Calls for Submissions February 2025
January 14, 2025
Each month we curate a list of contests, fellowships, and other writing opportunities with approaching deadlines. Opportunities will be posted in the month prior to their deadlines, so that you have ample time to submit your work or applications.
Fiction Contests
The Masters Review Short Story Award for New Writers
Eligibility: Emerging writers only
Prize: $3,000 + publication + agency review
Entry Fee: $20
Deadline: February 2, 2025
James Alan McPherson Prize for the Novel
Eligibility: All authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence
Prize: $2,500 + publication by the University of Nebraska Press
Entry Fee: $30 (nonmembers); $20 (members)
Deadline: February 28, 2025
Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction
Eligibility: All authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence
Prize: $5,500 + publication by Mad Creek Books, an imprint of the Ohio State University Press
Entry Fee: $30 (nonmembers); $20 (members)
Deadline: February 28, 2025
Nonfiction Contests
Frances “Frank” Rollin Fellowship
Eligibility: Authors working on a biographical work about an African American figure or figures
Prize: $5,000 + a year’s membership in BIO
Deadline: February 1, 2025
Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award
Eligibility: Early-career nonfiction writers
Prize: $12,500
Deadline: February 19, 2025
Sue Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction
Eligibility: All authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence
Prize: $2,500 + publication by the University of Georgia Press.
Entry Fee: $30 (nonmembers); $20 (members)
Deadline: February 28, 2025
Poetry Contests
Michael Waters Poetry Prize
Eligibility: All poets, except affiliates
Prize: $5,000 and publication by Southern Indiana Review Press
Entry Fee: $35
Deadline: February 3, 2025
Omnidawn First/Second Book Poetry Contest
Eligibility: Writers who have never published a full-length book of poetry or have only published one full-length book of poetry
Prize: $3,000, publication, and 20 copies
Entry Fee: $30
Deadline: February 16, 2025
Donald Hall Prize for Poetry
Eligibility: All authors writing in English regardless of nationality or residence
Prize: $5,500 + publication by University of Pittsburgh Press
Entry Fee: $30 (nonmembers); $20 (members)
Deadline: February 28, 2025
Translation Contests
Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
Eligibility: Translators with a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in 2024
Prize: $1,000
Deadline: February 15, 2025
Raiziss/de Palchi Book Prize
Eligibility: Translators with an English translation of Italian poetry published in the U.S.
Prize: $10,000
Deadline: February 15, 2025
Multi-Genre Contests
Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers
Eligibility: Canadian citizens & permanent residents with no more than 1 book published
Prize: $2,500
Entry fee: $29
Deadline: February 17, 2025
Writing Fellowships & Residencies
Philip Roth Residence in Creative Writing
Eligibility: Writers working on a first or second book of fiction or creative nonfiction
Prize: 4-month residency at Bucknell’s “Poets’ Cottage” and a stipend of $5,000.
Deadline: February 1, 2025
Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship
Eligibility: Academics, independent scholars and writers working on projects relating to the literature, history, culture, or art of the Americas before 1830
Prize: $20,000
Deadline: February 1, 2025
MacDowell Colony
Eligibility: All writers
Prize: Up to six-week residency
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: February 10, 2025
Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence
Eligibility: 21yo+ poet with one or more collections of published poetry, currently authorized to work in the U.S. for any employer
Prize: residency at the Guggenheim Museum + $20,000 honorarium
Deadline: February 19, 2025