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 Like what we do?
Please nominate us for the Writer's Digest list of the "101 Best
Websites for Writers". Send an email to writers.digest@fwmedia.com
with "101 Websites" in the subject line by December 1.
Include some brief comments on how Winning Writers helps you, and copy
us at adam@winningwriters.com
if you feel like it.
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Don't miss these contests. All
have cash prizes. At FanStory, you can enter dozens
of contests, get feedback for everything you write, and have
fun with your writing. Membership is only $9.95 per month with
discounts available! View the
discounts.
Acrostic Poetry
Contest
Write a poem where the first letter of each line spells out a word
(downwards). Cash prize to the winner.
Deadline: November 16 (tomorrow!)
Sonnet Poetry
Contest
Write a sonnet in iambic pentameter. See the example for guidance. This
contest has a cash prize. Deadline: November 20 (five
days!)
True Story
Flash
Write a true story "flash fiction" style on any topic. Your
entry must have 98-102 words. The title does not count towards the word
count. Cash prize to the winner. Deadline: November 22
Write a Script
Write a script of any size for any medium on any topic. See the example
for formatting guidance. Cash prize for the winning entry.
Deadline: November 25
2-4-2 Poetry
Contest
Submit a three line poem where the first line has 2 syllables, the
second line has 4 syllables, and the last line has 2 syllables again.
Any subject. Cash prize to the winner. Deadline: November 30
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Congratulations to Erika
Dreifus (featured poem: "Mannheim"),
Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé, Alan
King, James Garrison, Deborah
LeFalle, Ellaraine Lockie, Des
Mannay, Colleen Eccles Penor, Edna Ma,
Robert Walton, Jesse James Doty
(featured poem: "Hidden
Memories"), Karin Aurino, Jennie
MacDonald, E. Baker, James K.
Zimmerman, and Abigail Keam.
Winning Writers Editor Jendi Reiter's
poem "The Senate Judiciary Committee Calls a Sparrow" will be
published in Fireweed: Stories From the Revolution, an anthology
of creative writing about our current political moment, forthcoming
from Lonely
Cryptid Media. The editors said, "We felt the
intertwining of the narratives of Dr. [Christine Blasey] Ford's
testimony and a stuck sparrow worked very well, and we think this will
make an excellent addition to our anthology."
Near Western Massachusetts?
Winning Writers contest judge Ellen LaFlèche's book
launch for her debut full-length poetry collection, Walking into
Lightning (Saddle Road Press), will be held on
Saturday, November 16, from 1:30-3:30pm in the community room of Forbes
Library, 20 West Street, Northampton, MA. See event details here.
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Deadline: December 1
Judge — Aimee
Nezhukumatathil is the author of four poetry collections, a
collection of illustrated nature essays, and an epistolary nature
chapbook (with Ross Gay). She has received a fellowship from the NEA
and a Pushcart Prize and has been included in the Best American Poetry
series.
Prizes — $1,500 & publication (winner); $500 &
publication (honorable mention); all finalists will be published in the
2020 Spring/Summer awards issue.
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Deadline: December 2
Creative Nonfiction is
currently seeking short nonfiction for our new(ish) Sunday Short
Read email, which reaches thousands of readers weekly.
We're open to submissions on
any subject, in any style. Surprise us! The only rules are that all
work submitted must be short (1,000 words, max), nonfiction and
original to the author, and not previously published.
We'll pay $50 on publication,
and all work will be considered for inclusion in Creative
Nonfiction magazine as well.
Essays must be previously
unpublished and no longer than 1,000 words. Multiple submissions are
welcome, as are entries from outside the United States.
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First Prize:
$3,500, publication in LitMag,
and agency review
Second Prize: $1,000 and agency review
Finalists: Five finalists will receive $100 each
Agency review by Sobel Weber
Associates (clients include: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Richard Russo, Laura
Lee Smith)
All finalists will be
considered for possible agency review.
All entries will be considered
for publication.
Deadline:
December 15
Contest Fee: $20.
Submission
Guidelines: Entries must
be short stories between 3,000 and 8,000 words. Please use 12-point
type, preferably Times New Roman, and submit your short story as either
a Word doc or a PDF. Only previously unpublished short stories are
eligible. Writers may submit multiple stories, each of which requires a
separate submission. Submissions through Submittable
only.
Notification: The contest will be judged by the editors of the
magazine. The winning short stories and finalists will be announced
publicly on our Web site and social media as well as by email to all
contestants in March of 2020. See the
results of previous contests.
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Deadline: December 28
The
Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open to
anyone who expresses their innermost thoughts and feelings as beautiful
literary art that's worth telling everyone! We welcome all who
dream…Write a poem or short story to compete for cash prizes totaling
$1,275. All works must be original.
Prose prizes:
$500, $250, $100
Write a short story, 5 pages maximum, on any subject or theme; fiction,
nonfiction, or creative nonfiction (including essays, journal entries,
and screenwriting). Entry fee: $10 per story.
Poetry prizes:
$250, $125, $50
Write a poem with 30 lines or fewer on any subject. All styles and
forms accepted. Entry fee: $5 per poem.
All entries must be typed or
neatly hand printed. Multiple entries welcome. You may simultaneously
submit work to this contest and to other contests. All winners will be
published online on February 29, 2020. Read
past winning entries.
Our Mission
The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest seeks to inspire,
motivate and encourage anyone having the desire or love of poetry and
writing, to continue doing so without fear of failure or success!
Remember, in whatever you do, "it's okay to dream," for
dreams do come true…
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Deadline: December 31
Calling all gifted fiction
writers! Lilith
Magazine—Independent, Jewish & frankly feminist—seeks
quality short fiction, 3,000 words or under, for our Annual
Fiction Contest. First prize $250 + publication. We like
work with both feminist and Jewish content. Please send submissions
to info@Lilith.org with
"Fiction Contest Submission" and your name in the subject
line. Be sure to include full contact info on the manuscript and
mention that you saw our ad in the Winning Writers Newsletter.
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 Submission deadline: January 15, 2020. $1,000 and
book publication for each winner.
The annual John Ciardi Prize
for Poetry and the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction are
awarded to collections of poetry and short fiction in English by a
living author. Guidelines
available here.
Prize-winning books have
received reviews or features in: Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus
Reviews, ForeWord Reviews, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Kansas
City Star, Slate, etc., and won or placed in the Poets' Prize, Eric
Hoffer, IPPY, ForeWord, Chautauqua, Balcones Fiction, Devil's Kitchen,
etc.
Founded in 1971 and part of the
University of Missouri-Kansas City since 1983, BkMk Press publishes
collections of poetry, short fiction, and creative essays. Publishing
roughly six titles a year, the press has over 140 titles in print.
BkMk
Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5101 Rockhill
Road, Kansas City, MO 64110.
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Entries must be received by
January 31, 2020
Submissions are now being
accepted for the ninth William
Saroyan International Prize for Writing. This award, given
by Stanford University Libraries in partnership with the William
Saroyan Foundation, recognizes newly published works of fiction and
nonfiction with a $5,000 award for the winner in each category.
The prize is designed to
encourage new or emerging writers and honor the Saroyan literary legacy
of originality, vitality, and stylistic innovation. For entry forms and
more information on the prize, visit the Saroyan
Prize website.
Congratulations to our 2018
Fiction Winner Hernan Diaz, author of In the Distance,
and our 2018 Nonfiction Winner Robert Moor, author of On
Trails: An Exploration. See our complete
list of 2018 winners and finalists.
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Jendi Reiter's second
full-length collection, with fine art photography by Toni Pepe, is
available from Little
Red Tree Publishing. The
Minderbinder Review of Books writes: "If the human
experience counts for everything, which it should, Bullies
in Love is proof that poems, when crafted with honesty, wit
and compassion, are capable of moving us at lightning speeds."
This month, Jendi is writing a
poem a day to raise money for the Center
for New Americans, an immigrant education and advocacy
nonprofit in Western Massachusetts. Sponsor Jendi here.
Please enjoy this sample poem
and purchase Bullies in Love on Amazon.
Period Piece
I'm on the poetry rag
my womb can't hold a job
it spits out bar napkins of inspiration
streaks of drunken grand plans
like Bukowski's wine-stained typescripts
I've got my Sunday visitor
and it's not a Catholic magazine
though nuns must synchronize like periodicals
black and white and red all over
I'm scratching my mosquito bite
as Lizzie Borden called the spot
on her trial skirt
because ladybusiness is murder
I'm painting the town
I've got company
Aunt Flo's camped on my horsehair sofa
playing Old Maid with a deck of diamonds
and knitting tube socks for soldiers
the redcoats are coming
but don't be afraid
of me riding the white horse
out where the cattle stampede
it's just that time of the month when I like
my steak with a little ketchup
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Some contests are best suited
to writers at the early stages of their careers. Others are better for
writers with numerous prizes and publications to their credit. Here is
this month's selection of Spotlight Contests for your consideration:
Emerging Writers
Patricia
Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers. High
school sophomores and juniors throughout the world can win tuition to
The Kenyon Review's two-week summer seminar for writers aged 16-18;
winner and runners-up also published in the highly prestigious journal.
Submit one poem via their online form. Due November 30.
Intermediate Writers
Bala
Kids/Khyentse Foundation Children's Book Prize.
Bala Kids, an imprint of the Buddhist magazine and publishing house
Shambhala, will award $5,000 and publication for an unpublished picture
book for ages 0-8 that expresses Buddhist values, themes, and
traditions. Manuscripts should be approximately 20-40 pages, maximum
2,000 words. The prize is offered for the manuscript itself, which must
not be submitted with illustrations; choosing the final illustrations
for the book will be the responsibility of the publisher. Due December
1.
Advanced Writers
Tony
Quagliano International Poetry Award. $1,000
achievement award for poets who consistently strive for "cutting
edge" and "avant-garde" innovation, which means
experimental, innovative, "pushing the envelope" literature.
Within the past 5 years, entrants must have published a poetry
collection of 48+ pages, or 20+ different poems or pages of poetry in
five or more literary journals, anthologies, or publications that
regularly include poetry as a portion of their format. Due December 1.
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Write to
Move Anthology (poetry, fiction, essays on border crossings
and the human right to movement - December 1)
·
Tint
Journal (creative writing, art, and comics by authors for
whom English is a second language - December 12)
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This month, editor Jendi Reiter
presents selected books that deserve your attention. There are many
more in our Books
resource section. Winning Writers earns a small commission
from books sold by Amazon.
Cyrée Jarelle Johnson
SLINGSHOT
The title of this ambitious debut collection by a black genderqueer
poet-activist refers to the bikini costume they wore as a strip-club
dancer, but also calls to mind the legendary weapon that young David
employed against the giant Goliath. Like the Biblical youth, the
narrator of these poems fights back, with brilliant style and ferocity,
against seemingly insurmountable forces like racism, transphobic
violence, familial abuse, and the floods that Hurricane Sandy unleashed
on New York City. The propulsive force and fragmented and recombined
syntax of these poems command so much attention that only at the end
will you reflect, "Damn, was that a crown of sonnets?" and
read it all over again.
Maia Kobabe
GENDER QUEER: A
MEMOIR
Playful, emotionally vulnerable, and even cozy, this graphic narrative
is a coming-of-age memoir centered on Kobabe's discovery of eir
nonbinary and asexual identity. Gentle, accessible artwork with a
sophisticated color palette gives the story an intimate feel, as if a
friend or family member was sharing confidences with you. As well as
being entertaining, this book is a good educational resource for teens
and adult allies as well as queer folks looking to understand
themselves.
Jarrett Krosoczka
HEY, KIDDO
This graphic narrative memoir intertwines the author's tumultuous
relationship with his heroin-addicted mother and his discovery of his
vocation as a professional cartoonist. The result is a lovingly
detailed scrapbook of working-class family life in Worcester, MA, with
sepia-tinted artwork supplemented by original documents and childhood
drawings. Krosoczka was raised by his maternal grandparents, who come
across as well-rounded and beloved characters, often gruff and no
stranger to alcohol indulgence, but with steady devotion and an
unglamorous and patient work ethic that he learns to emulate.
Krosoczka's popular graphic novels for kids include the Lunch
Lady and Star Wars: Jedi Academy series.
Jane Smiley
A THOUSAND
ACRES
Winner of the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, this American tragedy
recasts the story of King Lear on an Iowa farm in the aftermath of the
Vietnam War. When a tyrannical but enfeebled patriarch divides his farm
unequally among his three daughters, their prosperous, provincial world
is torn apart by long-simmering rivalries and recovered memories of
incest. Not only does Smiley nail the dynamics of a family in denial,
she believably ties the personal drama to the American diseases of
patriarchal entitlement and the rape of the land.
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And as he walked he saw from
afar men and women leaving their fields and their vineyards and
hastening towards the city gates.
And he heard their voices
calling his name, and shouting from the field to field telling one
another of the coming of the ship.
And he said to himself:
Shall the day of parting be the
day of gathering?
And shall it be said that my
eve was in truth my dawn?
And what shall I give unto him
who has left his plough in midfurrow, or to him who has stopped the
wheel of his winepress?
Shall my heart become a tree
heavy-laden with fruit that I may gather and give unto them?
And shall my desires flow like
a fountain that I may fill their cups?
Am I a harp that the hand of
the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through
me?
A seeker of silences am I, and
what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with
confidence?
If this is my day of harvest,
in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unremembered seasons?
If this indeed be the hour in
which I lift up my lantern, it is not my flame that shall burn therein.
Empty and dark shall I raise my
lantern,
And the guardian of the night
shall fill it with oil and he shall light it also.
These things he said in words. But much in his heart remained unsaid.
For he himself could not speak his deeper secret.
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 Understanding
the Lectionary Through Witchcraft
In all of Jesus' examples, the action is reactive: what to do after
someone abuses you, hits you, or robs from you. One could say he was
instructing us to have the equanimity and self-transcendence of the
Warrior, who may need to use force in service to a goal larger than
himself (e.g. clearing the money-changers from the temple), but never
lets himself be overcome by wounded pride, defensive fear, or the
"red mist" of rage that clouds one's vision. Maintaining
self-discipline is more important than settling scores in that moment,
even if the aggressor will get off too easy.
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