Each month we aim to provide a helpful round-up of writing competitions, fellowships, publication opportunities and more for writers at all stages of their careers.

For new writers, or for anyone seeking a refresher, we highly recommend reading How to Submit Your Writing to Literary Magazines.

Deadlines and details do sometimes change, so please check the relevant websites (linked in bold) for all the latest details. For more opportunities and regular updates follow Aerogramme Writers’ Studio on Facebook and Twitter.

Zoetrope All-Story’s Annual Fiction Contest

has the aim of seeking out and encouraging talented writers, with the winning and runners-up’s work being forwarded to leading literary agents. A first prize of US$1000 is also offered. Stories can be up to 5000 words. Entries close on 1 October.

Missouri Review Editors’ Prize

is now open for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry submissions. The three winners receive US$5000 each, publication in the magazine and a reception in their honour. Prose submissions may be up to 8500 words and poets may submit any number of poems up to 10 pages. Closes 1 October.

Guernica Fellowship Program

aims to provide deep training in magazine editing and production, coupled with opportunities to work on a dedicated writing or multimedia project with an editor-mentor. Up to five emerging writers, editors and multimedia journalists will be selected for a six-month fellowship. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and will close by 1 October.

Vermont Studio Center

is the largest international artists’ and writers’ residency program in the United States. Each month the Center hosts over 50 writers and artists from across the country and around the world. The next application deadline is 1 October.

Seattle Review

is a print journal wholly committed to the publication of longer works of poetry, novellas, and lyric essays. Submissions are considered year round but the $3 reading fee will be waived from 1 October onwards.

Marfield Prize

also known as the National Award for Arts Writing, is given annually by the Arts Club of Washington to nonfiction books about the arts written for a broad audience. The winner receives $10,000 and is invited to a short residency in Washington (expenses paid). Books must be non-fiction titles written in English by a single, living author, originally published in the United States in 2016. Entries close on 1 October.

Boston Review’s Aura Estrada Short Story Contest

is one of three contests run each year by the literary magazine.The winner of the contest will receive US$1500 and have his or her work published in the July/August 2017 issue of Boston Review. The runners-up stories may also be published. Entries close 3 October.

Litro Magazine

is seeking submissions for its November 2016 print issue with the theme ‘Nightmares’. It accepts short fiction, flash/micro fiction and non-fiction. Submissions close 3 October.

Berton House Writers’ Retreat

is located in Dawson City, Yukon. Professional Canadian writers who have published at least one book and are established in any creative literary discipline (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, play/screenwriting, journalism) may apply for a three-month residency. Closes 3 October.

Southern Indiana Review’s Mary C. Mohr Editors’ Award

will award a prize of US$2000 and publication for a poem or poems up to 10 pages long. All themes and subject matters are eligible and all submissions will be considered for publication. Entries close 3 October.

Storytelling Fundamentals: Character, Conflict, Context, Craft

is a new Skillshare class taught by Daniel José Older that explores the fundamentals of storytelling, providing participants with tools to use and questions to ask while developing their own stories. The class is for intended for both aspiring and established writers. Enrol using the link above to access this course, and hundreds of others, for three months for just 99 cents.

Carey Institute for Global Good

is offering a residency program for creators of longform nonfiction working in all media. Emmy award-winning documentarian Tom Jennings is the program’s Director. The campus, located in Upstate New York, offers a peaceful, private and inspiring place to live, work and create, providing complimentary access to modern communication technologies and a gourmet on-site restaurant and brewery. Applications for the Spring 2017 class close October 7.

Man Booker International Prize

was established in 2005, biennially rewarding an author for a body of work originally written in any language as long as it was widely available in English. Now an annual award, it carries a prize of £50,000 prize is divided equally between the author and the translator. Completed entry forms must be received by 7 October.

Cheat River Review

is produced by the MFA program at West Virginia University. It welcomes submissions of original, previously unpublished nonfiction, fiction, flash, and poetry from both emerging and established writers. Submissions for the upcoming issue close on 9 October.

Calvino Prize

is an annual fiction competition sponsored by the Creative Writing Program in the English Department of the University of Louisville. The prize will be awarded to outstanding pieces of fiction in the fabulist experimentalist style of Italo Calvino. With winner receives US$1500 and publication. Entries close 14 October.

Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship

awards approximately US$54,000 annually to a poet to spend one year outside North America, in whatever place the recipient feels will most advance his or her work. Applications close on 15 October.

Southampton Review

is dedicated discovering new voices and visions while savoring long-standing favorites. Some of the established writers it has published include Billy Collins, Meg Wolitzer, Frank McCourt and David Rakoff. The current reading period closes on 15 October.

Miami University Press’s Novella Contest

has been given annually since 2005 to a novella length manuscript of original fiction. The winning manuscript will receive a US$750 advance and publication. Submissions close 15 October.

Brown Foundation Fellows Program

offers residencies of one to three months to mid-career writers, poets and artists at the Dora Maar House in Ménerbes, France. Applications must be submitted by 15 October for fellowships taking place between 1 February and 30 June 2017.

River Teeth’s Literary Non-fiction Book Contest

is open to manuscripts between 150 and 400 pages long. The winner will receive US$1000 and publication by the University of New Mexico Press. The judge of this year’s contest is Andre Dubus III. Entries close 15 October.

Writers Omi at Ledig House

is located in Ghent, New York, two and a half hours from New York City. Since it was founded in 1992 it has hosted hundreds of authors and translators, representing more than fifty countries, including Gary Shteyngart, Kiran Desai and Colum McCann. Guests may select a residency of one week to two months. Applications close 20 October.

Screencraft’s Action and Thriller Script Contest

is open for entries. The winner receives $1500 and a phone consultation with a top action screenwriter. Entries close 20 October.

A3 Review

is seeking contributions under 150 words on the theme ‘Uniforms’. The editors are seeking prose, poetry, graphic stories, photography, paintings, drawings, and other visual and word-based creations. Closes 22 October.

Cassian Elwes Independent Screenwriting Fellowship

is being offered for the fourth time in 2016. Two unrepresented writers with a screenplay of independent sensibility and lifetime writing earnings not exceeding US$5000 will receive an all-expense paid trip to the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and mentorship from Elwes himself. Screenwriters must opt-in for this fellowship on The Black List site. Scripts must be uploaded by 29 October.

Heavy Feather Review

is a literary and arts quarterly dedicated to publishing fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, drama, or any hybrid thereof. Submissions for issue 6 close on 30 October.

London Magazine

is England’s oldest literary periodical, with a history stretching back to 1732. Entries for the magazine’s short story competition are welcomed from writers around the world. The winner will receive £500 and publication. Entries close 31 October.

Lunch Ticket

is a biannual journal published by the MFA community of Antioch University of Los Angeles. It publishes fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, writing for young people and visual art. Submissions for the Winter/Spring 2017 issue close 31 October.

Puerto del Sol

now in its 51st year of publication, is the journal of the English Department at New Mexico State University. It welcomes submissions of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, translations, artwork and criticism, as well as any interesting combinations thereof. Puerto del Sol’s current reading period closes on 31 October.

Burt Award for Caribbean Literature

is an annual award given to three English-language literary works for young adults written by Caribbean authors. A first prize of CAD$10,000, a second prize of $7000 and a third prize of $5000 will be awarded to the winning authors. Published books and self-published books published between 1 November 2015 and 31 October 2016, as well as unpublished manuscripts, are eligible for the award. Entries close 31 October.

Morland Writing Scholarship

awards £18,000 to fiction writers or up to £27,000 to non-fiction writers will be awarded. The scholarship is open to writers who were born in Africa or whose parents were born in Africa. Applications close 31 October.

Bare Fiction Prize

offers international awards for Poetry, Flash Fiction, and Short Story with a total prize fund of £2500. All winners will be published in the Spring 2015 issue of Bare Fiction Magazine. Entries close 31 October.

NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, described as ‘the world’s largest writing event and nonprofit literary crusade’. Participants pledge to write 50,000 words in a month, starting from scratch and reaching ‘The End’ by November 30. The NaNoWriMo website offers lots of tips and support, as well as links to local events around the globe.

John Steinbeck Short Story Award

is one of three prizes offered by Reed Magazine. This award is for a work of fiction up to 5000 words. The winner of the John Steinbeck Short Story Award receives a cash prize of US$1000 and all entries are considered for publication. Entries close 1 November.

Gabriele Rico Challenge for Nonfiction

also offered by Reed Magazine, is for a work of nonfiction up to 5,000 words. The winner receives a cash prize of US$1333. Entries close 1 November.

Edwin Markham Prize

is the third prize from Reed Magazine. It is for is for works of poetry and is awarded for up to five poems. The winner receives US$1000. Entries close 1 November.

Chris O’Malley Prize in Fiction

is offered annually by The Madison Review. The finest story will be awarded US$1000 and publication. Entries may be up to 30 pages. The Madison Review also runs the Phyllis Smart-Young Prize in Poetry. Entries for both prizes close on 1 November.

NonBinary Review

is a quarterly interactive literary journal that joins many stories around each issue’s theme. The editors invite authors to explore each theme in any way that speaks to them including rewriting a familiar story from a new point of view, mashing genres together or writing a personal essay about some aspect of the selected theme. NonBinary review is currently accepting submissions for issue eleven on Anne of Green Gables close on 1 November.

Asymptote

is an international journal dedicated to literary translation. Submissions are currently open for a special Indian Language Literature Feature to be published in January 2017. The editors welcome up to 15 pages of single-spaced poetry and double-spaced prose (fiction and nonfiction), and up to 20 pages of drama (one-act or excerpted). Closes 1 November.

Best American Experimental Writing

will be published by Wesleyan University Press in the spring of 2018. A minimum of 20% of the work selected by the series editor for publication will be unsolicited submissions. Closes 1 November.

Commonwealth Short Story Prize

is an annual award for unpublished short fiction open to citizens of the 53 Commonwealth countries. The prize covers the five Commonwealth regions: Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean and Pacific. One winner will be selected from each region, with one regional winner to be selected as the overall winner. The overall winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize will receive £5000 and the remaining four regional winners receive £2500. Entries open on 1 September and close 1 November.

Lockjaw Magazine

is a biannual online journal including literary ephemera, art, and music. Submissions for issue V open on 1 November.

Royal Literary Fund Fellowships

offer professional writers the opportunity to work for two days a week in a university helping students to develop their writing skills. In return the fellow receives a stipend of approximately £14,000. Register via email to receive an application pack in late November.

Masters Review Fall Fiction Contest

is for unpublished stories up to 7000 words. Entrants must be emerging writers who have not published a novel at the time of submission. First prize is US$2000. Entries close 15 November.

Many Voices Project

by New Rivers Press is a competition for book-length unpublished manuscripts by new or emerging writers.The winning titles will be published by New Rivers Press and distributed across the United States through Small Press Distribution. Each winning author will receive US$1000, ten complimentary copies of their published work, and a standard book contract. Entries close 15 November.

Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition

is now its 17th year and is for works up to 1500 words. The winner receives US$3000, publication in Writer’s Digest magazine, and a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City. There are also many runners-up prizes. The early bird submission date is 15 November.

CNQ’s CanLitCrit Essay Contest

is for critical essays on a work (or works) of Canadian literature (novels, short stories, poetry) from any era or genre. First prize is CA$1000 and publication. Entries close 15 November.

McKnight Artist Fellowships for Writers

awards $25,000 annually to five accomplished Minnesota writers. One Award in Children’s Literature alternates annually between writers for children under the age of eight and writers for older readers. Four fellowships alternate annually between writers of poetry/spoken word poetry and writers of creative prose. The awards this year are in Creative Prose and Children Older Than Eight. Applications close 18 November.

Ron Pretty Poetry Prize

will be awarded to a single poem of up to 30 lines, and is open to anyone over the age of 18 years. First prize is AUD$5000. Entries close 22 November.

Sherwood Anderson Fiction Award

is run by Mid-American Review and is open to stories up to 6000 words in length. The winner receives US$1000 and publication. Entries close 30 November.

Kenyon Review’s Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers

recognises outstanding young poets and is open to high school sophomores and juniors throughout the world. The contest winner receives a full scholarship to the Kenyon Review Young Writers workshop. In addition, the winning poem and the poems of the two runners-up will be published in The Kenyon Review. Entries open on 1 November and close 30 November.

Tampa Review

is the United States’ only hardback literary journal. It features art, poems, stories and essays. Submissions are open until 30 November for publication in 2017.

Matador Review

is accepting submissions for its third issue. It considers fiction, creative non-fiction, essays, flash fiction, poetry, book reviews and visual art. Submissions close 30 November

Baltimore Review’s Winter Contest

is open to short stories, poems and creative non-fiction. The theme for the contest is ‘Milestones’. Prizes are US$500, $200, and $100 and there is an entry fee is $10. All entries considered for publication. Entries close 30 November.

Fish Publishing International Short Story Prize

is for stories up to 5000 words. First prize is €3000 plus a 5 day Short Story Workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival. Ten short stories will be published in the 2017 Fish Anthology. Entries close 30 November.

Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival Annual Fiction Contest

is for writers who have not yet published a book of fiction and is open to writers based anywhere in the world. Entries may be up to 7000 words. First prize is US$1500, a domestic airfare and accommodation to attend the next Festival in New Orleans, a VIP All-Access Festival pass for the next Festival ($500 value), a public reading at a literary panel at the next Festival and publication in Louisiana Literature. Entries close 30 November.

Hackney Literary Awards’ Short Story Prize

is for stories up to 5000 words in length. There are national prizes, as well as state prizes for writers from Alabama. A prize for unpublished poetry will also be awarded. Entries close 30 November.

Gregory O’Donohue International Poetry Competition

carries a first prize of €1000, a week’s residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, publication in Southword and a trip to Cork, Ireland. Entries must be original, unpublished poems in English of 40 lines or less. Entries close 30 November.

Bennington Review

has recently relaunched and is accepting submissions. Contributors are paid up to $200 for prose and $20 per poem. From the editors: “We aim to stake out a distinctive space for innovative, intelligent, and moving fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, film writing, and cross-genre work.”

American Short Fiction

accepts unsolicited submissions year round and there are no fixed guidelines as to content or length. Submissions to the magazine must be original and previously unpublished. ASF considers work that has appeared online (including on blogs and Facebook) to be previously published.

Georgia Review

features an eclectic blend of essays, fiction, poetry, graphics, and book reviews. Appealing across disciplinary lines, the Review draws its material from a wide range of cultural interests —including, but not limited to, literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, politics, film, music, and the visual arts. The Georgia Review pays all contributors; the current standard rates are $50 per printed page for prose and $4 per line for poetry.



