Poetry Book Awards, Writing Contests and Literary Prizes
Acorn-Plantos Award for Peoples Poetry
The Acorn-Plantos Award for Peoples Poetry is awarded annually to a
Canadian poet, based on a book published in the previous calendar year.
The work should follow in the tradition of Acorn, Livesay, Purdy, Plantos and
others by being accessible to...
Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry
Honoring the memory of a celebrated poet and a beloved teacher, the Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry is awarded annually and is sponsored by The University of Utah Press and The University of Utah Department of English. $1,500 Cash Prize and Publicati...
Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
The University of Pittsburgh Press announces the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for a first full-length book of poems. Named after the first director of the Press, the prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and publication by the University of Pitts...
Alberta Book Awards
The Alberta Book Publishing Awards are presented by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta.Categories include: Children’s Books, Scholarly and Academic Books, Trade Fiction, Trade Non-Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Poetry and Editorial Exce...
Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award
Established in 2013, the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award recognizes a student poet twenty-three years old or younger, with an annual cash prize of $1,000. Students who have won one of our 2014 University & College Poetr...
Amy Lowell Traveling Poet Scholarship
The American poet Amy Lowell died in 1925. Her will established an annual scholarship to support travel abroad for gifted American-born poets. The scholarship is administered by the Trustees under her will at the law firm of Choate, Hall & Stewart i...
Anna Pidruchney Award for New Writers
Awarded to a novice writer under the age of 35 for a literary work which includes Ukrainian Canadian characters or is based on a Ukrainian Canadian theme. Eligible works of literary fiction, that being poetry, short stories, novels, plays, personal ...
Aspiring Canadian Poets Contest
The Aspiring Canadian Poets Contest provides an opportunity to shine a spotlight on unpublished Canadian poets. Launched by Heidi M. Stock in April (National Poetry Month) 2012, this contest invites the participation of Canadian poets who have not pu...
BC Book Prizes
The BC Book Prizes, established in 1985, celebrate the achievements of British Columbia writers and publishers. The prizes are for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, regional, children’s and illustrated children’s literature.
The seven Pri...
Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award
Established in 1998, in honor of the poet Benjamin Saltman (1927-1999), this award is for a previously unpublished original collection of poetry. Awarded collection is selected through an annual competition which is open to all poets. ...
Bisexual Book Awards
Books can be submitted by the author, publisher or the Bi Writers Association (BWA). However, anyone may suggest a book for us to outreach. Any book with a bisexual or bi+ character, bisexual storyline, bisexual subject matter or bisexual themes can ...
BKMK Press Book Prize
The BKMK Press Prize offers $1000 and publication for the best book-length collections of poetry and short fiction.
Submissions for
The G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction should be approximately 125- 300 pages, double spaced.
Poe...
Black River Chapbook Competition
Twice each year Black Lawrence Press will run the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or short fiction between 16-36 pages in length. The contest is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner will rec...
Blue Ridge Mountains CWC Unpublished Writers Contest
Attendees of the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference are eligible to submit their unpublished work to this contest.If you have been paid for your writing in any publication category, then you are ineligible for this contest in that cate...
bpNichol Chapbook Award
The bpNichol Chapbook Award recognizes excellence in Canadian poetry published in chapbook form. The prize is awarded to a poetry chapbook judged to be the best submitted. The author receives $4,000 and the publisher receives $500. Awarded continuous...
Bridport Prize
The mission of the Bridport Prize is to encourage emerging writers and promote literary excellence through its competition structure.
The Bridport Prize was founded by Bridport Arts Centre in 1973 and has steadily grown in stature and prestige. ...
Buxton Poetry Competition
The Buxton Poetry Competition is open to three categories of writers: Children aged up to 11 years old, Young People aged 12 to 17, and Open (18 and up). ...
Caterpillar Poetry Prize
The Caterpillar is delighted to announce its inaugural poetry prize - for a single poem written by an adult for children (aged 7-11).
What we are looking for is a stand-out poem to which we can award a prize of €1,000 to celebrate the richnes...
CBC Poetry Prize
Open to original, unpublished, poems or poetry collections between 400 and 600 words written by a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
All works that have published in print or on the Internet, including self-published works, as well...
Cedric Literary Awards
The Cedric Literary Awards are open to all full-time residents of British Columbia, aged 50 years or older as of January 1, 2015. Participants will be English or French-speaking writers and First Nations storytellers who have never had any of their w...
Christian Author Awards
Sponsored by Xulon Press, the Christian Author Awards recognizes preeminent new Christian authors who are independently published. Full-length books of fiction and non-fiction are eligible. Eligible books must be in English and published in the Uni...
Cider Press Review Book Award
Submit 48-80 pages of original poetry in English not previously published in book form (individual poems may have been previously published in journals, anthologies, and chapbooks). ...
Claremont Review Annual Writing Contest
This international magazine for young writers hosts an annual writing contest for writers from 13 to 19 years old. Winners are selected in both poetry and fiction categories. Writers can enter up to three poems, three postcard stories (up to 500 wo...
Colorado Prize for Poetry
The Colorado Prize for Poetry is an international literary contest started in 1995. Since the contest began, over 5,000 book-length poetry manuscripts have been entered. Each year’s prizewinner receives a $2,000 honorarium and publication of his or...
Costa Book Awards
The Costa Book Awards honour some of the most outstanding books of the year written by authors based in the UK and Ireland. There are five categories - First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book - with one of the five winners chosen ...
Cowles Poetry Book Prize
Individual poems in the manuscript may have been published previously in a chapbook, magazines, journals or anthologies, but the work as a whole must be unpublished. Translations and previously self-published books are not eligible.
Open to an...
Cuirt New Writing Prize
Poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each. Fiction pieces may be up to 2000 words. Entries in both English and Irish are welcome. Young Cuirt is for ages 12-17. Entries are welcome in poetry and fiction. The winner will receive ...
Dorothy Hewett Award
UWA Publishing, in partnership with Copyright Agency Limited and ABC 720 Perth, has established a new award for an unpublished manuscript.
The aim of the Dorothy Hewett Award is to support literary talent both in and related to Western Australia, ...
Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Contest
Dr. William Henry Drummond (1854-1907) was "Canada’s First National Poet" as well as doctor and a silver mine owner in the Cobalt area. Included in many anthologies through the years including: The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse (1982). Al...
DWAA Annual Writing Competition
The Maxwell Medallion writing contest is open to all writers, editors, publishers, photographers, artists and others whose work falls into the designated competition categories, which include newspaper, online and magazine columns or articles on cani...
Elixir Press Annual Poetry Awards
Elixir Press is sponsoring a poetry contest open to all poets writing in English. There will be a Judge’s Prize of $2,000 and an Editors’ Prize of $1000. Both winning manuscripts will be published by Elixir Press. All entries will be co...
Eric Hoffer Award for Independent Books
The Eric Hoffer Award for independent books recognizes excellence in publishing with a $2,000 grand prize and various category honors and press type distinctions, as well as the winners of the Montaigne Medal, da Vinci Eye, and First Horizon Award. T...
F(r)iction Winter Literary Competition - Poetry Contest
The winner of our poetry contest will be awarded $300.00 and publication in F(r)iction. Five finalists will receive free professional edits on their submission and will be considered for publication.
Criteria: Any genre or form, three pages or ...
Fermoy International Poetry Contest
The overseas winner will be flown to read at the Fermoy International Poetry Festival. The overseas winner must be resident outside the island of Ireland. The Irish winner will receive €300 and will be invited to read at the festival. For this priz...
Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Competition
Open to Washington State (USA) residents only. All entrants will receive a copy of the winning chapbook, and individual poems from your manuscript will be considered for inclusion in Floating Bridge Review, our annual online publication....
Fugue Annual Writing Contest
Fugue’s Annual Writing Contest accepts submissions of both poetry and prose (fiction and nonfiction). Multiple submissions are accepted as long as separate fees are paid. For poetry submissions, please send between 1-3 poems. For prose submissi...
Global Ebook Awards
The Global Ebook Awards are more than an honor for the best ebooks published, they offer high-profile publicity for ebook authors, publishers and ebooks....
Governor General's Literary Awards
French-language book in each of the seven categories of Fiction, Literary Non-fiction, Poetry, Drama, Children’s Literature (text), Children’s Literature (illustrated books) and Translation (from French to English). Books published in English b...
Great Blue Heron Poetry Contest
Poems on any subject. Total entry not to exceed 4 pages. Maximum 150 lines. Entries might be one longer poem, or several shorter poems. Previously published works, works accepted for publication or simultaneous submissions are ineligible. No electron...
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is the world’s largest prize for a first edition single collection of poetry written in, or translated into English, from any country in the world – the Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry aims to spark the public&...
Hamilton Literary Awards
The Hamilton Arts Council is calling for submissions by Hamilton-area authors for the 22nd Annual Hamilton Literary Awards to recognize works and authors that represent the best and brightest in Hamilton literature for the year 2014. Published books ...
High Plains Book Award
The High Plains Books Awards recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains. The High Plains region includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Alberta, Manito...
Hudson Prize
Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Hudson Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or short stories. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner of this contest will receive book publication, a $1,000 cash a...
IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award
The IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award for excellence in book publishing is regarded as one of the highest national honors for small and independent publishers. The awards are administered by the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), with help ...
Indie Spiritual Book Awards
TISBA stands for “The Indie Spiritual Book Awards” created to honor independently published authors of spiritual-not-religious books (New Age, Metaphysical, etc.). We have 13 non-fiction categories and 3 for fiction. Our judges are experts in th...
Iowa Poetry Prize
The Iowa Poetry Prize, open to new as well as established poets, is awarded for a book-length collection of poems written originally in English. Previous winners, current University of Iowa students, and current and former University of Iowa Press em...
Irish Writers Lost Gatos Writing Contests
Writing contests open till 21 September 2017. Short Stories $10 per story, $1000 prize. Poetry $10 per poem $600 prize. Youth Poetry (under 18's) $8 per poem, $400 Gift Card Prize. Open to all, unpublished work only in English....
J.M. Abraham Poetry Award
The J.M. Abraham Poetry Award was created by the writing community in the late 1990s. The Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia, with the assistance of several poets, publishers, and post-secondary institutions, raised funds for an annual award pr...
Jake Adam York Prize
The Jake Adam York Prize is a collaboration between Copper Nickel & Milkweed Editions. It is open to all poets in the US who have published no more than one full-length poetry collection.
The entries are due October 15, 2016. The ...
Kerry County Council Creative Writing for Youth Competitions
Submissions may be in the form of poems, short stories or essays.
One entry only per youth.
Creative Writing for 9 years and Under (Max word count 300 words)
Creative Writing for 12 years and Under (Max word count 500 words)
Creative W...
Lit POP Awards
This contest is open to residents of Canada and the United States. The deadline for all submissions is July 1st 2015. Winners will be notified in August. Poets are asked to send no more than 5 poems; fiction writers should send stories of no more tha...
Lush Triumphant Literary Awards
Open to short fiction (3,000 words max), poetry (5 related poems, up to 15 pages), and creative non-fiction (max 4,000 words). Winning entries will receive $1,000 plus payment for publication. Runners up will be published in subsequent issues. Entry ...
Maine Review's Annual Poetry Contest
The Review is currently accepting entries for our annual poetry contest, which awards a Grand Prize of $100 for the best poem, a Second Prize of $50, and a Third Prize of $25. Honorable Mention winners will each receive a free one-year electronic sub...
Malahat Review Long Poem/Novella Prize
The Malahat Review, Canada's premier literary magazine, invites entries from Canadian, American, and overseas authors for the Long Poem Prize. Two awards of $1,000 CAD each are given. Poets contributing to The Malahat Review have also won or been nom...
May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize
The May Sarton New Hampshire Poetry Prize is named for May Sarton, the renowned novelist, memoirist, poet, and feminist (1912-1995). The winner receives $1000, book publication, and 100 copies of the published book, as well as distribution with our...
Miller Williams Poetry Prize
A prize of $5,000 and publication by University of Arkansas Press is given annually for a poetry collection. Billy Collins will judge. Submit a manuscript of 60 to 90 pages with a $28 entry fee by September 30. Visit the website for complete guidelin...
Mona Schreiber Prize for Humorous Fiction and Nonfiction
An award for humor, comedic essays, articles, short stories, poetry, shopping lists and other forms. Works should be 750 words or less. Entries are not returned and must be unpublished. Winners will have their entries posted on www.brashcyber.com. ...
National Book Awards
The National Book Award is one of the nation's most prestigious literary prizes and has a stellar record
of identifying and rewarding quality writing. In 1950, William Carlos Williams was the first Winner in
Poetry, the following year William Faulk...
National Capital Writing Contest
Open to writers living in Canada’s National Capital Region, both in Ontario and Quebec. Short Story (max. 2500 words) and Poetry (not Haiku) (max. 60 lines including title & blank lines) ENTRIES must be the original, unpublished work of the ent...
National Indie Excellence Awards
The National Indie Excellence Awards is open to all English language books available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors.
The National Indie Excellence Awards exists...
New Letters Literary Awards
New Letters established its Awards for Writers in 1986 to discover and reward new writers and to encourage more established writers to try new genres or new work in competition. The contest is open to any writer. Fiction and essay entries should n...
New Zealand Book Awards
The New Zealand Book Awards celebrate excellence, identifying the very best books for adult readers written by New Zealanders. From 2016, in a partnership between the New Zealand Book Awards Trust and the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival Trust,...
Next Generation Indie Book Awards
The Next Generation Indie Book Awards (#NGIBA) is the largest non-profit book awards program for indie authors and publishers. The Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published...
Northern Ontario Poetry Competition
All entrants must be Northern Ontario residents. Northern Ontario is defined as those residents who have addresses with postal codes beginning with the letter
Poems must be titled, previously unpublished, and typed in black ink one per page on 8...
Peggy-Chapman Andrews Award
This prize is for a first novel from a resident of Great Britain. Entrants to the novel prize are required to submit a short 300 word synopsis with their entry....
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
The $3,000 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation is conferred every year in New York. The award recognizes book-length translations of poetry from any language into English published during the current calendar year, and is judged by a single translato...
Prime Number Magazine Awards
Submit one unpublished poem or story.
Poem should be no more than three pages in length (no word count needed) with numbered pages and spaced according to the poet’s intended style.
Short story should be 53 to 5,300 w...
Prix Aurora Awards
The Aurora awards are run by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA), a federally registered non-profit society. The awards recognize the best Canadian professional and amateur (fan) achievements for the calendar year. The Aurora...
QWF Awards
Every year, The Quebec Writers' Federation shines the spotlight on the best English-language writers to emerge from Quebec. The QWF Awards include six $2,000 book prizes for Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, First Book, Translation, and Children's and Yo...
Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards
The Raiziss/de Palchi Translation Awards recognize outstanding translations into English of modern Italian poetry through a $10,000 book prize and a $25,000 fellowship, given in alternating years. To apply, a translator must submit four copies of a...
RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers
The RBC Bronwen Wallace Award is open to writers under the age of 35 and unpublished in book form. The award alternates each year between poetry and short fiction. To be eligible candidates must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident,
under...
Red Shed Open Poetry Competition
This open poetry competition to anyone aged 16 and over. Entries should be unpublished poems up to 50 lines in length....
Saskatchewan Book Awards
The Saskatchewan Book Awards offers 14 annual or semi-annual awards to celebrate, promote and reward Saskatchewan authors and publishers worthy of recognition.
Award winners are determined through a jury process of the highest integrity, by hig...
Sophie Brody Award
The Sophie Brody Medal is funded by the Brodart Foundation and is given to encourage, recognize and commend outstanding achievement in Jewish Literature. Works for adults published in the United States in the preceding year are eligible for the award...
Spirit First Poetry Contest
Poetry submissions may be of any length and any style but must have a theme of Meditation, Mindfulness, Silence, Stillness, or Solitude (we are referring to peaceful solitude - not loneliness). Poems may reflect any discipline, any faith, or none. Po...
St. Lawrence Book Award
Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The St. Lawrence Book Award for an unpublished first collection of poems or short stories. The St. Lawrence Book Award is open to any writer who has not yet published a full-length collection of short stories...
Sunshot Prize Series
The Sunshot Prize Series honors unpublished collections of poetry, short stories, and essays with a cash prize, publication, author copies, and a continuation of the book's cultural impact through nomination to the highest echelon of book awards...
Tethered by Letters Spring Literary Competition
TBL is pleased to announce our third annual Spring Literary Competition. There are three submission categories: 1) short stories of any genre ranging from 1,000 to 7,500 words, 2) flash fiction with a word limit of either 55, 250, or 500 words, and 3...
The Center for Book Arts Poetry Chapbook Competition
The Center's Poetry Chapbook Competition has been going strong since 1996; past winners have included Ailish Hopper, Jeffrey Skinner, L.B.Thompson, and Rachel Zucker. Poets! Submit your work for this year’s contest; the deadline every year is Dece...
The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize
The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize is awarded in honour of acclaimed Calgary writer W.O. Mitchell and recognizes literary achievement by Calgary authors. The prize was established in 1996 and is coordinated through a partnership between The...
The Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry
Robert Kroetsch was one of Canada’s most celebrated literary writers and critics. His novels, poetry, and theory have consistently been benchmarks for literary innovation in Canada. His novel The Studhorse Man (1969) won the Governor General’s Aw...
Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence
The Thomas Morton Memorial Prize in Literary Excellence is awarded to the single best submission in the respective categories of poetry and fiction. The prize is open for submissions each year from May 1st to September 30th through the publication's ...
Trillium Book Award
The Trillium Book Award was established by the
Ontario government in 1987 to “recognize excellence, support marketing and
to foster increased public awareness of the quality and diversity of Ontario
writers and writing.”
The prize for the ...
Utmost Christian Poetry Contest
This contest is open only to Christians. It is open to all Christians. You do not need to be a member of Utmost Christian Writers. You may be a published poet or an unpublished poet. It does not matter what country you live in—but you must be a Chr...
Vallum Award for Poetry
Vallum is accepting original and previously unpublished poetry submissions for the Vallum Award for Poetry. Submit up to 1-3 poems of maximum 60 lines each. The $25 entry fee covers 3 poems. Do not label your poems with your name or address; instead...
Vallum Chapbook Award
Vallum is accepting original and previously unpublished chapbooks for this contest. Poems may be on any theme or subject, but must be original and not previously published....
Vermont Book Award
The Vermont Book Award is a new prize created to honor artists with deep connections to the state of Vermont, and to draw attention to a state so uniquely suited for creative enterprise.
To be eligible for this year’s prize, a book must eit...
Walrus Poetry Prize
The Walrus Foundation is delighted to announce the fourth annual $4,000 Walrus Poetry Prize and $1,000 Readers’ Choice Award, generously supported by the Hal Jackman Foundation. Celebrated Canadian poet Sue Sinclair will choose this year’s winner...
Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest
Now in its 14th year, this contest seeks today’s best humor poems. No fee to enter. Submit published or unpublished work. $2,000 in prizes....
Western Australian Premier's Book Awards
A biennial award made available by the Western Australian Government and are managed by the State Library of Western Australia.
The categories are as follows: Children’s Books, Digital Narrative, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Scripts, Writi...
Western Writers of America Spur Awards
To be eligible, works submitted must
be set in the American West, the early
frontier, or relate to the Western or frontier
experience. Submitted works must be first copyrighted and published in the calendar year covered by the award. Categories...
WFNB Writing Competition
WFNB Writing Competition offers prizes in seven categories: fiction manuscript, short fiction, poetry manuscript, single poem, children and teens, young writers, and creative non-fiction. Prizes for all categories total $2,600.
Entrants must be N...
Wicked Young Writers' Award
The Wicked Young Writers’ Award was established by the long-running musical Wicked in order to link the important messages of the production with a competition that would inspire young people to use their writing to look at life a little differ...
Word Awards
The Word Awards was established to encourage the pursuit of excellence in the art, craft, practice and ministry of writing and help to raise the profile of Canadian writers who are Christian.The content of eligible entries must be consistent with a C...
Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards
The competition is open to all English-language self-published books for which the authors have paid the full cost of publication, or the cost of printing has been paid for by a grant or as part of a prize. All books published or revised and reprint...
Young Buck Poetry Prize
CV2 magazine has created a new annual poetry contest exclusively for writers under the age of 35. The YOUNG BUCK poetry prize is awarded to the author of the single best submitted poem. Participating writers must be under the age of 35 at the time of...