May Calls for Submission
Submit now, or forever hold your peace
Poetry Contests
Loraine Williams Poetry Prize
Eligibility: All poets
Prize: $1,500 + publication
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize
Eligibility: Poets under 40 years of age
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $15
Deadline: May 15, 2023
James Laughlin Award
Eligibility: Poets with 2nd full-length book of poetry coming out in the following calendar year
Prize: $5,000 + 1 week, all expenses paid stay at the Betsy Hotel in Miami
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize
Eligibility: Poets with a full-length book of poetry published in the previous calendar year
Prize: $25,000
Entry fee: $75
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Max Ritvo Poetry Prize
Eligibility: Poets without a published collection
Prize: $10,000 + publication
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Guy Owen Prize
Eligibility: All poets
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Open for Submissions Apr. 1–May 31 annually. The James A. Winn Prize is awarded annually to a piece of nonfiction of exemplary quality submitted for consideration. One nonfiction piece submitted for this prize will be awarded $1,500 and publication in MQR. All submissions will be considered for publication. The fee for submission is $20. When submissions for the prize are open, you can find details on how to submit by clicking the link below.
The Regeneration Literary Contest is presented in partnership with the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Submissions will be accepted from May 1, 2023-June 30, 2023. Winner and finalists will be announced in the fall.
Prize: $1,000 and publication in the Fall/Winter 2023-24 print edition of Ninth Letter (with the opportunity to also publish excerpts or full work on ninthletter.com) and two contributors copies.
Submission Fee: $10 submission fee goes toward paying our judge and the winner of the contest. Contest entrants will have the option to purchase a copy of the Fall/Winter 2023 issue at a discounted price at the time of submission.
Multi-Genre Contests
Ploughshares Emerging Writers Contest
Eligibility: Writers who have not published a book or a book coming out before April 2024
Prize: $2,000 + publication + review from Aevitas Creative Management
Entry fee: $24
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Fiction Contests
Raymond Carver Short Story Contest
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $2,000 + publication
Entry fee: $18
Deadline: May 17, 2023
Crook’s Corner Prize
Eligibility: Debut novels set predominantly in the American South, published btwn January 1,
2022 and May 15, 2023
Prize: $5,000
Entry Fee: $35
Deadline: May 15, 2023
BOA Short Fiction Prize
Eligibility: Writers who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or have DACA status, TPS or LPS
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: $1,000 + publication
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: May 31, 2023
Calls for Submissions
Barnstorm
Barnstorm publishes previously unpublished work in nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. For prose, send one piece no longer than 7,000 words. For poetry, send no more than three poems. They accept submissions on a rolling basis and publish September through May.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
Green Mountains Review
GMR accepts fiction and experimental and hybrid poems. The editors are open to a wide range of styles and subject matter. Please submit a cover letter and include up to 25 pages of prose or up to five poems. $3 submission fee.
Deadline: none given | Details
The Hopper
The environmental literary magazine from Green Writers Press is accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. They are interested in work that offers new and different articulations of the human experience in nature, specifically nature writing that is psychologically honest about the environmental crisis and the impacts of mechanical modernity.
Deadline: none given | Details
Humans of the Upper Valley (HOUV)
Humans of the Upper Valley aims to tell the stories of the wonderful and diverse Upper Valley community. Through these stories, HOUV hopes to get at the heart of the human experience, highlighting our common humanity. If you are interested in being featured or know someone amazing in your community, contact HOUV.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
Isele Magazine
Isele Magazine is seeking submissions of essays, fiction, poetry, art, and photography. You may submit up to 8,000 words of prose, six pages of poetry, or one long poem.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
Iterant Magazine
Iterant Magazine is seeking poetry, artwork, and essay submissions. Submit 3 to 5 poems, ten pages maximum.
Deadline: none given | Details
Junction Magazine
Junction covers Eastern Vermont and Western New Hampshire with a focus on the Upper Valley. Pitches and submissions should fit into one or several of our themed areas of interest: Arts & Culture, Food & Farm, People, or the Wild.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
Monadnock Underground
Monadnock Underground accepts essays, creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry of any length. Preference is given to writing related to spirituality, mysticism, myth, consciousness, the meaning of life, and the nature of the present moment. Preference is given to works with local relevance or by local authors.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
Mount Island
To focus on their mission of supporting rural LGBTQ+ and POC voices, most of the submission categories are open only to folks who identify as LGBTQ+ and/or POC and who currently live in or hail from a rural area. They do welcome “allies” who do not identify as LGBTQ+/POC/rural to submit in certain categories, such as interviews, reviews, and blog articles. When such categories are open for “ally submissions,” they are labeled clearly as such.
Deadline: open year-round | Details
The Penmen Review
Southern New Hampshire University’s online journal for creative writers accepts submissions on a quarterly basis. New submission cycles begin on the first day of January, April, July, and October. The Review accepts original poetry, essays, book and script excerpts, and short stories. For poetry, submit up to three poems per submission cycle. For all other submissions, submit up to 2,500 words.
Deadline: rolling | Details
Plant-Human Quarterly
Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Plant-Human Quarterly: talking & listening to plants is part of a larger online platform called The Human-Plant Communication Project that features works by artists, scientists, and technologists, all at the service of translating interactions with the botanical world into artistic responses. They are seeking both unpublished and published poetry and essays. Send no more than 5 poems or an essay of no more than 750 words in a single Word document.
Deadline: none given | Details
Retreats and Experiences
Three By Five
Share a small moment—anonymously—that has altered the path of your life. Record it on a 3" x 5" card and mail it to PO Box 308, Etna, New Hampshire, 03750. Or, take a photo of your card and email it to threebyfivestories@gmail.com.
Deadline: none | Details
Listening in Place Sound Archive
The Vermont Folklife Center invites you to send in recorded interviews and sounds of daily life in an effort to open hundreds of small windows into the experiences of Vermonters during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vermont Folklife Center will make these recordings available on their website and social media to foster connection and sharing, and will also archive the recordings for posterity.
Deadline: none | Details
Vermont Studio Center Studio Rentals
Vermont Studio Center is offering writers the opportunity to rent well-lit studios in their residency complex located in downtown Johnson, Vermont. Writing studios (199 to 170 square feet) are fully furnished with access to a printer. Rent is $300 to $500 per month. One-year lease agreements and a security deposit are required. $10 application fee. You must include a writing sample with your application.
Deadline: rolling applications | Details
Writing the Land
Writing the Land is a collaboration between local land trusts and poets to help raise awareness for the preservation of land, ecosystems, and biodiversity. Poets and land trusts are being enrolled on a rolling basis. They are especially seeking under-represented poetic and environmental voices, but welcome all poets at any stage of their career and would like everyone to contribute to this project. If you are an interested poet, please fill out the information in the contact form on their website or email Lis McLaughlin at lisa@hemlockhouse.net. You will need to submit a 50- to 75-word third-person bio, three pieces of work, and list which locations or regions you are willing to travel to.
Deadline: rolling submissions | Details
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