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June 2007
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Welcome to our June newsletter. This is the companion to our online database, The Best Free Poetry Contests. It alerts you to upcoming contests and important contest changes, highlights quality resources for writers, and announces achievements and great poems by our readers.
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Writer's Digest names Winning Writers as one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers for the third year in a row!
We are thrilled to receive this ongoing recognition from Writer's Digest. WD says, "Poets can find all the contests they need right here, including the infamous Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. Sign up for the free monthly newsletter for contest updates."
COMING IN OUR JULY 15 NEWSLETTER
Winners Announced for the 15th Annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
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Last Call!
Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Now in its fourth year, this contest seeks poetry in traditional verse forms such as sonnets and haiku. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. 50 cash prizes totaling $4,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its fifth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Marie Delgado Travis. Her bilingual poetry book, La Ventana/The Window, won an honorable mention in the 2007 International Latino Book Awards sponsored by Latino Literacy Now. The title poem in this book won second prize in the 2005 Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest. Visit her website here.
RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Shirley Barasch. She won two prizes in Taproot Literary Review's 2007 poetry contest: second prize for the poem "Commentary" and an honorable mention for "My October". (Email editor Tikvah Feinstein for more information about the journal.) Ms. Barasch has kindly permitted us to reprint her second-prize poem below.
Congratulations to Alegria Imperial. She won an honorable mention in the 2007 Passager Poetry Contest for Writers Over 50, for her poem "Mirage". This contest from the University of Baltimore's literary journal offers $300 for unpublished poems. The deadline is generally February 15. Ms. Imperial also received an honorable mention in the 2007 Vancouver Cherry Blossom
Festival Haiku Invitational. Read our critique of her poem "Light as Magic" from the December 2006 issue.
Congratulations to Karen Smead Mondale. She won an honorable mention in the James H. Nash Poetry Contest, a members-only contest from the St. Louis Poetry Center, for her poem "He Would Tell You He Never Was an Artist".
RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Karen Smead Mondale's poems "I Ran With the Racer Only Once" and "Daffodil Time" were published in April in the Mid Rivers Review.
Arthur Powers had a group of poems titled "Sketches/Rio de Janeiro" published in the online journal hotmetalpress. He also has a poem forthcoming in The South Carolina Review.
Patti J. Woodson's story "The Cat, the Possum and the Skunk" and her poems "Spring's First Blush" and "Sleepy Moon" were published in the WestWard Quarterly.
Dianna Robin Dennis' poem "Substitute" was accepted for the Leaf Books "Chocolate" anthology. Mobius Magazine also accepted her poems "Ambush" and "Open When Needed". The latter poem is based on her story that was recently published in Ralph: The Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities.
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FEATURED SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
11th Annual Robert Frost Foundation Annual Poetry Award
 Postmark/Email Submission Deadline: September 15
The Robert Frost Foundation welcomes poems in the spirit of Robert Frost for its 11th Annual Award. The winner will receive $1,000 and an invitation to present the winning poem at the Frost Festival located at Lawrence Riverfront Park (off I-93, River Road Exit) in Lawrence, Massachusetts on Saturday, October 27, 2007. Festival readers will include X.J. Kennedy, Rhina Espaillat, Jeffrey Harrison and others.
Please submit two copies of each poem, one copy with contact information and one copy free of all identifying information. Mailing address: Robert Frost Foundation, Lawrence Library - 3rd Floor, 51 Lawrence Street, Lawrence, MA 01841. Email submissions are also accepted at frostfoundation@comcast.net. Reading fees are $10 per poem (send fees via regular mail, please). Read last year's winning poem and this year's guidelines at www.frostfoundation.org. Enjoy this Google video of 2006 winner Rob Smith delivering his poem (4 min 23 sec):
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TRY POETRY CONTEST INSIDER
If you enjoy using The Best Free Poetry Contests, consider upgrading to Poetry Contest Insider. The Best Free Poetry Contests profiles the 150 or so poetry contests that are free to enter. With your Poetry Contest Insider subscription, you'll get access to all of our 750+ poetry contest profiles, plus over 100 of the best prose contests. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Access to Poetry Contest Insider is just $6.95 per quarter, with a free 10-day trial at the start. Cancel at any time.
Most contests charge entry fees. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars and many hours entering these contests each year. Don't waste your time or money. Out of hundreds of contests, there might only be two or three dozen that are especially appropriate for your work. We help you find them fast. Interviews and links to award-winning work help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
Our customers say...
"I had immediate access to a wide array of poetry competitions, with links to work by the judges and previous winners. This service is invaluable, and the customer service has been prompt and helpful every time. It's far more convenient and personal than Poets & Writers magazine.... The immediacy and specificity of online information makes your service so efficient that I can make better use of my time—that is, I can spend more time writing poetry. :-)"
Leisha Wharfield, Oregon
"I love using winningwriters.com. I send poems and manuscripts out to probably 20 contests each month from your listings... I recommend it to all my writer friends and students, too. I don’t see how a writer can live without it. It's like air or water."
Tom Lombardo, Georgia; Editor-in-Chief, MD Writers
"Your website is invaluable: definitely the best around. I have benefited greatly from the database of contests. Thank you and keep up the fantastic work!... Last year I received first prize in both the Dorothy Prizes and the Room of One's Own poetry competition—both of which I learned of through your database."
Vicki Duke, Alberta, Canada
"As a beginning writer, I had no idea where to send my work for submission or for contest entries... With guidance from your website, I was able to figure out which contests my poetry, short stories and essays might do well in. I've also used it to sign up to receive wonderful magazine and journal publications of contemporary poetry, short stories and nonfiction that I would never have found without your website.
"Since using your website in the summer this past year (just six short months ago), I won First Prize in the Margaret Reid Traditional Verse Contest, a short story of mine, "Magnolia", was a finalist for the 2006 New Letters Alexander Cappon Award for Fiction, my poem "The Blue Laptop" was long listed for the 2006 Bridport Prize, and now, I'm waiting to hear if my poem, "Tombstones", moves up from the short list of the Poetry at Work Challenge. That almost averages out to one placement or prize a month due to your website!
"...I've got a bunch of other pieces out for consideration. I'll keep you posted if anything else wonderful happens. This really has been a tremendous year for me and I truly couldn't have done it without your website."
Susan Keith, California
See more testimonials here, plus coverage of Winning Writers in Writer's Digest and The Writer, or start your trial now.
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Deadlines: June 16-July 31
Here is a summary of upcoming free poetry contests. Click the contest names to be taken directly to their profiles (you may be asked to login on your first click of the day). You may also view the profiles by logging in to The Best Free Poetry Contests here and clicking the Find Free Contests link to search for contests by name.
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Please go to http://www.winningwriters.com/forgot_password.php
We will email your password to you within minutes.
Winning Writers gathers contest information from a wide variety of sources including publishers' press releases, online link directories, Poets & Writers Magazine, and e-newsletters such as TOTAL FundsforWriters, The Practicing Writer, and CRWROPPS. We encourage readers to explore these useful resources, and let us know about worthwhile contests we may have missed.
6/29: Costa Book Awards +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly June 28
Formerly known as the Whitbread Book Awards, this highly recommended free contest offers a top prize of 25,000 pounds, plus prizes of 5,000 pounds in each genre, for books first published in the UK or Ireland by authors who have lived in the UK or Ireland for at least six months of each of the preceding three years. Awards given in the genres of poetry, novel, first novel, biography, and children's literature. Books must have been published between November 1 of the previous year and October 31 of the current year. Must be submitted by publisher.
6/30: Juan Rulfo Latin American and Caribbean Literary Award +++
Entries must be received by this date
$100,000 lifetime achievement award is given (by nomination only) to a native of Latin America or the Caribbean writing in Spanish, Portuguese or English or a native of Spain or Portugal writing in Spanish or Portuguese. This is one of several awards sponsored by the Guadalajara International Book Fair.
7/1: Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly June 8
Highly recommended free contest for a first published book offers top prize of 20,000 pounds, plus 5,000 pounds in each of five categories: poetry, fiction, nonfiction/biography, children's book, and Irish-language book. Authors must have been born in the UK or Ireland, or lived there for at least 5 years. Books must have been published in the UK or Ireland between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2007. Publishers should send 5 copies of the book plus entry form.
7/6: Ishar Singh Poetry Contest +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly July 7
Neutral free contest for students in grades 1-12 offers top prize of C$100 in each of 5 age categories. Send 5 copies of a one-page poem, one copy with contact information and the others anonymous. No simultaneous submissions. 2007 theme is "Earth Matters".
7/31: Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award +++
Highly recommended free contest for unpublished poems by authors aged 11-17 offers free books, anthology publication, and tuition to a writing course (for UK entrants only). Online entries accepted.
7/31: Jerwood Aldeburgh First Collection Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers 3,000 pounds and a reading at the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in Suffolk for the best first full-length collection of poetry published in Great Britain or Ireland since August 1 of the preceding year. Either publisher or author may submit 3 bound or proof copies of the book with a note indicating the date of publication. Include cover letter with contact information.
7/31: John Glassco Translation Prize +
Neutral free contest offers C$1,000 for an author's first book-length translation into French or English, published in Canada during the previous calendar year; work may be poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, or children's book (all genres compete together). Contest is open to Canadian citizens or landed immigrants. Fiction predominates among winners, although 2006 winner was a poetry book; before that, the most recent poetry winner was in 1998.
7/31: Sarabande Series in Kentucky Literature ++
Don't enter before July 1
Recommended free contest offers publication by Sarabande Books, a high-quality literary press, for a manuscript of poetry, fiction or creative nonfiction (all genres compete together) about Kentucky or by Kentucky authors. Winner must agree to travel to readings within the state. You are eligible if you were born in Kentucky or have lived there for at least five years, or your book is set in or about Kentucky. Poetry manuscripts should be 48-100 single-spaced pages, prose manuscripts 150-250 double-spaced pages. No genre fiction.
Login to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests. You can browse contests by deadline date, name, recommendation level and more.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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SPONSORS' MESSAGES
The Girl Who Came to Schlenkerla
Tony, a GI soon to be released from active duty, and Inge, a college student, are living in the old Franconian city of Bamberg, he in the Army barracks there, she in a residential section. He spots her at Schlenkerla, the renowned brewery-tavern known for smoked beer, and immediately is enamored. A mutual German friend introduces them. After a number of casual contacts, a love affair sprouts. Tony opts to be discharged in Germany. He finds an apartment in downtown Bamberg and lives off modest savings. The relationship between Tony and Inge deepens. She is preparing to become a teacher and wants job experience before considering marriage. He is being urged to come home and help in the family antique business. At the end of Part One, her father discovers the affair and angrily demands she break it off. In Part Two, they hit rapids, their first falling-out. His funds nearly exhausted, Tony must return to the States; Inge is headed for a substitute-teaching job in West Berlin. Ostensibly still in love, they face difficult decisions on a future together.
www.edalbaugh.com
The Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference
Next conference: August 24-27
The Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference provides the faculty, connections, and method necessary to set poets with a completed manuscript or manuscript-in-process on a path towards publication. Includes workshops, consultations with press editors, evening poetry readings, editorial panel Q&A, group critique of selected poems, and an after-conference strategy session.
Faculty for 2007 include editors and publishers Martha Rhodes (Four Way Books), Jeffrey Levine (Tupelo Press), Jeffrey Shotts (Graywolf Press), Michael Simms (Autumn House Press), Chase Twichell (Ausable Press) and others; workshop leaders include Director of the Concord Poetry Center, Joan Houlihan, Suffolk University Creative Writing Program Director Frederick Marchant, Director of the Smith Poetry Center, Ellen Dore Watson, and Chair of the Writing and Publishing Department at Emerson College in Boston, Daniel Tobin.
The cost of the August conference is $895, and includes tuition, pre-conference materials, lodging and meals. The August conference takes place in Colrain, a country town in Western Massachusetts, at the unique and magical Round House. For an application and complete guidelines, please visit concordpoetry.org/Colrain. You may also call 978-897-0054, email cpc@concordpoetry.org or write to Colrain Poetry Manuscript Conference, Concord Poetry Center, 40 Stow Street, Concord, MA 01742-2418.
On Sale Now: THE HUB OF THE MIRACLE—poetry
Sallie Bingham's earliest literary expression was found in poetry dictated to her mother who sent the child's work to her father serving overseas in World War II. During writing classes at Harvard, Bingham was discouraged from becoming a poet, at the time not considered a viable path for a serious writer. After publishing eleven books of fiction and non-fiction, Bingham has finally returned to her first love: poetry, with its pure emotional perspective.
The Hub of the Miracle is divided into sections devoted to "the crises of maturity": mourning and death, winter, marriage, daily news, even a section that focuses on the stove. Each lyric, however, offers the reader a spark of hope that transcends the ordinary moment.
As a child, Bingham discovered salvation in poetry during dark times. "It has taken me a long while to claim simplicity [in poetry]—which is never simple—as my own," Bingham says. It is in those moments of profound stillness "that often contain an implicit threat" where Bingham finds the rawness of emotion—the essence of good poetry—and still as an adult her salvation.
Perhaps a few lines from this book may help a sleepless reader
through the long dark hours.
Sallie Bingham
Sunstone Press, Softcover: $16.95, 800-243-5644 (orders only)
Last Call!
Autumn House Poetry Prize: $2,500 and Book Publication
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Winner will receive book publication, a $1,000 advance against royalties and a $1,500 travel grant to participate in the 2008 Autumn House Master Poets Series in Pittsburgh. The contest is open to all full-length collections of poetry 50-80 pages in length. If poems have been previously published, then acknowledgement must be given to other publishers, and the poet must control rights to all previously published material.
All finalists will be considered for publication. Final judge is Mark Doty. Please enclose a $25 handling fee, payable to Autumn House Press. Send your manuscript and fee to Autumn House Press, Attn: Poetry Prize, P.O. Box 60100, Pittsburgh, PA 15211.
Autumn House has published full-length poetry collections by Gerald Stern, Ruth L. Schwartz, Ed Ochester, Julie Suk and many other outstanding poets. For more information, please see www.autumnhouse.org.
Last Call!
Third Annual Ghost Road Press Creative Writing Contest: Open Windows
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Since 2005, Ghost Road Press has sponsored a writing contest for poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction. We use the best of the contest entries and solicited pieces to create the anthology. The 2005 edition of Open Windows was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.
Prizes: $500 + 4 copies Open Windows 2007 for best story, creative nonfiction piece, and poem; 3 copies Open Windows 2007 for 2nd prize; 2 copies Open Windows 2007 for third prize (nine prize winners total). Categories will be judged separately. There is no set theme for any of the categories. Electronic submissions only.
We founded Ghost Road Press with a long-standing friendship and a love of good books, then focused a lot of energy on finding writers and poets—some regional,
some from far away—who had written books we wanted to support and who were willing to take a chance with us. We started small, but we're growing.
Ghost Road authors include Peter Anderson, Karen Chamberlain, Meg Withers, Chris Ransick, Robert Cooperman, Eleanor Swanson, Tina Welling, Michael Shay, Janet Bland, David Williams, Laurie Wagner Buyer, and Shari Caudron.
For complete contest guidelines, please see our website: ghostroadpress.com/contest.htm
 Closing Next Month
Dream Quest One Writing Competition
Postmark Deadline: July 31
This writing contest is open to everyone! Whether experienced or not, anyone who loves to arrange words into beautiful art or write a story that's worth telling. We're accepting poems, 30 lines or fewer on any subject, and short stories, 5 pages maximum on any theme (single or double line spacing). Multiple entries welcome.
Prizes
Short Story First Prize: $500, 2nd: $250, 3rd: $100
Poetry First Prize: $250, 2nd: $125, 3rd: $50
Entry fees
$10 per story
$5 per poem
How to Enter
Send your work with a cover page that lists the title(s) of your poem(s)/story(ies), name, address, phone number, and email address, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Make your entry fee payable to "Dreamquestone.com" and mail to Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest, P.O. Box 3141, Chicago, IL 60654. Visit www.dreamquestone.com for details and to enter.
 Deadlines Extended
Cedar Hill Press: Poetry & Short Fiction Contests
Revised Postmark Deadline for Poetry Contest: August 1
Revised Postmark Deadline for Short Fiction Contest: September 1
Cash prizes will be awarded to those placing in the top four. The top 10 entries (in each contest) will be published on our site along with the author's bio. Prizewinning works will also be turned into a podcast. For further details and the guidelines, please visit www.CedarHillPress.com.
Cedar Hill Press was created to provide a forum to discover and develop emerging artists. We look for people who are continuously seeking to change the course of their genre, and want to be viewed as an artist of the 21st Century. Cedar Hill Press encourages the use of new mediums, theories and ideas.
Insights from Jeremy Sayers, judge of the most recent Cedar Hill short fiction contest ...
Some of the most important elements of a good story, I think, are a strong sense of voice, and a consistent through-line. In other words, the way the story is told, that it is told by a storyteller we enjoy listening to, and that the story completes itself. In most cases, though, a sign of a good storytelling "voice" is that we don’t really notice it. It's kind of an ambiance in the world of the story. And, of course, when voice is well done, it is consistent throughout the story. When a writer drops the "voice" of a particular story, it's glaringly noticeable. The same holds true for the through-line. In a well written piece of fiction, no detail, no turn of phrase, no line of dialogue, is extraneous. But, at the same time, all of the elements of a good story should seem natural, not forced...
A few examples of writers who I think are good writing teachers through their work, besides Elaine Palentia, and Frank O'Connor, are Flannery O'Connor (no relation to Frank); the collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find is breathtaking. James Joyce's Dubliners everyone should read ("The Dead" is one of my favorite stories). Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories is another collection no one should miss out on...
Skysaje Enterprises Announces the Results of its 2007 Poetry Contest
Congratulations to Regina M. Brault of Burlington, Vermont. She won our 2007 contest with her poem, "At Either End of the Web". Honorable mentions went to Ruth Duke ("First Love"), Linda Fuchs ("Rejected Wife") and Andrea Watson ("Skin"). It is our pleasure to present Ms. Brault's winning poem:
At Either End of the Web
by Regina M. Brault
She spins by moonlight
weaving wet strands
from mailbox to brass knob,
binding my door shut with her silk.
Each morning I claw at the web,
unraveling her mending from the night before.
She watches from behind a clapboard, waits for darkness.
What is this web to her
that she will not surrender
but patiently repair my damage?
Am I connected to its strands?
Like the crumpled moth trapped
in the sticky tangle in my hand,
or like a nightmare snared in a dreamcatcher?
What is this thing
I rip apart—some kind of primitive survival map whose
language has been lost to me? Just as her instinct is
to claim this space, mine is to tear down obstacles.
Neither of us will back down. One has to go,
be banished from this struggle over territory.
Perhaps this is the way all battles begin—
small battles fought in strands of gossamer.
Copyright 2007 by Regina M. Brault
Please contact us for information on our products and services:
Skysaje Enterprises
50 Amesbury Road
Rochester, NY 14623-5314
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These free prose contests with deadlines between June 16 and July 31 are included as a bonus in The Best Free Poetry Contests.
Click the contest names below to go straight to their profiles, or login to The Best Free Poetry Contests here. After you login, please click the Find Free Contests link, then search by Prose Contest Type to find prose contests.
6/29: Bechtel Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly May 31
Highly recommended free contest from Teachers & Writers offers $3,500 for the best unpublished essay or article relating to creative writing education, literary studies, and/or the profession of writing. Maximum 5,000 words. Entries must be received by 5 p.m. Eastern time on the deadline date.
6/30: American Identity Literary Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest awards $500 in each genre for stories and essays about the changing nature of American identity in a multiethnic society. Entrants must be aged 18+ and attending an accredited 2-year or 4-year US college. Entries should be 1,000-2,500 words. The contest is sponsored by writer Charles Hugh Smith, author of I-State Lines. Smith's own family is a mix of Mexican-American, Asian-American, African-American and Anglo heritages, and the contest reflects his interest in the dynamic nature of identity in America. See website for sample writing and entry forms.
6/30: Bank of New Zealand Katherine Mansfield Awards ++
Recommended free contest for short fiction offers top prize of NZ$10,000, plus prizes of NZ$1,500 each for writers aged 13-18 and entrants who have not previously had creative writing (including, but not limited to, a novel, short story, poetry or other work of fiction) published or broadcast for payment. Entrants must be New Zealanders by birth, naturalization or by residence in New Zealand for three years continuously immediately prior to the Closing Date. See website for rules and entry form. Enter by mail or online. No simultaneous submissions.
6/30: Drue Heinz Literature Prize +++
Highly recommended free contest for an unpublished book-length collection of short fiction (150-300 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.
6/30: Goi Peace Foundation International Essay Contest for Young People ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers top prize of 100,000 yen (about $840) for short essays by children and youth on themes of cross-cultural reconciliation. Prizes awarded in age categories under-14 and 15-25. See website for details on the annual theme and formatting rules. Entries may be written in English, Spanish, German or French. Send by mail or email.
6/30: Iris Chang Memorial Essay Contest ++
Formerly July 31
Recommended free contest offers top prize of $1,000 for essays that bring a personal perspective to human rights issues raised by Iris Chang's acclaimed book The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of WWII, which detailed Japanese atrocities in China. Tragically, Chang committed suicide in 2004, at the age of 36. Essays should be 2,500 words maximum, submitted by mail or email. See website for complete rules and annual theme.
6/30: L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest +++
Highly recommended free contest for emerging writers of short science fiction, fantasy and horror offers quarterly prizes of $1,000 plus an annual $5,000 grand prize for one of the four winners. Send only one story per quarter, maximum 17,000 words. See website for eligibility rules. Entrants may not have professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium.
6/30: Macmillan Writer's Prize for Africa +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest from prestigious publisher offers top prizes of $5,000 for unpublished short fiction for children in two age categories: Junior (stories for children 8-12) and Senior (stories for teens 13-17). Contest is open to authors aged 16+ who are current nationals or naturalized citizens of Africa (any of the countries on the African continent), or authors who were born as citizens of an African country. All stories must have a strong African content. Contest runs in odd-numbered years only.
7/1: Hillerman Mystery Competition +++
Highly recommended free contest offers $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 and the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference. Hillerman is the author of the best-selling Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee mystery series set on a Navajo reservation.
7/1: Michigan Literary Fiction Awards ++
Recommended free contest offers $1,000 and publication by the University of Michigan Press for an unpublished novel by an author who has published at least one previous book of "literary fiction", either a novel or a short story collection. (The prize for an unpublished short fiction collection was eliminated in 2007.) Simultaneous submissions are now permitted.
7/1: Richard J. Margolis Award ++
Recommended free contest offers a $5,000 stipend and a month-long residency at the Blue Mountain Center, a writers' and artists' colony in the Adirondacks in Blue Mountain Lake, New York, to a promising new journalist or essayist whose work combines warmth, humor, wisdom and concern with social justice. Send at least two nonfiction pieces (published or unpublished), up to 30 pages total, with a short biographical note including a description of your current and anticipated work.
7/2: Linda Flowers Prize +
Formerly July 3
Neutral free contest offers $500 for the best story or essay with a connection to North Carolina themes or events (out-of-state authors eligible). Submissions should engage readers' understanding of the "humanistic apprehension," bringing to light "real men and women having to make their way" in the face of "changes and loss, triumphs and disappointments." Entries are expected to draw on particular North Carolina connections and/or memories, and should be 2,000-2,500 words.
7/7: Electrobooks Competition +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest from Ireland-based electronic media venture offers prizes up to $500 for unpublished fiction, plus opportunities for serialized online publication. Entries may be fast-paced novels, novel excerpts, or short stories. Enter by email only.
7/10: Tell Tale Press Writing Contest +
Neutral free contest for short fiction offers 3 prizes of $200 savings bond, other gifts. Complete one of the 24 story openings on the website, or write a story involving any of the Tell Tale Press characters or places. Maximum 2,000 words.
7/15: Bard Fiction Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers $30,000 for US authors aged 39 and under who have published a book of fiction. Winner also receives one-semester appointment as writer-in-residence at Bard College. Send 3 copies of book, proposal for new project, and CV.
7/31: Jelf Group First Novel Award ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers 2,500 pounds for the best first novel by a UK resident, published between November 1 of last year and October 31 of this year. Galley proofs are acceptable. Entries must be submitted by publisher or agent. Send email to Pamela Thomas to receive the submission address where books should be sent. Books for children are not eligible. Formerly known as the Goss First Novel Award, changed in 2007.
7/31: National Medical Fiction Writing Competition for Physicians ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest for doctors licensed in the US and its territories offers top prize of $1,000 for an unpublished short story or novel excerpt on a medical theme. One entry per person, 2,500 words maximum. Contest sponsor SEAK, Inc. provides training, seminars and publications for attorneys, physicians and other professionals.
Login to The Best Free Poetry Contests now to view these and all our profiles of free contests.
Key to Ratings
Highly Recommended: +++
Recommended: ++
Neutral: +
All deadlines are postmark deadlines unless otherwise specified.
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Fault Magazine
Rolling Deadline
Fault is a new online journal of fiction, essays and artworks that deal with human flaws. "Funny, sad, weird: these are not issues. Quality, however, is." Each issue of the magazine will focus on a single undesirable characteristic, exploring who is affected by it, the impact it has on individuals, when it can be especially bad (or actually good), and any other aspect of the flaw that is interesting to consider. The more unusual and sincere the work, the better. Ultimately FAULT hopes to offer an entertaining look at human frailty and a serious consideration of some of our more unpleasant traits. The issues will initially be published online, and then the first five issues will be bundled as a print journal. For their first five issues, they are looking for writing (10,000 words maximum) about Perfectionism, Dependence, Apathy, Imperiousness, or Self-Obsession. Send entries or questions to submissions@faultmag.com.
Apple Valley Review
Entries must be received by August 17
Semiannual online journal seeks poetry, fiction and essays. Enter by email only. Recent contributors include Sean Lovelace, M. Thomas Gammarino, Anna Evans, and Simon Perchik. Editors say: "We prefer work that has both mainstream and literary appeal. All work must be original, previously unpublished, and in English. Please do not submit genre fiction, explicit work, or anything particularly violent or depressing. Also, please note that we do not accept simultaneous submissions. All published work is considered for our annual editor's prize."
Torch
Entries must be received by August 31
Online literary journal seeks poetry, prose and artwork by African-American women. No simultaneous submissions. Enter by email only. Past contributors include Patricia Smith, Remica L. Bingham and Venus Thrash. Editors say, "We prefer our contributors to take risks and offer a diverse body of work that examines and challenges preconceived notions regarding race, ethnicity, gender roles, and identity."
ABC Words in Action: Anthology to Aid Abused Children
Entries must be received by December 21
Nonprofit organization ABC (Authors for the Betterment of Children) Words in Action seeks stories in English or Spanish for an anthology on the plight of exploited and abused children. Maximum 30 pages per story. Enter by email as PDF attachment only. No simultaneous submissions. Top ten entries will be published in anthology and winners will be invited to read at the Miami International Book Fair in February 2008. See website for formatting and thematic details. Must be received by 3:00 p.m. EST on December 21.
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Anglican Theological Review
This scholarly journal accepts unpublished poems demonstrating creative engagement with Christian tradition. No simultaneous submissions. Poetry editor is prizewinning author Sofia M. Starnes.
Asian American Writers' Workshop
Manhattan-based arts organization offers workshops, readings, youth programs, and occasional contests. They sponsor the annual Asian American Literary Awards Ceremony to recognize outstanding literary works by Americans of Asian descent. Their reading room contains notable works of Asian American literature through the decades.
Patricia Smith
Poet, spoken-word performer and writing teacher has won four National Poetry Slam individual championship titles, as well as a National Poetry Series prize for her book Teahouse of the Almighty.
Poets Against War
The mission of this website founded by Sam Hamill is to continue the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression. It includes reader-submitted poetry as well as poems and essays by well-known contemporary authors.
The War Poetry Website
British site features bios of leading WWI poets, links to anthologies, and well-crafted poetry about contemporary conflicts in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
See our complete directory of resources at http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/ur_web.php. This is also the gateway to our recommended books, magazines, service providers, advice for writers (with manuscript tips) and poetry critiques.
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The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong
By Jennifer Michael Hecht. Engaging history of cultural and philosophical prescriptions for a happy life, which have differed widely from one era to the next. Hecht suggests that historical perspective itself brings happiness by giving us self-awareness and the ability to try new options outside our culture's standards of value. The wit and geniality she displayed in her prizewinning poetry collection The Next Ancient World lend credibility to her advice on the good life (or rather, lives).
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MORE SPONSORS' MESSAGES
Last Call!
Margaret Reid Poetry Contest for Traditional Verse
Postmark Deadline: June 30
Now in its fourth year, this contest seeks poetry in traditional verse forms such as sonnets and haiku. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. 50 cash prizes totaling $4,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its fifth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. 30 cash prizes totaling $3,500 will be awarded, including a top prize of $1,000. The entry fee is $6 for every 25 lines you submit. Submit online or by mail. Early submission encouraged. This contest is sponsored by Tom Howard Books and assisted by Winning Writers. Judges: John H. Reid and Dee C. Konrad. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
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Commentary
by Shirley Barasch
This limpid rag of bone and hulk, of ghostly shadowed muscle strength
was once a man who walked the street and smelled the air and woke
to see the sun each day and moon at night and laughed a lot at funny things.
Heard fervent pleas of something fine that makes the world a better place
with purest heart to do what's right, no thought of death or dying, he
gave up the things so dear to him and searching for the answer—left.
When underneath a blacker sky with only wind and night and day
alone and finally questioning why, he bent unwillingly to draw the blood
of some poor bent unwilling one who seemed just like himself, he cried.
Then the crack of shots became a dream of logs upon the hearth at home
or autumn leaves beneath his feet, while frosted white on five days growth
ran off his lips onto his chin like foam blown off a dark cold beer.
The sting of lead tore out his side; it hurt like hell and then, not even that
while hours like burnt toast smelled up the air, the wound gushed red
until it stopped from mud piled up like bandages.
It was a distant numbing sleep; they found him trembling, cold
and blue; just once he opened up his eyes, his parted blistered
silent lips refused the taste of coffee, pills or even of a cigarette.
Shut up tight, his heart and mind from all that he had felt and known,
gone valiant quest, gone finer world, they sent him home closed in a box
to a house of empty hearts and eyes that gazed upon his uniform.
Our cries have stopped—caught in each throat; the hurt healed up
yet what the worth, once more they'll heed the siren's call and rise to fall
and rise and then, with young and hopeful hearts, they fall again.
And soon it all becomes a regular diet of printer's ink and bread and blood
with boys and girls born good to die until somehow we've just plain forgot
the reasons when and why and how and where each battle got its start.
Copyright 2007 by Shirley Barasch
This poem won second prize in Taproot Literary Review's 2007 poetry contest.
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Literacy in Everyday Life
ProLiteracy Worldwide invites literacy activists and educators to avail themselves of Literacy in Everyday Life (PDF). This concise presentation reviews the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy, underscoring how fundamental literacy is to individual prosperity and the economic and political life of the United States. Highlights from the presentation include:
- Overall prose and document literacy skills have not measurably improved since 1992
- New immigrants are younger and have less formal education
- Two-thirds of all new jobs in the next 10 years will require a college degree or technical training
- Low literacy correlates strongly with high rates of unemployment
- Low literacy also correlates with reduced voting in presidential elections
- Demand for English as a Second Language instruction (ESL) is increasing
- Adults with a GED perform as well as adults with a high school diploma
- 22% of adults (48 million people) don't have the basic quantitative skills needed for workplace success
- Women with intermediate or advanced skills are less likely to need public assistance
 ProLiteracy is the oldest and largest nongovernmental literacy organization in the world. It sponsors educational programs that help adults and their families acquire the literacy practices and skills they need to function more effectively in their daily lives.
Support ProLiteracy's vital mission. Click
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Send this page to a friend and we'll donate 15 cents to ProLiteracy for each friend you refer.
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This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "The Garden" by Joleen Leo.
If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to me at critique@winningwriters.com.
Send the poem in the body of your email message (no attachments) and put "poetry critique" in the subject line. One submission per poet per month. Thanks!
The Garden
by Joleen Leo
Blooms the sunrise as the foliage
The will of dawn. Salmon mist
Ochreous with affliction, its colors
Coalesce into infinity.
The whole day is without serenade or sorrow
The black bird
Beats its wings against the fence
Then off like a spear
The flowers are without fragrance
There are only these poppies, blood red
and rose
Swarmed by baby's breath.
The sun blooms, beats high above me
The distance of night is done for
Caught between these two realms, I turn away
Into the startling darkness of the day.
Copyright 2007 by Joleen Leo
Critique by Jendi Reiter
This month's critique poem, Joleen Leo's "The Garden", shows one way to make a familiar poetic subject fresh and interesting again. Gardens feature prominently in the Western artistic vocabulary, starting with the Bible. Like art itself, the garden represents the harmonious coexistence of the given and the manufactured, deriving its vitality and surprise from the independent workings of nature, but paradoxically finding its truest essence by being set apart from nature, forced into a human-made form.
In medieval art, the garden was a symbol of purity and tranquility; in the Bible, it represented a safe homeland as opposed to the physical and spiritual alienation of the wilderness. Now that the greatest encroachment on our peace typically comes not from nature but from human activity, the wildness of gardens, rather than their controlled aspect, attracts us as a source of renewal in our sterile post-industrial environment.
Leo's garden scene is unsettling, juxtaposing moments of expectant stillness with flashes of energy, even violence. Her fractured syntax jolts the reader into a mode of consciousness where one must process intense sensations without the comforting distance of a narrative framework....
critique continues here
This poem, our critique and contest suggestions for poems in this style appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2007/urc_0706leo.php
See
all of our poetry critiques.
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VISIT JENDI REITER'S BLOG
Visit Reiter's Block for poetry, cutting-edge Christianity, book notes and cultural insights. Subscribe free to get Jendi's latest posts as they happen. Go to the home page, see the Subscription box on the left.
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COMING IN OUR JULY 15 NEWSLETTER
Winners Announced for the 15th Annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest
The Best Free Poetry Contests for July 16-August 31
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