The October 2025 edition of "Get Submitting" is a monthly hand-curated list of the top five contests, grants, scholarships, submission calls, and awards. We try to prioritize opportunities that are at least one of the following: open to all genres, 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.

Submissions

Essay/Memoir/Nonfiction Hybrid | Split Lip Press

Fee: $15; Award: Publication; Deadline: December 2nd

Split Lit Press currently looking for previously unpublished essay collections, memoirs, and nonfiction/hybrid full-length book manuscripts. Individually published pieces within the manuscript are absolutely fine (and expected!) but the book should not have been published as a book before. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Contests & Prizes

Poetry and Hybrid Chapbook Prizes | Sarabande Books

Fee: $25; Award: $1,000 and Publication; Deadline: October 31st

The Sarabande Chapbook Prize publishes two projects of poetry and hybrid work annually. Established in 2024, Sarabande’s 30th anniversary year, the prize celebrates Sarabande’s three-decade legacy of publishing highly distilled literary forms. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award | Red Hen Press

Fee: $25; Award: $3,000; Deadline: October 31st

Established in 1998, in honor of the poet Benjamin Saltman (1927–1999), this award is for a previously unpublished original collection of poetry. The awarded collection is selected through an annual competition that is open to all poets. Visit the website for complete guidlines.

The Flash Fiction Prize | Raleigh Review

Fee: $7 (Optional); Award: $300; Deadline: October 31st

Raleigh Review is a nonprofit magazine of poetry, short fiction, and art that offers accessible works of experience that are both emotionally and intellectually complex. First Prize includes $300 USD and publication in the Spring 2026 issue and finalists will receive our standard $15 payment along with publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Literary Nonfiction Book Prize | River Teeth

Fee: $27; Award: $1,000 and publication; Deadline: October 31st

River Teeth‘s editors conduct a yearly national contest for a book-length manuscript of literary nonfiction in English. All manuscripts are screened by the co-editors of River Teeth. The contest winner receives $1,000 and publication by The University of New Mexico Press. Visit the website for complete guidelines.