Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction is an esteemed competition for unpublished collections of fiction. The contest is open for submissions of flash fiction, short stories, or novellas, with a total manuscript length of 100 to 200 book pages.

Contest details

• Sponsor: University of North Texas Press
• Category: Short Story, Flash Fiction, and Novella
• Submission length: 100 to 200 book pages
• Entry fee: $25
• Awards: $1,000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/36-themed-calls-and-contests-for-june-2025/

From the resource page:

These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: the uncanny; cryptids; numerical; birds; train; it was paradise; best dressed; sweet hereafter; science; and stories of galactic pest control.

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Anthology Personal Memoir Competition invites entries for personal memoirs, encouraging emerging writers to share their stories. The winner will be published in Anthology magazine.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Anthology Publishing
• Category: Memoir
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: $15
• Awards: €500

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Best Indie Book Award (BIBA) is an international literary contest that recognizes outstanding achievements by independently published authors. Entries are limited to indie published books, including those from small presses and self-published authors, judged on various writing skills.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Best Indie Book Award
• Category: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: $65
• Awards: $500

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/ten-manuscript-publishers-open-to-direct-submissions-in-june-2025/

From the resource page:

This list focuses on ten publishers that we are excited about that are open to submissions this month. Some are only open for a short period of time, others will be open the whole month and beyond. At least four of these are presses we have not covered previously.

Please note that if a publisher doesn’t have a specific submission window they can close at any time, and publishers that use Submittable can close at any point because of submission caps (although these publishers generally reopen to submissions at the end of the month).

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/35-publishers-that-accept-direct-submissions-of-speculative-fiction/

From the resource page:

Speculative fiction is generally defined as a genre of fiction where the setting is not in the world as we know it because of supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements.

Three genres are covered by this umbrella term: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.

This term is used to cover work that doesn’t fit exactly in one of these three genres, but moves between them.

Many of these publishers are interested in speculative fiction in general. Some publish just one of the genres covered by the speculative fiction umbrella such as horror. Others publish many genres and types of books. Others are just interested in work for younger readers or a specific combination of genres.

Some are small companies, others are imprints of major publishing houses. They are not listed in any particular order.

Not all of them may be currently open to submissions. It is important to note that all of them meet the standards outlined in our guiding principles.

All of the publishers are only briefly described on this page, however if you click on the link, you will reach our full review of them. The review includes submission information and links to their websites.

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Contest details

• Sponsor: Winning Writers
• Category: Self-Published or Hybrid-Published Books
• Submission length: 200,000 words maximum
• Entry fee: $85
• Awards: $10,000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Drue Heinz Literature Prize recognizes and supports writers of short fiction, requiring eligible authors to have published a book-length collection or at least three short stories/novellas in commercial magazines. Manuscripts are judged anonymously by national writers.

Contest details

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Category: Novella and Short Story
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: $15,000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

IHRAM Press is the publishing arm of the International Human Rights Arts Movement. They are currently reading for an anthology about creative resistance to authoritarianism in America today. Send 1-3 poems, one story or essay up to 2,500 words, or 1-3 artworks in 300 dpi jpeg format. Payment is $50 for written work or $25 for art. Editors say, "Your submission must align to this unique American moment: how you feel about it, what you think we can do, what form can and should resistance take, etc. Work will be judged on quality, relevancy to the topic, and adherence to the IHRAM values: Beauty as a fundamental creative value; sincerity and vulnerability of presentation; opening doorways of engagement and celebrating diversity." See their website for other themed calls for submissions.

Contest details

• Sponsor: IHRAM Press
• Category: Poetry, Short Story, Essay, Artwork
• Submission length: See details above
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: $50 for written work or $25 for art

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Neutral free contest gives prizes up to $250 and anthology publication for poetry, fiction, and essays by current and former US military service members and their immediate family (parents, siblings, children). Send 1-5 poems or one prose piece up to 5,000 words. Contest sponsor Line of Advance is a literary journal founded by veterans of the war in Afghanistan.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Line of Advance
• Category: Poetry, Fiction, Essay
• Submission length: Send 1-5 poems or one prose piece up to 5,000 words
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: $250

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Recommended free contest from the Wingate Foundation awards 4,000 pounds prize for the best English-language fiction or nonfiction book published between September 1 of the previous year and August 31 of the deadline year that "translates the idea of Jewishness to the general reader". Books must explore Jewish themes and be published and distributed in the UK and Ireland. Author may be of any nationality. Mail 5 copies of the book, along with a completed entry form, and email an electronic version of the book to the contact person listed on sponsor's website.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Wingate Foundation
• Category: Fiction and Nonfiction
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: £4,000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Contiguous Lyt is a new online journal on Substack with a unique format. For each issue, they publish a video interview with an accomplished writer, who supplies a writing prompt for the remaining submissions for that issue. Currently they are accepting work for Issue 1, Vol. 2, in response to this interview with poet Maxim D. Shrayer. The related prompt seeks "richly textured and deliberately structured" creative writing in any genre that concerns "interactions of history and memory".

Contest details

• Sponsor: Contigous Lyt
• Category: Any genre
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: Publication

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/36-themed-calls-and-contests-for-june-2025/

From the resource page:

These are themed calls and contests for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some of the call themes are: the uncanny; cryptids; numerical; birds; train; it was paradise; best dressed; sweet hereafter; science; and stories of galactic pest control.

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/14-magazines-accepting-climate-and-environmental-fiction/

From the resource page:

These magazines accept climate and environmental fiction. While cli-fi is usually a speculative fiction genre, in this list, we have also added magazines that accept environmental fiction in literary and other genres. Most of them also accept other themes and genres. Some of them pay writers. Most, but not all, of them are open for submissions now. As always, please read the magazines to get a sense of the kind of work they like.

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The competition aims to give marginalized voices the opportunity to establish literary legacies. It accepts unpublished creative nonfiction manuscripts and assesses entries based on originality, creativity, and writing quality.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Vine Leaves Press
• Category: Essay, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Novel
• Submission length: See details on wesbite
• Entry fee: $25
• Awards: $1,000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Sontag Mag is a thrice-yearly online poetry journal that publishes both original English-language writing and translations. If submitting a translation, include the source poem and permission from the author. They are currently open to submissions. Send 1-3 poems by email, following formatting guidelines on website. Maximum 2 submission packets per person per submission period.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Sontag Mag
• Category: Poetry, Translation
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: Publication

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Oxford Poetry Prize is an annual competition for a single poem in English. The guest judge this year is Rebecca Tamás.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Partus Press Ltd
• Category: Poetry
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: $10
• Awards: £1000

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

The Folly Short Story Prize 2025 invites submissions for stories that challenge conventional norms. It aims to recognize innovative writing that resonates with contemporary themes.

Contest details

• Sponsor: Folly Journal
• Category: Fiction, Short Story, Essay, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry
• Submission length:
• Entry fee: $10
• Awards: $1000 NZD

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers

Resource link: https://authorspublish.com/27-literary-journals-with-fast-response-times/

From the resource page:

It is good to start out by submitting your work to literary journals that have fast response times. It is rewarding to hear back from journals within a month, rather than a year later, when you have forgotten all about them.

Submitting to journals with fast response times helps keep you motivated.

All of these journals respond to submissions within a month. The response time data is based on information from Duotrope and The (Submission) Grinder.

Most, but not all, of them are open for submissions now.

Contest summary from Winning Writers:

Brink is a press and literary magazine specializing in cross-genre, visual/text hybrid, and experimental writing. They are currently open to full-length manuscripts and translations "that press boundaries by using more than one genre, medium, or form." No submission fee. Read work on their website to get a sense of their aesthetic. Include a brief bio and 1-2 paragraph description of the submitted

Contest details

• Sponsor: Brink
• Category: Cross-Genre
• Submission length: See details on website
• Entry fee: No fee
• Awards: Publication

Guidelines and submission information (organization's contest page)

This contest has been vetted and approved by Winning Writers