Spring is bursting, not just with flowers, but with writing contests! I just came across a list of them with end-of-May/June deadlines, so I’m posting some of them in the hopes that one or more entries may prove enticing. It’s always exciting to see what’s out there:
Dylan Thomas Prize
Deadline May 30 (must be received by this date). Free contest awards 30,000 pounds, plus 1,000 pounds for shortlisted authors, for published books of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction or professionally commissioned screenplays by authors aged 18-39. For the 2014 award, eligible books must have been commercially published for the first time in the English language between June 29, 2013 and September 1, 2014, and eligible performance works must have been first performed or broadcast during that period.
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Deadline June 30. Free contest for an unpublished book-length collection of short fiction (150-300 double-spaced pages) includes $15,000 and publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Open to writers who have published a book-length collection of fiction or a minimum of three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals of national distribution. Online publication does not count.
Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize
Deadline May 31 (must be received by this date). Free contest from major literary publisher awards $12,000 and publication for the best full-length manuscript of creative nonfiction by a US resident with at least one previously published book in any genre. Entries should be a minimum of 100 double-spaced pages. Online entries only. The 2014 prize is for a manuscript-in-progress.
Hillerman Mystery Competition
Deadline June 1. Free contest awards $10,000 and publication by St. Martin’s Press for a mystery novel set in the Southwestern US, by an author with no published books in that genre. Entries should be a minimum of 220 pages (60,000 words). Early entries strongly encouraged. Contest is co-sponsored by St. Martin’s Press, WORDHARVEST, and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference. Tony Hillerman was the author of the best-selling Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee mystery series set on a Navajo reservation.
Write on!
