Curious about writing contests in 2017? If you paid attention to any of the blogs we’ve written on freelancewithus.com, you may have noticed that we’ve touched upon writing competitions in the past. As a way of finding extra income and accolades as a writer, submitting your work for writing contests can be a valid endeavor for profit that can also help establish your career. Whether you’re a poet, a fiction writer, a journalist or any other type of writer, there are numerous outlets for your work in 2017.
We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of writing contests in 2017. Don’t be discouraged if the dates for Writing Contests in 2017 haven’t been announced or are not available at the time of this article’s publication. Typically, well-established writing contests tend to occur at the same time every year—or they may no longer be held for whatever reason.
Similarly, there are submission periods that also haven’t been announced, which limit the timeframe you have to submit your work. Therefore, compiling a definitive list of writing contests for 2017 can only be a never-ending task. With that in mind, we’ll provide the previous year’s contest date to provide you with a ballpark estimate of when it may be held in 2017.
Bear in mind that contests aren’t a great source of full-time income. They can help to supplement your income (and boost your ego) but if you want to make a living out of this writing game then you should focus on freelancing. For that, you can find many helpful articles on this site. You should also take a look at The Online Writer’s Companion, which helped me to get started and is helping many others to do the same.
Writing Contests 2017
Without further ado, here are the annual writing contests looking ahead to 2016. Good luck, grab some coffee, and happy submitting!
Writing Contests January 2017
Mississippi Review Prize
Deadline: January 1st, 2017
Glimmer Train Press Family Matters Contest
Deadline: January 2nd, 2017
Steinbeck Fellowships in Creative Writing
Deadline: January 2nd, 2017
Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest
Deadline: January 2nd, 2017
Gemini Magazine Flash Fiction/Poetry Contest
Deadline: January 3rd, 2017
Dartmouth Poet-In-Residence Award and Chapbook Competition
Deadline: January 5th, 2017
The Fresher Writing Prize
Deadline: January 5, 2017
Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award
Deadline: January 9th, 2017
Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize
Deadline: January 9th, 2017
The Henshaw Competition
Deadline: January 10th, 2017
Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award
Deadline: January 14th, 2017
Colorado Review Colorado Prize for Poetry
Deadline: January 14th, 2017
Amy Writing Awards
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held January 15, 2016.
BkMk Press Ciardi/Chandra Prizes
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
Don’t Talk to Me About Love 2017 Poetry Contest
Deadline: January 15, 2017.
Ellen Meloy Fund Desert Writers Award
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
Asheville Poetry Review William Matthews Poetry Prize
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
Masters Review Short Story Award for New Writers
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
Permafrost Book Prize in Poetry and New Alchemy Contest 2017
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
French-American Foundation Translation Prizes
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
Literal Latté K. Margaret Grossman Fiction Award
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
PRISM: Jacob Zilber Prize for Short Fiction
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
The Mogford Food & Drink Short Story Prize
Deadline: January 15th, 2017
IGGY and Litro Young Writers’ Prize 2016/17
Deadline: January 20th, 2017
The National Memory Day Creative Writing Competition
Deadline: January 20th, 2017
Nelson Algren Short Story Award
Deadline: January 31st, 2017
The Plough Poetry Prize
Deadline: January 31st.
Wundor Short Fiction Contest
Deadline: January 31st, 2017
Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held January 31, 2016.
Writing Contests February 2017
Hektoen Grand Prix Essay Contest
Deadline: February 1st, 2017
Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize
Deadline: February 10, 2017
Sceptre Loves Short Story Competition
Deadline: February 14, 2017
Flash 500 Short Story Competition
Deadline: February 28th, 2017
Young Writers’ Short Story Competition
Deadline: February 28th, 2017
Writing Contests March 2017
Binghamton University Book Awards
Deadline: March 1st, 2017
Bridgend Writers’ Circle Open Competition
Deadline: March 1st, 2017
Ginosko Flash Fiction Contest
Deadline: March 1st, 2017
Nature and Place Poetry Competition
Deadline: March 1st, 2017
Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held March 1st, 2016
Neil Gunn Writing Competition
Deadline: March 3rd, 2017
Limnisa Short Story Competition 2017
Deadline: March 15th, 2017
Writing Contests April 2017
Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards
Deadline: April 3rd, 2017
Writing Contests May 2017
2017 Questions Writing Prize
Deadline: May 1st, 2017
2017 Bristol Short Story Prize
Deadline: May 3rd, 2017
Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition
Deadline: May 5th, 2017
James Laughlin Award
Deadline: May 15th, 2017
Birds of a Feather Press Travel Writing Competition 2017
Deadline: May 31st, 2017
Writing Contests June 2017
Tony Hillerman Prize
Deadline: June 1st, 2017
Drue Heinz Literature Prize
Deadline: June 30th, 2017
Tufts Poetry Awards
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held June 30th, 2016
Writing Contests July 2017
n/a: We could not find any 2017 writing competitions for this month.
Writing Contests August 2017
n/a: We could not find any 2017 writing competitions for this month.
Writing Contests September 2017
Young Lions Fiction Award
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held September 2nd, 2016.
Real Simple’s Life Lessons Essay Contest
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held September 19th, 2016.
New Voices Award
Deadline: September 30th, 2017
Writing Contests October 2017
Marfield Prize (a.k.a. National Award for Arts Writing)
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held October 1st, 2016
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held October 31st, 2016.
Flash 500 Novel Opening Chapter & Synopsis Competition
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held October 31st, 2016.
Writing Contests November 2017
Brooklyn Non-Fiction Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 15th, 2016.
Amazon’s A New Night Before Christmas Writing Competition
Deadline: last held November 27th, 2016
Bright Hill Press Poetry Book Competition
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016.
Bear Star Press Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016.
Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016.
BOA Editions A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016.
Cider Press Review Book Award
Deadline: Annually; last deadline held November 30th, 2016
New Issues Poetry & Prose Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016.
White Pine Press Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
National Federation of State Poetry Societies Stevens Poetry Manuscript Competition
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Narrative Fall Story Contest
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
University of North Texas Rilke Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Burnside Review Press Book Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Fish Publishing Fish Short Story Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Munster Literature Center Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Three Percent Best Translated Book Awards
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Two Sylvias Press Wilder Series Book Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
University of Georgia Press Georgia Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Arcadia Press Arcadia Chapbook Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline was held November 30th, 2016
Writing Contests December 2017
Peter Porter Poetry Prize
Deadline: Annually; last deadline held on December 1st, 2016.
W.Y. Boyd Literary Award for Excellence in Military Fiction
Deadline: December 1st
Poetry International C. P. Cavafy Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 7th
Friends of American Writers Chicago Awards
Deadline: December 10th
Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition
Deadline: December 15th
The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition
Deadline: December 18th
Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Deadline: December 31st
Soundwork Short Story Competition
Deadline: December 31st
Ohio University Press Hollis Summers Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1st
University of Evansville Willis Barnstone Translation Prize
Deadline: December 1st
Five Points James Dickey Prize
Deadline: December 1st
Slipstream Press Poetry Chapbook Competition
Deadline: December 1st
Stanford University Wallace Stegner Fellowships
Deadline: December 1st
Waywiser Press Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1st
Pushcart Press Pushcart Prizes
Deadline: December 1st
Tupelo Press Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Contest
Deadline: December 1st
African Poetry Book Fund Sillerman First Book Prize
Deadline: December 1st
December Jeff Marks Memorial Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1st
Langum Charitable Trust David J. Langum Sr. Prize in American Historical Fiction
Deadline: December 1st
Brunel University London International African Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 1st
Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Writing Fellowships
Deadline: December 1st
Morehead State University Thomas and Lillie D. Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing
Deadline: December 2nd
National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowships
Deadline: December 6th
Publishing Triangle Literary Awards
Deadline: December 6th
Bronx Council on the Arts BRIO Artist Awards for Excellence
Deadline: December 6th
Celtic Mythology Short Story Competition
Deadline: December 10th
Friends of American Writers Literary Award
Deadline: December 10th
University of Iowa Press Iowa Prize in Literary Nonfiction
Deadline: December 10th
Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest
Deadline: December 12th
Minotaur Books / Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition
Deadline: December 12th
Gival Press Poetry Award
Deadline: December 15th
Center for Book Arts Letterpress Poetry Chapbook Competition
Deadline: December 15th
Chautauqua Institution Chautauqua Prize
Deadline: December 15th
Willow Books Literature Awards
Deadline: December 15th
Nowhere Magazine Travel Writing Contest
Deadline: December 15th
Center for Fiction Christopher Doheny Award
Deadline: December 15th
Black Caucus of the American Library Association
Literary Awards
Deadline: December 15th
Quercus Review Press Poetry Book Award
Deadline: December 16th
Codhill Press Poetry Award
Deadline: December 16th
Poetry Society of America Robert H. Winner Memorial Award
Deadline: December 20th
Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowships
Deadline: December 22nd
Commonwealth Club of California California Book Awards
Deadline: December 22nd
Florida Review Jeanne Leiby Memorial Chapbook Award
Deadline: December 23rd
Tampa Review Danahy Fiction Prize
Deadline: December 30th
Before Columbus Foundation American Book Awards
Deadline: December 31st
Cleveland Foundation Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards
Deadline: December 31st
PEN Center USA Literary Awards
Deadline: December 31st
Tupelo Press Dorset Prize
Deadline: December 31st
The Moth Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 31st, 2016
River Styx Schlafly Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction Contest
Deadline: December 31st
Boulevard Short Fiction Contest
Deadline: December 31st
Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry Griffin Poetry Prize
Deadline: December 31st
Livingston Press Tartt Fiction Award
Deadline: December 31st
Society of Classical Poets Poetry Competition
Deadline: December 31st
Lascaux Review Prize in Short Fiction and Book Prize
Deadline: December 31st
Omnidawn Publishing Open Poetry Book Contest
Deadline: December 31st
Ashland Creek Press Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature
Deadline: December 31st
Crosswinds Poetry Contest
Deadline: December 31st
Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Deadline: December 31st
Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing
Deadline: December 31st