April 2022 Top Picks: Opportunities for Writers
The April 2022 edition of "Writing Life Essentials" is a monthly hand-curated list of contests, grants, scholarships, submissions calls, and awards. We try to prioritize opportunities that are at least one of the following: local, free to apply, and/or committed to celebrating and supporting writers from historically marginalized communities. We do the research, so you have more time for what matters: the writing. Or, adding to your TBR pile. That’s important, too.
Contests & Awards
Prizes in Poetry and Fiction | Orison Books
Fee: $25; Award: $1,500; Deadline: April 1st
Two prizes of $1,500 each and publication by Orison Books are given annually for a poetry collection and a book of fiction. Rajiv Mohabir will judge in poetry and Tania James will judge in fiction. Submit a poetry manuscript of 50 to 100 pages or a novel, novella, or collection of short stories or flash fiction of at least 30,000 words. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Host Publications Chapbook Prize
Fee: $10; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 8th
The Host Publications Chapbook prize awards a woman writer $1000, 25 author copies, dedicated editorial work from our skilled editors, a book launch at Malvern Books (pandemic permitting) and energetic promotion from our staff. We also offer each of our prize winners the opportunity to be a guest on our literary podcast, The Host Dispatch. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fee: $25; Award: $2,000; Deadline: April 10th
A prize of $2,000, developmental editing support, and an agent consultation will be given annually for the first five pages of a work of fiction or creative nonfiction. A second-place prize of $1,250, developmental editing support, and an agent consultation will also be awarded. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fee: $18; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 10th
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Oberon is given annually for a single poem. Submit up to three poems of no more than two pages each with an $18 entry fee, which includes an issue of Oberon, by April 10. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Taint Taint Taint’s James Baldwin Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction | Taint Taint Taint Magazine
Fee: $0; Award: $500; Deadline: April 11th
Submissions are open for the James Baldwin Prizes for Fiction and Nonfiction. Winners will receive $500 and feature publication in the magazine. General submissions are also open for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art. We accept prose (up to 5,000 words), poetry (up to 3 poems), multimedia art and photography. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize | American Literary Translators Association
Fee: $0; Award: $6,000; Deadline: April 18th
A prize of $6,000 is given annually for a book of poetry or a text from Zen Buddhism translated from an Asian language into English and published in the previous year. Publishers or translators may submit a book translated from Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Sanskrit, Tamil, Thai, or Vietnamese into English and published in 2021. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Italian Prose in Translation Award | American Literary Translators Association
Fee: $0; Award: $5,000; Deadline: April 18th
A prize of $5,000 is given annually for a book of fiction or nonfiction translated from Italian into English and published in the previous year. Publishers or translators may submit a book published in 2021. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Single Poem Broadside Poetry Contest | Omnidawn Publishing
Fee: $10; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 18th
A prize of $1,000 and publication in OmniVerse, the online journal of Omnidawn Publishing, is given annually for a single poem. The winner also receives 50 copies of a letterpress broadside of the winning poem. Martha Ronk will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Poetry and Short Story Awards | Sixfold
Fee: $5; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 23rd
Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in Sixfold are given quarterly for a group of poems and a short story. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Short Story Contest | F(r)iction
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 28th
A prize of $1,000 is given twice yearly for a short story. Using only the online submission system, submit a story of 1,000 to 7,500 words with a $15 entry fee by April 28. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Supernatural Fiction Award | Ghost Story
Fee: $20; Award: $1,500; Deadline: April 30th
A prize of $1,500 and publication on the Ghost Story website is given twice yearly for a short story with a supernatural or magic realism theme. The winning work will also be published in volume 3 of the anthology 21st Century Ghost Stories. The editors will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fee: $18; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 30th
A prize of $1,000, publication by Oversound, and 25 author copies is given annually for a poetry chapbook. Sawako Nakayasu will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Poetry International Prize | Poetry International
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 30th
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Poetry International is given annually for a single poem. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest | Winning Writers
Fee: $20; Award: $3,000; Deadline: April 30th
Two prizes of $3,000 each, two-year gift certificates for membership to the literary database Duotrope, and publication on the Winning Writers website are given annually for a short story and an essay. Unpublished and previously published works are eligible. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Adrienne Rich Award for Poetry | Beloit Poetry Journal
Fee: $15; Award: $1,500; Deadline: April 30th
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Beloit Poetry Journal is given annually for a single poem. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Loraine Williams Poetry Prize | Georgia Review
Fee: $15; Award: $1,500; Deadline: May 1st
A prize of $1,500 and publication in Georgia Review is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also receive an all-expenses paid trip to give a public reading in Athens, Georgia. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
International Poetry Contest | Atlanta Review
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: May 1st
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Atlanta Review is given annually for a single poem. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Peseroff Prize | Breakwater Review
Fee: $10; Award: $1,000; Deadline: May 1st
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Breakwater Review is given annually for a single poem. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Waterston Desert Writing Prize | High Desert Museum
Fee: $0; Award: $2,500; Deadline: May 1st
A prize of $2,500 is given annually for a work of nonfiction that “recognizes the vital role deserts play worldwide in the ecosystem and the human narrative, with the desert as both subject and setting.” The winner will also be provided with travel and lodging to attend a reception and awards ceremony at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, in September. Works-in-progress as well as published and unpublished prose are eligible. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize | Australian Book Review
Fee: $18; Award: $4,272; Deadline: May 2nd
A prize of AUD $6,000 (approximately $4,272) is given annually for a story. A second-place prize of AUD $4,000 (approximately $2,848) and a third-place prize of AUD $2,500 (approximately $1,780) are also given. The winners will all be published in Australian Book Review. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fee: $0; Award: $1,322; Deadline: May 4th
A prize of £1,000 (approximately $1,322) and publication in Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology Volume 15 is given annually for a short story. Tom Drake-Lee, Irenosen Okojie, and Jessica Taylor will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Emerging Writer’s Contest | Ploughshares
Fee: $24; Award: $2,000; Deadline: May 15th
The Emerging Writer's Contest is open to writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry who have yet to publish or self-publish a book. Read past winners of the contest here. Ploughshares awards publication, $2,000, review from Aevitas Creative Management, and a 1-year subscription for one winner in each of the three genres. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fellowships, Grants & More
Poetry Fellowship | Just Buffalo Literary Center
Fee: $20; Award: $1,500; Deadline: April 1st
A fellowship, which includes a stipend of $1,500 and a month-long residency in Buffalo will be given annually to a poet. The fellowship includes lodging at a private apartment for the month of August 2022 and an invitation to read at a Just Buffalo Literary Center event. Submit up to 10 pages of poetry and a curriculum vitae. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Writing Fellowship for New Parents | Pen Parentis
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: April 17th
A prize of $1,000, a year of mentorship, and publication in Dreamers Creative Writing Magazine is given annually to a fiction writer who is the parent of a child under the age of 10. The winner also receives an invitation to give a reading virtually or in New York City, as public health guidelines allow, in November. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Creative Nonfiction Grants | Whiting Foundation
Fee: $0; Award: $40,000; Deadline: April 25th
Up to eight grants of $40,000 each are given annually for creative nonfiction works-in-progress to enable writers to complete their books. Creative nonfiction writers under contract with a publisher as of April 25 are eligible. Submit up to 25,000 words of the book-in-progress, the original proposal to publishers that led to the contract, a signed contract, a statement of progress, a plan for the use of funds, a résumé, and a letter of support from the book’s editor or publisher by April 25. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships | Poetry Foundation
Fee: $0; Award: $25,800; Deadline: April 30th
Five fellowships of $25,800 each are given annually to U.S. poets between the ages of 21 and 31. Using only the online submission system, submit 10 pages of poetry and a one-page writer’s statement by April 30. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Work Experience
GASHER Journal 2022 Poetry Reader Internship
Gasher Journal offers year-long reading internships for emerging editors. Please note, this is an unpaid position. The internship is open for both students and non-students, established and emerging writers who are over the age of 18. Learn more and apply here.
Editorial, Member Services, and Events Internships | HerStry
HerStry is seeking applicants for three unpaid internship positions. The Editorial Intern will help the editorial staff edit weekly and monthly essays, work through the slush pile, edit older essays on the site, and more. The Member Services Intern will create the monthly Member Digest newsletter, update and maintain the member webpage, help create and facilitate virtual member gatherings, and more. The Events Intern will assist in planning and executing all HerStry events, including the virtual conference, virtual retreat, open mics, and workshop. Learn more and apply here.
Senior Production Associate | Storey Publishing, Hachette Book Group
The Senior Production Associate is responsible for the day-to-day workflow and ultimate production of all backlist titles and bulletins, working directly with Storey’s internal staff, clients, and printers to ensure schedule, quality, and budget requirements are met. The Senior Production Associate obtains quotes, negotiates costs, and recommends print partners who will produce a quality product at the best price. Learn more and apply here.
Youth Literary Advisory Board Member | 826 Boston
Boston, MA
826 Boston is looking for new YLAB Members! The Youth Literary Advisory Board (YLAB) is a youth engagement and enrichment program. YLAB members will work collaboratively with the Teaching Artist and other members on independent projects, weekly YLAB meetings, 826 Boston-sponsored speaking engagements, leading and supporting creative writing workshops, and hosting YLAB’s own podcast. Learn more and apply here.
Volunteer Program Manager | 826 Boston
Boston, MA
826 Boston seeks a dynamic and experienced nonprofit professional to serve as the Volunteer Program Manager. We are looking for a candidate who can build on the current strengths of the Volunteer Management Program—robust training and support that center diversity, equity, and inclusion; collaborative partnerships with universities; and a culture of gratitude and appreciation—and also take on the program’s next big challenges, including diversifying the volunteer network. Learn more and apply here.
Associate Editor | Poets & Writers Magazine
New York City, NY | Remote
The associate editor is a key member of the editorial team and is responsible for providing vital editorial support for our flagship publication, Poets & Writers Magazine, and our website, pw.org. The associate editor reports to the editor in chief. This is a full-time position in our New York City office. Learn more and apply here.
Senior Credit and Collections Representative | Hachette
Boston, MA
The Senior Credit and Collections Representative will be responsible for 1,200+ active accounts and will oversee timely and effective collection and credit risk management of Accounts Receivable. The Representative will be managing the credit and collections process for assigned domestic customers, performing credit risk analysis to ensure timely delivery and release of customer orders. Learn more and apply here.
Editor/Senior Editor | John Murray Learning, Hachette
Boston, MA
Reporting to the Publishing Director, this professional will grow our internationally renowned Health & Self Help publishing in the US across a number of specialist imprints, in the areas of physical & mental health, popular psychology, and commercial self help. Learn more and apply here.
Multiple Positions | Candlewick Press
Boston, MA | Remote
Candlewick Press is seeking a Promotional Materials Production Coordinator, Controller, Production Assistant, Accounts Payable Specialist, Design Intern, Editorial Intern, Graphic Production Intern, Marketing Intern, Production and Manufacturing Intern, Publishing Technologies Intern, and Sales Intern.. Learn more and apply here.
Assistant Director, Business and Development | Ploughshares
Boston, MA | Remote
The Assistant Director, Business & Development works closely with the Managing Editor and Editor-in-Chief to keep Ploughshares, a quarterly literary journal based at Emerson College, on track financially. This position oversees business reporting, fundraising, contracting, and sales, and manages one Development Assistant. Learn more and apply here.
Submissions
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 1st
Salamander, which is published biannually, features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction; their open reading period for 2021-2022 is October 1–April 1, with a holiday break between late December and early January. Manuscripts sent outside of this reading period will be returned or discarded. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 1st
Clinch is looking for work that encompasses, includes or hints at the vast—and underrepresented—world of martial arts. They’re seeking creative writing in the literary genres (poem, narrative, short story, essay, etc.). View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Parliament Literary Journal
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 3rd
LIE TO US. Seriously. Give us your biggest, juiciest whopper or tease us slowly along the way with little deceptions, so sneaky and baked with charm that we might not even know we’re being lied to. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Struggle Magazine
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 4th
We are looking for diverse, not genre-specific works of poetry, fiction, essays, art criticism, & drama. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 15th
Submissions are considered for either print (Consequence journal) or our website (Consequence online). We are interested in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, reviews, visual art, and translations focused on the human consequences and realities of war and geopolitical violence. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 15th
MASKS Literary Magazine is a biannual, print and online literary journal that publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, illustration, art, and photography. We have no restrictions on the writers or content we publish, but we’re passionate about publishing new writers, new artists, and new perspectives.View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 17th
Seeking unpublished poetry and prose. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to NonBinary Review | Zoetic Press
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 30th
How are you labeled? “Disabled”? “On the spectrum”? “Nonbinary”? “POC”? “Marginalized”? How do you wish you were labeled? “Amazing cook”? “Proficient in 12 languages”? “Expert at Call of Cthulhu”? The need to label, classify, and pigeonhole human beings is as old as human beings themselves, and always comes down to the same dichotomy: “us” and “them.” We’re looking for stories of and by those who have been relegated to “them” status by virtue of a label that (validly) places them in a particular group. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Divot Poetry Journal
Fee: $0; Deadline: April 30th
Send us your haphazard. Send us your most creative. Send us your poems for Issue 2! We are committed to publishing online only the best literary verse.We are an online poetry journal publishing poems monthly. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Prairie Schooner
Fee: $0; Deadline: May 1st
Prairie Schooner publishes short stories, poems, imaginative essays of general interest, and reviews of current books of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Pumpernickel House
Fee: $0; Deadline: May 1st
Pumpernickel Press is looking for submissions for its first issue in May. Pumpernickel Press is interested in fairy tale and fabulism. Think Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Kate Bernheimer, Carmen Maria Machado, and Nalo Hopkinson. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions toThe PoArtMo Anthology
Fee: $12; Deadline: December 31st
PoArtMo stands for “Positive Actions Rally Thoughts & Momentum,” a concept based on the following tenets: 1. Family-friendliness & clean language – 2. Positivity and upliftment – 3. Inclusivity and respect for all. Short stories, flash fiction, essays, drawings, paintings, photography, and digital art. No poetry. Especially interested in reading submissions from people who work on positive projects and concepts. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The Decadent Review
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
The Decadent Review is seeking spectacularly written texts of any length on the subject of Dmitri Shostakovich and his music. They’re looking for: Criticism (cultural, literary), reviews (recordings, books, poetry, art), essays (aesthetics, linguistics, meta, history), musical ekphrasis of compositions (poetic, euphonious, discordant). They value: Erudition, cynicism, sarcasm, classicism, brutality, humor, and existential despair. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to World Wildlife Love Letter
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
World Wildlife Magazine invites submissions of short, uplifting personal essays about nature’s impact on a writer. Length: 100-300 words. Pay: $1.25/word for accepted pieces. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Solstice Literary Magazine
Fee: $3; Deadline: Rolling
Solstice Literary Magazine welcomes experimental or traditional pieces of fiction, nonfiction or poetry, graphic lit, and also photography. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The Boston Review
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
The Boston Review welcomes nonfiction and book review submissions on a wide range of subjects, from politics, philosophy, and economics to science, law, gender, sexuality, and race. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
The WebSalh0n for Poetry and Poetry related writing and media. Accepting poetry, essays, reviews, and audio recordings.Send submissions w/short bio to: [email protected]. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Lily Poetry Review
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Lily Poetry Review is currently accepting general submissions of poetry, art and flash fiction for the review, chapbook and full-length poetry books. Please go to the Submittable for full details. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The Massachusetts Review
Fee: $3; Deadline: Rolling
“We seek a balance between established writers and promising new ones. We're interested in material of variety and vitality relevant to the intellectual and aesthetic questions of our time. We aspire to have a broad appeal; our commitment, in part regional, is not provincial.” View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $4.50; Deadline: Rolling
Meat For Tea is a non-academic affiliated magazine committed to recognizing and featuring the work of the artists, writers, and musicians living in western Massachusetts and beyond. Writing submissions should be works of poetry and short prose no longer than 1500 words in length, 8000 words for short fiction and essays, 1200 words for flash and microfiction. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The Los Angeles Review
Fee: $3; Deadline: Rolling
The Los Angeles Review is open for submissions year-round. All submissions will be considered for LAR Online and for the new best-of print edition to be released yearly in the Spring. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $3; Deadline: Rolling
Hare's Paw Literary Journal is limitless - representing the ability to walk between our own stillness and the world around us, identifying what matters and what intrigues us, regardless of societal demands. Hare's Paw publishes authentic, strange, soulful, and even joyful work that allows all voices to be heard. If you've ever had a hard time placing your work, consider Hare's Paw Literary Journal your home. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Contributors can submit fiction, non-fiction, poetry or visual artwork that portrays experiences from their lives, or activities and happenings in the world around them. We encourage you to share your work in any form as long as each mode represents a topical theme relatable to life, human nature, human condition, human concerns, human growth and achievements, etc. Whatever your story is, you are welcome to share it with us. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Capsule Stories
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Capsule Stories is a print literary magazine published once every season. Our first issue was published on March 1, 2019, and we accept submissions year-round. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to BreakBread Magazine
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
BreakBread Magazine is a magazine for all young creatives under the age of 25. We are always looking for vivid, timely poetry, nonfiction, short stories and visual arts—fine art, photography, comics, illustrated narratives, and hybrid work that explores new directions in arts and letters. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Rollick Magazine
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Rollick’s mandate is to attract cutting-edge, quality content that inspires real engagement. We will consider any pitch that expresses unique and original thought. You can send in short stories, essays, poetry, memoirs, confessionals, experimental fiction, and anything else in between. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
The Puritan seeks submissions all year round, from anywhere in the world. Regular submissions to the magazine are free of charge and should fall under one of four categories: fiction, essays, poetry, and reviews. Unless we are soliciting your work, all submissions must be previously unpublished (this includes self-publishing, publishing on blogs, and in chapbook format). View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The 365 Collection | Lucky Jefferson
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Lucky Jefferson happily accepts unsolicited submissions of poetry year-round into its 365 Collection, a 100% digital collection of poetry and other literature. Upon acceptance, submissions will be included on our website and social media account(s).
View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Embark Literary Journal
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Embark accepts submissions from all over the world and have no geographical constraints. However, all submissions must be written in English (or translated into English from another language, in which case both the author and the translator must be credited). They do NOT accept submissions of memoirs or other nonfiction works. Only the openings of novels (works of fiction 50,000 words or longer) will be considered. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Frontier Poetry
Fee: $0; Award: $50 per poem, up to $150; Deadline: Rolling
Submissions for Frontier Poetry’s New Voices poetry category are open year round to any new and emerging poet who has not published more than one full-length collection of poetry. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Award: $200 per accepted story; Deadline: Rolling
Voyage YA simply aims to publish good work and provide a space for new and established voices. To get an idea of what they publish, please read their archives. General submissions are open year-round and there is no fee to submit to their general categories. New work is published weekly. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to So to Speak Blog
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
The So to Speak Blog is unique in that it opens itself up to multiple forms of storytelling. Hybrid works, reviews, interviews, and visual art are welcomed submissions. View complete submission guidelines here.
Fee: $0; Award: $100-$2,000; Deadline: Rolling
The Sun publishes personal essays, fiction, and poetry. Personal stories that touch on political and cultural issues are welcome. They encourage submissions from writers of color. View more submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Boston Accent Lit
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Submissions to Boston Accent Lit are always open on a rolling basis. They accept works in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art. Issues are published six times per year online. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Boston Poetry Magazine
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Boston Poetry Magazine accepts submissions year-round. They accept both previously published material and simultaneous submissions. View complete submission guidelines here.
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