Sorry We're Prosed: 21+ February writing opportunities
Themes this month include nightlife, fools, and yin and yang
Hello again,
Just a short one this month, as I’m in the weeds of my own writing projects.
One thing that’s been helpful these last few weeks is the Dear Damsels So Long As You Write Club, a fortnightly writing club supporting women writers. Come along if you’re also in need of some Sunday morning writing motivation.
And now on with the listings.
Closing soon
The annual contest for unpublished UK-based women novelists, the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, is closing on 9 February. Please note the midday deadline! It costs £12 and the top prize is £1,500.
A brief free submissions window closes on 11 February at Witness, which takes both fiction and non-fiction.
And there’s another little window for little stories over at the delightfully-named Splonk. Closes 19 February.
Personal essays and other creative non-fiction can be sent to Annie Journal until 29 February, for consideration for their next issue.
Micro-chap submissions are open at Ghost City Press, and no that doesn’t refer to short kings, it means a short collection of writing, about 10 pages. Chosen works are made available for free online.
The unthemed submission period for anthologies at Querencia Press is closing on 1 March.
Phoebe, a publication associated with George Mason University, has a Spring contest which is closing on 15 March. There are categories for both fiction and non-fiction. It costs $7 to enter and the top prize is $500.
The Gutsy Great Novelists Chapter One Prize is for the best opening of an unpublished novel. It is open until 1 March and costs $20 to enter, with a $1,000 top prize.
Open now
Non-profit leftist magazine Protean has opened its annual print submissions period, with no set deadline just yet but keep an eye out. They take critical essays and pay $400 for them.
Poetic journal Alphabet Box is currently open for submissions. Payment is at least $27 for accepted flash fiction, personal essays, or short creative prose.
The Common is preparing a special folio on the theme of China after 2008. Writers with a connection to mainland China can submit fiction, non-fiction and translation. Selected pieces will be compensated.
Entries to the Perkoff Prize must engage in some way with the theme of medicine and health. Fiction and non-fiction can both be submitted until 15 March. It costs $15 to enter, for which you get a year’s subscription to The Missouri Review. The top prize is $1,000.
There’s an open call at Jet Fuel Review until 15 March, accepting both fiction and non-fiction.
Entries for the BBC National Short Story Award are now open. It closes on 18 March, and to enter you need to have published some creative work in the UK before.
Details have been unveiled for this year’s Desperate Literature Prize and the top prize has increased! It’s now €2,000 for the winner, as well as a week's stay at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, a manuscript consultation with The Literary Consultancy, and a meeting with a literary agent. It costs €20 for the first entry, and there are sponsorships available for those who can’t afford the fee. If you’ve entered before, check your email inbox for a discount code. The deadline is 1 April.
The Berkeley Fiction Review’s Sudden Fiction Contest for flash is open until 1 April. It costs $5 to enter and has a $100 top prize.
Up until 25 April, Cosmic Daffodil is accepting work on the theme of ‘Yin and Yang’. There are some nice prompts to help get the ideas flowing on their Duotrope page.
Shooter Lit Mag is open for submissions on the theme of ‘Nightlife’ until 12 May. Stories, essays, and memoir are all accepted. There is payment of £25 per story.
Send your odd and aesthetically innovative writing to Propagule, which is taking submissions for the next issue until 15 June. There is a small amount of pay available for accepted pieces.
The theme for this year’s HG Wells Short Story Competition is ‘The Fool’. It closes on 8 July, has a £500 top prize and a £10 entry fee.
If you have the opening and synopsis of a novel, you can enter the Flash 500 contest. It is open until the end of October, has a top prize of £500 and costs £10 to enter.
Opening soon
I mentioned the Gladstone’s Library writer-in-residence programme in my last newsletter, and they have now unveiled dates for this year’s one. The window opens 12 February and closes 29 February. It’s for anyone who’s published a book in the UK or has one forthcoming, and it offers a month-long residency that can be taken in two two-week blocks.
Submissions for The Journal’s Non/fiction Competition open on 15 February.
From the beginning of April, you can enter the Fitzcarraldo Editions Novel Prize. This one is open globally, and comes with a promise of publication as well as $10,000 for the winner.
Wild Hunt Books will open to unagented submissions later this year, read more about publishing with them here.