Contests

Now accepting entries for our 2024 self-published book awards! Five winners will be chosen for a prize, including recognition in our newsletter, author interviews, social media spots, book reviews, and more. The deadline for entries is midnight MST Dec 30th. To enter, create a free and professional author profile at https://www.writers-connection.com with your bio and book details. Winners will be notified in Q1 2025.

For over 30 years Writer’s Digest has been honoring self-publishing writers with the Self-Published Book Awards. This is your chance to get in on the action.

Here’s the scoop: Submit your self-published, printed, and bound book in one of seven categories (mainstream/literary fiction, genre fiction, nonfiction/reference, inspirational/self-help, memoirs/life stories, early reader/children’s picture books, middle-grade/young adult) for a chance at:

A Grand Prize package that includes $10,000, a trip to the Annual Writer’s Digest Conference, and a feature article about you and your book in the March/April 2025 issue of Writer’s Digest.
One of seven First Place prize packages that include $1,000 in each respective category and promotion in the March/April 2025 issue of Writer’s Digest.
Every entrant will also receive a brief commentary from one of our qualified readers—all who have experience in their respective categories and/or the publishing world.

Send us your book, which must have been published between 2019. The deadline is April 1.

New topic every month. Multiple submissions welcome. $50 prize.

Winner gets published in Prime Number Magazine and receives a free book from Press 53. You’ll receive an email on the first day of each month with the winning story and the prompt for our next contest.

Enter to win $250 in their weekly writing competition.

The L. Ron Hubbard Writers and Illustrators of the Future Contests have left an indelible mark on the fields of science fiction and fantasy.

To enter, submit a short science fiction or fantasy story/novella up to 17,000 words. Open to new and amateur sci-fi and fantasy writers. Quarterly prizes are $1,000, $750, and $500; annual prize is $5000.

This award honors the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war. It recognizes the service of American veterans and military personnel and encourages the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction.

The annual prize is $5,000 and a 24k gold-framed citation of achievement.

Mystery Writers of America is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre.

Prize is $10,000 advance and publication.

All applicants should submit their original unpublished work of short fiction or nonfiction, 5,000 words or fewer, to be considered. Along with receiving an award for $1,000.00 USD, the winner will have his or her short story featured on their blog, which reaches thousands of readers per month.

Deadline is November 29, 2024.

Offered since 1954, the James Laughlin Award is given to recognize and support a second book of poetry forthcoming in the next calendar year. The award was endowed in 1995 by a gift to the Academy from the Drue Heinz Trust. It is named for the poet and publisher James Laughlin (1914-1997), who founded New Directions in 1936.

The winning poet receives a prize of $5,000, an all-expenses-paid weeklong residency at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, and distribution of the winning book to approximately one thousand Academy of American Poets members.

Deadline window is January 1 – May 15 annually.

The National Space Society and Baen Books applaud the role that science fiction plays in advancing real science and have teamed up to sponsor this short fiction contest in memory of Jim Baen.

Contest: Write a short story of no more than 8,000 words, that shows the near future (no more than about 50-60 years out) of manned space exploration.

Grand Prize

• Published as the featured story on the website
• Paid .08/word
• Engraved award,
• Free entry to annual Int’l Space Development Conference
• 1 year’s membership in the National Space Society

Second and Third-place winners receive free entry plus 1 year membership.

Hidden River Arts offers a yearly prize of $1000 and publication in Hidden River Press, an imprint of Hidden River Publishing, for an unpublished book-length collection of poetry of 75 to 100 pages.

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction and makes their work available to readers around the world. The award is open to authors who have published a book-length collection of fiction or at least three short stories or novellas in commercial magazines or literary journals.

Deadline window is May 1 – June 30. Prize is $15,000 plus publication by the University of Pittsburgh Press with nationwide book promotion.

Writer’s Digest has been shining a spotlight on up-and-coming writers in all genres through its Annual Writing Competition for over 90 years. Enter our 93rd Annual Writing Competition for your chance to win and have your work seen by editors and agents! Almost 500 winners will be chosen.

The Grand Prize is $5,000 in cash, an interview with the author in Writer’s Digest, and a paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, including a coveted Pitch Slam slot. Other prizes include cash amounts, publication, and magazine subscriptions.

Check the link for Early-Bird and Final Deadlines and prizes.

The $5,000 Narrative Prize is awarded annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, poem, one-act play, graphic story, or work of literary nonfiction published by a new or emerging writer in Narrative.