July 2021 Top Picks: Opportunities for Writers
The July 2021 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, grabbing the last free beach parking spot. That’s important, too.
Contests & Awards
The Los Angeles Review | Creative Nonfiction Award
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
The Los Angeles Review Creative Nonfiction Award is a prize of $1,000 and publication in LAR given annually for an exceptional work of nonfiction. This season's judge is Beth Gilstrap. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Los Angeles Review | Flash Fiction Award
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
The Los Angeles Review Flash Fiction Award is a prize of $1,000 and publication in LAR given annually for an exceptional work of fiction. This season's judge is Lara Ehrlich. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Los Angeles Review | Poetry Award
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
The Los Angeles Review Poetry Award is a prize of $1,000 and publication in LAR given annually for an exceptional work of poetry. This season's judge is Francesca Bell. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Los Angeles Review | Short Fiction Award
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
The Los Angeles Review Short Fiction Award is a prize of $1,000 and publication in LAR given annually for an exceptional work of fiction. This season's judge is Reema Rajbanshi. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Moon City Press | Poetry Award
Fee: $25; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
The Moon City Poetry Award is for an original collection of poems written in English by a single author. Individual poems in the collection may be published in periodicals or may have appeared in a chapbook, but poems should not be previously published in full-length manuscript form. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation | Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 1st
Poetry has a way of moving us past facts and immersing us into an experience. The Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards encourages poets to do just that. There are three age categories: Adult, Youth 13-18, and Youth 12 & Under. The annual contest is open to people worldwide. Poems must be original, unpublished, and in English. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Conduit Books & Ephemera | Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize
Fee: $25; Award: $1,500; Deadline: July 5th
The Marystina Santiestevan First Book Prize is awarded annually to a poet writing in English who has not yet published a full-length poetry book. Prospective entrants are encouraged to familiarize themselves with Conduit, which champions originality, intelligence, irreverence, and humanity. The winning poet will receive $1,500 and 30 author copies. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Stone Canoe | Literary Awards
Fee: $0; Award: $500; Deadline: July 8th
Each year, Stone Canoe offers prizes to emerging writers and artists, made possible through the generosity of its donors and supporters. Winners receive $500. For the purposes of these awards, writers are considered "emerging" if they have not yet published a full-length book of work; we consider an artist "emerging" if they have neither published a book nor had a solo show at a major institution. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Boston in 100 Words | Flash Fiction Writing Contest
Fee: $0; Award: $100–$300; Deadline: July 14th
Winning stories will be posted in public spaces throughout the city of Boston alongside an original illustration. They will also be distributed through the contest’s social media platforms and on their website. Monetary awards for winning stories are as follows: $300 for 1st place, $200 for 2nd place, $100 for 3rd place in both the general and youth categories. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Rattle | Poetry Prize
Fee: $25; Award: $15,00; Deadline: July 15th
The annual Rattle Poetry Prize offers $15,000 for a single poem to be published in the winter issue of the magazine. Ten finalists will also receive $500 each and publication, and be eligible for the $5,000 Readers’ Choice Award, to be selected by subscriber and entrant vote. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Comstock Review | Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award
Fee: $28; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Comstock Review is given annually for a single poem. Juan Felipe Herrera will judge. Poems must be original, unpublished in ANY medium, print or electronic. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Word Works | Tenth Gate Prize
Fee: $25; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
The Tenth Gate Prize honors mid-career poets writing in English. Entry is open to authors of at least two previously published full-length poetry collections (excluding chapbooks, self-published volumes, and forthcoming titles). A prize of $1000 and publication of the full-length collection is awarded annually. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Regal House Publishing | Petrichor Prize for Finely Crafted Fiction
Fee: $25; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
The 2021 winner will receive $1,000 and book publication by Regal House Publishing. Submissions are invited only through Submittable or by post mail. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Cincinnati Review | Robert and Adele Schiff Awards
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
The Cincinnati Review invites submissions for the annual Robert and Adele Schiff Awards. One poem, one piece of fiction, and one piece of literary nonfiction will be chosen for publication in their prize issue, and winning authors will receive $1,000 each. All entries will be considered for publication in The Cincinnati Review. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Story Prize
Fee: $75; Award: $20,000; Deadline: July 15th
The Story Prize is a $20,000 book prize awarded to the author of the short story collection named best of the year by three independent judges. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Bellevue Literary Review | Prizes in Poetry and Prose
Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
The BLR Prizes award outstanding writing related to themes of health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body. For each genre, first prize is $1,000, honorable mention is $250. Winners are published in the spring issue of BLR. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Futurepoem | Other Futures Award
Fee: $28; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 15th
The Other Futures Award is given annually to an innovative, adventurous full-length work that challenges conventions of genre and language, content and form. The winner will receive publication with Futurepoem, an honorarium of $1,000, a standard royalty contract, and 25 author copies. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Narrative | Thirteenth Annual Poetry Contest
Fee: $25; Award: $1,500; Deadline: July 16th
The contest is open to all poets. Entries must be unpublished and must not have been previously chosen as winners, finalists, or honorable mentions in other contests. Each entry may contain up to five poems. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Sixfold | Poetry and Short Story Awards
Fee: $5; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 24th
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.
Press 53 | Award for Poetry
Fee: $30; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 31st
The Press 53 Award for Poetry is awarded annually to an outstanding, unpublished collection of poems. This competition is open to any writer, regardless of his or her publication history, who is 18 years of age or older, provided the manuscript is written in English and the author lives in the United States or one of its territories. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Mudfish Poetry Prize
Fee: $20; Award: $1,200; Deadline: July 31st
A prize of $1,200 and publication in Mudfish is given annually for a single poem. Marie Howe will judge. All entries are considered for publication. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Munster Literature Center | Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition
Fee: $21; Award: $2,382; Deadline: July 31st
The competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast short stories in the English language of 3,000 words or fewer. The story can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Narrative | Spring Story Contest
Fee: $27; Award: $2,500; Deadline: July 31st
The Spring Story Contest is open to all fiction and nonfiction writers. Entries must be previously unpublished, no longer than 15,000 words, and must not have been previously chosen as a winner, finalist, or honorable mention in another contest. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Prairie Heritage, Inc. | Jan Garton Prairie Heritage Book Award
Fee: $0; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 31st
The Jan Garton Prairie Heritage Book Award will be given to the best book of the year that illuminates the heritage of North America's mid-continental prairies, whether of the tall-grass, mid-grass, or short-grass regions. The Prairie Heritage Book Award comes with a cash prize of $1,000.00 and a sponsored book-signing. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Sewanee Review | Fiction, Poetry, and Nonfiction Contest
Fee: $30; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 31st
Submit a short story or creative nonfiction essay of up to 10,000 words, or a selection of 1-6 poems. This year's judges are Brandon Taylor in fiction, Stephanie Danler in nonfiction, and Paisley Rekdal in poetry. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Howling Bird Press | Book Contest
Fee: $25; Award: $2,500; Deadline: July 31st
Howling Bird Press welcomes innovative, original work from established and emerging authors. The competition is open to all writers in English living in the U.S., whether previously published or not. The winner will receive $2,500 and book publication in fall 2022. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Red Wheelbarrow | Poetry Prize
Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: July 31st
A prize of $1,000 and publication in Red Wheelbarrow is given annually for a single poem. The winner will also receive 20 copies of a letterpress broadside of the winning poem, printed by Felicia Rice at Moving Parts Press. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fellowships & Grants
Writing in Color Fellowship for Emerging Writers 2021
Fee: $0; Award: Free Courses, Mentorship; Deadline: July 1st
Offered annually to a person who demonstrates a passion and skill for writing, a commitment to developing their writing skills, and a clear commitment to community service, the Writing In Color Fellowship for Emerging Writers is for writers who would benefit from a year's worth of involvement at Lighthouse but who would not be able to do so without financial support. Any writer of color living in the United States over the age of 21 writing in any genre who has not published a full-length manuscript is eligible to apply. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Studios at MASS MoCA Residency Program
Fee: $650/week; Award: Private Studio Space, Professional Development Opportunities; Deadline: July 8th
The Studios is MASS MoCA’s artist and writers residency program situated within the museum’s factory campus and surrounded by the beautiful Berkshire Mountains. Operated by MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists program, the residency runs year-round and hosts up to 12 artists at a time. Artists of any nationality can apply for stays of 2-8 weeks. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art’s (DDFIA) Building Bridges Program | Muslim Storytellers Fellowship
Fee: $0; Award: Mentorship; Deadline: December 31st
The fellowship is funded by a grant with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art’s (DDFIA) Building Bridges Program. The mission of the Building Bridges Program is to support national efforts, working with U.S. Muslims, to increase mutual understanding and well-being among diverse populations for the benefit of building stronger, inclusive communities. The fellowship aims to further that bridge-building mission by creating space for more diverse, authentic Muslim narratives for children and young adults, and by addressing common misperceptions of those narratives in the children’s publishing industry. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Work Experience
Editor or Co-Editor-in-Chief, Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices
Cambridge, MA
Mag of Diverse Voices seeks new Editor or Co-editor in Chief. This is a major opportunity for someone with magazine or nonprofit experience (preferred) to lead an international journal, which has many awards and highly accelerated growth. This position will begin in late summer or September, 2021. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Fiction Editor, Pangyrus
Cambridge, MA
Pangyrus is seeking a skilled and ambitious editor to shape its publication of contemporary short stories, flash fiction, and other narrative arts. Alongside our senior fiction editor, and with the support of our associate fiction editor, you will be responsible for soliciting literary-quality fiction, evaluating fiction submissions, and setting the direction for special projects, author interviews, and features on craft and career. The position is currently estimated to require five to seven hours per week and is on a volunteer basis. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Associate Nonfiction Editor, Pangyrus
Cambridge, MA
Pangyrus is seeking an associate nonfiction editor to work alongside the nonfiction editor in shaping our online and print publication of essays, memoir, reviews, and all varieties of nonfiction narrative. This position includes opportunities to develop independent projects including author interviews and book reviews, as well as to solicit writing from authors in your own areas of interest. The position is currently estimated to require five hours work per week and is on a volunteer basis. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Several Staff Positions, 826 Boston
Roxbury, MA
826 Boston is currently seeking candidates to fulfill their full- and part-time positions: Bilingual Spanish/English Program Assistant; Out-of-School Time Program Coordinator; K-12 Programs Coordinator; Writers’ Room Manager; Institutional Giving Manager; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director; and Community Engagement Coordinator. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
Submissions
Submissions to Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts
Fee: $5; Deadline: August 15th
Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts seeks high quality submissions from both emerging and established writers. They publish craft essays and interviews as well as fiction, nonfiction, and poetry—and they want to see your best work, regardless of form, style, or subject matter. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to AGNI
Fee: $0; Deadline: N/A
AGNI looks for writing that catches experience before the crusts of habit form—poetry and prose that resist ideas about what a certain kind of writing “should do.” They seek out writers who tell their truths in their own words and convince us as we read that we’ve found something no one else could have written. 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.
Submissions to Ploughshares
Fee: $3; Deadline: Rolling
Ploughshares welcomes unsolicited submissions of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction during our regular reading period, which runs from June 1st to January 15th. The literary journal is published four times a year: mixed issues of poetry and prose in the Spring and Winter, a prose issue in the summer, and a longform prose issue in the Fall, with two of the four issues per year guest-edited by a different writer of prominence. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to The Puritan
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 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.
Submissions to Voyage YA
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.
Submissions to The Sun
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 Hippocampus Magazine
Fee: $3; Award: $40; Deadline: Rolling
Looking for a literary magazine that accepts personal essays? Hippocampus Magazine enthusiastically considers unsolicited, previously unpublished creative nonfiction submissions in the following categories: memoir excerpt, personal essay, flash creative nonfiction, and more. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Solstice Magazine’s Features Blog: Anti-Oppression Theme
Fee: $0; Deadline: Rolling
Solstice Magazine is looking to feature the voices of previously unheard and also established writers who write to make us see, to clarify injustice, and to move us to action. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Redivider
Fee: $0 - $3; Deadline: Rolling
Redivider seeks previously unpublished works from emerging and established writers. They welcome general submissions year-round. View complete 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.
Submissions to Raising Mothers
Fee: $2; Deadline: Rolling
Raising Mothers celebrates and examines the realities of parenthood for Black and brown mothers. Raising Mothers publishes experimental and traditional pieces of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, book reviews, photo essays, comic and graphic narratives that explore what it means to identify and coexist as a parent on the margins. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to PoArtMo Anthology (Volume 2)
Fee: $6 – $15; Deadline: Rolling
The PoArtMo Anthology (Volume 2) celebrates the most positive / inspirational art created in 2019-2021. Types of art: six word stories, essays, flash fiction, short stories, photography, paintings, drawings, and poetry. Ages 17 and over. Submission fee: $6 per piece or $15 for 3 pieces. Payment: ongoing royalties + complimentary PDF copy of anthology. Deadline: December 31, 2021. View complete submission guidelines here.
Submissions to Written in a Flash Anthology: A Collection of Positive Stories
Fee: $6 – $15; Deadline: Rolling
Written in a Flash Anthology: A Collection of Positive Stories is a new project that seeks to highlight the most inspirational / positive short stories and flash fiction pieces created in 2019-2021. Genres accepted: thriller, mystery, fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, young adult, humor, and nonfiction. Ages 17 and over. Submission fee: $6 per piece or $15 for 3 pieces. Payment: ongoing royalties + complimentary PDF copy of anthology. Deadline: December 31, 2021. View complete submission guidelines here.
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