40 Writing Competitions To Inspire You

Writers Write is your one-stop writing resource. In this post, we share 40 short story writing competitions to inspire you.

Writing competitions are a great way to keep you on your writing toes. You may want to enter some of your stories from our Twelve Short Stories challenge. Remember to join the group on Facebook.

Here is a list of competitions, anything from a 16-word memoir to 5000 word short stories. Consider the competitions carefully and choose ones that will suit or challenge you as a writer.

Some of the deadlines have past, but I have left them on as they tend to be annual competitions and it’ll help with your planning for the following year.

1. American Short(er) Fiction Contest 15 February
2. Bath Short Story Award 1 May
3. Birds of a Feather Press Travel Writing Competition 2017 28 February
4. Bristol Short Story Prize 3 May
5. CDS Documentary Essay Prize in Writing 15 February
6. Commonwealth Short Story Prize Oct/Nov
7. Costa Short Story Award July
8. Curt Johnson Prose Award Submissions closed
9. Drue Heinz Literature Prize May-June
10. Elizabeth Jolley Short Story Prize 10 April
11. Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction Date to be announced
12. Gotham Writers Past-Year Memoir Contest 20 February
13. Hillerman Prize Deadline TBD
14. John Steinbeck Short Story Award June – November
15. Keats-Shelley Prize Date to be announced
16. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest 31 March
17. Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition 16 May
18. Manchester Fiction Prize February 2017
19. Montreal International Poetry Prize May
20. Mslexia Women’s Short Fiction Competition 20 March
21. Nature and Place Poetry Competition 1 March
22. Ploughshares Emerging Writer’s Contest 15 May
23. Raymond Carver Short Story Contest 15 May
24. Reader’s Digest 100-Word-Story Competition 20 February
25. SA Writer’s College 30 April
26. SFC Literary Prize 15 May
27. Short Sharp Stories Annual Competition deadline Nov
28. Spotlight First Novel Competition 14 February 2017
29. The Caine Prize for African Writing 31 January
30. The Henshaw Short Story Competition 31 March
31. The Sunday Times Short Story Prize Date to be announced
32. The White Review Short Story Prize 1 March
33. Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest 1 April
34. Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 15 March
35. Write On-Site 25 February
36. Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition 5 May
37. Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition Closed for 2017
38. Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition 13 February
39. Writers’ Forum Fiction Competition Monthly
40. Zoetrope All-Story’s Annual Fiction Contest 1 July

If you’re still looking, visit Dystopian Stories and Writer Mag for more competitions.

Look out for the next post: My Short Story Writing Process – In 12 Easy Steps

Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a short story, sign up for our online course.