000 words, including your original word count. Shortlisted? Then we need a total 30,000 words, again including your original entry and long listed word count. It all adds up to an incredible opportunity.

£750 for the runner up and three prizes of £150

💰 Entry fee: $29

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024 (Expired)

The Plough Prize

The Plough Arts Centre

Now in its twenty first year, the Plough Poetry Prize is an international open competition for poems in English up to 40 lines on any subject. We're delighted that this year's competition will be judged by Roger McGough.

2nd: £500 | 3rd: £250

💰 Entry fee: $6

📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)

Climate Change Writing Competition

Genres: Essay, Memoir, and Non-fiction

This month, dear writers, ahead of COP27, help us raise the voices of young people in this urgent fight. In a piece of personal narrative, tell the world’s leaders gathering in how climate change impacts you. How has this crisis changed your environment, your community, your sense of the future? Storytelling, after all, plays a critical role in helping us grasp the emergency through which we are all living, igniting empathy in readers and listeners—itself a precursor to action.

Runner-up: $50

📅 Deadline: October 18, 2022 (Expired)

Poetry International Prize 2024

POETRY INTERNATIONAL is one of the oldest and most respected literary journals dedicated to publishing poetry from around the globe. Each issue of the print journal brings together poems, portfolios, and prose representing a rich diversity of countries and languages.

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Expired)

Short Story Competition 2023

What truth do you want to convey through your stories? This month, write a short story of up to 1000 words and invite readers into a contained universe. With only a small word limit to work with, you must choose carefully. Remember, as Neil Gaiman once said: “Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams.”

💰 Entry fee: $0

📅 Deadline: November 27, 2023 (Expired)

The Elmbridge Literary Competition 2023-24

The R C Sherriff Trust

Genres: Fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

"Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving." - William Shakespeare For some, it is a lifetime’s pursuit, often slipping through their grasp while others see it fall into their hands by mere chance. However achieved, through talent or luck, Fame can be an ill-fated prize. The 19th Elmbridge Literary Competition, run in partnership by The R C Sherriff Trust and Elmbridge Borough Council, is looking for short stories and poems on the theme of the double-edged sword that is ‘FAME’.

Published chapbook

📅 Deadline: February 23, 2024 (Expired)

The Daphne du Maurier Award For Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Published Division)

RWA Kiss of Death Chapter

Genres: Mystery, Suspense, Romance, and Thriller

The Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense is named for Daphne du Maurier, the author of Rebecca, a suspense novel with romantic and gothic overtones and a precursor to today’s romantic suspense. The writing contest is for published authors of mystery, suspense, and thrillers with or without romantic subplots.

💰 Entry fee: $30

📅 Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Expired)

Fiction Factory Poetry Competition

Fiction Factory

This is a UK based competition but we welcome international entries. Poets are invited to enter poems (maximum 40 lines excluding title) on any theme. Discounts are offered on multiple entries. Besides the cash prize, our judge, poet and author and mentor, Helen Cox, will offer feedback on five of the winner's poems plus an hour-long mentorship zoom call about their poetry.

Feedback on poems, a Zoom mentorship call, and publication

📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024 (Expired)

True Story Contest

FanStory.com Inc.

Genres: Non-fiction and Short Story

Share a true story about your life. Write about any event that happened in your life that you would like to share. Cash prize to the winner.

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2024

#GWstorieseverywhere

Gotham Writers

Genres: Fiction and Flash Fiction

Each month we invite you to post a story on Twitter using #GWstorieseverywhere for a chance to win a free class. Your story must be no longer than 25 words, with a max of 280 characters, including spaces and the hashtag #GWstorieseverywhere.

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2022 (Expired)

TCK Publishing Poetry Awards Contest

TCK Publishing

The TCK Publishing Poetry Awards Contest is an international poetry contest established in 2021. Each year’s prizewinner receives a $1,000 honorarium and publication of his or her poem on the TCK Publishing website. This contest is open to writers from all countries, backgrounds, and walks of life. Each submission may include up to five poems totaling no more than 500 words.

Publication on TCK Website

Bacopa Literary Review Annual Writing Contest

Writers Alliance of Gainesville

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Bacopa Literary Review’s 2024 contest is open from March 4 through April 4, with $200 Prize and $100 Honorable Mention in each of six categories: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, Free Verse Poetry, Formal Poetry, and Visual Poetry.

📅 Deadline: May 02, 2024 (Expired)

Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry

Beloit Poetry Journal

We’re open to a wide range of forms and styles in contemporary poetry. We’re always watching for new poets, quickened language, and work that offers a fresh purchase on the political or social landscape.

💰 Entry fee: $15

Flying South

Genres: Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

All entries will be considered for publication. Winning submissions in each of the three categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Poetry) will be awarded prizes of $400 for First Place, $200 for Second Place, and $100 for a total of $2,100 in prizes. All finalists will be accepted for publication and will receive one copy of the current issue of Flying South.

Rattle Poetry Prize

Rattle Foundation

Genres: Children's and Poetry

The annual Rattle Poetry Prize offers $15,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote.

📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024 (Expired)

Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry

Lynx House Press

The annual Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry awards $2000 plus publication for a full-length poetry collection. The Prize is awarded for an unpublished, full-length volume of poems by a U.S. author, which includes foreign nationals living and writing in the U.S. and U.S. citizens living abroad. Lynx House Press has been publishing fine poetry and prose since 1975. Our titles are distributed by the University of Washington Press.

Publication

💰 Entry fee: $28

📅 Deadline: June 16, 2024 (Expired)

Reader Views Literary Awards

Reader Views

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Reader Views Literary Awards program helps level the playing field for self-published authors, recognizing the most creative and exciting new books in the industry. Our awards program is recognized industry-wide as one of the top literary awards programs for independent authors.

Several marketing prizes (e.g. book review)

💰 Entry fee: $89

Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships

The Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships are $50,000 awards given to honor poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions and to support them in creating new work, as well as to enable them to undertake meaningful, impactful, and innovative projects that enrich the lives of their neighbors, including youth, through responsive and interactive poetry activities.

📅 Deadline: April 08, 2024 (Expired)

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award

Trio House Press

We seek un-agented full-length creative nonfiction manuscripts including memoir, essay collections, etc. 50,000 - 80,000 words.

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: May 15, 2024 (Expired)

Artificial Intelligence Competition

New Beginnings

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story

There is no topic relating to technology that brings more discussion than artificial intelligence. Some people think it does wonders. Others see it as trouble. Let us know your opinion about AI in this competition. Include experiences you have had with AI. 300-word limit. Winners will be selected January 1, 2024. Open to anyone, anywhere.

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2023 (Expired)

WOW! Women On Writing Quarterly Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest

Genres: Non-fiction and Essay

Seeking creative nonfiction essays on any topic (1000 words or less) and in any style--from personal essay and memoir to lyric essay and hybrid, and more! The mission of this contest is to reward bravery in real-life storytelling and create an understanding of our world through thoughtful, engaging narratives. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints/previously published okay; simultaneous submissions okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

💰 Entry fee: $12

Willow Run Poetry Book Award

Hidden River Press

Hidden River Arts offers a yearly prize of $1000 and publication in Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing, for an unpublished book-length collection of poetry of 75 to 100 pages. The award is open to all poets writing in English around the world.

$1000 + publication

💰 Entry fee: $20

Chapter One Prize

Gutsy Great Novelist

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Young Adult, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Thriller

The Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first chapter of an unpublished novel. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers. Winners will be announced March 29, 2024.

2nd: $500 |3rd: $250

📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)

Surrey International Writers ' Conference Writing Contest

Genres: Short Story

Open to all writers except SiWC paid staff, board members, and immediate families. Young writers are welcome to enter, but must be aware that their work will be judged blind among submissions made by adult writers. Please read the contest rules below before entering.

📅 Deadline: September 15, 2024

Faith Poetry Contest

The theme for this poetry contest is "faith". We are looking for poems that in some way pertain to this theme. It doesn't matter if it's spiritual, political, intellectual or emotional as long as faith is clearly represented.

📅 Deadline: August 19, 2024

Non Fiction Writing Contest

Genres: Non-fiction

We are looking for personal essays, memoirs, and works of literary non-fiction on any topic. It doesn't matter if it's spiritual, political, intellectual, emotional, funny, serious, or an essay about your DVD player.

📅 Deadline: May 08, 2022 (Expired)

Bridport Poetry Prize

You don't have to be Tennyson. Just talented. All we ask is that you please keep poems to 42 lines, max. You can, of course, write less. In addition to the prize money, the top three poems are automatically entered into the Forward Prize For Poetry’s best single poem competition, with the chance to win a further £1000. This exclusive award is not open to the public. You can write about absolutely anything but whatever your rhyme or reason, we want to read your poetry.

£1000 for 2nd, £500 for 3rd

Annual Contest Submissions

So To Speak

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, LGBTQ, Non-fiction, and Poetry

So To Speak is seeking submissions for poetry, fiction, and non-fiction with an intersectional feminist lens! It is no secret that the literary canon and literary journals are largely comprised of heteronormative, patriarchal, cisgender, able-bodied white men. So to Speak seeks work by writers, poets, and artists who want to challenge and change the identity of the “canonical” writer.

💰 Entry fee: $4

Winter Flash Fiction Battle

Writing Battle

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, and Thriller

Three days to write a 1000 word short story. The peer-powered quarterly writing contest where every story receives oodles of feedback. Write one. Read ten. Win thousands.

Genre Winner (x4): $2,000

Genre Runner-up (x4): $500 | Feedback by industry professionals.

📅 Deadline: February 01, 2024 (Expired)

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests. 

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course : How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether. 

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

• "How to Craft a Killer Short Story" ( Click here )
• "The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction" ( Click here )
• "How to Write a Novel" ( Click here )
• "Understanding Point of View" ( Click here )
• "Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love" ( Click here )
• "Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character" ( Click here )
• "Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine" ( Click here )

On Editing:

• "Story Editing for Authors" ( Click here )
• "How to Self-Edit Your Manuscript Like a Pro" ( Click here )
• "Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites" ( Click here )
• "How to Write a Novel: Steps From a Bestselling Writer" ( Click here )
• "How to Write a Short Story in 9 Simple Steps" ( Click here )
• "100 Literary Devices With Examples: The Ultimate List" ( Click here )
• "20 Writing Tips to Improve Your Craft" ( Click here )
• "How to Write Fabulous Dialogue [9 Tips + Examples]" ( Click here )
• "8 Character Development Exercises to Write 3D Characters" ( Click here )

Bonus resources

• 200+ Short Story Ideas ( Click here )
• 600+ Writing Prompts to Inspire You ( Click here )
• 100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors ( Click here )
• Story Title Generator ( Click here )
• Pen Name Generator ( Click here )
• Character Name Generator ( Click here )

After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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Essay Writing Contests: The Ultimate List of 2024

Did you know that the very first recorded essay contest can be traced back to the early 16th century, initiated by none other than the renowned philosopher and essayist Michel de Montaigne? In 1580, Montaigne published his collection of essays titled 'Essais,' which not only marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of the essay as a literary form but also contained an implicit challenge to his readers. He encouraged them to engage with his ideas and respond by writing their own essays, essentially laying the groundwork for what we now recognize as essay contests.

Fast forward to the vibrant year of 2024, and this tradition of writing competitions has evolved into a global phenomenon, offering emerging writers from all walks of life a captivating platform to share their thoughts, emotions, and narratives with the world.

In this article, our essay writer will review essay writing contests, presenting you with an exclusive selection of the most promising opportunities for the year ahead. Each of these competitions not only provides a stage to demonstrate your writing prowess but also offers a unique avenue for personal growth, self-expression, and intellectual exploration, all while competing for impressive writing awards and well-deserved recognition.

Top Essay Writing Contests in 2024

If you enjoy expressing your thoughts and ideas through writing, you're in for a treat. Essay writing competitions in 2024 offer you a chance to do just that and win some great prizes in the process. We've put together a list of contests specially designed for students like you. These contests cover various interesting essay topics , giving you a unique opportunity to showcase your writing skills and potentially earn cash prizes or scholarships. So, let's jump right into these fantastic opportunities.

2024 International Literary Prize by Hammond House Publishing

The 2024 Writing Competition beckons writers with over £3000 in cash prizes, publication opportunities in anthologies, and a chance to participate in a televised Award Ceremony. Sponsored by the University Centre Grimsby, this annual contest, now in its eighth year, draws entries from approximately 30 countries worldwide. Entrants can vie for prizes across four categories, gaining exposure at the televised award ceremony and receiving expert feedback at the annual literary festival.

And if you're determined to learn how to overcome writer's block for this contest, we have a wealth of expert tips and strategies to guide you through the process!

Deadline: 30th September 2024

• 1st Prize: £1000
• 2nd Prize: £100
• 3rd Prize: £50

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Let our writing wizards rescue your grades with a tailor-made essay that'll make your professors do a double-take!

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition by Vine Leaves Press

Vine Leaves Press welcomes writers worldwide, prioritizing voices from marginalized communities such as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and individuals with chronic illnesses or disabilities, among others. Submissions, which must be in English and previously unpublished, are accepted from February 1, 2024, until July 1, 2024. Manuscripts can be either narrative (50,000 – 80,000 words) or experimental (at least 100 pages), adhering to specific formatting guidelines, including anonymity to ensure impartial judging. Each submission requires a $25 entry fee via Submittable, and multiple entries are allowed. Entries will be judged based on originality, creativity, writing quality, and adherence to genre, with finalists announced in October 2024, shortlisted in January 2025, and winners in March 2025.

Deadline: July 01, 2024

• The winner will receive a cash prize of $1000.
• Publication of the winning manuscript will occur in 2026 by Vine Leaves Press.
• Runners-up will also be considered for publication.

Solas Awards by Best Travel Writing

The Solas Awards, continuing a tradition since 1993, celebrate travel stories that inspire. They're looking for engaging tales that capture the essence of exploration, whether funny, enlightening, or adventurous. Winners may get published and join a community of fellow storytellers. Entries in essay, non-fiction, and travel genres are welcome with a $25 submission fee.

Deadline: September 21, 2024

• $1,000 Gold
• $750 Silver
• $500 Bronze

Vocal Challenges by Creatd

Vocal, in partnership with Voices in Minor (ViM), announces a creator-led challenge in celebration of International Women's Day, open to all Vocal creators. Participants are invited to write a 600-800 word piece about a woman who has inspired them for International Women's Day in the Year of the Dragon 2024. Submissions must adhere to specific length criteria and can be of any genre or format. Vocal will review entries and create a shortlist, from which ViM will select two co-grand prize winners and ten runners-up.

Deadline: Mar 12, 2024

• 2 Co-Grand Prizes: $200
• 10 Runners-up: $20

Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition 2024

The Re:think Essay Competition welcomes students aged 14 to 18 worldwide to participate in crafting essays under 2000 words, following MLA 8 citation style, with submissions undergoing plagiarism and AI checks. Essay prompts cover diverse themes, such as the role of women in STEM , provided by distinguished professors from prestigious institutions like Harvard, Brown, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT. To maintain anonymity during review, submissions should be in PDF format without personal details.

Deadline : 10th May, 2024

• Gold: $150 cash, $500 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.
• Silver: $100 cash, $300 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.
• Bronze: $50 cash, $200 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.

The Hudson Prize by Black Lawrence Press

Each year, Black Lawrence Press presents The Hudson Prize, inviting submissions for an unpublished collection of poems or prose. This competition is open to writers at all stages of their careers, offering the winner book publication, a $1,000 cash prize, and ten copies of the published book. Entries are read blind by a panel of editors, requiring manuscripts to adhere to specific formatting guidelines, including pagination and font choice. Poetry manuscripts should be 45-95 pages, while prose manuscripts should range from 120-280 pages.

Deadline : March 31, 2024

• Top prize $1,000

Irene Adler Prize by Lucas Ackroyd

Introducing The Irene Adler Prize essay writing contest, offering a $1,000 US scholarship to the winner, with up to two $250 awards for honorable mentions. Open to women pursuing bachelor’s, master’s, or Ph.D. degrees in journalism, creative writing, or literature worldwide, regardless of age. Unlike previous years, this year's competition welcomes applicants from any country. The application period runs from January 30, 2024, to May 30, 2024, with no late submissions accepted. Each application requires a 500-word essay on one of five provided prompts and a completed entry form, both submitted via email.

Deadline : May 30, 2024

• 2x honorable mentions: $250

100 Word Writing Contest by Tadpole Press

With a doubled first-place prize of $2,000 USD, participants are invited from all corners of the globe, regardless of age, gender, or nationality. Pen names are accepted, and winning entries will be published under those names. Previously published pieces are also welcome, with no restrictions. Any genre is accepted, with the theme centered around creativity. Each entry must be 100 words or less, including the title.

Deadline : April 30, 2024

• 1st place: $2,000 USD.
• 2nd place: Writing coaching package valued at $450 USD.
• 3rd place: Developmental and diversity editing package valued at $250 USD.

African Diaspora Awards 2024 by Kinsman Avenue Publishing, Inc

The African Diaspora Award 2024 seeks original works from Afro-descendants, including short stories, flash fiction, essays, poetry, or visual art. Winners can earn up to $1000 USD and publication in Kinsman Quarterly and "Black Butterfly: Voices of the African Diaspora." Submissions reflecting cultural themes are due by June 30, 2024. Authors retain copyrights, and entrants must be 18 or older. No plagiarism is allowed, and Kinsman Quarterly employees cannot enter. Various genres are accepted with specific word count limits.

Deadline : June 30, 2024

• Grand Prize: $1000 cash and publication in Kinsman Quarterly & anthology.
• 1st Runner Up: $300 cash and publication 
• 2nd Runner Up: $200 cash and publication 
• 3rd Runner Up: $50 cash and publication
• Top 6 Finalists: $25 Amazon gift card and publication 
• 6 Honorary Mentions: Publication in Kinsman Quarterly & anthology.

Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest by Unleash Press

The Unleash WIP Award 2024 offers $500, feedback, coaching, and a feature in Unleash Lit to help writers with their book projects in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. All writers can apply. So, if you're looking for resources like free Harvard online courses to hone your writing skills, consider entering this competition. Submissions of the first 25 pages and answers to questions are due by July 15, 2024. Multiple entries are okay, but follow the rules, especially keeping your submission anonymous. Unleash also welcomes previously self-published works.

Deadline : July 15, 2024

• Top prize: $500
• Additional prizes: Coaching, interview, and editorial support

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award by Trio House Press

Open to all writers, the poetry manuscripts should be 48-70 pages, and the prose manuscripts should be up to 80,000 words. Submissions must be from U.S. residents and must be original works. AI-generated submissions and translations are not eligible. Manuscripts should be sent as a single Word doc. or docx. file with no identifying information, and a cover letter with bio and contact details should be uploaded separately.

Deadline: May 15, 2024

• $1,000, publication, and 20 books

Poetry & Spoken Word Competition 2024 by Write the World

Young writers aged 13 to 19.5 are invited to enter this upcoming competition, with submissions of 50 to 500 words. Inspired by Audrey Lorde's words and the power of poetry, participants are encouraged to craft original poems or spoken word pieces advocating for change and self-expression. Winners, including top prizes for written and recorded performances, will be announced on June 14. Malika Booker, a renowned British poet, serves as the guest judge. To enter, writers should sign up on Write the World, respond to the prompt, and submit their final entries before the deadline.

Deadline : May 27, 2024

• Best entry: $100
• Best Peer Review: $50

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

The Killer Nashville essay writing contests seek to uncover new talent and recognize outstanding works by established authors, aiming to introduce their works to a broader audience. With numerous fiction and non-fiction categories available, writers have the opportunity to showcase their talent across a wide range of genres. The top prize includes a $250 award, and entry requires a fee of $79. Genres eligible for entry encompass crime, essay, fantasy, fiction, humor, memoir, mystery, non-fiction, novel, poetry, science fiction, script writing, short story, and thriller.

Deadline : June 15, 2024

• Top prize: $250

Journalism Competition 2024 by Write the World

In this upcoming competition, young writers aged 13 to 19.5 are invited to participate, with entries ranging from 400 to 1000 words. Participants are tasked with exploring and reporting on significant events within their own country, fostering a deeper understanding of local issues. Optional draft submissions for expert review are available until July 8, with feedback returned to writers by July 12. Winners will be announced on August 9. To enter, writers must sign up for a free account on Write the World, respond to the prompt, and submit their final entries before the deadline.

Deadline : July 22, 2024

National Essay Contest by U.S. Institute of Peace

This year, AFSA is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the United States Foreign Service. They've been involved in important events throughout history, like making decisions about war and peace, supporting human rights, and responding to disasters. Now, AFSA wants students to think about the future of diplomacy. They're asking students to imagine how diplomats can adapt to the changing world and its challenges. It's a chance for students to explore how diplomacy can continue to make a difference in the world.

Deadline : April 01, 2024

• Top prize: $2,500
• Additional prizes: Runner-up: $1,250

In 2023, the world of writing competitions offers a diverse tapestry of opportunities for writers across the globe. From exploring the depths of nature to delving into the mysteries of microfiction, these competitions beckon with enticing prizes and platforms for your creative voice. So, pick your favorite, sharpen your pen, and embark on a journey of literary excellence!

Unlock the Essay Enchantment!

Our expert wordsmiths are standing by, wands at the ready, to craft your essay masterpiece. No potions, just perfect prose!

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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7 Essay Writing Contests to Look Out For in 2023

7-minute read

• 28th December 2022

Essay contests are not only a great way to exercise your essay-writing skills but also an awesome way to win cash prizes, scholarships, and internship or program opportunities. They also look wonderful on college applications as awards and achievements.

In this article, you’ll learn about 7 essay writing contests to enter in 2023. Watch the video below, or keep reading to learn more.

1. Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 

Deadline: Now–April 30, 3023

Who may enter:

This is an international contest for people of all ages (except for residents of Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus due to US government restrictions).

Contest description:

●  The contest is organized by Winning Writers, located in MA, USA.

●  They accept stories and essays on any theme, up to 6,000 words each. This contest defines a story as any short work of fiction and an essay as any short work of nonfiction.

●  Your stories and essays must be submitted in English.

●  You may submit published or unpublished work.

Entry fee: USD 22 per entry

●  Story: First Prize is USD 3,000.

●  Essay: First Prize is USD 3,000.

●  10 Honorable Mentions will receive USD 300 each (any category).

●  The top 12 entries will be published online.

Official website

Please visit the competition’s official website for more information on judges and submissions.

2. 2023 Calibre Essay Prize 

Deadline: Now–January 15, 2023, 11:59 pm

Who may enter: All ages and any nationality or residency are accepted.

●  This contest is hosted by the Australian Book Review.

●  Your essay must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words.

●  You may submit nonfiction essays of all kinds, e.g., personal, political, literary, or speculative.

●  You may enter multiple essays but will need to pay separate fees for each one.

●  Your essay must be unpublished.

Entry fee: AU 30 for non-members

Prize: AU 7,500

Official website:

For more information on this contest, please visit its official website.

3. John Locke Institute Essay Competition 

Deadline: June 30, 2023

●  Students from any country.

●  Students aged 15 to 18 years by the competition deadline.

●  Students aged 14 years or younger by the competition deadline are eligible for the Junior prize.

●  The contest is organized by the John Locke Institute.

●  Your essay cannot exceed 2,000 words.

●  There are seven subjects or categories for essay submissions: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law.

Entry fee: Free to enter

●  The best overall essay winner receives an honorary John Locke Fellowship, which comes with a USD 10,000 scholarship to attend one or more summer schools or gap year courses.

●  There is also a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category and the Junior category is a scholarship worth USD 2,000 toward the cost of a summer program.

●  All winning essays will be published on the Institute’s website.

For more information about this competition and the John Locke Institute, please visit the official website . Also, be sure to check out our article on all you need to know about this contest.

4. The American Foreign Service Association 2023 Essay Competition 

Deadline: April 3, 2023

●  Students in grades 9–12 in any of the 50 states, DC, the US territories, or if they are US citizens or lawful permanent residents attending high school overseas.

●  Students attending a public, private, or parochial school.

●  Home-schooled students.

●  Your essay should be 1,000–1,500 words.

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●  You will select a country or region in which the United States Foreign Service has been involved at any point since 1924 and describe how the Foreign Service was successful or unsuccessful in advancing American foreign policy goals – including promoting peace – in this country or region and propose ways in which it might continue to improve those goals in the coming years.

●  Your essay should follow MLA guidelines.

●  Your essay should use a variety of sources.

●  The first-place winner receives USD 2,500, a paid trip to the nation’s capital from anywhere in the U.S. for the winner and their parents, and an all-expense-paid educational voyage courtesy of Semester at Sea.

●  The runner-up receives USD 1,250 and full tuition to attend a summer session of the National Student Leadership Conference’s International Diplomacy program.

Please visit the American Foreign Service website for more information.

5. The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) 2023 Essay Contest 

Deadline: Mid-February 2023–June 1, 2023

Who may enter: High school (including homeschooled), college, and graduate students worldwide.

●  The 2023 essay contest topic is marriages and proposals.

●  High school students may focus on Pride and Prejudice only or bring in other Austen works.

●  Undergraduate and graduate students should discuss at least two Austen novels of their choice.

●  Your essay must be in MLA format and 6 to 8 pages (not including your Works Cited page).

●  Your essay must be written in English.

●  First place wins a USD 1,000 scholarship.

●  Second place wins a USD 500 scholarship.

●  Third place wins a USD 250 scholarship.

●  Winners will also receive one year of membership in JASNA, publication of their essays on this website, and a set of Norton Critical Editions of Jane Austen’s novels.

For more information and submission guidelines, please visit JASNA’s official website .

6. 2023 Writing Contest: Better Great Achievements by EngineerGirl

Deadline: February 1, 2023

●  Students in Grades 3–12. If international or homeschooled, please select your grade level based on if you were attending a public school in the U.S.

●  This contest is organized by EngineerGirl.

●  Students should write a piece that shows how female or non-white engineers have contributed to or can enhance engineering’s great achievements.

●  You should choose one of the 20 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century as a topic and explore the technologies developed in the last century and the new ones being developed today. Make sure to follow the specific guidelines for your grade level.

●  Essays should be 650–750 words based on your grade level.

●  Please visit the contest’s website to see specific requirements based on your grade.

Winners in each grade category will receive the prizes listed below:

●  First-place winners will be awarded USD 500.

●  Second-place entries will be awarded USD 250 .

●  Third-place entries will be awarded USD 100 .

For more information and submission guidelines, please visit the official website .

7. World Historian Student Essay Competition

Deadline: May 1, 2023

Who may enter: Students enrolled in Grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools and home-study programs worldwide.

●  Your essay must address the following issue: In what way has the study of world history affected my understanding of the world in which I live?

●  Your essay should be 1,000 words.

Prizes: USD 500

For more information and submission requirements, please visit the contest’s official website.

Essay contests are a great way to expand your writing skills, discuss a topic that is important to you, and earn prize money and opportunities that will be great for you in the long term. Check out our articles on writing thesis statements, essay organization, and argumentative writing strategies to ensure you take first place every time.

If you need help with your essays and would like to make sure that every comma is in place, we will proofread your first 500 words for free !

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Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations for the 2024 global essay prize are now closed. we are pleased to report that this year we have accepted registrations from  34,823 contestants. if you registered on or before the registration deadline (31 may) we look forward to receiving your essay (submit  here)   by the submission deadline of  sunday, 30 june ..

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.  To submit your essay, click here .  

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

Summer 2024 Admissions for 1-on-1 Research Mentorship is OPEN.  Watch information session recording here (featuring former and current Admission Officers at Havard and UPenn).

Discourse, debate, and analysis

Cambridge re:think essay competition 2024.

This year, CCIR saw  over 4,200 submissions  from more than 50 countries. Of these 4,200 essays, our jury panel, consists of scholars across the Atlantic, selected approximately 350 Honourable Mention students, and 33 award winners. 

The mission of the Re:think essay competition has always been to encourage critical thinking and exploration of a wide range of thought-provoking and often controversial topics. The hope is to create a discourse capable of broadening our collective understanding and generating innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. This year’s submissions more than exceeded our expectations in terms of their depth and their critical engagement with the proposed topics. The decision process was, accordingly, difficult. After  four rigorous rounds of blind review  by scholars from Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, MIT and several Ivy League universities, we have arrived at the following list of award recipients:

Competition Opens: 15th January, 2024

Essay Submission Deadline: 10th May, 2024 Result Announcement: 20th June, 2024 Award Ceremony and Dinner at the University of Cambridge: 30th July, 2024

We welcome talented high school students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Entry to the competition is free.

About the Competition

The spirit of the Re:think essay competition is to encourage critical thinking and exploration of a wide range of thought-provoking and often controversial topics. The competition covers a diverse array of subjects, from historical and present issues to speculative future scenarios. Participants are invited to engage deeply with these topics, critically analysing their various facets and implications. It promotes intellectual exploration and encourages participants to challenge established norms and beliefs, presenting opportunities to envision alternative futures, consider the consequences of new technologies, and reevaluate longstanding traditions. 

Ultimately, our aim is to create a platform for students and scholars to share their perspectives on pressing issues of the past and future, with the hope of broadening our collective understanding and generating innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. This year’s competition aims to underscore the importance of discourse, debate, and critical analysis in addressing complex societal issues in nine areas, including:

Religion and Politics

Political science and law, linguistics, environment, sociology and philosophy, business and investment, public health and sustainability, biotechonology.

Artificial Intelligence 

Neuroengineering

2024 essay prompts.

This year, the essay prompts are contributed by distinguished professors from Harvard, Brown, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT.

Essay Guidelines and Judging Criteria

Review general guidelines, format guidelines, eligibility, judging criteria.

Awards and Award Ceremony

Award winners will be invited to attend the Award Ceremony and Dinner hosted at the King’s College, University of Cambridge. The Dinner is free of charge for select award recipients.

Registration and Submission

Register a participant account today and submit your essay before the deadline.

Advisory Committee and Judging Panel

The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition is guided by an esteemed Advisory Committee comprising distinguished academics and experts from elite universities worldwide. These committee members, drawn from prestigious institutions, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT, bring diverse expertise in various disciplines.

They play a pivotal role in shaping the competition, contributing their insights to curate the themes and framework. Their collective knowledge and scholarly guidance ensure the competition’s relevance, academic rigour, and intellectual depth, setting the stage for aspiring minds to engage with thought-provoking topics and ideas.

We are honoured to invite the following distinguished professors to contribute to this year’s competition.

The judging panel of the competition comprises leading researchers and professors from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford, engaging in a strictly double blind review process.

Keynote Speeches by 10 Nobel Laureates

We are beyond excited to announce that multiple Nobel laureates have confirmed to attend and speak at this year’s ceremony on 30th July, 2024 .

They will each be delivering a keynote speech to the attendees. Some of them distinguished speakers will speak virtually, while others will attend and present in person and attend the Reception at Cambridge.

The Official List of Re:Think 2024 Winners​

Gold Recipients

• Ishan Amirthalingam, Anglo Chinese School (Independent), Singapore, Singapore
• Arnav Aphale, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom
• Anchen Che, Shanghai Pinghe School, Shanghai China
• Chloe Huang, Westminster School, London, United Kingdom
• Rose Kim, MPW Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Jingyuan Li, St. Mark’s School, Southborough, United States
• Michael Noh, Korea International School, Pangyo Campus, Seoul, Korea
• Aarav Rastogi, Oberoi International School JVLR Campus, Mumbai, India
• Yuseon Song, Hickory Christian Academy, Hickory, United States
• Aiqi Yan, Basis International School Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China

Silver Recipients

• John Liu, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, United States
• Sophie Reason, The Cheltenham Ladies College, Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Peida Han, Nanjing Foreign Language School, Nanjing, China
• Thura Linn Htet, Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar School, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
• Steven Wang, Radley College, Headington, United Kingdom
• Rainier Liu, Knox Grammar School, Sydney, Australia
• Anupriya Nayak, Amity International School, Saket, New Delhi, India
• Ming Min Yang, The Beacon School, New York City, United States
• Anna Zhou, Shanghai YK Pao School, Shanghai, China
• Yuyang Cui, The Williston Northampton School, Easthampton,United States

Bronze Recipients

• Giulia Marinari, Churchdown School Academy, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
• Christina Wang, International School of Beijing, Beijing, China
• Chuhao Guo, Shenzhen Middle School, Shenzhen, China
• Isla Clayton, King’s College School Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom
• Hanqiao Li, The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
• He Hua Yip, Raffles Institution, Singapore, Singapore
• Wang Chon Chan, Macau Puiching Middle School, Macau, Macau, China
• Evan Hou, Rancho Cucamonga High School, Rancho Cucamonga, United States
• Carson Park, Seoul International School, Seongnam-si, Korea
• Sophie Eastham, King George V Sixth Form College, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The Logos Prize for Best Argument

• Ellisha Yao, German Swiss International School Hong Kong, Mong Kok, Hong Kong, China

The Pathos Prize for Best Writing

Isabelle Cox-Garleanu, Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School, Frontenac, United States

The Ethos Prize for Best Research

Garrick Tan, Harrow School, Harrow on the Hill, United Kingdom

Gene therapy is a medical approach that treats or prevents disease by correcting the underlying genetic problem. Is gene therapy better than traditional medicines? What are the pros and cons of using gene therapy as a medicine? Is gene therapy justifiable?

Especially after Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, gene therapy is getting more and more interesting approach to cure. That’s why that could be interesting to think about. I believe that students will enjoy and learn a lot while they are investigating this topic.

The Hall at King’s College, Cambridge

The Hall was designed by William Wilkins in the 1820s and is considered one of the most magnificent halls of its era. The first High Table dinner in the Hall was held in February 1828, and ever since then, the splendid Hall has been where members of the college eat and where formal dinners have been held for centuries.

The Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held in the Hall in the evening of  30th July, 2024.

Stretching out down to the River Cam, the Back Lawn has one of the most iconic backdrop of King’s College Chapel. 

The early evening reception will be hosted on the Back Lawn with the iconic Chapel in the background (weather permitting). 

King’s College Chapel

With construction started in 1446 by Henry VI and took over a century to build, King’s College Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and is a splendid example of late Gothic architecture. 

Attendees are also granted complimentary access to the King’s College Chapel before and during the event. 

Confirmed Nobel Laureates

Dr Thomas R. Cech

The nobel prize in chemistry 1989 , for the discovery of catalytic properties of rna.

Thomas Robert Cech is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA. He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but also that it can speed up the necessary reactions.

He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.

As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado

Sir Richard J. Roberts

The nobel prize in medicine 1993 .

F or the discovery of split genes

During 1969–1972, Sir Richard J. Roberts did postdoctoral research at Harvard University before moving to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was hired by James Dewey Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and a fellow Nobel laureate. In this period he also visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the first time, working alongside Fred Sanger. In 1977, he published his discovery of RNA splicing. In 1992, he moved to New England Biolabs. The following year, he shared a Nobel Prize with his former colleague at Cold Spring Harbor Phillip Allen Sharp.

His discovery of the alternative splicing of genes, in particular, has had a profound impact on the study and applications of molecular biology. The realisation that individual genes could exist as separate, disconnected segments within longer strands of DNA first arose in his 1977 study of adenovirus, one of the viruses responsible for causing the common cold. Robert’s research in this field resulted in a fundamental shift in our understanding of genetics, and has led to the discovery of split genes in higher organisms, including human beings.

Dr Aaron Ciechanover

The nobel prize in chemistry 2004 .

F or the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

Aaron Ciechanover is one of Israel’s first Nobel Laureates in science, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Dr Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen’s 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening “Nobel laureate research labs”, in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus.

Dr Robert Lefkowitz

The nobel prize in chemistry 2012 .

F or the discovery of G protein-coupled receptors

Robert Joseph Lefkowitz is an American physician (internist and cardiologist) and biochemist. He is best known for his discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family G protein-coupled receptors, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Brian Kobilka. He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University.

Dr Lefkowitz made a remarkable contribution in the mid-1980s when he and his colleagues cloned the gene first for the β-adrenergic receptor, and then rapidly thereafter, for a total of 8 adrenergic receptors (receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline). This led to the seminal discovery that all GPCRs (which include the β-adrenergic receptor) have a very similar molecular structure. The structure is defined by an amino acid sequence which weaves its way back and forth across the plasma membrane seven times. Today we know that about 1,000 receptors in the human body belong to this same family. The importance of this is that all of these receptors use the same basic mechanisms so that pharmaceutical researchers now understand how to effectively target the largest receptor family in the human body. Today, as many as 30 to 50 percent of all prescription drugs are designed to “fit” like keys into the similarly structured locks of Dr Lefkowitz’ receptors—everything from anti-histamines to ulcer drugs to beta blockers that help relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease.

Dr Lefkowitz is among the most highly cited researchers in the fields of biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical medicine according to Thomson-ISI.

Dr Joachim Frank

The nobel prize in chemistry 2017 .

F or developing cryo-electron microscopy

Joachim Frank is a German-American biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson. He also made significant contributions to structure and function of the ribosome from bacteria and eukaryotes.

In 1975, Dr Frank was offered a position of senior research scientist in the Division of Laboratories and Research (now Wadsworth Center), New York State Department of Health,where he started working on single-particle approaches in electron microscopy. In 1985 he was appointed associate and then (1986) full professor at the newly formed Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University at Albany, State University of New York. In 1987 and 1994, he went on sabbaticals in Europe, one to work with Richard Henderson, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Medical Research Council in Cambridge and the other as a Humboldt Research Award winner with Kenneth C. Holmes, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. In 1998, Dr Frank was appointed investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Since 2003 he was also lecturer at Columbia University, and he joined Columbia University in 2008 as professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of biological sciences.

Dr Barry C. Barish

The nobel prize in physics 2017 .

For the decisive contributions to the detection of gravitational waves

Dr Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.

In 2017, Barish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. He said, “I didn’t know if I would succeed. I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough.”

In 2018, he joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside, becoming the university’s second Nobel Prize winner on the faculty.

In the fall of 2023, he joined Stony Brook University as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics.

In 2023, Dr Barish was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Biden in a White House ceremony.

Dr Harvey J. Alter

The nobel prize in medicine 2020 .

For the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

Dr Harvey J. Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently, Alter and Edward Tabor, a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called “non-A, non-B hepatitis” caused the infections, and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

Dr Alter has received recognition for the research leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, and the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Dr Ardem Patapoutian

The nobel prize in medicine 2021 .

For discovering how pressure is translated into nerve impulses

Dr Ardem Patapoutian is an Lebanese-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate of Armenian descent. He is known for his work in characterising the PIEZO1, PIEZO2, and TRPM8 receptors that detect pressure, menthol, and temperature. Dr Patapoutian is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with David Julius.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I participate in the Re:think essay competition? 

The Re:think Essay competition is meant to serve as fertile ground for honing writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and refining communication abilities. Winning or participating in reputable contests can lead to recognition, awards, scholarships, or even publication opportunities, elevating your academic profile for college applications and future endeavours. Moreover, these competitions facilitate intellectual growth by encouraging exploration of diverse topics, while also providing networking opportunities and exposure to peers, educators, and professionals. Beyond accolades, they instil confidence, prepare for higher education demands, and often allow you to contribute meaningfully to societal conversations or causes, making an impact with your ideas.

Who is eligible to enter the Re:think essay competition?  

As long as you’re currently attending high school, regardless of your location or background, you’re eligible to participate. We welcome students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Is there any entry fee for the competition? 

There is no entry fee for the competition. Waiving the entry fee for our essay competition demonstrates CCIR’s dedication to equity. CCIR believes everyone should have an equal chance to participate and showcase their talents, regardless of financial circumstances. Removing this barrier ensures a diverse pool of participants and emphasises merit and creativity over economic capacity, fostering a fair and inclusive environment for all contributors.

Subscribe for Competition Updates

If you are interested to receive latest information and updates of this year’s competition, please sign up here.

THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH ESSAY COMPETITION

Since 1883, we have delivered The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, the world's oldest international schools' writing competition. Today, we work to expand its reach, providing life-changing opportunities for young people around the world.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2024 is now closed for entries

Find out more about this year’s theme

'Our Common Wealth'.

140 years of The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools and has been proudly delivered by the Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883. 

ABOUT THE COMPETITION 

An opportunity for young Commonwealth citizens to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences on key global issues and have their hard work and achievement celebrated internationally.

Frequently Asked Questions for the Competition. Before contacting us please read these.

MEET THE WINNERS 

In 2023 we were delighted to receive a record-breaking 34,924 entries, with winners from India and Malaysia. Read their winning pieces as well as those from previous years.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms and Conditions for entrants to The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition. Please ensure you have thoroughly read them before submitting your entry.

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• Tags: Essay , Novel , Poetry , Short Story , Writing Contests

If you have great ideas but struggle to pen them, don’t worry. Almost all poets and writers fail at writing consistently, and we have a solution. We’ve listed the best creative writing contests in 2024!

You can go through the list to find any writing competitions in 2024 that inspire you to write. If you aren’t confident in your draft, try looking for some free writing contests! Whether you’re looking for poetry contests, short story writing competitions, or essay contests, we’ve listed them all. So, which one will you enter?

Elevate your book, essay, short story, or poem with perfect editing! Learn more

Here is a month-wise list of the best writing contests in 2024:

January 2024

February 2024.

• August 2024
• September 2024
• Other Writing Contests

The new year opens with plenty of poetry competitions but few essay contests and almost no free writing contests. With several mixed contests listed this month, however, we’re sure our poets and writers will be satisfied!

Poetry contests 2024

1. gemini poetry open contest 2024.

Gemini Magazine has organized this poetry contest 2024 to offer six finalists with publication in its March/April 2024 issue. The poems may have been uploaded on personal blogs, but previously published poems are ineligible.

Word count: 3 poems of any length

Prizes: $1,000, $100, four prizes of $25

Entry fee: $9

Closing date: 02 January 2024 

2. 2024 Poetry Competition

The organizers of this poetry contest seek to honor James Allen, the first person to breed Snowdrops from the wild. This is one of the free poetry contests for children and teens, who can participate through separate categories.

Theme: Nature unbound

Word count: 30 lines

Prize: £300

Entry fee: £4

Closing date: 07 January 2024

3. 2024 William Matthews Poetry Prize  

Asheville Poetry Review has organized this contest to offer three deserving poets with publication. Previously published poems and works of translations are not eligible. All entries will be considered for publication!

Prizes: $1,000 and $250

Entry fee: $20

Closing date: 16 January 2024

4. Magma 2023/24 Poetry Competition  

This poetry contest is held in two categories: The judge’s prize and the editor’s prize. Three winners from both categories will be published in Magma . The winners and ten commended poets will be invited to read their poems at a contest event.

Category 1: 11–50 lines

Category 2: Up to 10 lines

Prizes: £1000, £300, £150 per category

Entry fee: £5

Closing date: 31 January 2024

5. Kent and Sussex Poetry Society Open Poetry Competition 2024  

This is one of the poetry competitions that does not allow simultaneous submissions, at least for contests that announce results before 16 April 2024. Winning entries will be published online and included in an annual Folio publication.

Word count: 40 lines

Prizes: £1000, £300, £100, 4 prizes of £50

Short story writing contests 2024

6. the not quite write prize for flash fiction   .

Running between 19–21 January 2024, this unique flash fiction contest challenges authors to break a specific rule of writing. It’s called an anti-prompt, and you’ll have to pair this with two prompts to write your entry in 60 hours. Exciting, isn’t it? 

Word count: 500

Prizes: $1,000 AUD, $500 AUD, $200 AUD, $100 AUD, 4 prizes of $50 AUD

Entry fee: $25 AUD

Closing date: 21 January 2024

7. Story Unlikely Short Story Contest [Free writing Contest!]

This is one of the best short story competitions that welcome all genres: fantasy, sci-fi, memoir, and even nonfiction! All winning entries are published in the monthly issue of Story Unlikely and the winning entry may be published in the annual print issue.

Word count: 4,500

Prizes: $750, $500, $250

Entry: Free!

Essay contest 2024

8. the 2024 calibre essay prize   .

One of the best essay contests of 2024, this competition promotes nonfiction of all kinds: “personal or political, literary or speculative, traditional or experimental.” You may include illustrations in your essay, but the total file size should be below 3 MB.

Word count: 2,000–5,000

Prizes: $5,000 AUD, $3,000 AUD, $2,000 AUD

Entry fee: $30 AUD

Closing date: 22 January 2024

Book writing contests 2024

9. 2023 exeter novel prize.

This novel writing contest invites non-agented writers to submit a previously unpublished manuscript. Send the first 10,000 words of your novel and include a 500-word synopsis. Self-published writers are welcome to enter!

Word count: 10,000 

Prizes: £1000, five prizes of £100

Entry fee: £20

Closing date: 01 January 2024

10. Cai Emmons Fiction Award   

Red Hen Press has organized this novel writing contest 2024 to honor the late novelist Cai Emmons. All authors who haven’t published a full-length work with Red Hen Press are eligible to enter.

Word count: At least 150 pages

Prize: $5,000

Entry fee: $25

Closing date: 15 January 2024

11. Desert Writers Award  

The organizers of this award support one deserving writer of creative nonfiction while they work on their book. Make sure to highlight your interest in desert literature in your biographical statement and project description!

Word count: 10 pages

Entry fee: $15

12. North American Poetry Book Award  

The Poetry Society of Virginia has organized this poetry competition to award one full-length book of poetry. Self-published and audiovisual works are ineligible, but books that have won other pre-publishing awards are allowed. 

Word count: At least 64 pages

Prize: $1,000

Entry fee: $36

13. Bardsy Winter Anthology Contest  

This unique fiction writing contest invites authors to send the first chapters of their in-progress novel or memoir. The best thing is, that you receive feedback on your entry and you can revise it accordingly before judging begins!

Word count: 2,500–3,000

Prizes: $1000, some prizes of $50

Mixed writing contests 2024

14. mississippi review writing contest 2024.

Mississippi Review has organized this poetry, short story, and essay contest 2024 to award publication to three winners. You can submit online or via post, and the postal entry fee is $15. All the best!

Categories: Poetry, fiction, and nonfiction

Word count: 3–5 poems (10 pages) for poetry; 1,000–8,000 words for prose

Prizes: 3 prizes of $1,000

Entry fee: $16

15. The DISQUIET Prize   

The organizers of this writing competition offer one winner a fully paid trip to attend the DISQUIET International Literary Program in Lisbon. Three additional winners receive fee waivers for the program and they can opt for a cash prize of $1,000 in its stead.

Word count: 10 pages for poetry; 25 pages for prose

Prizes: A paid trip to Lisbon and other prizes

Closing date: 05 January 2024

16. The Winter Anthology Contest  

This unique writing competition 2024 welcomes poets and writers to submit any published or unpublished piece of any length! The winner will be published in Volume 14 of The Winter Anthology and finalists will be considered for publication.

Categories: Poetry and prose

Entry fee: $11

Closing date: 10 January 2024 

February features a good balance of poetry and short story competitions, but essay contests are, as always, quite rare. What’s more, we’ve managed to find six free writing contests, perhaps the highest this number has been in a single month!

Poetry competitions 2024

1. yeats poetry prize   .

WB Yeats Society of NY has organized this poetry competition to honor the “valuable contributions poets and poetry make to human consciousness”. The judge may recognize some honorable mentions aside from the top two prizes.

Word count: 60 lines

Prizes: $1,000, $500

Entry fee: $15 per poem

Closing date: 01 February 2024 

2. Claire Keyes Poetry Award

Soundings East , the literary journal of Salem State University has organized this poetry competition 2024. The final judge, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, will select a group of poems that will be awarded with publication in the journal.

Word count: 1 page per poem

Entry fee: $10 (8–10 poems)

Closing date: 01 February 2024  

3. Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards  

This poetry contest awards three poets with publication in Paterson Literary Review . Entries to this contest must be submitted via mail. Although the competition honors Ginsberg, the organizers urge you not to emulate his style in your entry.

Word count: 2 pages per poem

Prizes: $2,000, $1,000, $500

Entry fee: $18 (3–5 poems)

4. West Chester University Poetry Awards  

These free poetry competitions are open to undergraduate poets enrolled in a US college or university. You can submit up to three poems for each award with the contact information of a referring professor.

Word count: Various

Prizes: 2 prizes of $1,500, 3 prizes of $1,000, 2 prizes of $500

Closing date: 16 February 2024 

5. Heroica Poetry Prize for Women and Non-Binary Authors and Poets  

Heroica has organized this poetry competition in 2024 for women and non-binary poets. The prize-winning and longlisted entries will be published in print in the first Heroica Poetry Anthology.

Word count: —

Prizes: £125, £50, £25

Entry fee: £2 for 1 poem, £5 for 3 poems; £10 for unlimited series

Closing date: 29 February 2024 

Short story contests 2024

6. american short(er) fiction prize  .

American Short Fiction has organized this flash fiction contest to award one writer with a cash prize and publication. Dantiel W. Moniz—writer of the story collection Milk, Blood, Heat —will judge the competition. All entries will be considered for publication!

Word count: 1,000

Entry fee: $18

7. Short Short Story Contest

The organizers of this short story contest help immigrants achieve their dreams by teaching them various courses. Alongside one overall winner and four winners for each topic, one prize will be awarded to a teen writer. 

Themes: bicycle(s), eclipse, fire, suitcase(s)

Word count: 100

Prizes: $300, 5 prizes of $100

8. WOW! Winter 2024 Flash Fiction Contest  

This women-centric flash fiction contest 2024 offers 17 prizes aside from the top three entries. You can opt for a critique of your work with an entry fee of $20. The entries are limited, so make sure to submit your entry soon!

Word count: 250–750

Prizes: $400, $300, $200

Entry fee: $10

Closing date: 28 February 2024  

9. Edinburgh Short Story Award

In its tenth year, this short story competition offers five top prizes and publication to the top 20 (or more) entries. The contest offers free entries to Scottish writers who receive some form of income support. 

Word count: 2,000

Prizes: £3,000, £500, £250, special prizes of £750 and £300

Entry fee: £10

Closing date: 28 February 2024 

10. Imagine Little Tokyo 2024 Short Story Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

The Little Tokyo Historical Society has organized this free short story contest in two categories: English and Japanese. These short stories should be set in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles and reflect the neighborhood’s culture. Now here’s a worldbuilding challenge like no other!

Word count: 2,500

Prizes: 2 prizes of $500

Essay contests 2024

11. the sarabande prize in essay.

One of the rarer essay writing competitions, the winner gets a collection of essays with a publishing contract. You may edit your entry within a week of submission, but not after that. The selected work will undergo the complete book editing process before publication with Sarabande Books.   

Word count: 100–250 pages

Prize: $3,000

Entry fee: $29

Closing date: 15 February 2024

12. Paterson Poetry Prize

This writing contest awards publication to one poet with the strongest collection of poems. The winner can claim the prize only if they’re available for an in-person or virtual reading at the Poetry Center in Paterson. 

Word count: At least 48 pages

Prize: $2,000

Entry fee: $18 per story

13. Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry

This poetry competition awards one poet with a cash prize and publication with a standard royalty contract. Translations and previously published manuscripts are not eligible. Sarabande Books will consider all finalists for publication!

14. Ambroggio Prize [Free Writing Contest!]

This one-of-a-kind free poetry contest awards a manuscript “originally written in Spanish and with an English translation”. Make sure to exclude the “Acknowledgements” page from your entry while submitting! The contest is open to US citizens only.

Word count: 48–100 pages

15. Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Book Prize [Free Writing Contest!]

Autumn House Press has organized this free writing competition to honor one poet-writer of African descent. The book may be of any genre that “intersects with … poetry, hybrid work, speculative prose, and/or translation.”

Word count: 48–168 pages

16. Harold Morton Landon Translation Award [Free Writing Contest!]

This free poetry contest 2024 honors a manuscript translated into English from any other language. Collaborations of up to two translators are eligible but self-published works will not be considered. The contest is open to US citizens only.

17. Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction  

The organizers of this short fiction contest welcome you to submit a collection of short stories, one or more novellas, or a short novel. The manuscript must be unpublished, but individual works may have appeared in magazines or anthologies.

Word count: 150–250 pages

Closing date: 15 February 2024 

Mixed writing competitions 2024

18. slippery elm prize for poetry and prose  .

Slippery Elm has organized this writing contest to offer publication to poets and writers in their online and print issues. All entrants will receive a copy of the winning issue and be considered for publication!

Word count: None for poetry; 5,000 words for prose

Prizes: $500 per category

Entry fee: $15 (3 poems; 1 prose entry)

19. Elmbridge Literary Competition 2023–24  

This contest features four categories for children and teens and only the adult category has an entry fee. Sampson Low will publish the winning entries from all categories together in a chapbook.

Categories: Poetry and short story

Theme: Fame

Word count: 30 lines for poetry; 1,500 words for a short story

Prizes:   £250,  £150, £100 per category

Closing date: 23 February 2024

20. 2024 Writing Competition

This writing contest is part of the Bournemouth Writing Festival and offers anthology publication to 40 poets and writers. All winners will be invited to the launch party, receive a free copy of the anthology, and get two tickets to a BWF event.

Categories: Poetry and flash fiction

Theme: Lines in the sand

Word count: 30 lines for poetry; 400 words for prose

Prize: Anthology publication

21. The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition 2023/24 [Free Writing Contest!]

This free writing competition offers young poets and writers prize not only for themselves but also for their school library! There are three age groups and the top three prizes in each group for both, students and their libraries. Exciting, right?!

Theme: Being part of a group

Prizes: £300, £150, £100 (to the student); 1000, £500, £250 (to the school library)

March is overloaded with poetry competitions, perhaps in anticipation of April, the poetry writing month. Short story contests were hard to come by, but we did manage to find some free poetry contests!

Poetry contests

1. bsfs poetry contest 2024 [free writing contest].

Baltimore Science Fiction Society has organized this poetry competition. You may submit up to three poems exploring themes of science fiction/fantasy/horror/science. The winners also receive convention membership.

Prizes: $100, $75, $50 

Closing date: 01 March 2024 

2. The Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize 2024 [Free Writing Contest!]

This free poetry contest welcomes you to submit a single poem or a collection, as long as all the poems relate to the theme. Prize winners will be invited to attend The Alpine Fellowship’s annual symposium, offering up to £500 as travel expenses.

Theme: Language

Prizes: £3,000, £1,000, £1,000 

Closing date: 01 March 2024

3. The Desmond O’Grady International Poetry Competition 2024

The Limerick Writers’ Centre has organized this international poetry contest and invites entries in Irish or English. Poet Arthur Broomfield will judge the English poems while Tomás Ó Coileáin will judge the Irish ones.

Prizes: €200, €50

Entry fee: €3.5

Closing date: 16 March 2024

4. The London Magazine Poetry Prize 2024

The London Magazine offers cash prizes and publication to three poets through this poetry competition. Students and poets with a low income can submit entries at an entry fee of £5!

Prizes: £500, £300, £200

Closing date: 31 March 2024

5. The E.H.P. Barnard Poetry Prize

This poetry contest, organized by the artist Tom Niell, is open only to UK-based poets. Along with the cash prize, the winner also gets a poem video, performed, produced, and promoted. Exciting, right?

Location: UK

Theme: Travel

Word count: 400

Prizes: £100, £75, £50

Entry fee: £2

Closing date: 31 March 2024 

6. The Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2024  

The Caterpillar has organized this poetry competition with Joseph Coelho as the judge. The winning entries will be published in the Irish Times online and the first prize winner also gets a week at Circle of Misse in France.

Prizes: €1,000, €500, €250

Entry fee: €15

7. The Plough Prize 2024  

In its twenty-first year, this renowned poetry contest will be judged by Roger McGough. There is no restriction on the subject. You may send your entry via post, but make sure it reaches the organizers before the deadline.

Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250

8. The Plaza Prose Poetry Prize  

The Plaza Writers has organized this poetry competition to highlight prose poetry. The top ten entries will be selected for anthology publication. Contest judge Carrie Etter is looking for “thrilling experiments with the prose poem form”.

Word count: 450

Prizes: £750, £200, £50

Entry fee: £11

9. Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize  

This short story competition has been organized by Symphony Space and sponsored by Selected Shorts. The winning entry will be performed by an actor and published in Electric Literature . 

Word count: 750

Prize: $1,000 and a 10-week course with Gotham Writers

10. Peter Carey Short Story Awards 2024

This short story contest awards two Australian authors with cash prizes, digital publication in Meanjin , as well as the magazine’s standard contributor fee. An additional prize of 500 AUD will be awarded to a writer who lives, works, or studies in Moorabool Shire.

Location: Australia

Word count: 2,000–3,000

Prizes: 2,000 AUD, 1,000 AUD

Entry fee: 15 AUD

Closing date: 14 March 2024

11. Indignor House Writing Competition 2024  

Indignor House Publishing has organized this short story writing contest to support emerging voices in fiction. 25 entries will be selected for publication in an anthology, of which winners will receive a hardcover copy.

Theme: Fear

Word count: 5,000

Prizes: $500, $250, $150

12. Edna Staebler Personal Essay Contest

This essay contest welcomes you to submit outstanding personal essays. All entries will be considered for publication in The New Quarterly and the organizers will pay an honorarium of $250 upon publication.

Location: Canada

Entry fee: $40

Closing date: 28 March 2024 

13. PFD Queer Fiction Prize back for 2024

Peters Fraser + Dunlop, a London-based literary agency, has organized this book writing contest to support emerging queer writers. The submissions do not have to be on LGBTQIA+ experiences as long as the author identifies as such.

Categories: Adult and YA/children’s fiction

Word count: Three chapters and a synopsis

Prize: Agency representation

14. 2024 Airlie Prize  

Airlie Press has organized this poetry contest to award one book of poetry with publication. The editors at Airlie Press, previous winners, and guest readers will form the panel of judges. Translated works are not eligible.

Word count: 48–90 pages

15. The 2024 Chapter One Prize for Novelists  

Gutsy Great Novelist has organized this novel writing competition to award three novelists writing in any genre. They have some strict submission guidelines, so make sure you go through them before submitting your entry!

Word count: The first chapter

Prizes: $1,000, $500, $250

16. The Hazel Rowley Prize

This contest awards the best book proposal by a first-time biographer. Along with the cash prize, the winner receives agent exposure and publicity for the project through the Biographers International Organization website and newsletter.

Word count: 20 pages

17. Raz-Shumaker Book Prize  

This book writing contest awards one poetry and one short story collection with publication by the University of Nebraska Press. Poets and writers are free to enter both contests. Self-published books are not eligible for this contest.

Word count: At least 50 pages for poetry; at least 150 pages for fiction

Prizes: $3,000 per category

Closing date: 15 March 2024

18. Rubery Book Awards  

This book writing competition is for indie writers, self-published authors, and writers who have published with independent presses. The categories for the contest are decided after all submissions have been collected.

Prizes: £2,000, some prizes of £200

Entry fee: £45 

Mixed writing contests

19. wild women contest  .

Open to poets and writers of all gender identities, this writing competition only requires entries to celebrate the “wild woman spirit”. All submissions will be considered for publication in TulipTree Review and all collaborators will be paid $50. 

Word count: 5 pages for poetry; 10,000 words for prose

Prizes: $1,000

Closing date: 08 March 2024

20. The Screenwriting Challenge

One of the more interesting writing competitions in 2024, this contest randomly assigns you a genre for round one. The top five from each genre group move on to round two, from which the top three move on to round three. Go check it out!

Word count: 12 pages for round 1

Prizes: $4,500, $1,750, $1,000, $500, $350, $250, $225, $200, $175, $150

Entry fee: $55

Contest duration: 15–23 March 2024 

21. The 2024 Perkoff Prize  

The Missouri Review has organized this poetry, short story, and essay contest to recognize emerging poets and writers. You may submit your entry online or via post. The entry fee includes a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Categories: Poetry, short story, and essay

Word count: 10 pages for poetry; 8,500 words for a short story and an essay

Prizes: $1,000 per category

22. The Hope Prize

This short story and essay contest offers anthology publication to the winners and some shortlisted writers. The royalties from the anthology will be donated to Beyond Blue, an Australian mental health charity.

Categories: Short story and essay

Theme: Hope

Prize: 10,000 AUD, 2,000 AUD, 1,000 AUD

Entry fee: 22 AUD

Closing date: 22 March 2024 

23. Seasons Writing Competition 2024  

This writing contest awards the best pieces of poetry and fiction from the submitted entries and no category prizes are awarded. All shortlisted poets and writers will be published in a contest anthology!

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, script

Theme: Light and Shadow

Word count: 2,500 words for a short story; 1,000 words for flash fiction

Prizes: 500 AUD, 400 AUD, 300 AUD, 200 AUD, some prizes of 100 AUD

Entry fee: 5 AUD

As if to make up for March, April features a ton of short story writing contests but only two poetry competitions. As always, essay writing contests are few and far between. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep adding to this list every month!

1. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

Unique among free poetry contests, this competition invites you to submit one humorous poem. The winner will receive a Duotrope gift certificate and the top 13 entries will be published online. Both unpublished and previously published works are eligible!

Word count: 250 lines

Prizes: $2,000, $500, $250, 10 prizes of $100

Closing date: 01 April 2024

2. Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2024  

The Rialto has organized this poetry contest, inviting poets to dwell on any aspect of nature and place. While judging, Zaffar Kunial will interpret these terms widely. All longlisted entries will be published on The Rialto website.

Entry fee: £7

3. Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize 2024  

The grand prize winner of this short story competition gets a week’s residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, literary feedback, and agent consultation. The contest offers 40 free entries and 60 half-priced entries!

Prizes: €2,000, 2 prizes of €1,000

Entry fee: €20

Closing date: 14 April 2024

4. Purorrelato 2024 Micro-Story Contest [Free Writing Contest!]

Casa África has organized this micro story writing contest to encourage writers to write about Africa in newer ways. The micro story must relate to Africa in some way and may be written in Spanish, English, French, or Portuguese.

Word count: 1,500 characters

Prizes: €750, €375, €225

Closing date: 16 April 2024 

5. 2024 ABR Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize

One of the world’s leading short story contests, the Jolley Prize is in its fifteenth year. The three winning stories will be published in the August or September 2024 issue of the Australian Book Review .

Prizes: 6,000 AUD, 4,000 AUD, 2,500 AUD

Entry fee: 30 AUD

Closing date: 22 April 2024 

6. SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction

This flash fiction contest has been running twice yearly since 2018. The grand prize winner is automatically nominated for The Best Small Fiction, The Pushcart, Best of the Net, and other contests.

Prizes: 2,500, $1,000, $500, some prizes of $100.

Closing date: 30 April 2024 

7. Tadpole Press 100-Word Writing Contest

This short story competition challenges you to pack a punch in 100 words. The second runner-up wins a writing coaching package valued at $450 and the third, a developmental and diversity editing package valued at $250.

Prizes: $2,000 and others

8. The Creative Writing NZ Short Story Prize 2024  

This short story contest accepts only online entries. Lucie Brownlee is the guest judge this year. The winner and runners-up receive a free online course and publication on the Creative Writing NZ website.

Location: New Zealand

Word count: 3,000

Prizes: $1,000, 2 prizes of $200

9. Short Story Competition  

Organized by Cranked Anvil Press, this quarterly short story competition welcomes all genres and themes. The winning entries will be published online, and all longlisted entries will be considered for eventual anthology publication.

Word count: 1,500

Prizes: £100, £50

Closing date: 30 April 2024  

10. Los Angeles NaNo Anthology

This free short story contest is a golden opportunity for writers worldwide. Writers must submit a story revolving around the theme “Utopia- or is it?” and the prompt “You must include something/someone that gets stuck”.  The winning entries will be published in the Los Angeles NaNo Anthology’s 10th edition “Trouble in Paradise”.

Wordcount: 4,000

Closing date: 30 April 2024

11. Terry Tempest Williams Creative Nonfiction Prize

North American Review has organized this essay contest to offer publication to the winners and honorable mentions. The organizers welcome “the lyric essay, the hermit crab essay, the braided essay, the memoir, the personal essay, literary journalism, and everything in between.” 

Word count: 500–10,000

Entry fee: $23

Closing date: 02 April 2024

Book writing competitions 2024

12. self-published book awards  .

This book writing contest only accepts self-published books that are printed and bound. If you’ve published an eBook, there’s still time enough to print your book through self-publishing services ! The contest accepts entries in seven categories.

Prizes: $10,000, 7 prizes of $1,000

Entry fee: $100

13. First Pages Prize   

This book writing contest seeks to support un-agented writers. The top three winners in both categories receive a developmental mentorship and agent consultation via Zoom. Edwidge Danticat will judge both categories. 

Categories: Fiction and creative nonfiction

Word count: 1,250 (First five pages of your book)

Prizes: $2,000, $1,500, $1000 per category

Closing date: 10 April 2024

14. Jonathan Holden Poetry Chapbook Contest

This poetry competition is open to poets who haven’t yet published a full-length work of poetry. Self-published books are not eligible. All participants receive an eBook copy of the winning chapbook.

Word count: 25 to 40 pages

Prize: $250 and 10 copies of the printed chapbook

Closing date: 10 April 2024 

15. Nimrod Literary Awards  

All shortlisted poets and writers for this writing competition will be published and offered a standard publishing rate of $10/page. Poets may submit one long poem or a few short poems within the page limit.

Categories: Poetry and fiction (short story or self-contained novel excerpt)

Word count: 3–10 pages of poetry; 7,500 words for fiction

Prizes: $2,000 and $1,000 per category

Entry fee: $20 

16. Mairtin Crawford Award 

This writing contest is for poets and writers “working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.” Both published and unpublished writers are welcome to enter, but they must not have published full-length works.

Word count: 3–5 poems for poetry; 2,500 for short story

Prizes: £500, 2 prizes of £250 per category

17. F(r)iction Contests

This is essentially four writing competitions rolled into one. Wole Talabi, Sherrie Flick, C. S. E. Cooney, and Marin Sardy form the panel of judges. All submissions are considered for publication!

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, and essay

Word count: 3 pages for poetry, 1,001–7,500 for short story; 1,000 for flash fiction; 6,500 for essay

Prizes: $300 for poetry, $1,000 for short story, $300 for flash fiction, $500 for essay 

Entry fee: $10 for poetry and flash fiction, $15 for a short story and essay

As is the trend now, May has made up for the dearth of poetry competitions in April. While there are few short story contests this month, we did find two essay contests. Surprisingly, May features a wealth of book writing competitions!

1. International Poetry Contest

Atlanta Review invites you to submit five poems of any length in your entry. Aside from the grand prize winner, 20 poets will be published in the contest issue and 30 more will receive honorable mentions. All 50 poets will receive awards and a free copy of the contest issue.

Entry fee: $15 (for five poems)

Closing date: 01 May 2024 

2. The Letter Review Prize for Poetry [Free Contest!]

The organizers of this poetry competition welcome poems of all kinds, with no restrictions on subject or style. Two to four winners are announced, among whom the cash prize is equally distributed. 

Word count: 70 lines

Prize: $1,000 (total prize pool)

Closing date: 03 May 2024

3. Montreal International Poetry Prize  

One of the most well-known poetry contests, the Montreal Prize awards one poet each year. The judges will shortlist 60 poems, all of which will be published in The Montreal Poetry Prize Anthology . Translations aren’t allowed unless a poet translates their own work.

Prize: $20,000 CAD

Closing date: 15 May 2024

4. Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize  

This poetry competition awards one poem with publication in The American Poetry Review . All entrants receive a copy of the magazine. You may submit up to three poems, as long as the entire entry is no larger than 3 pages.

Word count: 3 pages

5. James Laughlin Award [Free Writing Contest!]

This poetry competition is for a second book of poetry, to be published in the coming year. Publishers that have previously published at least four books of poetry are welcome to enter. Translated books are not eligible.

Location: US

Prize: $5,000 

6. Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize

This contest awards a book of poetry published in a standard edition in the previous year (2023). Self-published and translated books are not eligible. Publishers may submit more than one title.

Prize: $25,000 

Entry fee: $75

7. Guy Owen Prize  

Southern Poetry Review has organized this poetry contest, inviting you to submit three to five poems. You may submit online or via post, and the entry fee includes a one-year subscription to the magazine.

Closing date: 31 May 2024

Short story competitions 2024

8. the letter review prize for short fiction [free contest].

This short story writing contest will shortlist 20 entries, of which 2–4 will be announced as the winners. All entries will be considered for publication, future anthologies, and submission to the Pushcart Prize!

9. Twist in the Tale Writing Competition  

This interesting short story contest will assign you a genre, a “twisted” subgenre, and an event/character/object/subject. The contest also features weekly challenges and monthly mini-contests. It’s a community experience like no other!

Prizes: $1,200, $400, $250, $150, $100, and others

Entry fee: $30

Closing date: 13–19 May 2024 (6-day contest)

10. WOW! Flash Fiction Contest  

One of the WOW! 2024 writing contests, this is an open-prompt competition, open to women worldwide. You can opt for a critique of your writing at a $20 entry fee. The contest features only 300 entries, so hurry up and submit yours!

Prizes: $400, $300, $200, and others

11. The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction [Free essay writing contest!]

One of the few essay contests in May 2024, this competition is open to essayists worldwide. Entries are judged blind and all entrants receive judges’ feedback on their essays. If you’d like to enter more than one essay, the fee is $5 per additional entry.

12. James A. Winn Prize in Nonfiction  

Michigan Quarterly Review has organized this essay contest in memory of English Professor James A. Winn. Ten shortlisted entries will be presented to Judge Elizabeth Goodenough. All entries will be considered for publication.

Word count: 1,500–7,000

Prize: $1,500

13. Cheshire Novel Prize  

This international book writing competition invites un-agented authors to submit an excerpt and a 500-word synopsis of their novel. Shortlisted authors will be asked to submit their entire manuscript. Self-published writers are welcome to enter!

Word count: The first 5,000 words

Prize: £1500

Entry fee: £29

Closing date: 01 May 2024

14. The Backwaters Prize in Poetry   

This poetry book contest invites you to submit a collection of poems or a single long poem. The Backwaters Press will offer publication to both winning manuscripts. Only collections with 95% unpublished material are eligible to enter.

Word count: 60–85 pages

Prizes: $2,000, $1,000

Entry fee: $32

15. The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books [Free Contest!]

The Letter Review invites poets and writers to submit excerpts of their unpublished books. The organizers may request entire manuscripts only from the winners. Make sure to include a one-page synopsis/abstract and a 200-word bibliography!

Word count: The first 15 pages for poetry; the first 5,000 words for prose

16. Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize  

This international book writing contest is open to literary and mainstream fiction, including science fiction. Short story collections are allowed. Self-published books are allowed, as long as they haven’t sold more than 200 copies!

Word count: Minimum 22,000

Prize: Publication with Leapfrog Press and $150 for all finalists

Entry fee: $35

Closing date: 05 May 2024

17. The Fugere Book Prize for Finely Crafted Novellas

Regent House Publishing has organized this novella competition with its panel of editors as the judges. English translations of novellas written in other languages are allowed. Make sure not to send artwork or photographs, however!

Word count: 17,000–40,000

18. Goldfinch Novel Award 2024

This novel contest invites manuscripts written for adults or young adults. Submit an excerpt of your novel with a one-page synopsis. Along with the cash prize, the winner gets a free Goldfinch membership and a Creative Writing Course worth £150.

Location: UK and Ireland

19. Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse [Free Contest!]

This interesting book writing contest combines the forms of poetry and novel. Along with the cash prize, the winner receives 20 copies of their book and a standard royalty contract. The winning manuscript will be published in three formats: trade paper, eBook, and Kindle.

Word count: 90–160 pages

Prize: $500

Closing date: 25 May 2024 

20. The Untold Tales Youth Writing Competition [Free Contest!]

The organizers of this writing contest invite poets and writers under 25 years of age to submit entries in English or Spanish. The writing should be “focused on a true, fact-based untold tale celebrating and/or illuminating the importance of human rights.”

Categories: Poetry, short story, short narrative

Word count: 500 words for poetry; 1,000 words for prose

Prizes: $100 per category

21. Leeway Transformation Award [Free Contest!]

Open to women, transgender, and gender-nonconforming artists, poets, and writers, this award isn’t project-based. Rather, it seeks to honor a creative based in Greater Philadelphia who has been working for social change.

Categories: Various

Prizes: $15,000

22. Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest  

This short story and essay contest offers online publication to 12 outstanding writers of fiction and nonfiction. Both published and unpublished entries are welcome. The top two winners receive two-year gift certificates from Duotrope.

Word count: 6,000

Prizes: $3,500 per category and 10 prizes of $300

Entry fee: $22

23. Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition 2024

This writing contest features nine categories, awarding almost 500 poets and writers with various prizes. As if that wasn’t enough, the names and titles of honorable mentions will be listed on the Writer’s Digest website. Quite the exposure for new writers!

Word count: 40 lines for poetry; 4,000 words for a short story, and 2,000 for an essay 

Prizes: $5,000, 9 prizes of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, and $50 (per category)

Entry fee: $20 for poetry; $30 for manuscript

Closing date: 06 May 2024

24. The Bridport Prize 2024  

This esteemed writing competition offers anthology publication, agent consultation, and editorial advice to the winning poets and writers. It also offers other prizes such as the Young Writer Award and the Dorset Award.

Categories: Poetry, short story, flash fiction, novel, memoir

a. Poetry Contest 2024

Word count: 42 lines

Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £500

Entry fee: £12

b. Short Story Contest 2024

Entry fee: £14

c. Flash Fiction Contest 2024

Word count: 250

d. Novel Contest 2024

Word count: 5,000–8,000

Prizes: £1,500, £750, 3 prizes of £150

Entry fee: £24

e. Memoir Contest 2024

June 2024 

June is bursting with creative opportunities! From free to paid, there are exciting poetry, short story, and book-writing contests waiting for you. For essay writing enthusiasts, we also managed to find four amazing essay writing contests.

Poetry contests 2024 

1. boulevard magazine poetry contest .

This poetry contest invites writers to submit a group of 3 poems. The winning group of poems will be published in the Boulevard magazine. 

Prize: $1000

Entry fee: $18 

Closing date: 1 June 2024 

2. Dan Veach Prize [Free Writing Contest!] 

Organized by the Atlanta Review magazine, this is a free poetry contest. Currently accepting submissions from college students aged 18-23, the winning entries will be published in the Atlanta Review’s Fall/Winter issue. 

Prize: $100 

3. Peggy Willis Lyles Haiku Awards [Free Writing Contest!] 

This free contest welcomes writers to submit a maximum of 2 unpublished haiku poems. Open to haiku poets globally, winners will receive a cash prize and a copy of Red Leaves: Selected Haiku of Peggy Lyles . 

Prize: $200, $100, $50 

4. McLellan Poetry Prize

This contest invites writers to submit any number of poems on their choice of subject or theme. The poems must be unpublished and not accepted for publication. 

Word count: 90 lines 

Prize: £1000, £250 

Entry fee: £7 for the 1st poem, £5 per poem for 2nd and subsequent poems

Closing date: 2 June 2024 

5. Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 

Allowing poets to submit poems on any subject, 35 poems will be chosen from all the submitted entries. The shortlisted poems will feature in the Poet of the Year Anthology . 

Word count: 60 lines 

Prize: £200, £100, £50 

Entry fee: £5 per poem 

Closing date: 7 June 2024 

6. Poetry London prize

Judged by Hannah Sullivan, this contest is open to poets anywhere in the world. The submitted poems must be in English. Winning entries will be published in the Poetry London magazine. 

Prize: £5000, £2000, £1000

Entry fee: £5 for Poetry London magazine subscribers, £10 for non-subscribers 

Closing date: 30 June 2024 

Short story competitions 2024 

7. defenestrationism contest.

This competition is looking for stories that “include an incident of Defenestrationism– the art, or -ism, of throwing people out of windows”. This need not be literal and the incident can be sudden, a violent shift or change. Zombie fiction is discouraged. 

Prize: $75, $30, $30 

Closing date: 2 June 2024

8. Imagine 2200

Organized by the American magazine Grist , this contest is looking for “stories rooted in creative climate solutions”. Anyone who is 18 years or older can participate. 

Word count: 2,500-5,000 words

Prize: $3000, $2000, $1000, 9 prizes of $300 

Closing date: 24 June 2024 

9. Moth Short Story Prize

Open to any writer over 16 years of age, the winning entries will be published in the Irish Times . Prizes also include a trip to Circle de Misse in France plus open travel stipend! This contest will be judged by Louise Kennedy. 

Prize: £3000, Circle de Misse trip, £1000 

Entry fee: £15 per entry 

10. Salamander 2024 Fiction Contest

Accepting unpublished stories from writers worldwide, the winning entries will be published in the Salamander magazine. The story submitted must not exceed 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point font. 

Prize: $1000, $500 

Entry fee: $15 

11. FFF Competition 

This flash fiction contest invites writers to submit stories on any theme. The winning entries will be published on the Free Flash Fiction website. 

Wordcount: 100-300 words 

Prize: £150, 2 prizes of £50, 3 prizes of £40 

Entry fee: £3.95, £2.55 

Closing date: 23 June 2024 

Essay contests 2024 

12. goi peace foundation international essay contest .

Open to anyone who is 25 years old or under, this essay writing contest only accepts one entry per person. Participants can submit their essays written in English, Japanese, or French. 

Theme: Experience of overcoming conflict 

Word count: 700 words 

Prize: 100,000 yen, 50,000 yen

Closing date: 15 June  2024 

13. Solid essay contest 

An amazing opportunity for new writers, the winning essay entries will receive a scholarship. To participate, writers will have to write an essay on technology’s role in shaping the future or select the topic of climate change. 

Word count: 600-800 

Prize: $1000, $700, $500

Closing date: 19 June 2024

14. Hubert Butler Essay prize 

To participate in this essay writing contest, the author must be above 18 and should be a European or UK citizen. The subject for the essay is: “With narratives of conflict currently distorted by misinformation and the substitution of memory for history, what are the chances of reconciliation?” 

Wordcount: 3,000

Prize: 1 prize of €1,500, 2 prizes of €500 

Closing date: 28 June 2024 

15. Fountain Essay Contest 2024 

Open to writers worldwide, interested participants can submit 1 entry per person.  While the Chicago Manual of Style is preferred for essay writing, other styles can also be used. 

Theme: Where is home? 

Wordcount: 1500-2000

Prizes: $1000, $500, $300, 2 prizes of $150 

Book writing contests 2024 

16. the novel prize .

This contest rewards unpublished fictional works that “explore and expand the possibilities of the form, and are innovative and imaginative”. The winning entries will be published in North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Prize: $10,000

17. Chicken House Prize 

This contest invites writers to submit a “complete fiction manuscript of any genre for children aged 7 up to YA”. The winner will receive a publishing contract plus an offer of representation. 

Prize: £7,500 

18. Creative Arts Book Award 

This contest allows writers to submit original works of fiction or non-fiction. Poetry books cannot be submitted to this contest. 

Prize: $25,000, 2 prizes of $250 

19. Towson prize for literature 

Founded in 1979, this contest accepts manuscript submissions of poetry, fiction, drama, and imaginative non-fiction. Open to Maryland (USA) writers only, the manuscript must be published 3 years before the time of nomination or scheduled for publication within the year it’s nominated.  

Prize: $1,000 

Closing date: 15 June 2024 

20. Scotiabank Giller Prize 

To be eligible to participate in this contest, the writer must be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada. The book should be a first-edition novel, graphic novel, or collection of short stories published between 1st May and 30th June 2024. Unfortunately, self-published books aren’t eligible. 

Prize: $10,000, shortlisted translation ($7,000-author, $3,000-translator), (translation wins- $70,000-author, $30,000- translator) 

Closing date: 21 June 2024 

21. Atwood Gibson Prize 

Organized to encourage Canadian writers, this contest awards the best Canadian novel or short story collection. Funded by the Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, the authors receive a generous cash prize. 

Prize: $60,000, $5000  

Closing date: 25 June 2024 

22. Drue Heinz Literature Prize 

Open to writers all over the world, participants can submit a manuscript of short stories, 2 or more novellas, or a combination of novellas and short stories. Winning entries will be published by the University of Pittsburgh Press and receive support in book promotion. 

Prize: $15000

Mixed writing contests 2024 

23. arizona authors association literary contest  .

Arizona Literary Magazine has organized this poetry, short story, and essay writing competition in three categories and several subcategories. The 24 winning poets and writers will be published in the magazine.

Location: US and Canada

Categories: Unpublished poetry, short story, essay, novel; Published books of fiction and nonfiction, others

Word count: 50 lines for poetry; 5,000 for short stories and essays; 25 pages for a novel

Prizes: $500, 3 prizes of $200, $100, $75, $50 each , 11 prizes of $25

Entry fee: $35 for unpublished and $45 for published poets and writers

Closing date: 01 June 2024

24. Questions Writing Prize 

This contest welcomes writers to submit fiction/non-fiction works on any topic. Only young Australian writers, aged 18-30 years are open to participate in this contest. 

Prize: $3000

Word count: 1,500-2000

25. Manitoba poetry and short story contest 

Interested participants can either submit 3 poems or 1 story to participate in this exciting contest. The winning entries will be published on the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba website and winners will be given cash prizes. 

Prize: $125, $75, $50 

26. International Wizard of Oz Club Contest 

This contest has 3 categories: fiction, non-fiction, and art. All the entries must be about the land of Oz created by Frank Baum in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . 

Prize: $100, $50 

Word count: 10,000 words 

27. Wells Festival of Literature 

Organized as a part of the Wells Festival of Literature, this contest awards amazing fictional works of poetry and prose. The winners will receive amazing cash prizes and will be invited to the celebratory event of the festival on 25th October 2024. 

Categories: Open Poetry, Short Story, Book for Children, Young Poets 

a. Wells Festival Open Poetry Contest 2024 

The poems can be on any subject. Each poem submitted must not exceed more than 35 lines of text in length. Multiple submissions are allowed. 

Prize: £1000, £500, £250 

Entry fee: £6

b. Wells Festival Short Story Contest 2024 

You can submit 1 or more short stories on any topic of your choice to participate in this content. Make sure to mention the story’s word count on the first page! 

Prize: £750, £300, £200, £100 

Entry fee: £6 per story 

c. Wells Festival Book for Children Contest 

This competition requires you to submit either the first two chapters or the first 20 pages of the children’s book you’ve written. You also need to attach your book’s synopsis. 

Prize: £750. £300, £200 

Entry fee: £6 per book 

d. Young Poets Contest 

Open to writers aged 16-22 years old, this contest allows participants to submit poems on any subject. The poems must not exceed 35 lines of length. 

Prize: £200, £150, £100 

Entry fee: £3 per poem 

28. Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction 

This contest rewards the best Canadian non-fiction of the year. Participants can submit a biography, memoir, or non-fiction book of essays, commentary, and criticism. 

Prize: $75,000, $5,000

29. Writers of the future contest

Writers who have not professionally published “a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium” are eligible to participate. Manuscripts belonging to the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy are also accepted. 

Prize: $5000, $1000, $750, $500

July 2024 

July is the perfect month to let your creativity soar! We’ve found exciting poetry, book, and short story competitions for you! As always, essay writing competitions are scarce. Don’t worry though, we’ll keep adding to this list every month! 

1. Local Word Poetry Prize

In its second year, this contest is open to Australian residents who are 16 years or older. The winning entry will be  published on the Geelong Regional Library Corporation (GRLC) website. 

Wordcount: 75 lines 

Prize: $2,000, $250 

Entry fee: Free! 

Closing date: 1 July 2024 

2. Ledbury Poetry Competition 2024 

A part of the Poetry Ledbury Festival, this contest is open to writers who are 18 years or older. Judged by Maya C. Popa this year, participants can submit unpublished poems up to 40 lines. 

Location: UK 

Prize: £1000, £500, £259 

Entry fee: £6 

Closing date: 8 July 2024 

3. Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize 

Interested participants can submit 1-6 poems. 60 longlisted poems will be published in an online prize anthology. 

Prize: AUD$15,000, AUD$5,000, AUD$5,000

Entry fee: $AUD25 

Closing date: 14 July 2024 

4. Rattle poetry prize

Welcoming writers worldwide to participate, this contest accepts poems primarily written in English. Participants can send 4 poems per entry on any topic of their choice. 

Prize: 1 prize of $15000, 1 prize of $5000, 10 prizes of $500 

Entry fee: $30 

Closing date: 15 July 2024 

5. The Tenth Gate Prize  

To participate, writers must have two previously published full-length poetry collections. The winning entry will be published. 

Entry fee: $25 

6. Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry Contest  

Judged by Charles Rafferty, this contest accepts original, unpublished submissions. The winning entry will be published in the Comstock Review . 

Prize: $1.000, $250, $100 

Entry fee: $27.50 (per submission) 

7. Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize 

Judged by Kim Addonizio, this contest is open to writers worldwide. The top 5 finalists’ entries will be published in the Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine . 

Prize: $1,000, $500, $250

Closing date: 31 July 2024 

8. Winchester Poetry Prize 2024 

Judged by Clare Shaw, this contest encourages poets worldwide to submit poems on any subject. The results will be announced on 5th October 2024 and winning entries will be published in a competition anthology. 

Wordcount: Not more than 40 lines 

Entry fee: £6 for the 1st poem, £5 for each subsequent poem

9. Experimental Poetry Contest 

This exciting contest allows participants to submit poems of any form and style. The winning entry will be published in the Connecticut River Review. 

10. HWA Short Story Award

To participate in this contest, writers must submit a story that is set atleast 35 years in the past. The stories of 6 shortlisted writers will be published together in an eBook. 

Wordcount: 3,500 words 

Prize:  £500 

Closing date: 1 July 2024. 

11. HG Wells short story competition 

Free for writers 21 years or under, this contest accepts original, unpublished short stories. The winning entries will be published in the HG Wells Short Story Competition Anthology. 

Theme: The Fool 

Prize: £1,000

Entry fee: £10 for writers over 21, £5 for writers with a student ID 

12. The Paul Cave Prize for Teenage Fiction 

Organized to encourage teenage fiction, writers can submit stories about a murder mystery, science, technology, sports, etc. Winning entries will be published on the contest website and in the Paul Cave Prize for Teenage Fiction 2024 book. 

Prize: £100, £50, £25

Entry fee: £30 (1 entry), £40 (2 entries)

Closing date: 30 July 2024 

13. Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition 2024

Funded by the Munster Literature Centre, this contest invites writers of all nationalities to submit their stories. The selected stories will be published in the literary journal Southward. 

Word count: 3,000 

Prize: €2,000, €500, €250 

14. Inspiring Fiction Contest 

This contest is seeking submissions for “thrilling and thought-provoking short stories”. To participate, writers will have to explore the theme of freedom through genres like crime, fantasy, and speculative fiction. 

Wordcount: 1000-2500

Prize: £100

15. Fiction Factory Competition 

This competition welcomes all stories except those related to children and young adult fiction. Stories must be submitted in a MS Word document. 

Wordcount: 3000 words

Prize: £500

Entry fee: £7.00 (1 story), £13 (2 stories), £18 (3 stories) 

16. Anthology Short Story Competition 

Open to writers worldwide, this short story competition welcomes submissions on any theme or style. The winning entry will be published in the future issue of Anthology. 

Word count: 1,500 words

Prize: €1000, €250, €150 

Entry fee: €18 per entry 

17. Forum Essay Prize 2024 

This contest is seeking submissions of “bold, visionary, and persuasive essays”. The winning essay will be published in the issue of Forum for Modern Language Studies. 

Theme: The Art(s) of Delight 

Wordcount: 6000-8000 words 

Prize: £500, £200

18. Wasifiri New Writing Prize 

This contest is open to all writers who have not yet published a book. The winning entries will be published in the Wasafiri magazine. 

Prize: £1000

Entry fee: £12 (single entry), £16 (double entry) 

19. The St. Laurence Book Award 

This contest rewards an unpublished collection of poetry or prose. The winning entry will be published and the author will receive 10 copies. 

Prize: $1.000

Entry fee: $14 

20. Press 53 Award 

Rewarding “outstanding, unpublished collection of poems”, this contest welcomes submissions of writers 18 years or older. The participant must reside in the United States. 

21. Kingsley Tuft Poetry Award

Interested participants must submit their first book of poetry published between 1st July 2023 and 30th June 2024. Make sure to mail 8 copies of the book and the entry form before the deadline! 

Prize: $100,000

22. North Street Book Prize 

To participate, writers must submit self-published/hybrid published books. Winning writers will also receive a $500 credit at the self-publishing platform BookBaby and book cover consultation from Laura Duffy Design. 

Categories: mainstream/literary fiction, romance, mystery, thriller, young adult, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, poetry, children’s picture books, middle grade, art books, creative non fiction, graphic novels, and memoirs 

Prize: $10,000, $1,000, $300

Entry fee: $79 per book 

23. Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize 

Every year, this contest awards a poet who hasn’t yet published a full-length poetry book. Interested poets must submit an unpublished manuscript of 48-90 pages. 

Prize: $1,500  

Closing date: 7 July 2024 

24. Petrichor Prize 

Open to writers 18 years or older, participants can submit more than 1 manuscript. The winning entry will be published by Regal House Publishing. 

25. Bellevue Literary Review Prize 

This contest is currently accepting submissions in 3 categories: poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. 

Wordcount: 5,000 words 

Prize: $75 (poetry), $150 (prose) 

Entry fee: $5 

26. Robert and Adele Schiff Awards 

Simultaneous submissions of fiction and non-fiction works are accepted by this contest. Writers can submit 8 pages of poetry (5 poems), a 10,000-word fictional work or a 5,000-word work of literary non-fiction. 

Prize: $1,000 (per category) 

27. Work-in-Progress Contest 

This contest supports writers to complete a book of fiction, nonfiction or poetry. Winning writers will also get guidance from editors and their interview will be featured in Unleash Lit . 

Prize: $500 

August 2024 

Ready to unleash your creativity and showcase your talent? We’ve found amazing poetry, book, and short story competitions for you. Although there aren’t many essay writing competitions, we’ll continue updating this list every month. 

1. Coniston Prize 

Open to female poets worldwide, this contest awards a group of exceptional poems. The poems of all winners and finalists will be published in the October Coniston’s Prize issue. 

Prize: $1,000, $175 for 10 finalists 

Closing date: 1 August 2024 

2. Waterford Poetry Prize (Free poetry writing contest!) 

Only writers staying in Ireland are eligible to participate in this contest. This concept accepts unpublished poems in PDF/Word format. 

Wordcount: 40 lines max 

Prize: €400, €300, €200 

Closing date: 12 August 2024 

3. Grayson Books Poetry Contest 

Accepting electronic submissions only, this contest looks for poetry submissions of 50-90 pages. The winning entry will be published by Grayson Books. 

Entry fee: $26 

Closing date: 15 August 2024 

4. Cantor Prize

Judged by Juan Morales, this contest is open to Colarodo writers and global writers submitting a poem about Colorado. Previously published poems and simultaneous submissions are allowed. 

Prize: $1,000, $100 each (5 prizes) 

Entry fee: 1 poem ($10), 2 poems ($20), 3 poems, (25), 4 poems ($35) 

Deadline: 31 August 2024 

5. Oxford Poetry Prize 

Judged by Rachel Long, this contest rewards a single poem written in English. The winning poems will also receive the opportunity for publication in Oxford Poetry . 

Wordcount: 50 lines (maximum) 

Prize: £1000, £200, £100

Closing date: 31 August 2024 

6. Off the Grid Poetry Prize 

Open to poets 60 years or older, manuscripts submitted for this contest must be of atleast 50 pages. The winner will also receive additional services of book promotion, book printing, audiobook creation. 

7. Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize

Open to writers residing in the United States, entrants need to be 18 or older to participate. The winning entry will secure publication by Ex Ophidia Press. 

8. Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize (Free poetry contest!) 

Only New York residents who have published a poetry collection between 1st July 2023 and 30th June 2024 are eligible to participate in this contest. The winner will get an opportunity to read their poetry and teach at Utica University in April 2025. 

9. George Dila Flash Fiction Contest 

This contest welcomes submissions of unpublished flash fiction works. Three winning stories will be published in September 2024’s contest issue. 

Wordcount: Less than 1,000 words 

Prize: 3 prizes of $100 

Entry fee: $6 per entry 

10. Free Flash Fiction Competition 

Writers who are16 years or older are eligible to participate in this contest. Welcoming submissions of fiction works on any theme, the winning entry also secures publication. 

Word count: 100-300 words 

Prize: £150, £50.00 (2 prizes), £40.00 (3 shortlisted stories) 

Entry fee: £2.55 via BACS, £3.95 via PayPal or Stripe 

Closing date: 23 August 2024 

11. Summer Short Story Award  

Inviting submissions of unpublished fiction or creative nonfiction, this contest will be judged by Colin Barrett. Simultaneous and multiple submissions are allowed. The winning entry will secure an agency review and online publication. 

Word count: Less than 6000 words 

Prize: $3000, 2 cash prizes for finalists ($200, $300)

Entry fee: $20 per entry 

Closing date: 25 August 2024 

12. Gemini Flash Fiction Prize

This flash fiction contest invites writers to submit literary works on any subject and style. The maximum word-limit is 1,000 words. 

Prize: $1,000, $100, $25 each (4 honorable mentions) 

Entry fee: $8 

13. Edinburgh Flash Fiction Award 

Accepting stories in all genres, this contest is open to writers worldwide. The authors of the top 20 stories will secure publication in an anthology. This contest also rewards one writer living in Scotland with the Golden Hare award and a bizarre, quirky story with the Write Mango Flash Award. 

Wordcount: Up to 200 words 

Prize: £2,000, £300, £150, £500 for Golden Hare award, £300 for Write Mango Flash award 

Entry fee: £10.00 per story

14. Summer Flash Fiction Contest

Hosted by WOW!, this quarterly writing contest accepts submissions in any style and genre. The winning entry will be published. Top 10 entries will each receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate. With this, 10 honorable mentions will each get a $20 Amazon gift certificate. 

Prize: $600, $300, 200, $25 worth Amazon gift certificates to 7 runner-ups,  

Wordcount: 250-750 words 

Entry fee: $10 

Essay writing contests 2024 

15. creative non fiction essay contest .

Judged by Safiya Sinclair, this contest seeks submissions of creative, non-fiction essays of 5,000 words. Every entry must include a cover letter, an essay manuscript, and the entry fee. 

Closing date: 2 August 2024 

16. Platt Family Essay Contest (Free essay contest!) 

Under-graduate students who are currently enrolled in an American University or college during the Spring semester are eligible to participate in this contest. Make sure to include a works cited page or bibliography with the essay! 

Prize: $1,000, $500, $250 

17. Aspen Words Literary Prize 

This prize is annually given to “an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue”. Welcoming writers worldwide, works about violence, religion, race, immigration, or any other social issues are eligible for submission. 

Prize: $35,000

Entry fee: $105 per book 

Closing date: 7 August 2024 

18. Other Futures Award

This contest rewards a manuscript that “challenges conventions of genre and language, content and form”. The chosen manuscript will secure publication by FuturePoem, a standard royalty contract and 25 author copies. 

Entry fee: $28, ($18, $9 need-based fees), $35 to sponsor someone’s fees

19. Open Poetry Book Contest

Accepting only online submissions, this contest is open to writers worldwide. The winning entry is published and the winner gets 20 printed copies. 

Entry fee: $30 per entry

Closing date: 16 August 2024 

20. Book of the Year Awards Contest 

In its tenth year, this contest welcomes authors to submit fictional/non-fictional books. The entries must be already published and available for sale/presale on Amazon or other online publishing platforms. 

Prize: $2,500, $1,000 each (2 prizes), $500 each (2 prizes) $250 each (2 prizes) (totaling to $6000) 

Entry fee: $49 (1st category), $35 (additional category) 

21. Kenneth Patchen Award

To participate, writers can submit a manuscript of any length in Word or PDF format. The winning entry will be published by the Journal of Experimental Fiction. 

22. Granum Foundation Prize (Free writing contest!) 

This contest invites submissions of poetry books, essay collections, short story collections, novels, and memoirs. Additionally, the Granum Foundation Translation Prize will be awarded to a work translated in English. Open to US-based writers, only one entry per person is allowed. 

Prize: $5.000 (Granum Foundation prize), $1500 or more (Granum Foundation Translation Prize), $500 or more (3 finalists)

23. Stories That Need to Be Told 

This contest welcomes submissions of poetry and prose works. Five additional prizes will be given to stories related to humor, passion, depth, or any form of love. 

Wordcount: Poetry (5 pages per poem), prose (10,000 words) 

Prize: $1,000, $200 each (5 prizes), $200 (wild card) 

Closing date: 9 August 2024 

24. Gulf Coast Prize 

This prize rewards a novel or short story collection that “illuminates a vital contemporary issue”. Writers can submit a literary work that explores violence, religion, race, or any other social issue. Only 4 submissions are allowed per publishing house. 

Entry fee: $26 per entry 

25. Lab Prize 

To participate, writers can submit their unpublished novel or short story collection on any topic. The winning entry will be published by The University of New Orleans Press. 

Entry fee: $28 

26. SaveAs Writers International Writing Competition

Organized to pay a tribute to climbers U.K.’s 1924 Everest expedition climbers, this contest accepts poetry and short story submissions. Judged by Frances Knight, the entry needs to be centered around the theme “Risking All”. 

Wordcount: 60 lines max (poems), 3,500 (short stories) 

Entry fee: £4 per poem, £10 for 3 poems, £5 for a short story, £12 for 3 short stories 

27. Northwind Writing Award (Free writing contest!) 

This contest includes the following categories: prose poetry, poetry, short fiction, nonfiction/essay/memoir. Only writers residing in the US, Canada, U.K., and Canada are eligible to participate. 

Prize: $ 100 per category

September 2024 

This September, gear up for some exciting writing contests and showcase your creativity! We’ve discovered amazing poetry, essay, book, and short story contests, both free and paid.  Dive in, participate, and stay tuned: We’ll continue updating this list as we find new contests! 

1. Miller Williams Poetry Prize

Currently accepting poetry manuscript submissions, this contest only allows one entry per author. The winning entry will also secure publication. 

Wordcount: 60-90 pages 

Closing date: 30 September 2024 

2. Stories Out of School Contest (Free short story contest!) 

Open to adults who are 18 years or older, this contest is seeking submissions of original, unpublished works. The story’s protagonist or narrator must be a K-12 teacher. 

Wordcount: 6-499 words

Closing date: 1 September 2024 

3. SIWC Writing Contest 

Organized as a part of the Surrey International Writing Conference, this contest invites writers from all over the world to submit their stories. Allowing authors to submit stories in any genre, every entry must also include an attached cover letter. 

Wordcount: 2,500-5000 words 

Prize: $1,000, $150 (honorable mention) 

Closing date: 15 September 2024 

4. Mslexia Women’s Short Story Competition

Judged by Leone Ross, this contest is open to all female writers worldwide. The entries of the winner and top 3 finalists will be published in December 2024’s Mslexia edition. They’ll also be included in the eBook anthology Best Women’s Short Fiction 2024 . 

Prize: £3,000, £100 (3 prizes)

Entry fee: £12.00

Closing date: 23 September 2024 

5. Anthology Flash Fiction Award

This contest welcomes writers of all nationalities to submit unpublished flash fiction works on any theme or genre. Seeking “clever and unique writing”, the winning entry will be published in the future issue of Anthology . 

Prize: €300 

Entry fee: €12

Essay Writing Contests 2024 

6. immerse education essay competition (free essay contest) .

Students who are 13-18 years old are eligible to participate in this essay contest. 10 winners and runner-ups will get scholarships to pursue their education with Immerse. 

Closing date: 12th September 2024 

Book Writing Contests 2024 

7. first book award.

To be eligible to participate, the entrant must reside in the US or must have been a US resident 10 years before the submission deadline. The winner will also receive a 6-week paid trip to Civitella Ranieri Center Italy where they’ll join a group of artists, writers, and publishers. 

Entry fee: $35 

Mixed Writing Contests 

8. dogwood literary awards.

Every year, this contest rewards an outstanding story, essay, or poem. Make sure to include a brief bio and contact information in the attached cover letter! 

Wordcount: 22 pages (fiction/ non-fiction prose works), 10 pages max. (poetry) 

Prize: $1000 per category 

Entry fee: $12 

Closing date: 5 September 2024 

9. Aesthetica Creative Writing Award

Inviting submissions of poetry and short fiction on any theme, this contest is “looking for the best new writing talent”. Multiple submissions are allowed. The winning entry will be published by Aesthetica. 

Wordcount: Poetry (40 lines max.), short fiction (up to 2,000 words) 

Prize: £5000

Entry fee: £12 (poetry),  £18 (short fiction) 

Closing date: 8 September 2024 

10. Dreamquest Poetry and Writing Contest 

Open to all writers worldwide, this contest invites submissions of poems and short stories. The literary work can be in any style and theme. 

Wordcount: 30 lines or less (poetry), 5 pages max (prose) 

Prize: Poetry ($250, $125, 50), Prose ($500, $250, $100) 

Entry fee: $10 (per short story), $5 (per poem) 

11. The Paul Cave Prize

This contest welcomes submissions of poetry, flash fiction, short stories, and novellas from writers all over the world. The winning entry will be published in the Paul Cave Prize for Literature 2024 book. 

Wordcount: 30 lines max (poetry), 300 words max (flash fiction), 1,000 words max (short stories), 10,000 words max (novellas) 

Prize: £150 (novella), £75 (short story), £35 (flash fiction), £35 (best poem) 

Entry fee: £13 (1 short story), £20 (2 short stories), £26 (1 novella), £42 (2 novellas), £10 (up to 3 poems/ flash fiction), £20 ( up to 8 poems/flash fiction) 

Other writing contests 

1. personal essay awards.

Writer’s Digest welcomes all essayists to submit their best work. The top ten entries will be published in the magazine’s May/June 2024 issue. The grand prize winner also receives a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference!

Prizes: $2,500, $1,000, $500, 7 prizes of $100 

Entry fee: $25 (early bird deadline)/ $30 

Closing date: 03 September 2024 (early bird deadline)/01 October 2024

2. Litmag’s Emily Dickinson Award 

To participate, writers can submit 1-3 poems. The winning entry will secure publication in LitMag and receive an agency review by Amy Bishop-Wycisk. 

Prize: $1,500, $100 each (for 3 finalists) 

Closing date: 1 October 2024 

3. Dzancs Book Prize for Fiction

This contest has 3 categories: fiction novels, poetry, and short story collection. The winning entries will secure publication

Prize: $5000 (fiction novels), $2500 (short story collection), poetry ($1000) 

4. Peter Porter Prize

This contest invites writers of all nationalities to submit unpublished poems. Each entry must be a poem written by a single author of not more than 60 lines. 

Prize: AU$6000, $1000 each (4 shortlisted poets) 

Entry fee: $20 (current Australian Book Review subscriber), $30 (standard/non subscriber)

Closing date: 7 October 2024

5. Eyelands Book Awards 

One of the rare contests based in Greece, this international book writing contest accepts submissions of novels, poetry, novellas, short story collections, YA books, historical fiction, memoirs, and graphic novels. 

Prize: 5-day trip to Athens, video promotion, publication of unpublished books 

Word count: 250.000 words (all categories of published books), 150.000 words (unpublished text), 250 pages (text/poetry collection by a single author 

Entry fee: 40 euros ($ 45), Early bird submission 30 euros ($ 35) till 1 September 2024

Closing date: 20 October 2024 

6. Bennington Young Writers Award (Free writing contest!) 

This international writing contest encourages students from the 9th-12th grades to participate. Students can submit their creative works in 3 categories: poetry, fiction (short story), and nonfiction (essays). 

Wordcount: Poetry (a group of 3 poems), short story and essay (1,500 words or less) 

Closing date: 1 November 2024 

7. Edwin Markham Poetry Prize 

This contest accepts unpublished works in any form and style. Writers can submit up to 5 poems per submission. Make sure to include a 50-word bio with your submission! 

8. James Hearst Poetry Prize  

To participate, writers can submit up to 5 poems per submission. All winning entries, runner-ups, honorable mentions, and finalists will be offered publication in North American Review’s spring issue. 

Entry fee: $23 

Closing date: 2 November 2024 

9. Servicescape Short Story Award 

This contest awards original works of short fiction and non-fiction. Writers can submit a story on any theme and genre. 

Word count: 5,000 or lower 

Closing date: 30 November 2024 

10. Lascaux Prize 

Currently, this contest is open for submissions for two categories: Creative Non Fiction and Short Fiction. Interested participants can submit memoirs, chronicles, personal essays, humorous perspectives, literary journalism, or short stories of any genre. 

Closing date: 31 December 2024 

We’ll keep updating this list every month, adding more paid and free writing contests in 2024. If you’d like us to look for some specific types of contests, feel free to let us know in the comments! As providers of expert self-publishing services , it’s our duty to help you out and we take it very seriously!

Want to stick around and read more about writing? Here are some articles to begin with:

• What Is Show, Don’t Tell? (Meaning, Examples & 6 Tips)
• How to Write a Book Review (Meaning, Tips & Examples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible to participate in writing contests, can i submit previously published work to writing contests, what genres are typically covered in free writing competitions, where can i get updates on the results of the contest, what are the submission guidelines for free writing contests.

Found this article helpful?

11 comments on “ Writing Contests 2024: Cash Prizes & Free Entries! ”

Thank you for this list. I will try a few.

Please, keep me updated on single poetry contests. Because I have not written enough for a book as of yet!

We’ll keep updating the list.

i liked your list!

Greatly appreciated

This is a fantastic list! 🙂 What is the best way to submit a contest to the list?

Thanks Alex, You can check the contest submission guidelines on the website. Keep reading for the upcoming writing contests!

It is awesome!

Thank you for the list 😉 Great opportunity to get my feet wet; I will try a couple

Thank you to give opportunity to teenagers.

Cool paper true 👍

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$25,000 for the best essays on global problems.

Pivotal is an essay competition for high school students with world-class judges and no entry fee.

Get notified for future events and opportunities.

Essay questions that get you closer to changing the world..

Our questions are inspired by research conducted at Oxford University's Global Priorities Institute . We are excited to be partnering with them to judge your essays.

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We will award prizes worth a total of $25,000 for the top three entrants, along with access to the Pivotal Library for the top 50 finalists.

$15,000 — 1st place $7,000 — 2nd place $3,000 — 3rd place

$25,000 in prizes for the best essays.

of the participants will be invited to the Pivotal Circle.

Join the Pivotal Circle, a community of exceptional students.

Up to 10 books

for each finalist (top 50).

You will be able to choose 10 physical books that we'll ship to you for free from the Pivotal Library, a curated collection of books.

Pivotal is a prime opportunity for students to showcase their critical and creative thinking. I expect that it will help set up students on a trajectory to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

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Essay Papers Writing Online

Engaging in competitive essay writing – how to excel in essay writing competitions.

Essay writing competitions can be a great opportunity to showcase your writing skills and win accolades for your creativity and thoughtfulness. Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting out, competition can be fierce, so it’s vital to have a winning strategy in place.

In this article, we will discuss top tips and strategies that can help you stand out from the competition and increase your chances of winning essay writing competitions.

From identifying the right competition to crafting a compelling thesis statement and polishing your final draft, there are several key steps you can take to improve your chances of emerging victorious. Let’s dive into these tips and strategies to help you succeed in essay writing competitions!

Prepare Your Essay

1. Understand the topic: Before you start writing your essay, make sure you completely understand the topic. Research and gather relevant information to build a strong foundation for your argument.

2. Develop a clear thesis statement: Your thesis statement should clearly convey the main point of your essay. It will serve as the guiding principle for the rest of your writing.

3. Create an outline: Organize your thoughts and arguments by creating an outline. This will help you structure your essay in a logical and coherent manner.

4. Write a compelling introduction: Start your essay with a compelling introduction that captures the reader’s attention and clearly presents your thesis statement.

5. Support your arguments with evidence: Back up your arguments with reliable evidence, examples, and research. This will strengthen your essay and make your points more convincing.

6. Craft a strong conclusion: End your essay with a strong conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your thesis statement. Leave a lasting impression on the reader.

7. Edit and revise: Once you have completed your essay, take the time to edit and revise it. Check for spelling and grammatical errors, ensure your arguments flow smoothly, and make any necessary revisions to improve clarity and coherence.

Research Your Topic

One of the most important steps in preparing for an essay writing competition is to thoroughly research your topic. Ensure that you understand the key concepts, arguments, and perspectives related to the subject matter. Use credible sources such as academic journals, books, and reputable websites to gather information and support your arguments.

Understand the Competition Guidelines

One essential aspect of winning essay writing competitions is understanding the competition guidelines. Before you start writing your essay, carefully read and follow the rules and requirements provided by the competition organizers. Pay attention to the word count, topic restrictions, formatting guidelines, submission deadlines, and any other specific instructions.

By familiarizing yourself with the competition guidelines, you can ensure that your essay meets all the necessary criteria for consideration. Failure to adhere to the rules could result in disqualification, so it is crucial to read and understand the guidelines thoroughly before you begin your writing process.

Develop Your Writing Skills

Improving your writing skills is essential if you want to succeed in essay writing competitions. Here are some tips to help you develop your writing skills:

• Read extensively: Reading a variety of books, articles, and essays can help you improve your writing style and vocabulary.
• Practice writing regularly: The more you write, the better you will become. Set aside time each day to write and experiment with different writing techniques.
• Seek feedback: Ask teachers, peers, or writing professionals to provide feedback on your writing. Constructive criticism can help you identify areas for improvement.
• Study grammar and punctuation: Understanding the rules of grammar and punctuation is crucial for producing high-quality writing. Take the time to study these rules and apply them to your writing.
• Learn from successful writers: Study the works of successful writers and analyze their writing techniques. Try to incorporate some of these techniques into your own writing.

Practice Regularly

One of the key ways to improve your essay writing skills and increase your chances of winning competitions is to practice regularly. Writing is a skill that improves with practice, so make time each day to write essays, articles, or even short stories. Set aside dedicated time to work on your writing, and challenge yourself to explore different topics and styles.

By practicing regularly, you’ll not only improve your writing technique but also build confidence in your abilities. This confidence will show in your competition entries and set you apart from other participants. Remember, practice makes perfect, so the more you write, the better you’ll become.

Seek Feedback and Editing

Getting feedback on your essay is crucial to improving it and making it stand out in competitions. Don’t be afraid to ask teachers, peers, or writing tutors to review your work and provide constructive criticism.

Consider joining a writing group or workshop where you can share your essay and receive feedback from other writers. This can help you identify weak points in your argument or areas where you can improve your writing style.

After receiving feedback, be open to making edits and revisions. Polish your essay by fixing grammar and punctuation errors, tightening up your arguments, and ensuring your ideas flow logically and cohesively.

Remember, the more eyes you have on your essay, the better it will become. Don’t hesitate to seek feedback and editing to make your essay the best it can be.

Hook Your Readers

One of the most important aspects of winning an essay writing competition is grabbing the reader’s attention right from the start. Your introduction should be compelling and draw the reader in, making them want to continue reading. Here are some effective ways to hook your readers:

• Start with a powerful quote: Using a thought-provoking quote at the beginning can set the tone for your essay and intrigue your readers.
• Pose a question: Asking a question can engage your readers and make them curious to find out the answer, encouraging them to keep reading.
• Provide a shocking statistic: Sharing a surprising statistic can capture your readers’ interest and make them want to learn more about the topic.
• Share a personal anecdote: Connecting with your readers on a personal level by sharing a relevant anecdote can make your essay more relatable and engaging.
• Use descriptive imagery: Painting a vivid picture with descriptive language can transport your readers into the world you’re describing, making them more invested in your essay.

By hooking your readers from the beginning, you set the stage for a captivating essay that will leave a lasting impression on the judges of the competition.

State Your Thesis Clearly

One of the most important aspects of winning an essay writing competition is to state your thesis clearly in the introductory paragraph. Your thesis is the main argument or point you will be making in your essay, and it serves as the foundation for your entire piece. Make sure your thesis is specific, debatable, and concise. Avoid vague statements and ensure that your thesis directly addresses the prompt provided for the competition.

Tip: Your thesis should be strong and compelling, drawing the reader in and establishing the purpose of your essay from the start. It should be clear enough that your reader can easily understand what you will be arguing throughout the rest of your essay.

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HIR Academic Writing Contest

The Harvard International Review is a quarterly magazine offering insight on international affairs from the perspectives of scholars, leaders, and policymakers. Since our founding in 1979, we've set out to bridge the worlds of academia and policy through outstanding writing and editorial selection.

The quality of our content is unparalleled. Each issue of the Harvard International Review includes exclusive interviews and editorials by leading international figures along with expert staff analysis of critical international issues. We have featured commentary by 43 Presidents and Prime Ministers, 4 Secretaries-General, 4 Nobel Economics Prize laureates, and 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

The Contest

Inspired by our growing high school readership around the world, we have run the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest since 2020 to encourage and highlight outstanding high school writing on topics related to international affairs.

Contest Format

Participants in the contest submit a short-form article on a topic in international affairs. Each submission will be read and scored by the Harvard International Review .

A number of contestants will be selected as finalists, who are invited to participate in a virtual HIR Defense Day. At the Defense Day, students will have the opportunity to give a 15-minute presentation and oral defense to Harvard International Review judges.

Submission Guidelines

All submissions must adhere to the following requirements, as outlined in the Submission Guide below.

Participants will have a choice of two different themes and must note which prompt they have chosen at the top of their submissions.

Theme A: Inequalities in a VUCA World

Theme B: Global Challenges and Collective Actions

Contestants may choose either topic above when writing the article.

Content: Articles should address a topic related to international affairs today. Potential categories include (but are not limited to): Agriculture, Business, Cybersecurity, Defense, Education, Employment & Immigration, Energy & Environment, Finance & Economy, Public Health, Science & Technology, Space, Trade, and Transportation. Articles should examine the theme from a global perspective rather than focusing on the United States.

Length: Articles should be at least 800 words but not exceed 1,200 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, or authorship declaration).

Writing Style: Submissions should present an analytically backed perspective on an under-appreciated global topic.  

AI Policy : The usage of ChatGPT is prohibited. Judges will be running all articles through multiple AI checkers, and articles that receive high AI generation scores across multiple checkers will be disqualified.

Excellent contest submissions will aim to present a topic holistically from a balanced perspective. Evidence and nuance are critical. Submissions should be well-researched, well-informed, and formal in style and prose.

The HIR does not accept op-eds , otherwise known as editorials or opinion pieces for its competition. Articles are expected to have a thesis but should not have an agenda. Submissions should also not be merely a collection of facts.

As a journalist organization, we ask that submissions follow AP Style's newest edition . We also ask that submissions are culturally sensitive, fact-checked, and respectful.

Examples of pieces that would be considered excellent submissions are below.

Citation and Sources : All factual claims must be backed by a citation from a reliable source. All ideas that are not your own must be properly attributed. Citations should be made via hyperlinks. Non-digital sources are welcome but must be cited properly as per AP Style . See the examples above for examples of using hyperlinks for citations.

Click Here: Submission Guide

Contest dates.

There are three distinct submission cycles for the 2024 Contest.

Please note that contestants are requested to register and pay before becoming eligible to submit their articles prior to the submission deadline.  

Admissions are done on a rolling basis! Capacity is limited.

Spring 2024

Article Submission Deadline: May 31, 2024

HIR Defense Day: June 29, 2024

Summer 2024

Article Submission Deadline: August 31, 2024

HIR Defense Day: October 5, 2024

Fall 2024 / Winter 2024

Article Submission Deadline: January 2, 2025

HIR Defense Day: February 5, 2025

Contest Prizes

All submissions will receive a score from the Harvard International Review based on the Evaluation Rubric described in the Submission Guide. Contestants that receive a passing score without qualifying for a HIR Defense Day will receive individual prizes. Finalists will be eligible for the following Gold/Silver/Bronze medals based on their scores and performance in the HIR Defense Day.

Commendation Prize: HIR Certificate

Outstanding Writing Content / Style Prize : HIR Certificate

High Commendation Prize : HIR Certificate

Bronze Medal : HIR Certificate and name listed on website (global top 20 percent)

Silver Medal: HIR Certificate and name listed on website (global top 10 percent)

Gold Medal: HIR Certificate and name listed on website (global top three percent)

All scoring and prize decisions are final. The contest will not be able to provide additional detail beyond the scores provided by HIR graders. All contestants who manage to submit their articles will receive a certificate of completion.

Contest Eligibility:

United States

Students are eligible if they are in grades nine through twelve in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, or if they are U.S. citizens/lawful permanent residents attending high school overseas.

International

Students in countries outside of the United States (grades 9-12) are also welcome to submit. Submissions are expected to be written in English and with traditional American spelling. For more information on submissions in your country, please contact [email protected]

Register Here

stages open to all current full-time registered students in an undergraduate architecture degree program, undergraduates majoring in architecture, or diploma students in accredited schools of architecture worldwide. 25,000USD Purse. The Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Design Excellence endowment was established in the Department of Architecture at the   College of Environmental Design to promote the investigation of architecture as a social art. Each year the Prize Committee selects a topic important to the understanding of the interaction of people and the built world that becomes the focus of the Essay Competition.  The Committee poses a Question on this website related to the topic. Students enrolled in any accredited undergraduate architecture program or diploma in architecture program throughout the world are invited to submit a 500-word essay proposal in English responding to the Question.  Qualified students may also team up with undergraduates from allied arts and social sciences programs and submit proposals in teams of two. (For specific yearly requirements see the page).  From the pool of essay proposals received, approximately 25-28 are selected by the Prize Committee as particularly promising. The selected student teams become Semifinalists. These Semifinalists are invited to submit a 2,500-word essay, again in English, expanding on their proposals. A group of readers, composed of the Prize Committee members selects five-to-eight of the best essays and sends these Finalist essays to a jury of international academics and architects to select the winners. At the conclusion of the Essay Competition submittals, all Semifinalists are also invited to submit a proposal for a BERKELEY PRIZE summer Fellowship. This year, the opportunity is a Community Service Fellowship. Details for this Fellowship, now in its second year, will be announced in early 2022.  Are you in need of assistance? Please email .

) project. "Sleep on ( ) Photo credit: Michael Stirnemann project. "The two built-in platforms contain numerous storage compartments for personal belongings." ( ) project. "The Kitchen"  ( ) ) Photo credit: ©Bruce Damonte.from DBArchitect.com. ) Photo credit: ©Bruce Damonte from DBArchitect.com. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )   (Photo by Alp Galip for Designboom.com) ) ) ) ) ) Photo credit: Chris Luker from DBArchitect.com. ) Photo credit: Chris Luker from DBArchitect.com. ) ) Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests Through 2024 Regardless where you are on your writing journey, you can benefit from entering contests. The right contest can tell you: Where you stand How you measure up against the competition What you still need to learn And you could win cash. That’s why my team researched a wide range of high-quality contests. We’ve included free competitions and also many with modest entry fees. Short Story Writing Contests Full Manuscript Writing Contests Poetry Writing Contests Great American Fiction Contest Prize: 1st: $1,000, publication in The Saturday Evening Post Runners-up (5): $200 Entry Fee: $10 Deadline: TBD 2024 (Annual Contest) Sponsor: The Saturday Evening Post From Website: “Unpublished short stories of 1,500 to 5,000 words in any genre touching on the publication’s mission, “Celebrating America—past, present, and future.” No extreme profanity or graphic sex. Work published on a personal website or blog is still eligible.” SiWC Writing Contest Prize: 1st: $1,000 plus publication Honorable Mention: $150 Entry Fee: $15 Deadline: September 15, 2024 Sponsor: Surrey International Writers’ Conference From Website: “Short stories in any genre must be 2,500-4,000 words. All submissions must contain original material and may not have been previously published, accepted for publication, or have been a winner in another contest prior to the deadline.” WOW / Women On Writing Quarterly Flash Fiction Competition Prize: 1st: $400, $25 Amazon gift certificate 2nd: $300, $25 Amazon gift certificate 3rd: $200, $25 Amazon gift certificate Runners-up (7): $25 Amazon gift certificate Honorable mentions (10): $20 Amazon gift certificate Entry Fee: $10 (or $20 with feedback) Deadline: Quarterly (next deadline February 2, 2024) Sponsor: WOW / Women On Writing From Website: “Runs four times a year and is open to all styles and genres. Closes each quarter after 300 entries have been received, or at the deadline. WOW also runs a quarterly nonfiction essay competition with cash prizes.” Bristol Short Story Prize Prize: 1st: £1,000 (~$1,242) 2nd: £500 (~$621) 3rd: £250 (~$310) Shortlisted (17): £100 (~$124) Entry Fee: £9 (~$11) Deadline: TBD 2024 Sponsor: Bristol Short Story Prize From Website: “Open to all published and unpublished writers 16 and up. No geographical restriction, but all entries must be in English. Maximum length 4,000 words (not including title). No minimum length. Stories can be on any subject.” Aesthetica Creative Writing Award Prize: £2,500 (~$3,105) Winners also receive further non-monetary prizes including publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual. Entry Fee: £18 (~$22) (Poetry Category entry fee is ~$15)  Deadline: August 31, 2024 Sponsor: Aesthetica Magazine From Website: “Fiction entries should be no more than 2,000 words. Works published or entered elsewhere are accepted. Any theme accepted. You may enter as many times as you wish, however, each work requires a separate fee and submission form.” The Lascaux Prize Prize: $1,000 Finalists receive $100 Deadline: June 20, 2024 Sponsor: The Lascaux Review “Flash Fiction and Creative Nonfiction categories.  Flash fiction entries should not exceed 1,000 words. All genres and styles welcome.  From Website: “Creative nonfiction entry length must not exceed 10,000 words. All topics welcome but should be written in a nonacademic style. May include memoirs, chronicles, personal essays, humorous perspectives, literary journalism—anything the author has witnessed, experienced, learned, or discovered.” The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize Prize: First place: £3,000 cash grant (~$3,726) Second place: £1,000 travel expense (~$1,242) Third place: £1,000 travel expense (~$1,242) Entry Fee: Free Deadline: March 1, 2024 Sponsor: The Alpine Fellowship From Website: “Entries must fit the annual theme. Maximum of 2,500 words. All genres of writing are permitted, including fiction, non-fiction, and non-academic essays. Open to all nationalities but must be written in English. Stories must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online. No entries that have won or been placed in another competition at any time.” ServiceScape Short Story Award Deadline: November 29, 2024 Sponsor: ServiceScape From Website: “All entries must be original, unpublished works of short fiction or nonfiction, up to 5,000 words in length. Any genre or theme accepted.” Bacopa Literary Review Contest Prize: $200 Award  $100 Honorable Mention in each of six categories Sponsor: The Writers Alliance of Gainesville From Website: “Awards in 6 categories (contestants may submit to only ONE category). Fiction (up to 2,500 words), Creative Nonfiction (up to 2,500 words), Humor (up to 2,000 words), Formal Poetry (1-3 poems), Free Verse Poetry (1-2 poems), Visual Poetry (1 poem).” Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award Prize: $.08 per word and publication Deadline: February 1, 2024 Sponsor: National Space Society and Baen Books From Website: “Write a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration. What they want to see: Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, realistic spacecraft, heroics, sacrifice, and adventure.” Parsec Short Story Contest Prize: First place: $200 and publication in the Confluence program book.  Second place: $100  Third place: $50  Best Youth Story: $50 Deadline: March 31st, 2024 Sponsor: Parsec, Inc. From Website: “Each annual contest is based on a theme provided. This can be conveyed in the setting, plot, characters, and dialogue; the only limit is your imagination. The theme must be integral to the story in some way and not just mentioned in passing. No minimum word count, no more than 3500 words. The 2024 Contest theme is ‘AI mythology.’”  The Raymond Carver Short Story Contest Prize: First place: $2000  Second place: $500  Third place: $250  Two Editor’s Choice: $125 Entry Fee: $18 Deadline: May 15, 2024 Sponsor: Carve Magazine From Website: “One short story per entry. No limit to entries. Must be previously unpublished (including online) with a 10,000 maximum word count. We accept entries from anywhere in the world, but the story must be English-language. No genre fiction (romance, horror, sci-fi); literary fiction only.” Blurred Genres Flash Contest Prize: First Place: $750  Second Place: $350  Third Place: $150  Publication of Top Five Sponsor: Invisible City (University of San Francisco) From Website: “Based on a theme (for example last year’s theme was “Levity”) that can be interpreted through prose, poetry, or some combination of the two. All genres and themes are welcome. Contest submissions must be 750 words or less and can be flash fiction/nonfiction, prose poetry, or some unique combination of the three. Submissions must be the original work of the submitter and unpublished (and not slated for future publication).” Imagine 2200: Write the future Prize: First Place: $3,000 Second Place: $2,000  Third Place: $1,000 An additional nine finalists will each receive $300  All winners and finalists will have their stories published in an immersive collection on Grist’s website Sponsor: Grist From Website: “Imagine 2200 is an invitation to writers from all over the globe to imagine a future in which solutions to the climate crisis flourish and help bring about radical improvements to our world. 3,000 to 5,000 word stories envisioning a world where we prioritize our well-being, work to mend our communities, and lead lives that celebrate our humanity.” The Elegant Literature Award For New Writers Prize: First place: $3,000 and 10c/word and publication. Free enrollment in the New Novelist Accelerator. Second – Tenth: 10c/word and publication. Eleventh – Thirty-fifth: $20 and an honorable mention in the magazine Entry Fee: Requires Elegant+ Membership ($9.99 a month) Deadline: Ongoing (monthly) Sponsor: Elegant Literature Magazine From Website: “Write a story involving annual theme. New or unpublished authors may enter. Word count is 500-2000. All genres are welcome as long as it involves the theme.” F(r)iction Contests Prize: $300.00 and consideration for publication in F(r)iction Entry Fee: $10 for a single entry, $12 for three entries Deadline: April 30, 2024 Sponsor: F(r)iction From Website: “Competitions in several categories, short stories (1,001 – 7,500 words), flash fiction (up to 1,000 words), and Poetry (up to three pages per poem). Entries are accepted regardless of genre, style, or origin. Experimental, nontraditional, and boundary-pushing literature is strongly encouraged. Their guidelines include the phrase ‘Strange is good.’” Manchester Fiction Prize Prize: £10,000 (~$12,420) Entry Fee: £18 (~$22)  100 reduced-price (£10 or ~$13) entries are available to entrants who might not otherwise be able to take part in the competition. Sponsor: Manchester Metropolitan University From Website: “The Manchester Fiction Prize asks for a short story of up to 2,500 words in length. Stories submitted should be new work, not previously published elsewhere. The Prize is open internationally to those aged 16 or over.”   Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition Prize: Grand Prize $5000, an interview with them in Writer’s Digest (Nov/Dec 2023 issue) and on WritersDigest.com, a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, including a special trophy presentation at the keynote, a coveted Pitch Slam slot at the Writer’s Digest Conference where the winner will receive one on one attention from editors or agents, and publication of their winning piece on WritersDigest.com First Place: $1,000 and publication of their winning piece on WritersDigest.com Second Place: $500  Third Place: $250  Fourth Place: $100  Fifth Place: $50  Sixth through Tenth Place: $25 gift certificate for writersdigestshop.com. Entry Fee: $20-30 (varies depending on category) Deadline: May 6, 2024  Sponsor: Writer’s Digest From Website: “Only original works that have not been published (at the time of submission) in print, digital, or online publications will be considered. Self-published work in blogs, on social media, etc. will be considered. For the script category, only unproduced scripts will be considered. Entries in the Nonfiction Essay or Article category may be previously published. All entries must be in English. Memoirs/Personal Essay, Nonfiction Essay or Article, and Children’s/Young Adult Fiction: 2,000 words maximum. Mainstream/Literary Short Story, Genre Short, Story, and Humor: 4,000 words maximum. Inspirational Writing: 2,500 words maximum. Rhyming Poem and Non-rhyming Poem: 40 lines maximum.” Emerging Writer’s Contest Prize: Publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres Entry Fee: Free for subscribers to Ploughshares, $24 for nonsubscribers Sponsor: Ploughshares (Emerson College) From Website: “The contest is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book. Fiction and Nonfiction: Under 6,000 words. Poetry: 3-5 pages.” Wells Festival of Literature Short Story Competition Prize: First Place £750 (~$932) Second Place £300 (~$373) Third Place: £200 (~$248) Entry Fee: £6 (~$8) Sponsor: Wells Festival of Literature From Website: “Stories may be on any subject and should be between 1,000 and 2,000 words. All entries must be the exclusive and original work of the entrant. At the time of entry, the work submitted must not have been entered into any other Competition and must not have been published in any format or location.” Anthology Short Story Competition Prize: First Place: €1,000 (~$1098), the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology, and a one-year subscription to Anthology  Second Place: €250 (~$275) Third Place: €150 (~$165) Entry Fee: Early Bird: €12 (~$13) Standard fee: €18 (~$20) Deadline: July 31, 2024 Sponsor: Anthology Publishing From Website: “Established to recognize and encourage creative writing and provide a platform for publication, the Anthology Short Story Competition is open to original and previously unpublished short stories in the English language by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. There is no restriction on theme or style. Stories submitted must not exceed the maximum of 1,500 words.”  The Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize Prize: £1,000 (~$1,246) and publication in Wasafiri’s print magazine Entry Fee: £10 (~$12) for a single entry, £16 (~$20) for a double entry Sponsor: Wasafiri Magazine  From Website: “Exceptionally international in scope, the prize supports writers who have not yet published a book-length work, with no limits on age, gender, nationality, or background. No entry may exceed 3,000 words. A single poetry entry can include up to three poems, which together total no more than 3,000 words.” 2024 Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize Prize: $1000 and a free 10-week course with Gotham Writers Entry Fee: $25 Sponsor: Gotham Writers and Selected Shorts From Website: “This long-running series at Symphony Space in New York City celebrates the art of the short story by having stars of stage and screen read aloud the works of established and emerging writers. Selected Shorts is recorded for Public Radio and heard nationally on both the radio and its weekly podcast.” Robert and Adele Schiff Awards Prize: $1,000 All entries will be considered for publication in The Cincinnati Review Entry Fee: $20 Sponsor: The Cincinnati Review (University of Cincinnati) From Website: “Writers may submit up to 8 pages of poetry, 40 pages of a single double-spaced piece of fiction, or 20 pages of a single double-spaced piece of literary nonfiction, per entry. Previously published manuscripts, including works that have appeared online (in any form), will not be considered. There are no restrictions as to form, style, or content; all entries will be considered for publication. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable under the condition that you notify us if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.”  Salamander 2024 Fiction Prize Prize: First Place: $1,000 and Publication  Second Place: $500 and Publication Deadline: TBD 2024  Sponsor: Salamander Magazine From Website: “All entries will be considered for publication and will be judged anonymously. Each story must not exceed 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point font. Previously published works and works accepted for publication elsewhere cannot be considered. Salamander’s definition of publishing includes electronic publication.” BOA Short Fiction Prize Prize: $1,000 and publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. Deadline: May 31, 2024 Sponsor: BOA Editions, Ltd. From Website: “Entrants must be U.S. citizens, legal residents of the U.S., or have Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) status, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or Legal Permanent Status (LPS). Entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Minimum of 90 pages; maximum of 200 pages. Manuscript text should be at least 12 pt. font, double-spaced. As with all BOA fiction titles, our prize-winning short story collections are more concerned with the artfulness of writing than the twists and turns of plot. It is our belief that short story writing is a valuable and underserved literary form that we are proud to support, nurture, and celebrate.” Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest Prize: First Place: $3,000  Entry Fee: $22 Deadline: May 1, 2024 Sponsor: Winning Writers (Co-sponsored by Duotrope) From Website: “For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. All themes accepted. Entries may be published or unpublished. Length limit: 6,000 words maximum. No restriction on the age of the author.” Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction Prize: $1,333 Deadline: November 1, 2024 Sponsor: Reed Magazine From Website: “C reative nonfiction, such as personal essays or narratives, not scholarly papers or book reviews. All works should be stand-alone essays, not chapters of a longer work. Previously published work is not eligible. Up to 5,000 words.” 53-Word Story Contest Prize: Publication in Prime Number Magazine and a free book from Press 53. Deadline: Ongoing. 15th of each month Sponsor: Prime Number Magazine From Website: “New prompt each month. Judges are looking for stories with a surprising approach to the prompt, something unusual and creative. Stories must be 53 words—no more, no less. Stories with fewer than or more than 53 words will be disqualified. Send only stories; poetry with line breaks will not be considered.” Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction Prizes: Three Winners are announced who are published and share in the $1000 USD total prize pool. Twenty writers are Longlisted. All entries considered for publication, and for submission to the Pushcart Prize and other anthologies. Deadline: Awarded every two months Sponsor: Letter Review From Website: “Word Length: 0 – 5000 words. Open to anyone in the world. There are no genre or theme restrictions.” Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction Entry Fee: $20. From Website: “0 – 5000 words. Open to anyone in the world. We welcome all forms of nonfiction including: Memoir, journalism, essay (including personal essay), fictocriticism, creative nonfiction, travel, nature, opinion, and many other permutations.” University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize Prize: $10,000 advance on royalties and a contract to publish with the University of New Orleans Press Entry Fee: $28 Sponsor: University of New Orleans From Website: “Entries must be unpublished novels or short story collections. The work does not have to be regionally focused. There is no word limit. There is no restriction on subjects covered. The contest is open to all authors from around the world, regardless of publishing history.  Works of fiction (novels and short story collections) only. Submissions must be your entire manuscript.” The Bath Novel Awards  Prize: Two £3,000 (~$3738) prizes are awarded annually for the best manuscript as judged by literary agents All shortlistees win feedback on their full manuscript. Entry Fee: £29 (~$36) Deadline: May 31st 2024 Sponsor: The Bath Novel Award (co-sponsored by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and Professional Writing Academy) From Website: “Submit the opening 5,000 words plus one-page synopsis of novel manuscripts for adults or young adults. Completed works must be over 50,000 words. Novels can be for adult or young adult readers and any genre. Must be your original work and submitted in English. Novels can be unpublished, self-published, or independently published.” The Times/Chicken House Competition Prize:  First Place: worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House with a royalty advance of £10,000 (~$12,459), plus an offer of representation by this year’s agent judge, Davinia Andrew-Lynch of Curtis Brown.  Second Place: Lime Pictures New Storyteller Award. A publishing contract with a royalty advance of £7,500 (~$9,344) plus an offer of representation by Davinia Andrew-Lynch. Entry Fee: £20 (~$25) Deadline: June 1, 2024 Sponsor: The Times and Chicken House  From Website: “To enter, you must have written a completed full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged somewhere between 7 and 18 years. A minimum of 30,000 words and a maximum of 80,000 words suggested.” The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction Prize: $5,000 advance and publication by Dzanc Books Deadline: September 30, 2024 Sponsor: Dzanc Books From Website: “The Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction recognizes daring, original, and innovative novels (generally over 40,000 words, but there is no hard minimum). The contest is open to new, upcoming, and established writers alike. Agented submissions are also eligible, and we ask that you include all agency contact information with the application. All submitted works must be previously unpublished novel-length manuscripts and should include a brief synopsis, author bio, and contact information.” Claymore Award Prize: Discounted admission to Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference, with introductions to agents/editors (And probably publishing contract) Entry Fee: $45 (Full critique included for $125) Deadline: April 1, 2024 Sponsor: Killer Nashville From Website: “The contest is limited to only the first 50 double-spaced pages of unpublished English-language manuscripts containing elements of thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense NOT currently under contract. These can include Action Adventure, Comedy, Cozy, Historical, Investigator, Juvenile/YA, Literary, Mainstream/Commercial, Mystery, Nonfiction, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Short Story Collections, Southern Gothic, Supernatural, Suspense, Thriller, and Western manuscripts, and any of their derivatives. (Self-published manuscripts are considered already published and are not eligible.)” St. Martin’s Minotaur / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition Prize: Publication and a $10,000 advance Sponsor: Minotaur Books and Mystery Writers of America From Website: “Open to any writer, regardless of nationality, aged 18 or older, who has never been the author of any published novel and is not under contract with a publisher for publication of a novel. All Manuscripts submitted must be original works of book length (no less than 220 typewritten pages or approximately 60,000 words), written in the English language, written solely by the entrant, and must not violate any right of any third party or be libelous. Murder or another serious crime is at the heart of the story.” The Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing Prize: $10,000 advance and publication Sponsor: Restless Books From Website: “Created in 2015 to honor outstanding debut literary works by first-generation immigrants, awarded for fiction and nonfiction in alternating years. Fiction manuscripts must be complete. Nonfiction submissions must consist of either a complete manuscript or a sample of at least 25,000 words and a detailed proposal that includes a synopsis and an annotated table of contents. All submissions must be in English (translations welcome). Fiction candidates must not have previously published a book of fiction in English. Nonfiction candidates must not have previously published a book of nonfiction in English.” New American Fiction Prize Prize: $1,500 and a book contract, as well as 25 author’s copies and promotional support Deadline: January 15, 2024 Sponsor: New American Press From Website: “Manuscripts should be at least 100 pages, but there is no maximum length. All forms and styles of full-length fiction manuscripts are welcome, including story collections, novels, novellas, collections of novellas, flash fiction collections, novels in verse, and other hybrid forms.” Your Next Best Read Prize: First Place (Fiction & Nonfiction): $100 Cash Price, 6-month Advertising Package, Press Release, Editorial Review, Newsletter Announcement, Promotional Creatives Second Place Awards (Fiction & Nonfiction): 6-month Advertising Package, Editorial Review, Newsletter Announcement Third Place (Fiction & Nonfiction): 3-month Advertising Package, Editorial Review, Newsletter Announcement Deadline: May 5, 2024 Sponsor: Excalibre Publishing From Website: “ The contest is open to writers of all backgrounds, ages, and nationalities. Both published and unpublished works are welcome. We encourage submissions in various/ALL genres –  fiction, non-fiction, poetry (submit in nonfiction), and short stories. No specific wordcount requiered. Submissions must be in English.” Letter Review Prize for Manuscripts Prizes: Three Winners are announced who have a brief extract published, receive a letter of recommendation from our Judges for publishers, and share in the $1000 USD total prize pool. Twenty writers are Longlisted. Entry Fee: $25. Deadline: Awarded Every two months From Website: “Please submit the first 5000 words of your manuscript, whether it be prose or poetry. Open to anyone in the world. The entry must not have been traditionally published. We are seeking all varieties of novels, short story collections, nonfiction, and poetry collections. We will accept manuscripts which are unpublished, self published, and some which are indie published. Review full entry guidelines for further details.” 2nd place in fiction & non-fiction $750 cash prize and trophy 3rd place in fiction & non-fiction $500 cash prize and trophy Winner of each of the 80+ categories $100 cash prize and gold medal Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize Prize: $2,500 plus publication Entry Fee: $30 Sponsor: Kent State University Press From Website: “Offered annually to a poet who has not previously published a full-length collection of poems. The winner and the competition’s judge will give a reading together on the Kent State campus. The competition is open to poets writing in English who have not yet published a full-length collection of poems (a volume of 50 or more pages published in an edition of 500 or more copies).” Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry Prize: $2,000 plus publication Sponsor: Lynx House Press From Website: “Awarded for an unpublished, full-length volume of poems by a U.S. author, which includes foreign nationals living and writing in the U.S. and U.S. citizens living abroad. Manuscripts may include poems that have appeared in journals, magazines, or chapbooks. Poems that have previously appeared in full-length, single-author collections, are not eligible.” Ó Bhéal Five Words International Poetry Competition Prize: First Place: €750 ($890)  Second Place: €500 ($590)  Third Place: €250 ($295) Entry Fee: €5 ($6) Deadline: Every Tuesday at 12pm (Irish time) from April 11, 2023 – January 30, 2024 Sponsor: Ó Bhéal From Website: “Five words will be posted on this competition page. Entrants will have one week to compose and submit one or more poems which include all five words given for that week. Entry is open to all countries. Poems cannot exceed 50 lines in length (including line breaks), and must include all five words listed for the week.” Letter Review Prize for Poetry Prizes: Three Winners are announced who are published and share in the $800 USD total prize pool. Twenty writers are Longlisted. All entries considered for publication, and for submission to the Pushcart Prize and other anthologies. Entry Fee: $15. From Website: “70 lines max per poem Open to anyone in the world. There are no style or subject restrictions.” Advice for Researching Writing Competitions This list includes only a few of the many writing contests you can find online. Here are some tips for looking into options on your own: 1. Narrow your search with details that are relevant to you, for example, “writing contests in Texas,” “writing contests for women authors,” or “writing contests for veterans.”  2. Be genre-specific. 3. Include the year in your search to ensure the most up-to-date results.  4. Carefully read the guidelines and eligibility requirements.  5. Pay attention to the contest sponsor. Only submit to reputable hosts.   Worried your writing isn’t quite ready to compete? Take my free writing assessment and see personalized guidance on how to improve your skills. https://jerryjenkins.com/quiz/ Are You Making This #1 Amateur Writing Mistake? Faith-Based Words and Phrases What You and I Can Learn From Patricia Raybon Before you go, be sure to grab my FREE guide: How to Write a Book: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Steps Just tell me where to send it: Enter your email to instantly access my ultimate 12-step guide to writing a novel. Share full article Advertisement Supported by Our 2024-25 Student Contest Calendar Ten challenges that invite teenagers to engage, experiment, reflect and create — via writing, photography, audio, video and more. By The Learning Network Our annual Contest Calendar is probably the single most powerful thing we publish all year. Teachers tell us they plan their classes around our challenges, and tens of thousands of teenagers around the globe participate by creating narratives, reviews, videos, opinion pieces, podcasts, illustrations, photo essays and more. For us, these contests are an honor and a joy to host. We love learning from young people — about what moves them and makes them mad, what intrigues and confuses and delights and defines them. This year, we are bringing back some recent and longtime favorites, as well as introducing a few new challenges. To begin, we have two options this fall in response to the U.S. election, though students around the globe are welcome. In September, we open with a series of special forums that invite teenagers to have thoughtful conversations about their civic and political identities, values and beliefs. Then, if they choose, they can work alone or with others to make something in response — whether in writing, video, audio or visual art. (Students can participate in one or both challenges, and we have a related invitation for educators .) In the spring, we’re offering “My List,” a twist on our long-running review contest. This time, students can choose any collection of three to five works of art or culture to group in some way and then tell us why we should — or shouldn’t — check them out. We’ll be posting the full rules and guidelines for each contest here when it opens. but for now you can look at the related resources we’ve provided, as well as last year’s rules, which will largely remain the same for our returning contests. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber?  Log in . Want all of The Times?  Subscribe . Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content A powerhouse of voices. A champion of different perspectives. A pipeline of talent. A POWERHOUSE OF VOICES. A CHAMPION OF DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES. A PIPELINE OF TALENT. This is Girls Write Now. Connect with us, writing contests & publication opportunities for youth. Girls Write Now is a dynamic, multi-generational community of writers on a mission. For more than 20 years, our nationally award-winning programs have provided creative, critical and digital writing training, college and career readiness, personalized mentoring and massive opportunities for the next generation of leaders. Know about a great writing contest for teens or young adults? Feel free to reach out to Kenna McCafferty at [email protected] . Girls Write Now Contests FIRST CHAPTERS CONTEST A Writing Contest in Partnership with Penguin Random House and Electric Lit Girls Write Now is proud to team up with Penguin Random House and Electric Lit for  an exciting opportunity to be published on the Electric Lit website and win a cash prize of $500! The First Chapters contest is part of Penguin Random House’s and Electric Lit’s commitment to support Girls Write Now in amplifying diverse voices. To qualify your first Chapter MUST: Be 4500 words or fewer NOT have been previously published in any medium NOT have been recognized with any prior awards Be submitted as a Google Doc via the form below  before   11:50PM ET on May 9, 2024 SELECT YOUTH CONTESTS The Alexandrian Review is an entirely student run international youth literary magazine and they are looking for submissions. To submit, applicants must be 10-20 years of age. The Alexandrian Review receives any submissions within their guidelines. While they do emphasize the theme of amplifying the voices of marginalized communities, they are happy to accept and provide feedback on any works. The submission window will be open from  April 7 – July 31.  Learn more about the submission requirements  here . Select Annual Contest Schedules Bennington’s Young Writers Awards exists to promote excellence in writing at the high school level. Included genres are poetry, fiction and nonfiction. A first, second, and third place winner is selected in each category. The details below can be found on their Submittable page at https://www.bennington.edu/events/young-writers-awards . Awards & Rules First-place winners in each category are awarded a prize of $1,000; second-place winners receive $500; third-place winners receive $250. There is no entry fee. All entries must be original work reviewed, approved and sponsored by a high school teacher. We will use your sponsoring teacher as a contact for the competition should we have any questions. For homeschooled students, please contact a mentor to sponsor your writing. Young Writers Award finalists and winners are also eligible for undergraduate scholarships at Bennington. YWA finalists who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $10,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $40,000. YWA winners who apply, are admitted, and enroll at Bennington will receive a $15,000 scholarship every year for four years, for a total of $60,000. Black Lawrence Press has annual awards and competitions for a variety of genres. The schedule below, as well as individual descriptions for each award, can be found on their Submittable page at https://blacklawrencepress.submittable.com/submit . The Big Moose Prize: Open December 1 – January 31 (Open competition, novels) The Hudson Prize: Open February 1 – March 31 (Open competition, poetry and short story collections) The Spring Black River Chapbook Competition : Open April 1 – May 31 (Open competition, poetry and prose chaps) Open Reading Period 1: Between June 1 – June 30 The St. Lawrence Book Award: Open July 1- August 31 (First book competition, poetry and short story collections) The Fall Black River Chapbook Competition: Open September 1 – October 31 (Open competition, poetry and prose chaps) Open Reading Period 2: Between November 1 – November 30 (Please note that Black Lawrence Press occasionally offers early bird specials on their contests. These specials allow authors to submit their manuscripts ahead of time at a discounted rate.) The American Writers Museum, John Estey Student Writing Competition, has opened its 4th annual student writing competition. To learn more, visit American Writers Museum PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMERGING WRITERS THE ADROIT JOURNAL  is run by high school students, college students, and emerging writers. Adroit publishes within “over 21” and “under 21” categories, so your writing will appear alongside great work by writers of any age. Adroit publishes fiction and poetry, and includes art and photography. They will reopen our submission reading period in January 2021. Find them online at:  http://www.theadroitjournal.org/ AFFINITY MAGAZINE works to spotlight teen voices about current events. We find that the media sometimes forgets the voices of teens on many topics! So we are here to give them a voice. Affinity Magazine allows you to get your writing published and read by thousands of people! You can get your work published and sharpen up on your writing so you can write for The New York Times one day (hopefully!!). For ages 13-20. Visit http://affinitymagazine.us/write-for-us/ for more information on all the different AGNI  is Boston University’s well-respected journal. It appears in both print and online. AGNI submissions are not limited to high school writers, but the journal is known to accept and publish lots of work by new writers. Get published in high school at AGNI and you’ve taken an important step to becoming a writer in the real world! Find them online at:  http://www.bu.edu/agni/submit.htm THE ALCOTT YOUTH MAGAZINE is a magazine devoted to sharing the written perspectives of young people. The magazine publishes work on a variety of topics, including current events, young adult life, and women’s rights issues. Published works are primarily focused on young women from ages thirteen to twenty-two. However, anyone who is interested in sharing their voice is encouraged to submit to the magazine, regardless of age or gender. The Alcott Youth Magazine is open to publishing articles, essays, short stories, illustrations, cartoons, photographs, or any other works. Visit https://www.alcottmagazine.com/submit THE AUDACITY is Roxanne Gay’s bi-monthly newsletter where she features emerging writers with fewer than three article/essay/short story publications and no published books or book contracts. The Audacity features only non-fiction and is particularly interested in literary essays and memoir. All essays are paid a flat fee of $2,000. For more information, visit https://gay.submittable.com/submit BLUE MARBLE publishes four times a year and accepts submissions of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, essays, opinion pieces, travel writing, photography and art on a rolling basis. Blue Marble looks for new work from writers ages 13-21 that hasn’t been published anywhere else either online or in print. For more details on how to submit your work, visit https://bluemarblereview.com/submit/ . DIALOGUE HUMANITIES is an online, biannual journal that publishes high quality, humanities-focused essays written by middle and high school students. Essays will be reviewed by a panel of experts in various humanities-based fields and will be chosen based on the strength of the writing, the author’s familiarity with his or her chosen topic, and the appropriateness of the essay’s content. Dialogue Humanities Review aims to include academic essays from a wide variety of fields, including but not limited to: African-American Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Archaeology; Art Criticism, History, and Theory; Classics; Ethics; Ethnic Studies; Folklore; Geography; History; History and Ethics of Science; International Studies; Jurisprudence; Languages and Linguistics; Literature; Music History and Criticism; Philosophy; Political Science; Psychology; Religion and Comparative Religion; Sociology; Social Sciences; Theatre History and Criticism; and Women’s Studies. If selected, authors will be asked to revise their essays to ready it for publication. Please visit http://dialoguehumanitiesreview.org/about/ or contact Jessica Rafferty at [email protected] for more information. ÉLAN LITERARY MAGAZINE accepts original fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, screenwriting, plays, and all kinds of art from students ages 14-18 in locations internationally. Élan produces two online editions a year, one in the Fall/Winter and another in the Spring/Summer. The two editions are combined into a single Print Edition each Summer. For more information on how to submit, visit: https://www.elanlitmag.com/submit . EMBER only publishes twice a year, but this beautiful and dreamy journal of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction appeals to all age groups. Although it doesn’t exclusively publish young writers, submissions from writers and artists ages 10 to 18 are strongly encouraged. Submissions open March 1, 2023 . For more details, visit them online at:  http://emberjournal.org/ . ENOUGH PLAYS is taking submissions from teen writers (ages 13-19) of 10-MIN PLAYS confronting the issue of gun violence. Six plays will be selected by a panel of astonishing writers to be published and performed nationwide and the writers will receive $500. Deadline for submissions is April 20, 2023 . Visit them online: https://www.enoughplays.com/amplify GIRLS RIGHT THE WORLD  is a literary journal inviting young, female-identified writers and artists, ages 14–21, to submit work for consideration for the fourth annual issue. They believe girls’ voices transform the world for the better. We accept poetry, prose, and visual art of any style or theme. Girls Right The World ask to be the first to publish your work in North America; after publication, the rights return to you. Please include a note mentioning your age, where you’re from, and a bit about your submission. Send your best work, in English or English translation, to [email protected] between September 1 and December 31.  HANGING LOOSE PRESS has had a section of high school writing in their issues since 1968. Hanging Loose has long been known for its special interest in new writers. This press reads manuscripts throughout the year, accepting poetry and prose. For more details on the submission process, visit https://www.hangingloosepress.com/submissions/ . HELLOGIGGLES a positive online community for female-identifying readers (although others are always welcome!) covering the latest in beauty and style, relationships, career and money, culture, identity, and more. Featuring a mix of news, personal essays, reported features, and service, we’re committed to providing our readers with smart, thoughtful, and relatable content representing a range of voices. We were founded by Zooey Deschanel, Molly McAleer, and Sophia Rossi in 2011 as a place on the Internet to inspire a smile, and years later, we’re still doing just that. Tor ages 14 and up. HOT DISH MAGAZINE , an online journal serving up a bubbling mixture of poetry and fiction by teens (grades 9–12), wants your voice to be heard! We award cash prizes for fiction, poetry, and the Hot Dish Challenge. Our submission period is October-January. Visit us at  www.hotdishmagazine.com .  The GOAT ( the-goat.org ) publishes student writing on everything sports related and is looking for new submissions. Students can email their writing pieces to me. No work is rejected, and editors provide any mentoring and editing necessary. Students will see their work online within weeks and can include the link on their college or summer school applications. ICE LOLLY REVIEW:  Ice Lolly Review accepts a variety of pieces including, creative nonfiction, fiction, haikus, poems, plays, spoken word, and etc. They are looking for pieces that have a strong, solid voice and aren’t afraid of delving into deep topics. For more details, go to  https://www.icelollyreview.com/submissions . jGIRLS   MAGAZINE:   jGirls Magazine accepts submissions on an ongoing basis from self-identifying Jewish teenage girls and gender-expansive youth ages 13-19. You can submit articles, essays, fiction, poetry, cultural reviews, humor, photographs, music, videos, artwork and other creative materials. You can submit as often as you’d like. For more details, visit  https://jgirlsmagazine.org/submission-guidelines/ . KIDSPIRIT is a nonprofit online magazine and community by and for youth to engage each other about life’s big questions in an open and inclusive spirit. Its mission is to promote mutual understanding among 11- to 17-year-olds of diverse backgrounds and support their development into world citizens with strong inner grounding. KidSpirit is in syndication on the Huffington Post and Spirituality & Practice and has won numerous awards from major educational, parenting, and spiritual organizations. Visit the Get Involved section to learn more about publishing your work, becoming an editor, or facilitating a conversation about one of the 50 themes KidSpirit contributors have explored: https://kidspiritonline.com/get-involved/ THE LUMIERE REVIEW is a literary magazine dedicated to shining the light on all voices through poetry, prose, and art. General submissions are now open. Submissions to the forthcoming Issue 08 of The Lumiere Review in poetry, prose (creative fiction and non-fiction), and all forms of art can be sent to [email protected] . Details on how to submit and format your work can be found at: https://lumierereview.com/submit . NARRATIVE MAGAZINE A prize of $2,500 and publication in Narrative is given annually for a short story, a short short story, an essay, a memoir, or an excerpt from a longer work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second-place prize of $1,000 is also awarded. The editors will judge. Using only the online submission system, submit up to 15,000 words of prose with a $27 entry fee by March 28. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines. Deadline, March 28, 2024 at midnight PST. POLYPHONY LIT:  invites submissions of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction from high school students worldwide. Student editors provide feedback to all submissions, including the ones not accepted for publication. Submissions are open from February 1-28, 2022 and June 1-30, 2022. More details can be found at  https://www.polyphonylit.org/. TEEN INK is one of the most popular and diverse writing spaces to get published in high school. The broad categories for publication reflect the diversity of writing that this lively online magazine celebrates. Some publication categories include: community service, travel and culture, the environment, health, reviews of TV shows and video games, and college essays, among the more traditional poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. Visit online at:  http://www.teenink.com THE TRAILBLAZER LITERARY MAGAZINE is an international high school publication dedicated to push for cultural diversity through creative writing. For general submissions, the magazine accepts fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction all year, from middle and high school students between 14 and 18 years old. In addition, they host the Cultural Heritage Writing Contest, which welcomes submissions about the young creatives’ cultural background, ancestry, values, customs, etc. Visit online at: https://www.thetrailblazerreview.com/ TRAVELNITCH was founded in 2018 to encourage a love of travel and make it more accessible to all families. Travelnitch believes travel has the power to changes lives, open minds, and build stronger communities. They love to feature new & aspiring travel writers who can delight and entertain readers. They currently need support developing family-centric travel content to engage kids (and sometimes parents) in fun and innovative ways.  If you are a writer who loves to travel, this could be the perfect fit for you—turn your own passion into an inspiring story for our readers! https://travelnitch.org/writers/storyteller-spotlight/ TYRIAN INK is an independent LGBTQIA+ press that is dedicated to uplifting youth voices. TYRIAN INK is currently open to chapbook manuscripts of any genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, hybrid, etc) with a minimum of 30 pages and a maximum of 50 pages in length. Please only submit if you are a member of the LGBTQ+ community and are 22 or below. Writers will be paid $250 for their manuscripts and receive a percent of royalties for every chapbook sold. https://tyrianinkpress.com/home/submission-guidelines/ WRITING RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS Hedgebrook’s mission is to support visionary women-identified writers,18 and older, whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. Writers must be women, which is inclusive of transgender women and female-identified individuals. Hedgebrook’s Writer-in-Residence Program supports writers from all over the world for fully-funded residencies of two to four weeks (travel is not included and is the responsibility of the writer to arrange and pay for). Up to 6 writers can be in residence at a time, each housed in their own handcrafted cottage. They spend their days in solitude – writing, reading, taking walks in the woods on the property or on nearby Double Bluff beach. In the evenings, “The Gathering” is a social time for residents to connect and share over their freshly prepared meals. Writers can apply here for a residency in Fiction, Non-fiction, Playwriting, Poetry, Screenwriting/TV Writing, or Songwriting. Read more and apply at https://www.hedgebrook.org/writers-in-residence. MacDowell’s mission is to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination. We encourage applications from artists representing the widest possible range of perspectives and demographics, and who are investigating an unlimited array of inquiries and concerns. MacDowell  is currently accepting applications for the Spring Summer 2023 residency season (March – August 2023). Learn more at https://macdowell.slideroom.com/#/Login. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a $8,000 unrestricted cash grant available to artists living in New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein. This grant is awarded in fifteen different disciplines over a three-year period (five categories a year) and the application is free to complete. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is not a project grant, but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, at all levels of their artistic development. Learn more at https://www.nyfa.org/awards-grants/artist-fellowships/ . Explore More College & Career Resources InternshipS FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS ScholarshipS FOR HIGH SCHOOL & COLLEGE STUDENTS Writing CONTESTS & PUBLICATIONS OPEN TO youth Girls Write Now For 25 years, Girls Write Now has been breaking down barriers of gender, race, age and poverty to mentor the next generation of writers and leaders who are impacting businesses, shaping culture and creating change. Thank you for joining our movement. Join the Community From mailing list to mentoring and more…, give write now, invest in the next generation of leaders. 247 West 37th Street, Suite 1000 New York, NY 10018 Law Schools Call for Papers The 2nd NLUO-CLS Essay Writing... The 2nd NLUO-CLS Essay Writing Competition [Submit By 10th September] Livelaw news network. 1 Aug 2024 8:08 AM GMT National Law University Odisha, Cuttack was established by Act 4 of 2008 by the Odisha State Legislature keeping in mind an enunciated vision of advancement of learning, teaching, research, diffusion of knowledge in the field of law and catering to the needs of society by developing the professional skills of those intending to take up the professions of Advocacy, Judicial Services, Legal services, and so on. The Constitutional Law Society (CLS) is one of NLUO's initiatives to promote study, research, and informed deliberation in constitutional law and allied subjects with a policy and application-oriented purpose. It was founded in 2018. Its mission is to facilitate discussions and research in constitutional law and related areas, focusing on practical applications. CLS NLUO provides a platform for intellectual discourse through rigorous scholarship, public lectures, seminars, independent research projects, conferences, and collaboration with like-minded individuals and institutions dedicated to constitutional studies. COMPETITION THEMES 1. India's Fiscal Federalism: Challenges and the Path Forward 2. Essence of Constitutional Scholarship in Good Governance 3. Privatizing the judicial system in conjunction with eliminating corruption. 4. Judicial Activism v. Judicial Legislation ELIGIBILITY Students pursuing Five-Year/Three-Year LLB Discipline Students pursuing One-Year/Two-Year LLM Discipline Students pursuing any other undergraduate or postgraduate law degree from any recognized university IMPORTANT DATES 1. Call for Submissions: August 1, 2024 2. Last Date for Registration: August 31, 2024 3. Last Date for Submission: September 10, 2024 4. Declaration of Results: October 10, 2024 REGISTRATION The registration fee is as follows: Single Authorship: ₹200 Co-Authorship: ₹300 After payment, kindly register your participation here . For submitting your manuscript after successful registration, please visit here . The competition offers attractive prizes for the winners, runners-up, and second runners-up, including: 1. Winners: INR 5,000 Cash Prize 2. Runners Up: INR 3,000 Cash Prize 3. Second Runners Up: INR 1,500 Cash Prize The top three winning entries will also be eligible for publication in the NLUO-CLS Blog . Further, all participants will be given certificates. For more information, please refer to the brochure Email: [email protected] Phone: +91 99036 98882 JOINT FORCE QUARTERLY 111 4 th  Quarter, October 2023 ESSAY COMPETITIONS SPECIAL FEATURE BOOK REVIEWS Winners of the 2023 Essay Competitions By NDU Press Joint Force Quarterly 111 Download PDF NDU Press and the NDU Foundation Congratulate the Winners of the 2023 Essay Competitions N DU Press hosted the final round of judging on May 11–12, 2023, during which 29 faculty judges from 17 participating professional military education (PME) institutions selected the best entries in each category. There were 95 submissions in this year’s three categories. First Place winners in each of the three categories appear in the following pages. Secretary of Defense National Security Essay Competition The 17 th annual competition was intended to stimulate new approaches to coordinated civilian and military action from a broad spectrum of civilian and military students. Essays address U.S. Government structure, policies, capabilities, resources, and/or practices and to provide creative, feasible ideas on how best to orchestrate the core competencies of our national security institution. 1 st Place Lieutenant Colonel Karl Scheuerman, ANG Eisenhower School “Weaponizing Wheat: How Strategic Competition with Russia Could Threaten American Food Security” 2 nd Place Lieutenant Colonel Bryony Slaughter, USSF National War College “Patrolling the Celestial Narrows: How the United States and Japan Can Shape and Enforce Space Governance” 3 rd Place Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Wong, USMCR Eisenhower School “Alexa, Write My OPORD: Promise and Pitfalls of Machine Learning for Commanders in Combat” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Strategic Essay Competitions These annual competitions, in their 42 nd year in 2023, challenge students at the Nation’s joint PME institutions to write research papers (5,000 words) or articles (1,500 words) about significant aspects of national security strategy to stimulate strategic thinking, promote well-written research, and contribute to a broader security debate among professionals. Strategic Research Paper 1 st Place (TIE) Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin P. Donham, USA U.S. Army War College “It’s Not Just About the Algorithm: Development of a Joint Medical Artificial Intelligence Capability” 1 st Place (TIE) Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel A. Peace, USSF Air War College “Space Denial: A Deterrence Strategy” 2 nd Place Lieutenant Colonel Adam Dykstra, ANG Air War College “A World Without Truth: How AI and Social Media Are Shaping Disinformation” 3 rd Place Lieutenant Colonel Tony G. Lawrence, USAF National War College “Frozen Ambitions: Building U.S. Influence for Greater Arctic Security” Strategy Article 1 st Place Colonel Robert A. Rodrigues, USA U.S. Army War College “Promoting Accountability in Military Sexual Assault Prosecutions” 2 nd Place Lieutenant Colonel Jason R. Wayne, USA U.S. Army War College “Urban Wars: The Convergence of Tactics and Strategy” 3 rd Place Major Chad Everett, USAF Air Command and Staff College “Quantum Technology” Joint Force Quarterly Maerz Awards In its 8 th year, the JFQ Maerz Awards, chosen by NDU Press staff, recognize the most influential articles from the previous year’s four issues. Six outstanding articles were chosen for the Maerz Awards, named in honor of Mr. George C. Maerz, former NDU Press managing editor. FORUM James Kwoun “Design Thinking at the Enterprise Level: Integrating Defense All-Source Analysis” JFQ 104 (1 st Quarter 2022) JPME TODAY Zachary Zwald, Jeffrey Berejikian, Samantha Jane Daly, and Jeffrey Hannon “Challenges to Creative Thinking: Identifying Officer Background Beliefs in Limited Information Environments” JFQ 104 (1 st Quarter 2022) COMMENTARY J. Bryan Mullins “Insights on Theater Command and Control from the Creation of Allied Force Headquarters” JFQ 106 (3 rd Quarter 2022) FEATURES Scott C. Apling, Martin Jeffery Bryant, James A. Garrison, and Oyunchimeg Young “Pivoting the Joint Force: National Security Implications of Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported Fishing” JFQ 107 (4 th Quarter 2022) RECALL Nathan A. Jennings “Improvised Partnerships: U.S. Joint Operations in the Mexican-American War” JFQ 105 (2 nd Quarter 2022) JOINT DOCTRINE Christopher Sims “The Integrated ‘Nonwar’ in Vietnam” JFQ 106 (3 rd Quarter 2022) Distinguished Judges Twenty-nine senior faculty members from 17 participating PME institutions took time out of their busy schedules to serve as judges. Their personal dedication and professional excellence ensured a strong and credible competition. Left to right: Dr. John J. Church, NDU Press; Ms. Joanna E. Seich, NDU Press; Dr. John G. Terino, Air Command and Staff College; Dr. David P. Hadley, College of International Security Affairs; Dr. James R. Van de Velde, Eisenhower School; Dr. Brandy Lyn Brown, Marine Corps War College; Dr. Jeffrey A. Turner, Joint Forces Staff College–Joint Advanced Warfighting School; Ms. Kathleen Gallaher, Marine Corps War College; Dr. Donald Stoker, Eisenhower School; Dr. Richard P. Samuels, Air War College; Dr. Mark A. Bucknam, National War College; Dr. Richard DiNardo, Marine Corps Staff College; Dr. Richard D. Killian, Command and General Staff College; Lieutenant Colonel Keith Caldwell, USA, College of Information and Cyberspace; Dr. William T. Eliason, NDU Press; Dr. Amy R. Baxter, Air University Global College of PME; Dr. Jim Chen, College of Information and Cyberspace; Dr. Anna Cairney, U.S. Army War College; Ms. Leigh Caraher, U.S. Army War College; Dr. Andrea Hamlen-Ridgely, Marine Corps War College–Expeditionary Warfare School; Dr. Kevin M. Generous, Joint Forces Staff College–Joint and Combined Warfare School; Dr. Paul J. Springer, Air Command and Staff College; Dr. Dylan Craig, National War College; Dr. Naunihal Singh, U.S. Naval War College; Dr. Charles Chadbourn, U.S. Naval War College; Ms. Caroline V. Schweiter, NDU Press. Not shown: Dr. Nicholas M. Anthony, Jr., Joint Forces Staff College–Joint Combined Warfighting School; Dr. Donald W. Chisholm, U.S. Naval War College; Captain Alex J. Lega, USAF, Air University Global College of PME; Dr. Matthew Millard, Air University Global College of PME; Dr. Nicholas E. Sarantakes, U.S. Naval War College; Dr. Jeffrey D. Smotherman, NDU Press; Dr. Elizabeth D. Woodward, Air War College. 462 IMAGES Essay writing & poster making competition MOSPI On the Spot Essay Writing Competition 2019 : Ministry of Statistics & Programme NCU 1ST International Essay Writing Competition 2017 Essay Writing Competition on Right to Freedom of Speech by GGSIPU Essay writing competition Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Student Essay Competition in Singapore, 2017 VIDEO Essay writing competition at HCHS ( 01-06 -2024 ) Best Essay for competition last date announced for national essay writing competition 2023 Mera Pehla Vote Desh Ke Liye Activities: Campaign By Government Prize Distribution CM Debate & Essay Writing Competition Winners Pkg By Azhar Hussain.flv What is Competition || Real meaning of Competition COMMENTS Best Essay Writing Contests in 2024 Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story. Up to $1000 in cash prizes for the African Diaspora Award 2024. African-themed prose and poetry wanted. Top finalists are published in Kinsman Quarterly's magazine and the anthology, "Black Butterfly: Voices of the African Diaspora.". The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition provides a platform for young, ambitious high school students to exercise their writing skills and compete with students from all over the world! This competition encourages students to challenge themselves and explore different writing styles to ultimately strengthen their writing skills. Writing Contests, Grants & Awards July/August 2024 The Writing Contests, Grants & Awards database includes details about the creative writing contests—including poetry contests, short story competitions, essay contests, awards for novels, and more—that we've published in Poets & Writers Magazine during the past year. We carefully review the practices and policies of each contest before including it. The Ultimate List of Writing Contests in 2024 • Win Cash Prizes! Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest. Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult. We aim to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision. The Unleash WIP Award offers writers support in the amount of $500 ... 40 Free Writing Contests: Competitions With Cash Prizes 15. Biopage Storytelling Writing Contest. There's no denying it: social media is a huge part of our modern-day lives. It's easy to get used to limiting our communications to 280-character and emoji-strewn snippets, which is why this marketing firm is hosting an essay writing contest to "remind people of the benefits of writing." Essay Writing Contests Essay writing competitions in 2024 offer you a chance to do just that and win some great prizes in the process. We've put together a list of contests specially designed for students like you. These contests cover various interesting essay topics, giving you a unique opportunity to showcase your writing skills and potentially earn cash prizes or ... 7 Essay Writing Contests to Look Out For in 2023 Deadline: Mid-February 2023-June 1, 2023. Who may enter: High school (including homeschooled), college, and graduate students worldwide. Contest description: The 2023 essay contest topic is marriages and proposals. High school students may focus on Pride and Prejudice only or bring in other Austen works. Global Winners Competition Structure and Dates Prizes Bootcamps Partners and Sponsors Contact Us Competitor Hub. Guidelines Resources ... Winning Essays 2022 Argumentative Winning Essays 2022 Creative Join our Community! Prompts. Prompts 2024 Prompts History ... 2024 Essay Competition Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024. Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024. Contact. Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected]. Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. Global Essay Competition for High School Students The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition provides a platform for young, ambitious high school students to exercise their writing skills and expand their competencies. This competition is an annual opportunity for students to showcase their talents on a global stage, compete to win exclusive educational opportunities and prizes, and explore ... Berkeley Prize Essay Competition February 1, 2022. (Stage Two) Essay Semifinalists' 2,500-word essays due. February 8, 2022. Launch of Community Service Fellowship Competition for Essay Semifinalists. Early-March, 2022. Essay Finalists announced. March 12, 2022. Community Service Fellowship proposals due. Mid-April, 2022. Essay Competition The Re:think Essay competition is meant to serve as fertile ground for honing writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and refining communication abilities. Winning or participating in reputable contests can lead to recognition, awards, scholarships, or even publication opportunities, elevating your academic profile for college applications ... The Queen'S Commonwealth Essay Competition Since 1883, we have delivered The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, the world's oldest international schools' writing competition. Today, we work to expand its reach, providing life-changing opportunities for young people around the world. Writing Contests 2024: Cash Prizes & Free Entries! The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction [Free essay writing contest!] One of the few essay contests in May 2024, this competition is open to essayists worldwide. Entries are judged blind and all entrants receive judges' feedback on their essays. If you'd like to enter more than one essay, the fee is $5 per additional entry. Word count: 5,000 $25,000 for the best essays on global problems We will award prizes worth a total of $25,000 for the top three entrants, along with access to the Pivotal Library for the top 50 finalists. $15,000 — 1st place$7,000 — 2nd place$3,000 — 3rd place. $25,000 in prizes for the best essays. Top 5%. of the participants will be invited to the Pivotal Circle. How to Win Essay Writing Competitions: Top Tips and Strategies Use credible sources such as academic journals, books, and reputable websites to gather information and support your arguments. Tip 1: Utilize library resources to access scholarly articles and books that delve into your topic. Tip 2: Take notes and organize your research findings to structure your essay effectively. Tip 3: HIR Academic Writing Contest The Contest. Inspired by our growing high school readership around the world, we have run the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest since 2020 to encourage and highlight outstanding high school writing on topics related to international affairs. 2024 Free-Entry International Writing Contests Winner - $300. Five runner-ups - $100 each. The winners will be determined by the quality of writing, and the votes by other users' likes and comments. Deadline: January 31, 2024. Details here. 3. Voice Talent Scholarship Competition 2023-2024. Open to: Students enrolled in a university or college anywhere in the world. Oxford and Cambridge Essay Competitions This essay competition is designed to give students the opportunity to develop and showcase their independent study and writing skills. Unfortunately, for external reasons, the essay won't be running in 2023, but may well be running in 2024 so do keep an eye out so you don't miss it! Sample Essay Questions from 2020. Competitions Writer's Digest's oldest and most popular competition, the Annual Writing Competition, is not currently accepting entries. Winners of the 93rd Annual competition will be announced in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Writer's Digest. By Tara Johnson Jun 26, 2024. Competitions. Berkeley Prize Essay Competition An essay contest in Three stages open to all current full-time registered students in an undergraduate architecture degree program, undergraduates majoring in architecture, or diploma students in accredited schools of architecture worldwide. 25,000 USD Purse. The Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Design Excellence endowment was established in ... Your Ultimate Guide to Writing Contests Through 2024 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest. Prize: First Place: $3,000 Entry Fee: $22. Deadline: May 1, 2024. Sponsor: Winning Writers (Co-sponsored by Duotrope) From Website: "For this contest, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. All themes accepted. Entries may be published or unpublished. Wakley Prize Essays Wakley Prize Essays. The Lancet is now accepting submissions for the Wakley Prize Essay competition 2024.. The Wakley Prize, named after Thomas Wakley who founded The Lancet in 1823, is awarded to the best discursive essay on any clinical topic of importance to health. This year, we would like to invite essays that reflect on the act of caring. Our 2024-25 Student Contest Calendar Ten challenges that invite teenagers to engage, experiment, reflect and create — via writing, photography, audio, video and more. Writing Contests & Publication Opportunities for Youth Here are the best places to submit your work—from writing contests and competitions with cash prizes to publications seeking poetry, essays and more forms of multimedia storytelling from young writers. Girls Write Now is a dynamic, multi-generational community of writers on a mission. For more than 20 years, our nationally award-winning ... NLUO, CLS, Essay Writing Competition The 2nd NLUO-CLS Essay Writing Competition [Submit By 10th September] LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK . 1 Aug 2024 8:08 AM GMT. Share this. Listen to this Article. Williston-Elko student recognized for award-winning essay The contest encourages South Carolina high school juniors and seniors to write a 500-word essay about a different topic annually. ... Writing contest winners were: Madison Wright, Williston-Elko ... Teenager a runner-up in Orwell essay contest Open to young people aged 11-18, the contest challenges aspiring writers to use the works of George Orwell as a starting point to think and write about the world they live in. The theme for the 2024 prize was 'Home', with entrants allowed to use various forms of writing, including imaginativ­e stories, essays and poems. Winners of the 2023 Essay Competitions > National Defense University Download PDF. NDU Press and the NDU Foundation Congratulate the Winners of the 2023 Essay Competitions. N DU Press hosted the final round of judging on May 11-12, 2023, during which 29 faculty judges from 17 participating professional military education (PME) institutions selected the best entries in each category. There were 95 submissions in this year's three categories. Pragna Vikas to hold essay-writing competition for school students Hyderabad: Sri Tridandi Chinna Jeeyar Swami's Pragna Vikas Association is holding essay-writing and drawing competitions for students of classes VI to X in government and private schools in Telugu... assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis