Opportunities for Writers: April and May 2016

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.

 

Granta
is accepting unsolicited submissions until 1 April. Granta publishes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. There are no strict word limits, though most prose submissions are between 3000 and 6000 words and the editors advise they are unlikely to read more than 10,000 words of any submission.

Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award
is open for entries until 1 April. Entries must be between 1,800 and 2,000 words in length and there are no restrictions on the subject matter. First prize is €1000.

Pennsylvania State University
Altoona Campus English Program is taking applications for a one-semester teaching residency in poetry and playwriting/screenwriting. The program is targeted at early career writers, preferably without a published book.

Quotable
is a quarterly print and online publication. Submissions are now open for its 21st issue on the theme ’Finale’. The editors are seeking flash fiction (up to 1000 words), short fiction (up to 3000 words), and creative non-fiction (up to 3000 words), as well as poetry and art. Submissions close on 1 April.

Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony
offers Summer Fellowships for fiction, nonfiction and poetry writers at the Ucross Foundation located on a 20,000-acre ranch in northeastern Wyoming. Six applicants will be chosen and receives full tuition and housing for the entire three-week period of their stay. Applications close on 1 April.

Grain Magazine’s Annual Short Grain Writing Contest
offers prizes for both fiction and poetry and is open to writers worldwide. A total of CA$4500 in prize money is on offer. Entries close 1 April.

North American Review’s Torch Prize for Creative Nonfiction
offers a first prize of $500. Writers may submit only one piece of creative nonfiction, no longer than 30 pages. Entries close 1 April.

Headland
is a New Zealand-based international literary journal of short fiction & creative non-fiction. The journal is accepting submissions until 1 April for its sixth issue and the editors are encouraging writers from all over the world to submit their work.

Cosmopolitan
is building its network of website contributors. Interested writers are asked to provide an essay up to 800 words about a memorable, crazy, hilarious, or touching college experience. If the essay is published you’ll receive $100 and additional assignments.

BBC Writersroom
is accepting unsolicited comedy scripts until 4 April.  Writers may be non-British-born, but must be a current resident of the UK or Republic of Ireland.

Right Now
is looking for writers interested in penning regular reviews of literature, film, plays, musicals, television programs, exhibitions or other media with a human rights-related theme for the Right Now website. Applications close 5 April.

Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize
has increased its combined prize money to AUD$12,500 this year. The competition is open to writers worldwide and entries close on 11 April The deadline for the 2016 prize has been extended to 18 April.

Pilcrow & Dagger
is accepting submissions for its May/June issue featuring the theme ‘New Beginnings’. Pieces may be up to 5000 words. Closes 11 April.

Ninth Letter
is seeking fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from immigrant writers for a special online edition. Closes 15 April.

MacDowell Colony Fellowships
support residences of up to eight weeks for writers and other artists. Located in New Hampshire, studios, room and board are provided. Applications for Fall 2016 residences (1 October to 31 January) close on 15 April.

Harpur Palate
is literary journal published bi-annually by the Department of English at Binghamton University. It publishes poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction from all over the world, including work by well-known authors including Sherman Alexie, Gary Fincke, Peter Sears, Alex Lemon, Maura Stanton, and Rebecca Morgan Frank. Submissions for the summer issue close on 15 April.

The Guardian and 4th Estate BAME Short Story Prize
is a new competition open to black, Asian, minority ethnic writers living in the UK and Ireland. The winner will receive £1000, and their story will be published on Guardian website. Entries close 15 April.

Event Magazine’s Non-Fiction Contest
is open to creative non-fiction up to 5000 words in length. There is US$1500 prize money available in addition to the regular publication payment. The entry fee includes a one-year subscription. Entries close 15 April.

Normal School
is a bi-annual journal based at California State University at Fresno featuring nonfiction, fiction, poetry, criticism and journalism. It is particularly interested in essays that challenge established norms for the genre or that don’t seem to fit in easy categories of classification. The current reading period ends on 15 April.

Bath Short Story Award
is open to stories up to 2200 words in length. Stories may be in any genre and entries from both published and unpublished writers are encouraged. First Prize is £1000 (US$1500) and a selection of twenty winning, shortlisted and longlisted stories will be published in a print and digital anthology. Entries close on 25 April.

Redivider’s Beacon Street Prize
is open to fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. The winner in each category will receive $100 and publication in the winter 2016 issue of Redivider. The winning pieces will be selected by guest judges: Alexandra Kleeman (fiction), Steven Church (nonfiction) and Amy Gerstler (poetry). Closes 30 April.

Tahoma Literary Review
is a literary journal published in both print and e-reader formats. Payment for fiction and non-fiction ranges from a minimum of $50 to $300. Payment for poetry and flash is $25 to $50. Submissions for issue 7 close on 30 April.

Bristol Short Story Prize
is open to  stories up to 4000 words. Entries can be on any theme or subject and are welcome in any style including graphic, verse or genre-based (crime, science fiction, fantasy, historical, romance, children’s etc). Twenty stories will be shortlisted and published in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 9. Entries close 30 April.

Lunch Ticket
is a biannual journal published by the MFA community of Antioch University of Los Angeles. Submissions of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, writing for young people and visual art for its summer/fall 2016 issue close on 30 April.

SI Leeds Literary Prize
is a biennial prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women resident in the UK aged 18 years and over. The Prize is for full manuscripts only, of either novels or short story collections  The winner receives  £2,000 plus professional networking and development opportunities. Entries close 30 April.

Late Night Library
is accepting submissions for the 2016 Debut-litzer Prizes in the categories of fiction and poetry. Winners will receive US $1000 and a featured appearance on Late Night Conversation. Debut books first published in North America between 1 January and 31 December 2015 are eligible to enter. Entries must be postmarked by 30 April.

Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
is open to original short stories and essays on any theme. The winner in each category receives US$1500 and there are a total of 10 minor prizes of $100. Entries should be maximum of 6000 words. Closes 30 April.

Calabash: A Journal of Caribbean Arts and Letters
considers submissions of poems, short stories, one-act plays, interviews, book reviews, parts of memoirs, personal essays, critical essays, cultural news, announcements, and other new and emerging genres. Submissions close 30 April.

New South
seeks to publish high quality work, regardless of genre, form, or regional ties. Submissions for issue 9.2, due for publication in September 2016, close on 30 April.

FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards
aims to recognise extraordinary artistic talent in three categories – fiction literature, film-making and art across more than 100 emerging market nations. The winner in each category receives US$40,000. Works of fiction may be entered from residents or passport holders from Africa and the Middle East. Entries close 30 April.

Buffalo Almanack
is an online quarterly journal of fiction, photography and literary criticism. It welcomes submissions for new and established writers. New issues are released quarterly and submissions are open throughout May.

The O. Henry Prize Stories
is an annual collection of the year’s twenty best stories published in American and Canadian magazines. Entries must be submitted by the magazine’s editors and should reach the series editor, Laura Furman, by 1 May. The 20 stories selected for the 2015 O. Henry Prize collection are available here.

Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Poetry Award
is currently accepting poetry from emerging writers worldwide. No more than 3 poems per submission (multiple submissions welcome). Entry fee comes with one-year subscription. A prize of $1000 will be awarded to one winner. The deadline is 1 May.

Prairie Schooner
was established in 1926. Its intention is to publish the best writing available, both from beginning and established writers. Submissions close 1 May.

David Nathan Meyerson Prize for Fiction
is only open to writers who have not yet published a book of fiction, either a novel or collection of stories. The winner receives US$1000 and publication in Southwest Review. Stories can be up to 8000 words in length and all entries will be considered for publication. The deadline for entries is 1 May.

Diverse Voices Quarterly
aims to be an outlet for and by everyone: every age, race, gender, sexual orientation and religious background. Submissions received by 1 May will be considered for the August/September issue.

Lockjaw Magazine
is a biannual online journal including literary ephemera, art, and music. Submissions for issue IV open on 1 May.

Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting
award up to five fellowships of US$35,000 each year. This international screenwriting competition is open to writers based anywhere in the world, regardless of citizenship. The regular entry deadline is 18 April, with late entries accepted until 2 May.

Wellstone Center in the Redwoods
offers four writing fellowships per year, as well as week-long writing residencies and an emerging writers residencies. The Center is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, four miles for Pacific Ocean. The next fellowship application deadline is 6 May.

Griffith Review’s The Novella Project Competition
offers a prize pool of AUD$25,000. While there is no firm word length requirement, writers are advised that works between 10,000 and 25,000 words are preferable; 35,000 words is the maximum. Entrants must be from either Australia or New Zealand. Closes 13 May.

Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Contest
is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish a book. The winner in each genre will be awarded US$1000. Entries close 15 May.

subTerrain Magazine
is based in Vancouver and is published three times a year. Submissions for its summer/fall issue, which carries a general theme, close on 15 May.

Alaska Quarterly Review
is a literary journal devoted to contemporary literary art, publishing fiction, short plays, poetry, photo essays, and literary non-fiction in traditional and experimental styles. The editors encourage new and emerging writers, while continuing to publish award-winning and established writers as well. Unsolicited submissions will be accepted until 15 May.

Raymond Carver Short Story Contest
is open to writers from around the world. First prize is US$1500 and the guest judge for 2016 is Caitlin Horrocks. Entries open on 1 April and close on 15 May.

Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition
is dedicated to recognising and supporting the work of emerging writers whose fiction has not yet achieved success. Entries must be less than 3500 words and the competition is open to writers based anywhere is the world. The winner receives US$1500 and publication. The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition first ran in 1981; entries for the 2015 prize close on 15 May (discounted entry available before 1 May).

Creative Nonfiction
is seeking new essays for issue on the theme ‘Joy’. In addition to publication one writer will receive a prize of $1000 and one runner-up will receive $500. Closes 16 May.

A Very Short Story Contest
sets writers the challenge of creating a great short story in ten words or fewer. There is no entry fee and the winner receives a free writing class. Closes 16 May.

Litro Magazine
is seeking submissions for its July 2016 print issue with the theme ‘Cuba’. It accepts short fiction, flash/micro fiction and non-fiction. Submissions close 25 May.

Book Smugglers Publishing Novella Initiative
is seeking original novellas from all around the world to be published in 2017. Manuscripts should be original speculative fiction, between 17,500 and 40,000 words long. Closes 30 May.

Irish Literary Review
is an online publication for new poetry and short fiction from Ireland and around the world.  Flash fiction should be under 500 words, fiction should be no shorter than 1500 words and no longer than 3000 words and poems should not exceed 40 lines. The current reading period closes 30 May.

New England Review
was founded by poets Sydney Lea and Jay Parini in New Hampshire in 1978. It welcomes submissions of fiction, poetry, nonfiction, drama, translation and creative writing for the NER website. New submissions will be accepted until 31 May.

Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction
is for manuscripts between 40,000 and 75,000 words and may include long stories or novellas. One winning writer will receive US$1000 and publication by the University of Georgia Press under a standard book contract. Writers must be residents of North America. Entries close 31 May.

Harvard Review 
publishes short fiction, poetry, essays, drama, and book reviews. Writers at all stages of their careers are invited to apply, however, it only publishes a very small fraction of the material received. Submissions close 31 May.

AGNI
is proud to be known as a magazine that publishes important new writers early in their careers. AGNI considers poetry, short fiction, and essays and most of the work it publishes is unsolicited. Submissions may be accepted for publication in AGNI or (with the writer’s permission) AGNI Online. Closes 31 May.

One Story
is a literary magazine that contains, simply, one story. Approximately every three-four weeks, subscribers are sent One Story in the mail, or on their digital devices.Submissions are open between 1 September and 31 May. Stories must be between 3,000 and 8,000 words and can be in any style on any subject.

Baltimore Review’s Summer Contest
has the theme ‘Games’. Three winners will be selected from among all entries. There is a 3000 word limit for fiction and creative non-fiction, and one to three poems can be included per entry. All entries considered for publication. Closes 31 May.

Hourglass Literary Magazine
is accepting entries for its first contest. The winning entry in each category (short story, essay and poem) will receive US$1000 and publication. Entries close 31 May.

Red Line
welcomes submissions of up to 4500 words from contributors ‘who have something interesting to say and a talent for communicating’. Shortlisted stories will be considered for publication in an end of year anthology. ‘Greed’ is the theme for the upcoming issue and submissions close on 31 May.

The Sun
is an independent, monthly magazine based in North Carolina that publishes personal essays, short stories, interviews, poetry and photographs. All contributors are paid (up to $1500 for fiction) but the magazine receives over 1000 submissions per month, meaning responses can take three to six months.

Jaffat El Aqlam
is an online magazine for writers mostly from the middle east. It accepts submissions of poetry, short stories, prose and visual art. Jaffat El Aqlam is currently seeking work on the theme ‘memory’.

Zoetrope: All-Story
was founded in 1997 by Francis Ford Coppola. This quarterly magazine is devoted to the best new short fiction and one-act plays. Be warned, All-Story receives around 12,000 submissions each year but they remain committed to publishing new, promising writers.

BOMB Magazine
is offering free subscriptions to currently enrolled MFA students. Register to receive two years of free access to the digital editions of the quarterly magazine.

Strange Horizons
is an online magazine publishing science fiction, fantasy and horror from both established and emerging writers. Fiction submissions may be up to 10,000 words, though under 5,000 preferred. Payment is 8 cents per word.

Hippocampus Magazine
accepts unsolicited submissions of memoir excerpts (a self-contained portion of a larger, book-length work), personal essays and  flash creative nonfiction or a work of creative nonfiction in an experimental format. Hippocampus Magazine prefers previously unpublished work, but will entertain submissions that have appeared elsewhere.

Fields Magazine
is a print publication designed to spotlight writers, musicians, poets, painters, illustrators, and creative types of all stripes, with an emphasis on the up and coming and the unsung. It is currently accepting fiction, poetry, and visual arts submissions. There are no style, length, or genre restrictions, and you may submit more than one piece for consideration.

Wasafiri
is Britain’s premier magazine for international contemporary writing. Published quarterly, it has established a distinctive reputation for promoting work by new and established voices across the globe. Articles, essays, fiction and interviews should be less than 6000 words.

Carey Institute for Global Good
is offering a residency program for creators of longform nonfiction. Pulitzer Prize winning writer and journalist Tim Weiner has been named as the first Director. The campus offers in Rensselaerville, New York, peaceful, private and inspiring place to live, work and create, providing complimentary access to modern communication technologies and a gourmet on-site restaurant.

Harper’s Magazine
is the oldest general-interest monthly in America. While it is extremely competitive, Harper’s does accept unsolicited submissions of fiction and non-fiction. Queries should only be submitted via mail.

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