Sorry We're Prosed: 25+ writing opportunities for February
This month's themes include flowers, intuition, and the void
Hello again,
Themes for some of this month’s opportunities include flowers, intuition, and the void, which I’m choosing to see as a neat summary of February’s overall vibe.
February, as we know, always goes by so swiftly. My overwhelming sense while putting today’s newsletter together was that the deadlines for many of these opportunities will be here before we know it.
So while the month is still fresh, let’s make it a priority to get work ready to submit. Now that the frenzy of good intentions that is January is over, we can actually start doing things.
As there are a few new subscribers, just a reminder that if I don’t mention an opportunity being paid, that means it probably isn’t.
Closing soon
If you have any stories about plants and flowers that you’d like to see in print, there’s still time to submit to Botanical Short Stories, a new anthology which will feature illustrations from award-winning botanical illustrator Sarah Jane Humphrey. There is no pay, but writers get 15 copies of the final book.
Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading feature is open for submissions until 12 February. Selected work is paid at $300.
If you’ve been watching Love Island, or even the atrocity that is MILF Manor, perhaps you’ll like this theme. Apparition Lit is looking for speculative flash fiction inspired by romance reality TV. You’ll have to turn it around quickly, they want submissions by Valentine’s Day.
The deadline for the Watson, Little Indie Novella Prize for UK-based writers is coming up on 14 February. There are three themes you can enter under: climate, crime, and community. The prize is a consultation with an agent and publication in an anthology.
If you’re under 25 and live in the UK, the Hugo Young Award for political opinion writing is open until 19 February.
Until 20 February, Moonflake Press is looking for fiction, creative non-fiction and more for its next online issue. The theme is ‘Sanctuary’.
If you have already published a book, or have a contract for one, you could apply to be a Writer in Residence at Gladstone’s Library in North Wales. Applications can be from anywhere, but travel looks like it will only be covered within the UK, and writers need strong proficiency in English. Apply by 28 February.
A general call for work is now open at Carousel Magazine. They have a focus on Canadian talent, and pay $40-80 (in Canadian dollars) per story and $20-40 per review. Submit by 1 March.
Another one for my Canadian friends, the Invisible Publishing First Novel Prize offers publication with a $1,000 advance, plus a $3,000 cash prize. Closing 28 February.
Online magazine The Selkie seeks submissions from underrepresented writers before 28 February, including flash fiction, short stories, and personal essays.
One month left to submit to new horror magazine Divinations. The first issue seeks both fiction and non-fiction on the theme ‘Intuition’.
Last call for The Cuarae Prize, a new competition set up by writer Anna Vaught to celebrate writers who are also carers. This one’s only for UK or Ireland residents. It is free to enter and there is a long list of great prizes available.
Open now
Quiet horror publication The Quiet Ones is looking for stories for their next issue, the theme of which is ‘The Cosmic and The Void’. Payment is $25 per piece. Open until 8 March.
Entries to the BBC National Short Story Award are open. To enter, you must either be a British national or a UK resident, and you must have published some creative writing in the United Kingdom, though the work you enter can be unpublished. Check the rules for the exact definitions. It is free to enter, and the top prize is £15,000. Get submissions in by 13 March (and note that it’s a 9am deadline).
A tri-genre contest, the Perkoff Prize has categories for poetry, fiction and non-fiction. All submissions must engage with health and medicine in some way. The fee is $15, and for that you also get a one-year digital subscription to the Missouri Review. The deadline is 15 March.
Welsh nationals and residents, the Rhys Davies Short Story Competition closes on 16 March. It costs £8 to enter and the top prize is £1,000 plus anthology publication.
The Desperate Literature Prize is once again open for entries. It costs €20, with 100 spaces available for either free or discounted entries. And if you submitted last year, you should already have a discount code in your inbox. This contest has one of the best prize hauls on the map, in my view. The top prize is €1,500, a residency in Italy, an agent consultation, and a manuscript assessment.
Having watched The Witch for the first time the other night (which admittedly is 1630s, not medieval) this one appealed to me. Sentinel Creatives is seeking weird tales for its new anthology The Devil Takes You: Tales of Medieval Horror. Pay is between $125 and $200 per story, submit by 15 April.
Two simultaneous contests are open at Passages North, one for very short prose, and one for stories up to 10,000 words. Both are $15 to enter and you get an issue of the journal thrown in for that. Top prize is $1,000 and publication.
The Yeovil Literary Prize is open internationally, and accepting entries until the end of May. Categories include novels, short stories, and children’s novels. It now costs £14.50 to enter a novel, with a top prize of £1,250. Short stories are £8 and the winner gets £600.
Excuse me while I drool a little bit over how cute the ‘Hobbit Pod Accommodation’ is at Marchmont House in the Scottish borders. This historic haven for creators is hosting a residency for an early career published writer. No obvious deadline but it will take place in June.
The 2023 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize is now open until 30 June. Categories include fiction and life writing, with entries costing £10 and a top prize of £1,000 plus mentoring opportunities for shortlistees.
The Citron Review has finished its Winter break and is once more back open for submissions, including micro and flash fiction as well as creative non-fiction.
Opening soon
Following the end of the submission period for its Recommended Reading slot mentioned above, Electric Literature will then be accepting work for its The Commuter feature. This is for shorter pieces and pays $100 per work.
Prose submissions at The Paris Review will reopen in March.
I expect the Brick Lane Bookshop Short Story Prize to be opening very soon, with a deadline in April.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back in your inboxes shortly with a review of my year submitting (which I said I’d do last time - I swear it’s almost finished).
In the meantime, I would love it if you could share this newsletter with a friend who you think might like it.
I immediately got two new places to send a short story to from this list, so! Wow!! Thanks!!! These round ups you do are some of my favorites.