Welcome back to my monthly writing contest post. I create this monthly post mostly for myself, choosing just a few contests and doing my best to enter at least one of them each month, but perhaps they help you too.
My challenge for you, especially if you are a beginning writer, is to enter one writing contest each month for a year. I did this when I began to take my writing more seriously, and I think the deadlines were helpful motivators. As is committing to blogging consistently. I write so much more than I used to, because I've committed to posting here weekly.
I create contest listings one month ahead, so in case you missed it, here is the October list.
Quick reminder: anything in quotation marks, was taken from the contest sites or Submittable listings. It's not me talking, it's them. ;)
Without further ado, I present to you...Writing Contests: November 2024.
Bennington College Young Writers Awards
Contest Entry Period: September 1 to November 1, 2024
Entry Fee: FREE
Special Requirements: "All entries must be original work reviewed, approved and sponsored by a high school teacher. We will use your sponsoring teacher as a contact for the competition should we have any questions. For homeschooled students, please contact a mentor to sponsor your writing."
Theme: None found.
Entry Length: Poetry - up to 3 poems; Short Story - up to 1,500 words; One Act Play - "no more than 30 minutes of playing time"; personal or nonacademic essay - up to 1,500 words.
Age Category: 9th-12th grade.
Rights Information: "...winning entries will be published on the Bennington College website in the spring, and may be published as a result of media requests from local newspapers or magazines. Authors retain all other copyrights."
Prizes: There are three categories (poetry, fiction, and nonfiction). First place for each category is $1,000; second place for each category is $500; and third place for each category is $250.
For more details, please visit this page.
Morgen Bailey's 50-Word Competition
Contest Entry Period: November 1 to November 30, 2024
Entry Fee: FREE
Special Requirements: None found.
Theme: "Christmas in Iceland."
Entry Length: 50 words exactly (excluding title). EXACTLY 50 words. No more, no less!
Age Category: All ages.
Rights Information: Not listed. Winning stories will be published on Morgen's website.
Prizes: "1st prize, free prose critique up to 1,500 words; 2nd prize, free prose critique up to 1,000 words; 3rd prize, free prose critique up to 500 words."
"Each prize will be valid for six months from the closing date (i.e. the prizes for the top three stories for May are valid until end November) so you can combine your ‘winnings’."
Up to three story submissions per author, per month.
East Riding Festival of Words Poetry Competition
Contest Entry Period: November 30, 2024
Entry Fee: FREE for ages 4-16, cost of £4 if you are 17 and up.
Special Requirements: None found.
Theme: My Wish.
Entry Length: Maximum 45 lines.
Age Category: 4-16; 17 and up.
Rights Information: "Copyright remains with the author, but the organisers reserve the right to publish the winning poems online or in print for one year after the closing date of the competition (Saturday, 30 November 2024)."
Prizes: Ages 17 and up: 1st Prize, £500; Second Prize, £200; Third Prize, £150.
Ages 4-10: 1st Prize, £75; 2nd Prize, £50.
Ages 11-16: 1st Prize, £75; 2nd Prize, £50.
In addition: "There will also be six highly commended prizes of £25 to two entries in the adult category, and two each in the primary and secondary age children category."
"Winners will be notified by phone in January 2025."
The J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction
Contest Entry Period: October 1 to November 30, 2024
Entry Fee: FREE.
Special Requirements: None found.
Theme: "We’re looking for carefully crafted short stories with vivid characters who encounter grace in everyday settings—we want to see who, in the age we live in, might have one foot in this world and one in the next." Please see contest page for more information.
Entry Length: 8,000 word limit.
Age Category: None found.
Rights Information: Not found. You could try contacting Dappled Things through their submission question form at the bottom of this page.
Prizes: "1st place: $700 and publication in Dappled Things
2nd place: $300 and publication in Dappled Things
Honorable mentions (up to 8): Publication and a year's subscription to Dappled Things".
"Winners will be anounced in April 2025."
Do not submit previously published pieces.
Click here to see Dappled Things' contest page on their site.
Click here to see their listing on Submittable.