GrubWrites

June 2021 Top Picks: Opportunities for Writers

The June 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, perfecting your guacamole recipe. That’s important, too.

Contests & Awards

Emerging Poets Contest

Fee: $16; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 1st

$1,000 and publication is awarded for the winning group of three poems by a poet who has not yet published a book of poetry with a nationally distributed press. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Stony Brook Undergraduate Short Fiction Prize

Fee: $0; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 1st

The author of the winning story will receive $1,000 and a scholarship to the 2022 Southampton Writers Conference Additionally, the winning story will automatically be considered for publication in The Southampton Review. Only undergraduates enrolled full time in United States and Canadian universities and colleges for the academic year 2020-2021 are eligible. This Prize has traditionally encouraged submissions from students with an Asian background, but we urge all students to enter. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Salamander Fiction Prize

Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 1st

$1,000 and publication in Salamander is awarded for a short story. Yiyun Li will judge. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Halifax Ranch Fiction Prize

Fee: $20; Award: $2,500; Deadline: June 1st

The winner will receive a $2,500 prize and publication in an upcoming issue of American Short Fiction. In addition, the winner will receive a week-long all-expenses-paid writing retreat (optional—dates TBD) at the Tasajillo Residency, which neighbors the Halifax Ranch just outside of Austin in Kyle, Texas. The residency must be scheduled within a year after the winner is announced. All submitters will receive a copy of the prize issue. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition

Fee: $35; Award: $5,000; Deadline: June 7th

Writer’s Digest wants to shine the spotlight on up and coming writers in all genres through its Annual Writing Competition. Enter our 90th Annual Writing Competition for your chance to win and have your work be seen by editors and agents! Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Housatonic Book Awards

Fee: $25; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 13th

Three prizes of $1,000 each are awarded annually for books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young adult/middle grade published in the previous year. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Pulitzer Prizes in Books

Fee: $75; Award: $15,000; Deadline: June 15th

Five prizes of $15,000 each are awarded annually to U.S. writers for books of poetry, fiction, general nonfiction, U.S. history, and biography or autobiography (including memoir) published in the United States during the current year. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Library of Poetry Award

Fee: $28; Award: $1,500; Deadline: June 15th

An award of $1500 plus book publication of the winning manuscript is open to anyone writing in the English language. It is not open to employees, relatives, previous winners or friends of The Bitter Oleander Press. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Akron Poetry Prize

Fee: $25; Award: $1,500; Deadline: June 15th

The winning poet receives $1,500 and publication of his, her, or their book. The final selection will be made by a nationally prominent poet. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New American Press Fiction Prize

Fee: $25; Award: $1,500; Deadline: June 15th

Winner receives a publication contract, including a $1,500 advance, 25 author's copies, and promotional support. All full-length fiction manuscripts are welcome, including novels, novellas, collections of stories and/or novellas, novels in verse, linked collections, as well as full-length collections of flash fiction and short-shorts. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Autumn House Press Literary Prizes

Fee: $30; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 15th

Winners of each prize receive publication of their full-length manuscripts. Each winner also receives a $1,000 honorarium and a $1,500 travel/publicity grant to promote the book. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

42 Miles Poetry Award

Fee: $25; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 15th

The winning poet will receive $1,000, publication of his or her book, and 30 author copies. The winner will also be invited to give a reading at Indiana University South Bend as part of the release of the book. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

New Writers Awards

Fee: $0; Award: $500; Deadline: June 25th

An award is given each year to the best in each of the following literary genres from works submitted by publishers: first book of poetry, first book of fiction, and first book of creative non-fiction. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

International Short Story Prize

Fee: $18; Award: $3,623; Deadline: June 30th

The Moth Short Story Prize is an international prize, open to anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as their story is original and previously unpublished. The winners are chosen by a single judge each year, who reads the stories anonymously. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Lascaux Review’s Prize in Flash Fiction

Fee: $15; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

Stories may be previously published or unpublished, and simultaneous submissions are accepted. True stories are welcome as long as they’re written in a narrative style. Winner receives $1,000 and a bronze medallion. Finalists receive $100. Winner and finalists are published in both the online and annual print editions of The Lascaux Review. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize

Fee: $30; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

The winner receives $1000, book publication, and 50 copies of the published book, as well as distribution with our other spring titles through our distributor (Casemate IPM). Visit the website for complete guidelines.

May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize

Fee: $30; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition

Fee: $15; Award: $1,500; Deadline: June 30th

A prize of $1,500, royalty contract, and publication for a chapbook-length poetry manuscript in perfect-bound print edition and a two-year Duotrope Gift Certificate (a USD $100 value). Open to women, or those who identify as women, who have never before published a full-length poetry collection. Previous chapbook publication does not disqualify. International entries are welcome. Multiple submissions are accepted. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

North Street Book Prize

Fee: $65; Award: $5,000; Deadline: June 30th

A grand prize of $5,000 and seven additional prizes of $1,000 each are awarded annually for self-published books of poetry, fiction, genre fiction, creative nonfiction, children’s literature, graphic narrative, and art books. The winners will each also receive publication of an excerpt on the Winning Writers website; a marketing consultation with author and publishing consultant Carolyn Howard-Johnson; $300 in credit at BookBaby, a distributor for self-published authors; and free advertising in the Winning Writers e-mail newsletter. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Joe Bolton Poetry Award

Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

The Joe Bolton Poetry Award is an annual contest which awards $1000 and publication to a single poem or small group of poems in the Winter Issue of Twyckenham Notes. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Drue Heinz Literature Prize

Fee: $0; Award: $15,000; Deadline: June 30th

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. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Travel Writing Contest

Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

Award-winning literary travel magazine Nowhere is accepting submissions for its annual Spring Travel Writing Prize. They are looking for novice and veteran writers of any stripe to send stories that possess a powerful sense of people, place and time. Every submission will be read blind, so anyone can win. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

William Van Wert Memorial Fiction Award

Fee: $17; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

Any previously unpublished short story or novel excerpt of 25 pages or less. Any submission that includes more than 25 pages will be disqualified. All novel excerpts must include a synopsis and outline of the whole novel, and an explanation of where the submitted portion fits into the overall structure of the work. Submissions of excerpts without a synopsis and outline will be disqualified. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Los Angeles Review Literary Awards

Fee: $20; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

Submit up to three poems of no more than 50 lines each, a short story or essay of up to 2,500 words, or a piece of flash fiction of up to 1,000 words. Prizes include a $1,000 honorarium and publication via LAR Online and in the best-of annual print edition of the Los Angeles Review, issue no. 26, set to be released in 2022. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Editors’ Prize Book Award

Fee: $26; Award: $1,000; Deadline: June 30th

The annual Cider Press Review Editors' Prize Book Award offers a $1,000 prize, publication, and 25 author’s copies of a book length collection of poetry. Author receives a standard publishing contract. The winning manuscript is selected by the editors of Cider Press Review. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Bard Fiction Prize

Fee: $0; Award: $30,000; Deadline: June 30th

The Bard Fiction Prize is awarded to a promising emerging writer who is an American citizen aged 39 years or younger at the time of application. In addition to a $30,000 cash award, the winner receives an appointment as writer in residence at Bard College for one semester, without the expectation that he or she teach traditional courses. The recipient gives at least one public lecture and meets informally with students. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Barrow Street Press Book Prize

Fee: $28; Award: $1,500; Deadline: June 30th

The Barrow Street Press Book Contest award will be given for the best previously unpublished manuscript of poetry in English. The winner will receive book publication by Barrow Street Press, and $1,500. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Simon & Schuster’s First Novel Contest

Fee: $0; Award: $50,000 book deal; Deadline: June 30th

Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, is pleased to announce the launch of the BOOKS LIKE US First Novel Contest to facilitate accessibility to underrepresented writers and celebrate the diversity of readers across the United States. As the nation strives for progress, Gallery Books and Simon & Schuster aim to help catalyze that change by amplifying voices that represent us, by publishing books like us. 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.

Fellowships & Grants

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants

Fee: $0; Award: $3,000; Deadline: June 1st

The PEN/Heim Translation Fund provides grants to support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama that have not previously appeared in English in print or have appeared only in an outdated or otherwise flawed translation. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History

Fee: $0; Award: $15,000; Deadline: June 1st

The PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History recognize literary works of nonfiction that use oral history to illuminate an event, individual, place, or movement. For the 2022 grant cycle, we will confer two PEN/Jean Stein Grants for Literary Oral History with cash prizes of $15,000 each. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists

Fee: $0; Award: $5,000; Deadline: June 1st

The PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant for Children’s and Young Adult Novelists is offered annually to an author of children’s or young adult fiction for a novel-in-progress. Previously called the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship, the award was developed to help writers whose work is of high literary caliber and assist a writer at a crucial moment in their career to complete their novel. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Work Experience

Temporary Marketing Coordinator, GrubStreet

Boston, MA | Full-Time | July 2021 – November 2021

The Temporary Marketing Coordinator role is responsible for assisting with the day-to-day coordination of marketing activities and initiatives. This includes writing and building social media posts and email newsletters; designing images for social media and other marketing collateral; researching and building blog posts; updating marketing reporting; and other tasks related to general marketing for the organization. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Muse Conference Manager, GrubStreet

Boston, MA | Full-Time

The Muse Conference Manager role is responsible for managing the organizational planning and execution of GrubStreet’s national writing conference, which is our largest convening of the year. The Muse Manager develops and improves systems for processing large volumes of conference information, manages broad communications with all attendees and presenters, manages and works closely with members of the seasonal Muse Team, and brings creativity and a commitment to equity to the work in ways large and small. 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 Boston Art Review Magazine

Fee: $0; Deadline: June 14th

Boston Art Review welcomes submissions of critical perspectives, essays, reviews, interviews, and artist projects for their fall issue, Rooting. Issue 07 will be a platform for craft and practices that may be inspired by ancestors, history, or shared networks of knowledge. Please direct pitches and questions to [email protected]. Compensation will be offered. 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 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.