Literary Contests & Prizes

As a reminder, please vote for which novel you would like to read for TWC's Summer Book Club by Thursday June 30th.

Here are some upcoming literary contests available for submissions in the next couple weeks.

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Award

The Barbara Mandigo Peace Poetry Awards are a series of awards meant to encourage poets explore positive visions of peace and the human spirit.
• Winners receive a prize of $1,000 and publication on the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Website.
• Honorable mentions are awarded as well.
• The contest has three sections: Adult, Youth (13-18) and Youth (12 and under)
• The contest has a entry fee of $15 for three poems.
• Send two copies of a maximum of three poems. Each poem can be a maximum of thirty lines.
• Include name, address, email address , and telephone number on the upper right hand corner of one copy of the poems.
• The deadline of this contest is July 1,2011.
• Please visit the website for more details regarding submissions for this contest: http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/awards-&-contests/bmk-contest/


McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns First Novel Prize
The Writer’s Center will offer a prize of $500 to honor a first novel of an American author, published during the previous year.
• Commercially published, small pressed published, and self published novels are accepted.
• Submit three copies of a novel published in 2010 by July 15, 2011.
• There is no entry fee for this contest.
• For more details visit our website: www.writer.org

Wags Revue: Summer Writing Contest
Wags Revue is accepting submissions in fiction , poetry , and essays. All submissions must be previously unpublished. The first prize is $1,000 and publication, the second prize is $500, and the third prize is $200.
• Writers may submit multiple poems, but the poems cannot exceed ten pages.
• Fiction and essay submissions may not exceed 10,000 words.
• Each entry must include the submission fee of $20.
• The deadline for the contest is July 15, 2011.
• For more details regarding submission of entries visit their website: http://www.wagsrevue.com/submit.php


F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference: Short Story Contest

The Potomac Review will give a fiction prize to a short story to residents of Washington D.C , Maryland , and Virginia. This is the 16th annual Short Story Contest.
• The winner receives a prize of $1000, publication in Potomac Review, and an invitation to speak at the 2011 F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference held in October.
• Three runner -ups receive $200 each.
• The contest has an entry fee of $25.
• Stories should be less than 3,000 words.
• All stories should have a cover letter that contains the writer’s name , address, and telephone number
• The deadline for this contest is July 16, 2011.
• For more details on guidelines for short story submissions visit: http://tinyurl.com/3tnv5rb

Literary Contests, Prizes, & Call for Fiction Submissions

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness
Call for Proposals: Panels, Workshops, Group Readings


We are the ones we have been waiting for. —June Jordan

Split This Rock invites proposals for panel and roundtable discussions, workshops, and themed group readings for our third national poetry festival, scheduled for March 22-25, 2012, in Washington, DC.

As people's movements erupt here at home and throughout the world in response to political repression and environmental degradation, the festival will consider the relationship of poets and poetry to power and to the challenges to power. Spit This Rock is especially interested in proposals that address these questions.

In this vein, Split This Rock welcomes proposals that celebrate the legacy of poet-activist June Jordan, as 2012 marks the tenth anniversary of her death. See the guidelines for more on June Jordan’s impact and Split This Rock.

Visit www.SplitThisRock.org for details on developing and submitting your proposal, guidelines, and the application form. Applications are due June 30, 2011.

2011 Graywolf Press Non Fiction Prize

Graywolf Press is giving a Non Fiction Prize to a work in progress of creative non fiction by a writer not yet established in that genre. They are looking for an innovative and promising literary nonfiction contest. They are looking for projects that play with form. Robert Polito, Director of the Graduate Writing Program at the New School will serve as a judge. There is no entry fee for this contest.

• Anyone who has published at least one book in any genre and lives in the United States is eligible.
• One submission per person will be considered
• The winner will receive a prize of $12,000 advance and publication by Graywolf Press
• Submit a one page cover letter which includes a one paragraph biographical description and a brief project description. Include previous publications in the biographical descriptions.
• Provide a 2 to 10 page overview of the project , explaining what has been completed in the project and what is still a work in progress.
• The actual manuscript should be a minimum of 100 pages (25,000 words)
• Submit an excerpt of at least 100 pages and a project description.
• For more details on the guidelines for this contest visit their website: https://www.graywolfpress.org/Company_Info/Submission_Guidelines/Graywolf_Press_Nonfiction_Prize/127/

The 2011 Shabo Award for Children's Picture Book Writers

Aspiring children’s picture book writers, here's one for you: It's a PDF.
This is the only contest the Loft in Minneapolis, one of our sister centers, administers that isn’t restricted to Minnesota residents. Last year, three of the eight winners came from out of state – two from New York, one from North Carolina.

Bellevue Literary Review: Prizes in Poetry and Prose

The Bellevue Literary Review is giving prizes to a poet, a fiction writer, and a creative non fiction writer for works dealing with health , healing, illness, the body, and the mind.
• The contest is divided into three categories: poetry, fiction, and creative non fiction.
• The prize includes $1,000 for each winner in the three categories and publication in the Bellevue Literary Review
• Entry for the competition is $15.
• Submit entries through the online submission system.
• Submit up to three poems totaling no more than five pages or at maximum 5,000 words for prose.
• Deadline for submissions is July 1, 2011.
• Visit their website for more details on guidelines regarding the contest: http://blr.med.nyu.edu/submissions/prizes


While we're at it, don't forget that The Writer's Center has the Undiscovered Voices Scholarship deadline of July 1, and the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns Prize deadline of July 15. Click on the links to learn more.


Bethesda Magazine Call for Fiction Submissions

Bethesda Magazine, that bastion of glossy greatness in Bethesda, is looking for original, previously unpublished fiction by Montgomery County residents, or residents of Washington DC, zip codes 20015 and 20016, which is part of our circulation area. Stories should be no longer than 4,000 words. Submissions should be sent in a word document to susan.coll@bethesdamagazine.com