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September 2010
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Welcome to our September 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.
Lost one of our newsletters? Was part of it lost in transmission? Formatting doesn't look right? Not to worry. All our recent newsletters are posted online at http://www.winningwriters.com/news
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FEATURED SPONSOR'S MESSAGE
Welcome to Carpe Articulum Literary Review, a full-colour, international, quarterly journal of resplendent literature! Once again we bring you a wonderful selection of cross-genre literature as well as spectacular interviews from famous industry greats. Genres include: Poetry, Short Fiction, Novellas, Screenwriting & Non-Fiction. We also include full-colour photography, informative articles and insightful interviews. Come to CarpeArticulum.com and see a free sample online.
SPECIAL THANKS TO SCREEN ACTOR JEFF GOLDBLUM AND FORMER HEAD OF MGM STUDIOS, PARAMOUNT AND DESILU PRODUCTIONS, MR. HERBERT F. SOLOW FOR THE LOVELY INTERVIEWS THIS ROTATION. This quarter, Mr. Solow speaks about what screenwriters should know about the industry, the true stories behind his mega-hits Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, and how things really work in Hollywood. Stay in touch to see the exciting new interviews in upcoming issues! $10,000 per year in cash awards provided to exceptional writers and photographers! Available in print in Barnes & Noble, Borders and other fine bookstores worldwide. Online editions available as well.
Current call for submissions: Short Fiction, Screenwriting (Best opening scene only) and Non-Fiction & Poetry. NO PAGE LIMITS! Multiple submissions permitted; submit online via the website! Previously published work is permitted only if the print run did not exceed 2,000 copies.
THIS QUARTER'S ANNOUNCEMENTS OF WINNERS:
POETRY:
FIRST PRIZE: Deborah DeNicola, for The Tree At Casa Cara
SECOND PRIZE: Mara Buck for Charmeuse
THIRD PRIZE: Krista Kurth for Over The Wall
PHOTOGRAPHY:
FIRST PRIZE: Aashish Kaul & Harsh V. Parihar
SECOND PRIZE: Anna Joujan
THIRD PRIZE: Rosmarie Epaminondas
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Tom Sterner, Charles Patton
CONGRATULATIONS to Carol Howell who received an offer for a book deal AND nomination for the Pushcart Prize due to her novella, which won the Carpe Articulum Prize for short fiction. We are proud to have been a part of this opportunity and wish her the very best in her writing career!
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CONTESTS HOSTED AT WINNING WRITERS & OPEN NOW
Last Call!
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
Now in its eighth year, this contest seeks poems in any style, theme or genre. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. Submit poems of any length. The entry fee is $7 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 Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: March 31, 2011
Now in its 19th year. Prizes of $3,000, $1,000, $400 and $250 will be awarded, plus six Most Highly Commended Awards of $150 each. Submit any type of short story, essay or other work of prose, up to 5,000 words. You may submit work that has been published or won prizes elsewhere, as long as you own the online publication rights. $15 entry fee. 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.
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest - No Fee
Online Submission Deadline: April 1, 2011
Winning Writers invites you to enter the tenth annual Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. We'll award $3,600, including a top prize of $1,500. Submit one poem online. No length limit. Both published and unpublished poems are welcome. No fee to enter. Final judge: Jendi Reiter. See the complete guidelines and past winners.
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TOM HOWARD/JOHN H. REID SHORT STORY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED
Tom Howard Books is pleased to announce the results from its 18th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest. Emily Jiang of Palo Alto, California won first prize and $3,000 for her story "Paper Daughter". Over 1,000 entries were received from around the world. See the press release announcing the winners.
Suspenseful, atmospheric, and moving, "Paper Daughter" takes us to Ellis Island in 1940, where one wrong answer to the immigration officer's questions spells deportation and a return to poverty. The young heroine must be clever to keep her past a secret, yet not appear more educated than a good Chinese girl ought to be. A sudden crisis forces her to choose between heroism and self-preservation. The judges said, "It is difficult to craft a gripping tale involving unfamiliar (and even unfathomable) people in realistic life-and-death situations, but author Jiang brilliantly turns all apparent obstacles aside by cleverly building up the reader's involvement with and sympathy for the story's principal character."
Second prize of $1,000 went to M.T. Gabrick of Peoria, Illinois for "The Brave One", a vivid retelling of Acts 9:1-19. Before his conversion, St. Paul was known and feared for persecuting the followers of Jesus; now, one such family must work up the courage to obey God's command to welcome him into their home. Arlene Lidbergh-Jasper of Anchorage, Alaska won third prize and $400 for "Hall of Fame". The author's father was a renowned portrait painter of Major League Baseball players in the 1950s. In this affecting memoir, she recounts a visit to a special collection of his work at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. Mari Grana of Santa Fe, New Mexico won fourth prize and $250 for "The Balcon". In a poor Mexican village, a devoted yet unhappy priest is embittered by the imminent closing of his church, until the appearance of a mysterious stranger prompts him to make peace with the sacrifices he's made, and to start afresh.
Most Highly Commended awards of $150 went to Annie Eagleton, Arielle Kaden, Fern Langmead, Lance Mason, Mary Lou Simms, Judy Willman, and Linda Zabolski. Suzanne Covich received a Special Encouragement Award of $100.
Read the top winning stories on our website, plus the judges' comments and the complete list of winners and commended entries. Thanks to all of you who participated. The 19th annual Tom Howard/John H. Reid Short Story Contest is currently open for entries here through March 31.
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RECENT HONORS FOR OUR NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Pamela Uschuk. Her poetry collection Crazy Love (Wings Press, 2009) won a 2010 American Book Award. She kindly shares a sample poem below. This prestigious honors program is administered by the Before Columbus Foundation in conjunction with the American Booksellers Association. As part of the prize, all of her books will be released in iPad and Amazon.com Kindle editions.
Congratulations to Carolyn Howard-Johnson. She recently received two awards from the Military Writers Society of America: a gold medal for her marketing manual A Retailer's Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotion and an honorable mention for She Wore Emerald Then, a poetry chapbook celebrating mothers, co-written with Australian poet Magdalena Ball. Although these two winning books have nothing to do with the military (all writers are welcome to become MWSA members), Carolyn Howard-Johnson often writes to increase awareness about the plight of our troops. She wrote the foreword for Support Our Troops, published by Andrews McMeel, blogs about resources for our soldiers and their families at www.warpeacetolerance.blogspot.com, and has included military themes in many of her poems. She is the author of several chapbooks of poetry and has been published in many print and online journals. Visit her website at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
Congratulations to Verna Cole Mitchell. Her poem "Mama's Song" won third prize in the 2010 S. Portia Steele Award for Excellence in Poetry and Prose. Read the winners here. This free contest offered $100 prizes for unpublished poems and short prose pieces by women aged 50+. Their website says that 2010 was the last year for the contest, though the S. Portia Steele Award Organization will continue to offer $500 scholarships for women seeking college or graduate degrees.
Congratulations to Jeanetta Calhoun Mish. Her poetry collection Work Is Love Made Visible (West End Press, 2009) has won three awards in recent months. In April, she received the Western Heritage Award (the "Wrangler") for Outstanding Book of Poetry from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and also the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry. In August, Mish's book was chosen as the recipient of the 2010 WILLA Award for Poetry given by Women Writing the West. She kindly shares a sample poem below. Visit her website at tonguetiedwoman.com for more information.
Congratulations to Amy Lou Jenkins. Her new book of narrative nonfiction, Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting (Holy Cow! Press, 2010), has garnered glowing endorsements from Susan Cheever, Tom Bissell, Philip Lopate and more—including a National Book Award winner. The Minneapolis Star Tribune's review said Every Natural Fact was "Nothing short of sensational." Visit Jenkins' website to learn more.
RECENT HONORS FOR POETRY CONTEST INSIDER SUBSCRIBERS
Congratulations to Douglas Campbell. His story "Last Call for the Fiddlers Three" won second prize for short fiction in the 2010 Alabama Writers' Conclave Writing Contest. See the complete winners' list here. This contest offers prizes up to $100 in several poetry and prose categories; the most recent deadline was April 20.
Congratulations to Karen Winterburn. Her poem "Dance with Me" won first prize for rhyming poetry in the 2010 Christian Publishers Poetry Prize sponsored by Utmost Christian Writers. This contest offers prizes up to $300 in two categories: poems that resemble traditional hymns, and other rhyming poems on Christian themes. The most recent deadline was May 31.
RECENT PUBLICATION CREDITS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS
Winning Writers Poetry Reviewer Tracy Koretsky's poems "The Next Green", "after the storm...", "Arioso", and "this poem" were published in Sunken Lines Review #13 (Summer 2010). Her poem "It's About" appeared in Blood Lotus #16.
Martin Steele's flash fiction "Blank Masterpiece" appeared in Ginosko issue #10.
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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 300 of the best prose contests. Contest rules, addresses and deadlines change constantly. We update Poetry Contest Insider nearly every day to stay on top of them. Search and sort contests by deadline, prize, fee, recommendation level and more. Access to Poetry Contest Insider is just $9.95 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 entries help you refine your craft. Learn more about Poetry Contest Insider.
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Deadlines: September 16-October 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.
Forgot your password? Need a password?
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.
9/17: United Planet Writing & Photography/Video Contest +
Entries must be received by this date; formerly August 29
Neutral free contest seeks written work (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction) along with photos and videos that demonstrate the promotion of cross-cultural understanding, friendship, and supporting one another in one's own community or abroad. Top prize is a framed limited-edition photo ($800 value) and a free volunteer Quest (airfare not included) for up to two weeks to any of United Planet's short-term locations around the world in order to advance the winner's own personal intercultural interaction and promote social and economic prosperity worldwide. Written entries not to exceed 1,000 words; see website for photo and video formatting rules. Enter by email only.
9/30: Consequence Prize in Poetry ++
Recommended free contest offers $200 for the best poem addressing the culture and consequences of war. Send 1-3 unpublished poems, maximum 6 single-spaced pages total. Enter by mail or email. Consequence is a Massachusetts-based literary magazine, published annually, focusing on the culture of war in America.
9/30: Lee & Low New Voices Award ++
Recommended free contest offers top prize of $1,000 and publication for a picture book story (1,500 words maximum) by a US writer of color who has no prior published books in this genre. No simultaneous submissions. Entries may be poetry, fiction, or nonfiction. No folklore or animal stories. Though we're not a fan of the exclusive-submissions rule, we upgraded this contest to Recommended in 2010 because it has established enough of a track record, and offers a good-sized prize to encourage multicultural literature for children.
10/10: Birdsong Writing Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Thrice-yearly neutral free contest offers prizes of $50 apiece for poetry and prose (short fiction and creative nonfiction compete together), plus publication in the zine Birdsong and a featured spot in their Brooklyn reading series. Send up to 3 single-spaced pages of poetry, or one prose piece, maximum 1,500 words, by email as an MS Word .doc attachment to birdsongmag@gmail.com. The Birdsong publishing collective shares a commitment to social movements of feminism, anti-racism, queer positivity, class-consciousness, and DIY cultural production.
10/15: Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers a fellowship of about $50,000 for US poets, to fund a year of travel outside North America. Entrants must be US citizens by virtue of birth in the US, or birth outside the US to an American citizen parent. While contest is open to all, poets with significant publishing credits have the best chance. Application should include 40 pages of poetry, or copy of published book and 20 pages of additional poetry. See website for other materials required.
10/15: Fernando Rielo World Prize for Mystical Poetry +
Neutral free contest offers 7,000 euros for unpublished "poetry expressing the spiritual values of humanity in their profound religious significance," written in Spanish or English or translated into one of these languages. Open to all nationalities, but most winners have been from Spain and South America. Entries should be 600-1,300 lines. No simultaneous submissions. We rate this contest Neutral, despite the large prize, because English-language entries rarely win.
10/20: New Voices Young Writers Competition +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest offers two grand prizes of $100 for poetry, fiction, and essays by middle school and high school students (all genres compete together for the grand prizes). First-prize winners in each genre receive prizes such as an e-book reader or PDA, gift certificates, or a check/money order. Winners will also be invited to the EPIC annual conference. EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Connection, is a professional organization for published and contracted e-book and print authors. Entrants may submit one piece in each genre in their age category, for a total of three entries. Poetry should be 20 lines maximum for middle-schoolers, 30 lines for high-schoolers; prose, 750 words or 1,000 words, respectively. Enter online only.
10/30: Wick Student Poetry Competition +++
Formerly October 31
Highly recommended free contest for poets enrolled in Ohio colleges and universities offers chapbook publication by a prestigious university press. Sponsored by the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. Manuscripts should be 15-25 pages of poetry.
10/31: Eric Gregory Awards +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers prizes totaling 24,000 pounds for a collection of up to 30 poems, drama-poems, or belles-lettres, by a writer who will be under age 30 as of March 31 of the following year. The author must be a British subject by birth but not a national of Eire or any of the British Dominions or Colonies, and must ordinarily be resident in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland. Previously published work accepted.
10/31: Lucidity Poetry Journal Clarity Awards +
Twice-yearly neutral free contest offers top prize of $100 for poems about the human experience. Authors must be 18+. Editor Ted Badger says: "Seeking poetry that deals with people, relationships, life issues and events, written in clear and concise English. Form of the poem is open but it must have something to say without resorting to vulgarity. Clarity is crucial. We publish poetry that everyday people can relate to, understand and enjoy." Submit 1-5 poems, maximum 36 lines each (including stanza breaks).
10/31: Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended contest from UK-based Society of Authors offers 5,000 pounds for the best book of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction by a UK author who will be under 35 as of December 31. Entries in all genres compete for one prize. The author must be a British citizen ordinarily resident in Britain. The work submitted must have been first published in Britain in the year in which the deadline falls.
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
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Last Call!
Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: September 30
The Connecticut Poetry Society is pleased to announce that the Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest is accepting submissions. Please note that the deadline for submissions is now September 30 (this is a change from previous years).
We offer prizes of $400, $200, and $100. Winning poems will be published in the Connecticut River Review. Other submissions will also be considered for possible publication. For your $15 entry fee (make check out to CPS) you may enter three unpublished poems, up to 80 lines each. Multiple and simultaneous submissions are acceptable if you notify us immediately upon acceptance elsewhere. Last year's winners are not eligible for this year's contest.
Please submit two copies of each poem, one with contact info and one completely anonymous. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for contest results. No poems will be returned—please keep a copy. Mail your work to CRR Contest, CPS, P.O. Box 270554, West Hartford, CT 06127.
The Connecticut Poetry Society is a state-wide community of poets dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of poetry. CPS has a 35-year tradition of excellence in publishing work of national and Connecticut poets. Our mission is to support poetry with chapter meetings, contests, and events for CPS members throughout the state. More information on this contest and on our organization can be found at www.ct-poetry-society.org.
Please enjoy "Crows" by J. Stephen Rhodes. This entry won an honorable mention in our most recent contest.
Crows
by J. Stephen Rhodes
This is the yard where you won't run again
the swing where your feet won't pierce the sky
the woods the path you cut on school days
through the field the stream you crossed coming home
This is the chair where you sat at the table
grudging food around your plate staring
at chickadees titmice nuthatches
This is the air you are not breathing smelling
white pines sweet gums No one to yell
No down the stairs when Yes was called for
you on your bed tennis shoes on the floor
drawings of cows trees Harriet Tubman
Yard pasture wait A few crows
you used to call them black surprises
appear then vanish silent holes in the day
This is how it happens Where you were you are
no longer Like the crows you've gone quiet
less substantial each day less here
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Last Call!
2010 Creekwalker Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: September 30
"Welcome to the 4th annual Creekwalker Poetry Prize. For our 2010 contest, we anticipate entries from poets, veterans and novices alike, whose work carries the capacity to startle us with glimpses into the relationship between profound truths and the minutiae of everyday life."
— Tom Mark Gilbert, Founder/Editor
Submit five poems of 25 lines or less via typed hardcopy (no electronic submissions). All themes welcome. Both published and unpublished poems are eligible. Winner receives a $400 prize. Entry fee: $15 payable to Creekwalker. Please mail your entry and fee to:
Creekwalker Poetry Prize
5620 Paseo Del Norte #127-240
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Questions? Please see our complete guidelines at www.creekwalker.com or email 2010prize@creekwalker.com.
Please enjoy "Backyard Secrets" by Faye Williams Jones, our 2009 Creekwalker Poetry Prize Winner:
Backyard Secrets
by Faye Williams Jones
Sycamore leaves in my flower beds
tell me someone's backyard secret.
A sycamore tree does not mix and mingle
with front yard oaks, magnolias, and crepe myrtles.
If a tree hides in a backyard,
what other secrets grow among crabgrass, dandelions,
wood piles, and honeysuckle entwined
with privet hedge on a fence?
A formal garden mulched and weedless
no longer hosts an aging couple.
Roses bloom next to the same privacy fence
as tomatoes.
Rabbits hop from yard to yard
and dogs do not look up and bark.
Neighbors do not hang clothes to dry,
pick fruit from trees, and visit over fences.
I do not know who lives next door.
I will not share my backyard secrets
and pretend that neighbors do not whisper,
"The woman next door has no hair." |
Last Call!
The Missouri Review Editors' Prize: Over $15,000 in Prizes
Postmark Deadline: October 1
Now through October 1, submit your best poetry, fiction, and essays. Winners in each genre receive $5,000, a featured publication in our spring issue, and a trip to Columbia, MO for a gala reading and reception. Three finalists in each genre receive cash prizes and will also be considered for publication. $20 contest fee includes a one-year subscription to The Missouri Review.
Entries must be previously unpublished and will not be returned. Please include no more than 25 typed, double-spaced pages for fiction and nonfiction. Poetry entries can include any number of poems up to 10 pages in total. Each story, essay, or group of poems constitutes one entry. Submit online or by mail.
For more information, please see http://www.missourireview.com/contest/editors_prize.php
Please enjoy this excerpt from "Birdie" by Mark Wisniewski, a story published in our June 2008 issue.
Two weeks into our regular season, Boys' Varsity starts coming to practice early to watch us scrimmage the freshies. Birdie be rainbowing home twenty-foot jumpers and Boys' Varsity be jumping and hollering like German shepherds under a ham bone hanging from monkey bars. All of us on Girls' Varsity be busting butt on defense and making three-quarter-court bounce passes connect clean on full-speed fast breaks, but Boys' Varsity never cheer for any of that—they just sit there eyeing Birdie, waiting for her to sting in another jay. I gotta admit I was jealous: because I knew Boys' Varsity liked Birdie because she played hoop and looked most like they did. She walked pigeon-toed like them, and had her brown hair cut short like Danny Ainge. The hair on her legs needed shaving more than she bothered with it, you could see the muscles in her little forearms move when she dribbled, and her chest be flat as a back alley.
Which most of Girls' Varsity wasn't. Most of Girls' Varsity had big breasts bouncing everywhere, slowing us down, getting in the way of our shots—at least that be my excuse.
Birdie never made excuses herself. In fact, she hardly even TALKED. When she did it surprised you, sounding low and hoarse and soft. I never heard her say anything until after the practice Shannette's ankle busted and Coach moved Birdie up to Varsity. We played Yates the next day and Coach put in Birdie and HOOSH-HOOSH-HOOSH-HOOSH—she drain four nothing-but-net jumpers in a row...
Click to download the complete story |
Last Call!
The 21st Annual Reuben Rose Poetry Competition 2010
Entries must be received by October 7 (rolling deadline)
Sponsor
"Voices" The Israel English Poetry Association
Prizes
FIRST: US$500
SECOND: US$200
THIRD: US$100
10 HONOURABLE MENTIONS
All prize-winning poems will be published in the Voices Anthology 2011.
Entry fee
NIS15; US$5; 4 euros; or 3 pounds sterling per poem (these currencies only, payment by cash or check, made payable to Voices Israel). Receipt of submission acknowledged if accompanied by a self-addressed envelope with three International Reply Coupons (available from your post office). Please see our website for more information.
Poem Format & Content
All styles of challenging, humorous and/or curious poetry are welcome. The competition is general and not necessarily on Jewish or Israeli subjects. Poems should be 40 lines or less, submitted in duplicate (one copy should NOT have any identifying information) and be accompanied by a cover letter giving the titles of the poem(s) submitted, with your full name and address. You may enter as many poems as you wish at $5 etc. per poem. Entries received after the deadline will be automatically entered into the following year's contest. Mail your entries to:
Voices Israel (Reuben Rose Competition)
J. Dicks
P.O. Box 236
Kiryat Ata 28101
Israel
Package Deal
Four of your submissions may be considered by the "Voices" editorial board for publication in the upcoming poetry anthology. Please send four entries of your choice to our anthology editors, Sheryl Abbey & Michael Dickel, for consideration in the Voices Israel Anthology, Volume 37, by email to VoicesIsraelPoetryAnthology@gmail.com. See website for separate submission guidelines, which must be followed. Please note the postal mail address above is for the Reuben Rose Poetry Contest entries only.
About the Judging
Judging anonymously by Professor Seymour Mayne (University of Ottawa). Professor Mayne is the author, editor or translator of more than fifty books and monographs. His work is represented in eighty anthologies and his own writings have been translated into numerous languages. He will be conducting a creative writing workshop in Israel in early 2011.
Notification
Winners will be notified personally. The results will be published online in January in the monthly Voices newsletter. There will be a public reading.
Below we present "From my kitchen window" by Rochelle Mass of Israel, the winning poem in our 2008 competition.
From my kitchen window
by Rochelle Mass
I often think there's a woman on the hill
over there, who looks out her kitchen window
in my direction
as she prepares dinner for her family.
Perhaps that woman has watched our village grow.
Perhaps she's seen it spread over the Gilboa
new homes built for young families
children playing in the yard.
watch Jenin stretch so wide
I have to turn my head
each way
to see the full size of it.
Perhaps that woman is picking olives, as I am
soaking them in large bins then
slicing lemons, adding coarse salt
tossing in bay leaves, peppercorns and
sharp red peppers to get the right flavor.
Perhaps she helps her husband, as I help mine
take their crop to the local press, return
with gallons of oil.
watch evening stagger over Jenin as
I soap my dishes
see lights splash
over the city.
wonder if that woman
is looking my way—
I would ask if she's angry
if she's afraid. |
Last Call!
 Announcing the 2010 Cutthroat Literary Awards
Postmark Deadline: October 15
$1,250 First Prize, $250 Second Prize plus publication for the 2010 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize and the 2010 Rick DeMarinis Short Fiction Prize.
Send up to three poems (100 lines each) or one short story (5,000 word limit) with a $15 reading fee per submission. NO AUTHOR NAME ALLOWED ON ANY ENTRY. Check can be made out to Raven's Word Writers or CUTTHROAT, A JOURNAL OF THE ARTS. Include a cover sheet with author name, address, email address and phone number plus a mandatory self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for announcement of winners to:
CUTTHROAT, A JOURNAL OF THE ARTS
P.O. Box 2414
Durango, CO 81302
JUDGES: Marvin Bell, Poetry, and Lorian Hemingway, Short Fiction. Enter as often as you wish! All finalists considered for publication. Congratulations to Valentina Gnup for her poem, "France Etude", winner of the 2009 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize chosen by Dorianne Laux, and Tom Coakley for his story, "The Lower Heights of the Hindu Kush", winner of the 2009 Rick DeMarinis Short Fiction Prize chosen by Alan Cheuse. Both works were published in CUTTHROAT 8, the fifth Anniversary Issue. Purchase back issues for $10 plus shipping. For the complete contest guidelines, go to www.cutthroatmag.com.
Please enjoy "Flooding" by Emilia Phillips, published in Cutthroat 7 (PDF). Ms. Phillips was our Discovery Poet for this issue.
Flooding
"Closer, everything stinks
of the speed it's being ruined"
— William Matthews
A dozen houses cling to a railroad bridge and it's as if they were
supposed to float for miles and land here, line up neatly against
the bridge like a subdivision near Des Moines. The river beats
across their beams and backs and soon, the current will take
away their frames. Everything will float down-
stream, but we'll be left at the shore, our pants wet up
to the knees, and we'll watch and we'll wait to
see if one shoe or picture frame or spoon floats
our way. We build our lives on destruction: the home on
the flood plain, the love on human nature, the life
on loan. At the shore, what footprints we leave,
the water will be sure to take away, filling
and rebuilding its bank, but still, we'll
come to the shore, still we'll try to leave
our tracks, still we'll cup our hands and drink. |
Last Call for Fiction Contest!
The Grub Street Book Prize
Postmark Deadlines: March 15 for Poetry, July 15 for Non-Fiction, October 15 for Fiction
The Grub Street Book Prize is awarded three times annually to a writer outside New England publishing his or her second, third, fourth (or beyond...) book. First books are not eligible. Writers whose primary residence is Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire or Rhode Island are also not eligible.
Each winner receives a $1,000 honorarium and an all-expense-paid reading/book party at Grub Street in downtown Boston. Winners will also lead a craft class on a topic of his or her choice for a small group of Grub Street members. We congratulate our 2010 winners to date, Debra Allbery (Poetry: Fimbul-Winter) and Vestal McIntyre (Fiction: Lake Overturn).
Though Grub Street's top criterion is the overall literary merit of the work submitted, the award committee especially encourages writers publishing with small presses, writers of short story collections, and writers of color to apply. We also want the award to benefit writers for whom a trip to Boston will likely expand their readership in a meaningful way.
See www.grubstreet.org for full application guidelines.
Please enjoy "River" from Fimbul-Winter:
River
by Debra Allbery
You want to tell this story
without touching anything.
The glass unsmudged, the great river
still frozen. Or if it was raining then,
the rain falling unbroken.
There are no people in this story,
no one you'd know. It's January,
March, that fine gray suspension
before the thaw. It's a long walk,
that's all, hands deep in the pockets,
rough wind of diesel and prairie,
years go by. You carry a few words
like compasses, that's all, like coins,
bright eye-pennies, their cool weight
precise in the palms.
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Last Call!
Open City's 2010 RRofihe Trophy Short Story Contest
Postmark Deadline: October 15
7th year! The RRofihe Trophy for an unpublished short story! Limit: 5,000 words. Winner receives: $500, trophy, and publication in Open City magazine. Judge: Rick Rofihe.
Guidelines:
- Stories should be typed, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the author's name and contact information on the first page and name and story title on the upper right corner of the remaining pages
- Limit one submission per author
- Author must not have been previously published in Open City
- Mail submissions to RRofihe, 270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412, New York, NY 10012
- Enclose a self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All manuscripts are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
- See the complete guidelines at http://www.opencity.org/rrofihe.html
Rick Rofihe is the author of FATHER MUST, a collection of short stories published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Grand Street, Open City, Swink, Unsaid, and on epiphanyzine, slushpilemag and fictionaut. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, SPY, and The East Hampton Star, and on mrbellersneighborhood. A recipient of the Whiting Writers' Award, he has taught MFA writing at Columbia University. He currently teaches privately in New York City, and is an advisor to The Vilcek Foundation for their 2011 prizes in the field of literature. Rick is the editor of the new online literary journal, anderbo.com.
Closing Next Month
9th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest
Theme for 2010: "When Writing Made a Difference"
Email Submission Deadline: October 31
FundsforWriters.com and Literary Database team up to co-sponsor the 9th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest. We want to know how someone's words made a difference. You could address another author of years long past whose writing affected you, a classroom or an entire population. You might talk about a mentor's writing. Maybe your writing impacted someone else and altered one person's life or the lives of thousands. Did your writing finally sell and pay off the wolf at the door or send you on a grand retreat or vacation? Did your writing impact a child, a senior, a lover, a friend, or a complete stranger?
We offer the same two categories—the $5 FEE category and the NO FEE category. Many writers do not believe in paying while others have no contrary opinion about an entry fee. Here we offer both so everyone has a choice. This way no one has an excuse not to submit.
First place winner receives $300. Six cash awards given. Limit 750 words. Winners announced December 1. www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm / www.literarydatabase.com
Closing Next Month
The Ledge Magazine Announces Its 2010 Poetry Chapbook Competition
Postmark Deadline: October 31
PRIZE: Winning poet will receive a $1,000 cash award and 25 copies of the published chapbook.
SUBMIT: 16-28 pages of original poetry with title page, biographical note and acknowledgements, if any. Please include your name, mailing address, email address, and phone number (optional). Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but we ask that you notify us if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere. Poets may enter more than one manuscript.
ENTRY FEE: $18. All entrants will receive a copy of the winning chapbook upon its publication in the fall of 2011.
NO RESTRICTIONS on form or content. The Ledge Press is open to all styles and forms of poetry. Excellence is the only criterion.
PLEASE include a SASE for the competition results or manuscript return.
SEND ENTRIES TO:
The Ledge 2010 Chapbook Competition
40 Maple Avenue
Bellport, NY 11713
Please visit us at www.theledgemagazine.com for additional information regarding our publication and press, as well as the complete guidelines for our annual fiction awards and poetry chapbook competitions.
Please enjoy "Bar Napkin Sonnet #11" from Moira Egan's chapbook Bar Napkin Sonnets, winner of The Ledge 2008 Poetry Chapbook Award.
Bar Napkin Sonnet #11
by Moira Egan
Things happen when you drink too much mescal.
One night, with not enough food in my belly,
he kept on buying. I'm a girl who'll fall
damn near in love with gratitude and, well, he
was hot and generous and so the least
that I could do was let him kiss me, hard
and soft and any way you want it, beast
and beauty, lime and salt—sweet Bacchus' pards—
and when his friend showed up I felt so warm
and generous I let him kiss me too.
His buddy asked me if it was the worm
inside that makes me do the things I do.
I wasn't sure which worm he meant, the one
I ate? The one that eats at me alone?
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Coal Hill Review Poetry Chapbook Contest: $1,000 and Publication
Postmark Deadline: November 1
The winning chapbook will be published electronically as part of our Spring issue of Coal Hill Review, and an attractive paper edition will also be available through Autumn House Press. In addition, the poet will receive $1,000.
We ask that all poetry submissions to Coal Hill Review come through our annual contest.
Manuscripts, submitted through our website or through the US Mail, will be accepted August 1 to November 1, and the competition is open to all poets writing in English.
The submission fee of $20 may be paid through our PayPal account or by check or money order made out to Autumn House Press.
Submission should consist of 10-15 pages, either a long poem or a group of poems.
If poems have been previously published, acknowledgments should be included with the submission.
All finalists will be considered for publication in Coal Hill Review and Kestrel Magazine.
Manuscripts may be submitted electronically through our website www.coalhillreview.com, or sent by US mail to this address: Autumn House Press, P.O. 60100, Pittsburgh, PA 15211.
Please enjoy this poem by Gailmarie Pahmeier, part of her winning chapbook entry from 2009, Shake It and It Snows:
Hometown Girl at 30
by Gailmarie Pahmeier
Someone more romantic might say
it has to do with the rhythm of spoons,
the toy piano sound of silverware
tossed onto a table. Someone else might
say it has to do with the way I move
across the floor, my thick-hosed legs aching
to be quick. All I can say is I like
waiting tables where truckers gulp my strong
coffee, tell lies they hope will loosen
my grip, lure me into their cabs come dark.
Sometimes I'm sorely tempted, and I've gone
to a few who were young and good-looking
and on their way to somewhere I might get
a card from. I like the big button
I wear pinned to my chest—Try Our Famous
Cherry Cheesecake—I like the way I make
things shine (napkin dispensers, the easy
necks of catsup bottles, the long counter
I rest my body against). I like the noise
of Alvie in the kitchen singing
"Delta Dawn", the sweet smell of onions
Roberta chops for chili, I love knowing
I'm at home here, another small town girl
with big dreams. I love knowing that someday
I will walk out of here on the arm
of someone with promise, that everyone
will miss me, will say, Whatever happened
to that local gal who told those stories? |
 The Twenty-Fourth Annual Portland Pen Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: November 7
AWARDS: First Place $150; Second Place $50; Third Place $25
ENTRY FEE: $5 per poem (check or money order—no cash)
CONTEST RULES: Any form; any style; 40-line limit strictly enforced. No email or fax entries. One poem per page; two-page poems must be stapled together.
Two copies of each typed or computer-printed poem should be single-spaced with no photos or decorations. Copy one must have your name, complete address, telephone number and/or email address in the upper right-hand corner. Copy two—no identification.
Poems must be in English, the original work of the author, unpublished in any form, and not a winner beyond Finalist or Honorable Mention in any other contest.
The Contest is open to adult men and women, except members of the Portland Branch, National League of American Pen Women.
No poems will be returned. All rights revert to the author. First, Second, and Third Place Winning Poems will be published in The Portland Pen, the newsletter of the NLAPW, Portland Branch. Honorable Mentions will be awarded by certificate as merited.
Please tell us where you discovered our contest (e.g. Winning Writers Newsletter). For a Winners' List, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) with your entry. Send your entry to:
Portland Branch, NLAPW
Joan A. McLaren Henson
12356 SW King George Drive
King City, OR 97224
Questions? Please email mwjhenson@msn.com.
The National League of American Pen Women was founded in 1897—23 years before women's suffrage—in order to bring together women journalists, authors, and illustrators. It is a professional organization with members in Letters, Art, and Music.
Please enjoy "Self-Talk" by Jon E. Seaman of Portland, OR, the winning entry in the 2009 Portland Pen Poetry Contest.
Self-Talk
by Jon E. Seaman
Unfold yourself
from the origami of your rage.
Those newspaper-bruises
and brittle flakes of soy ink scorch,
but will dissolve
in acid rain and memory.
This need not be your obituary.
Unearth yourself
from memoir remains.
This fading papyrus, this codex,
this evidence of sad scribal skills
is not in language lost. Your name
not signed in blood. This need not be
your final testament.
Unleash yourself
from this steel maw snare
of savage fear-bite faith.
Unknowable questions that with wolf-teeth gnaw and rend and tirelessly tear.
You need not strangle
on a choke-chain life.
Unhinge your jaws
and devour yourself whole.
Your vision and venom
are no longer lethal. Today, old serpent, you are a patient snake, a time constrictor.
This is not your final meal.
|
FISH PRIZES 2010/11
Short Story Prize — 3,000 Euros
Entries must be received by November 30, 2010
Entry fee: 20 Euros, 5,000-word limit
Judge: Simon Mawer
Second prize: a week at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat in West Cork and 300 Euros
Third prize: 300 Euros
One Page Prize — 1,000 Euros
Entries must be received by March 20, 2011
Entry fee: 14 Euros, 300-word limit
Poetry Prize — 1,000 Euros
Entries must be received by March 30, 2011
Entry fee: 14 Euros, 200-word limit
Judge: Brian Turner
The ten winners from each of the three Fish Prizes will be published in the 2011 Fish Anthology. The 2010 Fish Anthology is available for 12 Euros (click for excerpts and ordering).
Full details, rules & online entry for all contests at www.fishpublishing.com
Major credit cards accepted with online entry. The translation of your entry fee into your local currency will be done automatically by your credit card company according to the current exchange rate.
Mail postal entries to: Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland
Questions? Please email info@fishpublishing.com
Established 1994. Honorary Patrons: Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann, Dermot Healy
|
General Guidelines
Do not put your name and address on the story, but on a separate sheet.
Checks should be made out to Fish Publishing.
Stories and poems must not have been published previously.
Entry will be taken as acceptance of the rules and conditions.
Copyright reverts to the winning authors one year after publication of the Anthology.
The 2011 Fish Anthology of winning stories and poems will be published in July 2011, and launched at the West Cork Literary Festival.
Online Flash Fiction Writing Course
Ten weeks of reckless writing fun with Mary-Jane Holmes. Designed to be useful, entertaining, constructive, all for just 195 Euros including free entry to the Fish One-Page Prize.
11th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition
Postmark Deadline: December 1
To make a long story short, the 11th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition is now accepting entries! We're looking for fiction that is bold, brilliant...but brief. Send us your best in 1,500 words or fewer. But don't wait too long—the deadline is December 1, 2010.
Grand-Prize winner will receive $3,000 (that's $2—or more—per word).
Click for the guidelines, prizes and to enter online.
Plus, the 1st- through 25th-place manuscripts will be printed in the 11th Annual Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition Collection. Click to learn more about this special collection and to reserve your copy today.
2010 Anderbo Poetry Prize
Postmark Deadline: December 15
- Submit up to six unpublished poems
- Winner receives $500 cash and publication on anderbo.com
- Judged by Linda Bierds, assisted by Anderbo Poetry Editor Charity Burns
Guidelines:
- Poems should be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with the poet's name and contact information on the upper right corner of each poem
- Limit six poems per poet
- Poet must not have been previously published on anderbo.com
- Mail submissions to:
Anderbo Poetry Prize
270 Lafayette Street, Suite 1412
New York, NY 10012
- Enclose self-addressed stamped business envelope (SASE) to receive names of winner and honorable mentions
- All entries are non-returnable and will be recycled
- Reading fee is $10. Check or money order payable to RRofihe
Linda Bierds' eighth book of poetry, Flight: New and Selected Poems, was published in 2008 by Putnam's. Her awards include four Pushcart Prizes, the Virginia Quarterly Review's Emily Clark Balch Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Ingram Merrill, the Guggenheim, and the MacArthur foundations, and twice from the NEA. She is a professor of English at the University of Washington.
http://www.anderbo.com/anderbo1/anderprize2010.html
 6th Annual Writer's Digest Poetry Awards Competition
Postmark Deadline: December 15
We're pleased to announce the only Writer's Digest competition exclusively for poets! Regardless of style—rhyming, free verse, haiku and more—if your poems are 32 lines or fewer, we want them all.
PRIZES
First Place: $500 and a trip to the Writer's Digest Conference in New York City
Second Place: $250
Third Place: $100
Fourth Through Tenth Place: $25
Eleventh Through Twenty-Fifth Place: $50 gift certificate for Writer's Digest Books.
The names and poem titles of the First through Tenth-Place winners will be printed in the August 2011 Writer's Digest, and afterwards their names will appear on www.writersdigest.com. All winners will receive the 2011 Poet's Market.
Click for more information and to enter online or by mail
 2011 Haiku Pix Chapbook Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 31
Haiku Pix Review announces its 2011 Haiku Pix Chapbook Contest for a collection of haiku espousing the review's credo: "No haiku but in pictures". Images make haiku. A juxtaposition of bare images brings up the jolt a good haiku is after. The rule of the microscopic poem applies to larger productions too.
Enter brief poems employing haiku technique of juxtaposition of two images devised to evoke emotion. We welcome all forms, including haibun and tanka prose. Send your truly best. All work considered for publication in the Haiku Pix Review. Visit us on the web at www.haikupix.com.
Prize: $200, publishing contract, and 10 chapbooks. In addition, we offer three $50 Merit Awards, which include assistance with affordable chapbook production. $20 entry fee includes a 1-year subscription to Haiku Pix Review. Send 16-20 pages, acknowledgments, bio, check payable to Haiku Pix Productions, and a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to:
 Haiku Pix Productions, Inc.
Holiday Center
11F, No. 489, Tian-fu Road
Hsinchu City 30058
TAIWAN
the lover cat
filled with remorse
at my door
— Issa, 1821
Translated by David Lanoue
 Tupelo Press Dorset Prize
Submission Period: September 1-December 31 (postmark dates)
The annual Dorset Prize is an open competition for a poetry manuscript, with a $3,000 prize. Poets submitting work for consideration may be published authors or writers without previous book publications. Submissions are accepted from anyone writing in the English language, whether living in the United States or abroad (translations are not eligible for this prize). The final judge for this year's contest is Lynn Emanuel. All entries must be postmarked between September 1 and December 31, 2010.
Tupelo Press is now accepting electronic submissions. To submit your manuscript electronically and to review the complete guidelines, please visit our website:
http://www.tupelopress.org/dorset.php
You may also send your manuscript via postal mail. Please include a $25 reading fee, payable to Tupelo Press, a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) for notification, as well as a self-addressed stamped postcard (SASP) if you would like acknowledgment of receipt of your manuscript. Manuscripts will not be returned. You may include an acknowledgments page, listing previously published poems. Make sure that you include two cover pages. One with manuscript title, your name, address, phone number and email address. One with only manuscript title. Send your manuscript to:
Tupelo Press
Attn: Dorset Prize
P.O. Box 1767
North Adams, MA 01247
Please enjoy this poem by G.C. Waldrep, who first came to Tupelo through the Dorset Prize contest. This is from his book Archicembalo (Tupelo Press, 2009), which has won many awards and accolades:
What is Performance
by G.C. Waldrep
I implore clarity on last time. No noose replies. Sinuous furlongs of
ocean light chitter one to another in the livid estuary. Correlatives
sink. Flensed bodies of seals sink faster, into sand. Think of the gulls as
morticians.
A small card encountered at a bookstore, crimson upon crimson so that
the card itself appears blank except for color, the skin of it.
Row houses, hunched up in that place like a New England far from
home, that is, bigger than they should be. Sterile. As salt spray. And like
moniker no firmer. Residual bay voltage. A flotilla of creosote.
Six wooden spools when last I checked. Slow pumice shortage Double
agent! Selling a daughter's school collages at a yard sale.
To be approached by the beast. And let us say the beast is hungry. And
let us say the beast is rabid. And let us say the beast is blind— |
The W.B. Yeats Society of New York Poetry Competition — Samuel Menashe, Judge
Postmark Deadline: February 1, 2011
Increased awards: First prize $500, second prize $250. Winners and honorable mentions receive 2-year memberships in the Yeats Society and are honored at an event in New York at Barnes & Noble Union Square about April 1. Competition is open to members and non-members of any age, from any locality. Entry fee $8 for first poem, $7 each additional.
Submit poems in English up to 60 lines, not previously published, on any subject. Each poem (judged separately) typed on an 8.5 x 11-inch sheet without author's name; attach 3x5 card with name, address, phone, email. Mail to:
Poetry Competition WW
WB Yeats Society of NY
National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
New York, NY 10003
Include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to receive the judge's report (example). List of winners is posted on YeatsSociety.org around March 31, along with information on the Yeats Summer School in Ireland, last week in July, first in August.
Authors retain all rights, but grant us the non-exclusive right to publish winning entries. These are complete guidelines; no entry form necessary. We reserve the right to hold late submissions to following year. For information on our other programs, or on membership, please visit YeatsSociety.org or write to us at the address above.
Please enjoy "Joe Williams", first-prize winner in our 2010 contest (Alice Quinn, judge):
Joe Williams
by Cecille D. Brant, Newark, DE
I didn't think I'd like you,
so tall and black and bitter you were,
and me so short, so white, so soft.
I didn't think I'd like you.
When I was three and playing in my tub,
you were sloshing hip deep
in the muck of Vietnam,
grumbling under your breath
about a lost shot at pro ball.
When I was six
and crying about Candyland,
you were stopped by a claymore,
sobbing in the mud and blood filled moments
before salvation.
When I was twelve
and playing with Barbie and G.I. Joe,
you were in a VA hospital,
learning to shoot insulin
and heroin.
But snickering fate has placed us here now,
and I talk to you about the war,
how when I was a kid,
I didn't even know there was a war,
much less that its shadow
would loom large
until the last of your brothers is gone. |
upstreet
Submission period: September 1-March 1
upstreet, an award-winning literary annual, seeks quality submissions—with an edge—of short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry, for its seventh issue. The first six issues feature interviews with Jim Shepard, Lydia Davis, Wally Lamb, Michael Martone, Robin Hemley, and Sue William Silverman. Payment: author copy. Distribution: Ingram, Source Interlink, Ubiquity, and Disticor (Canada). For sample content and to submit, see www.upstreet-mag.org. For news about upstreet and its authors, visit www.upstreetfanclub.blogspot.com.
From upstreet number six:
Leaving Home
by Karen Chase
When I walked outside
into the 5 o'clock
light, blooming hyacinths
had spread through
my unraked garden.
I can't leave all those blues.
Home, they bind me to you.
Worried about the world's size,
and mine too,
all I want is you and the hyacinths.
I need your variegated blues.
A month has passed and now
it's the rhubarb I can't leave, its high
wild white flowers, its red stalks.
In another month though—who knows—
I might fly the coop to somewhere new.
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_______________________________________________
______________________
These free prose contests with deadlines between September 16 and October 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.
9/17: Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest for College Students +++
Highly recommended free contest for high school seniors and full-time college students offers $10,000 top prize, other large prizes, for essays on Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. Essays should be based on one of the three questions on the website, and be 800-1,600 words long. Enter by mail or online. Contest is looking for entries that are sympathetic to Rand's rationalist, libertarian philosophy. See website for other student contests.
9/21: Glass Woman Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended twice-yearly free contest offers prizes up to $500 and online publication for the best short fiction or creative nonfiction by women. Both published and unpublished work welcome. Entries should be 50-5,000 words. Contest sponsor Beate Sigriddaughter says, "Subject is open, but must be of significance to women. My criterion is passion, excellence, and authenticity in the woman's writing voice." Enter by mail or email (no attachments).
9/24: Life Lessons Essay Contest +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly September 7
Highly recommended free contest offers $3,000 and publication in the lifestyles magazine Real Simple for personal essays up to 1,500 words. Open to US authors aged 19+. Enter by mail or email. 2010 theme is "Have you ever taken a huge, surprising risk? Did you climb a mountain? Go back to school? Get married (again)? Tell us about it." Online entries must be received by September 24. Postal entries must be postmarked by September 24 and received by September 30.
9/30: Eric Hoffer Award for Short Prose +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest from Hopewell Publications offers $500 and anthology publication for unpublished short fiction or essays (both genres compete together) up to 10,000 words. Enter online only. No simultaneous submissions. Deadlines are quarterly, but there is only one annual prize. You can enter one story per quarter.
9/30: Independent Foreign Fiction Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest sponsored by Booktrust offers 5,000 pounds each for the author and the translator of a contemporary work of literary fiction in translation published in the UK during the current calendar year. The author must be living at the time the translation is published in the UK. Submit 8 copies plus application form and publicity materials. Formerly sponsored by Arts Council England, changed in 2010.
9/30: Iowa Short Fiction and John Simmons Short Fiction Awards ++
Recommended free contest from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop seeks two manuscripts of short fiction (each 150 double-spaced pages minimum) by an author who has not previously published a book of prose fiction in English. (Books in other genres or languages, and self-published books, do not disqualify you.) Prize is publication under a standard royalty contract.
9/30: Jerry Jazz Musician Fiction Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Thrice-yearly free neutral contest offers $100 and web publication for short fiction. The Jerry Jazz Musician reader has interests in music, social history, literature, politics, art, film and theatre, particularly that of the counter-culture of mid-20th century America. Entries should appeal to a reader with these characteristics. Submit stories of 1,000-5,000 words by email to jm@jerryjazz.com as an MS Word or Adobe Acrobat attachment. Please be sure to include your name, address and phone number with your submission. Please include "Short Fiction Contest Submission" in the subject heading of the email.
9/30: 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.
9/30: Metcalf-Rooke Award ++
Recommended free contest offers C$1,500 and publication for the best unpublished novel or short story collection by a Canadian writer. No length limit specified (200-400 pages is typical). Biblioasis is a small independent press in Ontario that publishes literary prose and poetry, and the critical journal CNQ: Canadian Notes & Queries.
9/30: USNI General Prize Essay Contest +++
Highly recommended free contest from the US Naval Institute offers top prize of $10,000 for essays on any subject relating to the goal of the Naval Institute: "to provide an open forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense." Winners are chosen from articles published in the Proceedings magazine within the September through September entry period; these is no separate submission process for the contest. Maximum 3,000 words. Authors must be USNI members or eligible for membership. Enter by mail or email (preferred).
10/1: Christopher Isherwood Foundation Grants +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers $4,000 fellowships to US authors with one published book of fiction. Submit 3 copies of completed application from website plus 20-30 page sample of fiction, published or unpublished.
10/4: Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly October 5
Highly recommended free contest offers top prize of 10,000 pounds to UK or Irish citizens, or residents of the UK for at least 3 years, who are working on their first major commissioned works of nonfiction. Applications should include a completed entry form, a cover letter with a project synopsis and description, a copy of the publishing contract, and a supporting letter from the editor.
10/6: The Observer/Jonathan Cape/Comica Graphic Short Story Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers top prize of 1,000 pounds and publication in The Observer Review for a 4-page graphic short story (a narrative conveyed to the reader using sequential artwork, typically in the manner of a comic book). Open to residents of the UK and Ireland, aged 16+. See entry form for formatting details.
10/15: Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize ++
Entries must be received by this date; formerly September 30
Recommended free contest offers prizes of 500 pounds for Young Writers (18-25), 1,000 pounds for Professional Writers, for essays of 1,000-1,500 words on a question exploring Franklin's relevance in our time. 2010 theme is the Benjamin Franklin quote: "In politics, what can laws do without morals?" Enter by email.
10/15: S.E.VEN Fund "Faith and Development" Essay Contest ++
Entries must be received by this date
Recommended free contest offers two awards of $5,000 and web publication for essays up to 2,000 words describing enterprise solutions to poverty that are faith-based, faith-inspired, or interfaith effort. Illustrations may come from any domain, including healthcare, education, consumer products, human rights, and others; examples must represent innovative private solutions to public problems. Enter online only. S.E.VEN is a virtual nonprofit entity run by entrepreneurs whose strategy is to markedly increase the rate of innovation and diffusion of Enterprise-based Solutions to Poverty. This contest is offered in partnership with the Washington, DC-based Center for Interfaith Action on Global Poverty (CIFA).
10/31: Discovering New Mysteries Competition ++
Formerly August 31
Recommended free contest offers prizes up to $2,500 for mystery writing in several genres: original plays, screenplays, teleplays, and short stories for both adult and youth audiences. Contest is sponsored by the International Mystery Writers' Festival, held each summer in Owensboro, KY.
10/31: FundsforWriters Essay Contest +
Entries must be received by this date
Neutral free contest for short essays (750 words maximum) on topics of interest to the professional writer offers top prize of $300 in fee-charging category (fee is $5 per essay), $50 in free category. FFW is an excellent resource for both literary and commercial freelance writers, offering useful e-books and newsletters that list paying markets for different types of writing. Themes change annually. Enter by email (no attachments).
10/31: McKitterick Prize +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest offers 4,000 pounds for a first novel by an author over age 40 as of deadline date. The work must either have been first published in the UK in the year in which the deadline falls (and not first published abroad), or be unpublished. Send 4 copies of the published book, or one copy of the first 30 pages of the manuscript.
10/31: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction +++
Entries must be received by this date
Highly recommended free contest for published books of fiction by US citizens offers top prize of $15,000, four runners-up of $5,000. Send 4 copies of book to the Foundation office. Recent winners have been well-established writers such as Philip Roth, Sherman Alexie, and John Updike.
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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Richer Resources Poetry Anthologies
Rolling Deadline
Richer Resources, an independent publisher of gift books, art books, poetry collections, and educational materials, seeks submissions of poetry for a series of themed anthologies. Upcoming themes will include Peace, Idyllic Poetry, Senryu & Haiku, Young Poets (19 and under), and 21st Century Sonnets. Previously published work is eligible if you own the rights or can obtain reprint permission. Accepted authors will receive a copy of the anthology, and some may be offered a contract for a poetry book of their own. For deadlines and more details on each theme, contact Assistant Publisher Genevieve Knight.
Funny 50th Birthday Poem Contest
Entries must be received by September 30
The website Great Happy Birthday Ideas is offering a $25 Amazon.com gift voucher for the best funny poem for a 50th birthday. Illustrations are encouraged. See website for rules and online form. Entrants must be 18+.
Sarabande Books
Postmark Deadline: September 30
This well-regarded literary press from Kentucky is accepting queries from poetry and prose authors with a manuscript to sell. Send a sample of 10 poems, a single story, or a section of a novella or short novel, with $10 fee and SASE. Response time is under 3 months, at which point they may invite you to submit the entire manuscript. Sarabande Books publishes full-length poetry collections (48+ pages), and shorter books of literary prose (150-250 pages), including collections of short stories, novellas, short novels, literary nonfiction or essay collections. They do not consider longer novels, mysteries, westerns, children's books, adventure, or science fiction. Sarabande also sponsors two prestigious contests, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry and the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, with a reading period of January 1-February 15.
Women and Poetry Anthology
Entries must be received by September 30; extended from May 24
Submissions are sought for an anthology of essays about women's experience in poetry publishing. The book will be published by McFarland & Company, with a foreword by award-winning poet Molly Peacock. Suggested topics include markets for women, why women write, time management, using life experience, women's magazines, critique groups, networking, blogs, unique issues women must overcome, lesbian and bisexual writing, formal education, queries and proposals, conference participation, family scheduling, feminist writing, self-publishing, and teaching tips. Practical, concise, how-to articles with bullets/headings have proven the most helpful to readers. Please avoid writing too much about "me" and concentrate on what will help the reader. No previously published, co-written, or simultaneously submitted material. Essays should be 1,900-2,100 words. Potential contributors should submit 2-3 topic proposals and a 75-word bio by the deadline, and wait to hear back before sending the full essay. Email co-editor Carol Smallwood for full guidelines.
Steel Toe Books
Postmark Deadline: October 31
Steel Toe Books, a poetry press based at Western Kentucky University, seeks submissions of poetry manuscripts, 50-80 single-spaced pages. For their September-October 2010 open reading period, they are looking for a single-author poetry collection consisting, at least in part, of poems on sacred/spiritual topics. Editor Tom Hunley says, "We're intrigued by writers (such as Robert Graves in The White Goddess and Donald Revell in The Art of Attention) who see a deep, historic connection between religious practice and poetic ecstasy. We're seeking retellings of Biblical narratives, songs of Jacob-like angel wrestling, apocalyptic dreams—a cross between John Milton and John Donne, a cross between Flannery O'Connor and Francis of Assisi, a cross between Brother Antoninus and Sister Madeline DeFrees. We're seeking something in the spirit of The Gospels in Our Image edited by David Curzon, American Religious Poems edited by Harold Bloom, or Technicians of the Sacred edited by Jerome Rothenberg." In lieu of a reading fee, entrants are asked to purchase a book from their catalog.
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Another Wife Sees Her Love Off to War
by Pamela Uschuk
I'm not surprised I sliced my finger
after you left this afternoon.
The moon rises in its full fog of longing,
and I hear a vibrato of goodbyes like grenades
going off under my skin. In my purse
your cell phone takes messages
you won't hear for months.
My words walk into dreams
rattling their ankle cocoons that recall
the sweet tremble of wet wings
before they learned to fly. Now you fly
thousands of miles from my heart
that flutters off from the stench of its duties
to keep blood and bone alive, swollen
by an ache as acute as winter stars
driven under my fingernails.
Some cosmic joke this passion that strips
my skin to flap like prayer flags
in the complete loneliness of snow.
What can melt ice when men drum
for revenge, and I am stuck again
in the swamp of their rhetoric, their need
to maim the long arms of desire?
A compass needle spun in the palm of history,
battles come true in grief's key of screams.
What skirmish do I need when my heart is set
to leap into the pyre of its longing, dreaming
fat as the moon that remembers the skin tent
flapping like hawk wings in desert wind,
the spin of me dancing before you ride off
with your warriors, the last tattoo
of your fingers, text message on my cheek?
Copyright 2010 by Pamela Uschuk
This poem is reprinted from her collection Crazy Love (Wings Press, 2009), which won a 2010 American Book Award.
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ashes & dust
by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish
it has taken my garden to remind me
how intimately life lies with death
the gold sacks of bone meal and blood meal
the shocking charnel house stink of hydrated lime
every square foot of loamy soil amended by decay
yet for five generations my family's strong hands
have crumbled red dirt clods, sown precious seeds,
and pulled weeds until our fingers ached
our palms callous to match the rake and hoe
we invest ourselves in the bones and the blood,
and wring life from the ashes and dust
Copyright 2010 by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish
This poem is reprinted from her award-winning collection Work Is Love Made Visible (West End Press, 2009).
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PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
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This month, Critique Corner is pleased to present "Kansas" by Ken Martin.
If you would like a chance to be critiqued, please email your poem to 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!
Kansas
by Ken Martin
I'm being dropped. I took a turn pulling the head of our long line of humming wheels and bobbing legs traversing the empty landscape, and now I've rotated to the back, following behind my neighbor and longtime riding partner. Marc is still getting stronger, but age and injury have started to exact their toll on me.
The peloton is a loosely coupled train. Gaps develop and widen as the pace quickens, and I find myself slipping off Marc's tire. I try to sprint back, but there's no starch left. He spins up to another rider in front. Gradually the riders in front grow smaller in the distance and finally disappear. I am churning along with my aching quads under the blue dome of the sky, pulling only myself, being pulled by no one. Suddenly I am no longer in Vermont, but in a place I've been blown back to all my life. I am in Kansas.
I was a child in Leavenworth, in a large brick house beside the Penitentiary. A guard tower stood in our yard, and behind the house the wheat began. I watched squirrels chase each other through the tops of the tall elms. I stood on a wall and directed the black storm clouds in their advance. I built a paper zoo, with paper cages for paper lions. I waited each summer day for my father to come home from the prison in his suit and tie, newspaper folded under his arm. I walked to school across the wide reservation and through the leafy neighborhoods alone.
Father bought me a red Schwinn a few days before my ninth birthday, and taught me to ride it, running along beside as I wobbled. On my birthday, while I was at school, he pulled away, borne beyond the horizon on a swift coronary. His last words were "What a beautiful day!" My mother packed our things in cardboard barrels and we left Kansas. I later marveled at how few memories I carried, as if I hadn't been paying attention.
Still doggedly pedaling on today's empty road, I spare a look around. The flat fields of Addison are pleasant on this beautiful day, but the winds in Kansas rippled the wheat fields like waves of a golden ocean. I made friends with myself while watching them. I learned to enjoy my thoughts. Today I feel the winds of age blowing against me, a privilege my father never had. I try to imagine my young self riding out of my childhood not fatally damaged or condemned by circumstance, but just another odd variation of the human species. It's time to rewrite myself.
Marc is lying on a church lawn. I thank him for waiting, and he says that he wasn't sorry to let the group hurtle on without him. We resume a brisk pace of our own. I'm grateful for his friendship. I'm happy to be riding right now, right here, with a mind and body that could be worse. I'm grateful even for Kansas.
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Copyright 2010 by Ken Martin
Critique by Tracy Koretsky
Free writes, automatic writing, journaling, the Amherst Writers & Artists method—what we have here are a lot of expressions that, when applied to the composition of poetry, all amount to same thing: much poetry begins with prose. This makes sense. We think in prose. We are natural with it. Streaming our consciousness through a pen can, indeed, help us discover and explore our material with an ease that may elude us when faced with the more formal concerns of constructing a poem.
But then what? How do we locate and shape a poem from the raw material we have produced? This month, Critique Corner is indebted to Ken Martin of Vermont for allowing us to use his flash memoir "Kansas" as an object lesson. Though far more polished than a typical sample of, say, automatic writing, this 500-word personal essay does provide clues that may help us lift the poems from our prose...
Click to continue reading this critique
These poems and our critique appear in full at:
http://www.winningwriters.com/resources/critiques/2010/urc_1009martin.php
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all of our poetry critiques.
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COMING IN OUR OCTOBER 15 NEWSLETTER
The Best Free Poetry Contests for October 16-November 30
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