This newsletter is published every Wednesday at 5pm WAT.
Hello!
I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who signed up for African Writer Match. An onboarding email was sent on Sunday, 14th of June. If you can’t find it in your inbox, please check your promotions tab or spam.
Cheers to winning together!
—Esohe
Broad Sound is a journal of arts and culture with a focus on on film and music, literature, visual art, the performing arts, and more. They are currently open to pitches in this categories. “A great Broad Sound pitch can be analytical or personal, traditional or idiosyncratic. All that matters is that it makes us say, “Yeah, that needs to exist.” Mozart is a viable topic, but so are the Spice Girls. We’ve published about Murakami and Stephanie Meyer. All we care about—literally the only thing—is the joy and care you can bring to your essay. If you write it, the clicks will come.”—BS
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: $100
Things to note:
Since May 2025, Broad Sound has shifted towards a one-essay-per-week online model at a redesigned BroadSoundMag.com
By pitching, you’re committing to a few things:
You can deliver a draft within one month of acceptance.
You’re agreeing to spend the two weeks leading up to publishing engaged in a sometimes involved editing process. You’ll get notes from editor-in-chief Ethan Warren two weeks before publication, and you’ll be expected to respond to those within a week. From there, you’ll spend the week before publication participating in a multi-round fact-checking and copy-editing process. A good-faith engagement this process is essential to Broad Sound operating, so by pitching, you’re signing up for the full experience. People tend to agree it’s worth it.
Please send as many pitches as you want to broadsoundmag@gmail.com
Noema is an award-winning magazine publishing longform journalism exploring fresh ideas. From artificial intelligence and the climate crisis to the future of democracy and capitalism, Noema Magazine seeks a deeper understanding of today’s most pressing challenges and possible solutions. They are open to submissions and pitches of essays, reported features, video, interview or fiction short story etc
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: $1 per word
Things to note:
Email your submission to edit@noemamag.com. You have the best chance of being published if you send a full draft.
Their sweet spot for word count is between 2500-4000 words.
Alternatively, you can send a pitch that is:
at least 500 words — the longer the better. You have the best chance of being published if you send in a full draft upfront
has concise thesis up top, like in this model pitch
has rough word count you expect the full draft to be
has links to a few articles you’ve published elsewhere.
For more guidelines on pitching, see here.
Noema seeks original essays that have a clear, focused thesis and spend the length of the piece explaining and defending that thesis.
To ensure that your essay is sharply organized around the thesis (and isn’t trying to take on too much), please include subheadlines (three words, give or take) – they may decide to cut them, but having a sort of outline helps discipline the writer and editor.
The Atavist Magazine publishes one incredible true story every month. They specialize in longform narratives, the kind you want to read to the very last word. Atavist stories can be historical or current; they can be about crime or science, adventure or romance; they can be rooted in investigative reporting or in first-person experiences. What unites them is their narrative approach—the stories are plot- and character-driven, cinematic, the kind of yarns you don’t want to stop reading because you can’t wait to see what happens next.
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: From $6,000
Things to note:
The best way to understand theor approach to storytelling is to read some of their most recent stories and the award-winning pieces in the archive
They are not looking for news dispatches or analyses, think pieces, trend pieces, reviews, round-ups on a subject, profiles of well-known figures, and most any other topic-driven feature. Also, blog posts, op-eds, and academic papers.
Range: 8,000 to 30,000 words.
They offer a story fee plus, if applicable, a budget for expenses.
They guarantee 25 percent payment for all assigned stories, because that’s the equivalent of their kill fee.
In your pitch, tell them the story you want to write as if you were telling it to friends over dinner—be compelling and demonstrate that you have a strong grasp on the narrative. Also, show why you are the person to write the story: How are you uniquely situated to tackle the material? Do you have the cooperation of key sources? What other legwork have you done on the reporting front?
There is no minimum or maximum length for pitches. Use your judgment.
For more details, see here.
Send pitches to seyward@atavist.com and/or jonah@atavist.com.
Acclaimed cultural location, Highclere Castle, is open to submissions for the Book Readers’ and Writing Awards. The Book Readers’ prize invite book reviews on any book, while the inaugural year Writing Prize invites budding writers to inhabit the mind and spirit of a famed author of the past.
Deadline: 7th September 2026 | Prize: Total of £6000
Things to note:
The book review can be a newly published novel, a non-fiction title or a renowned classic fitting into one of five categories.
Travel:- aimed at the adventurer, anything from a travelogue or a classic guidebook.
Biography:- this could be a book about a favourite hero, icon, author or historical figure. A great category for readers to share their immersion and understanding of a favourite person.
History:- this category includes social history, ancient or modern, military history or personal diaries.
Novel:- whether it’s a classic or purely a favourite piece of narrative, the options are endless.
Children’s book:- The choice is vast whether it’s a classic or a contemporary children’s story.
Entrants should write 750-1,000 words on their chosen book to review.
Please email your review to: competitions@highclerecastle.co.uk
The Writing Prize: To mark the inaugural year of the Writing Prize, budding writers are challenged to inhabit the mind and spirit of a famed author of the past. Whether inspired by the quiet intensity of a governess, the wit of a social observer, or the brooding sensibilities of a romantic poet, entrants must compose a diary entry as though they themselves were that writer, capturing not only their voice, but their time.
Each submission, must be in cursive writing, scanned, emailed or posted.
No more than 750 words should unfold as a private reflection: intimate, immediate, and true to the era in which the chosen writer lived.
Consider the concerns of the day, the constraints of society, and the inner life that shaped their work. What would they confide to the page, when no one else was listening? They’re are not looking for imitation alone, but imagination, writing that breathes with authenticity while revealing something new.
Please scan and email to: competitions@highclerecastle.co.uk or post your entry to Lady Carnarvon’s Office, Highclere Castle, Newbury RG20 9RN
The aim of the competition, which was established in 2021 and is now in its sixth year, is to discover and launch talented crime writers from Black, Asian, Indigenous, and minority ethnic backgrounds, who are not represented by a literary agent. Writers who live in the UK, as well as British citizens, are eligible for the prize.
For this edition, they’re looking looking for crime fiction of all flavours — from electrifying psychological thrillers and domestic suspense, to cosy mysteries and gritty police procedurals
Deadline: 30th September 2026, 23.59 GMT | Prize: £25,000 Book Deal + £1,000 Cash prize and more
Things to note:
Submit the following to prize@joffebooks.com
A covering letter or email, including information about your writing career so far, your eligibility for the prize, word count of the full novel (or estimated word count if not completed) and your contact details
A one paragraph summary of your book
A detailed synopsis of the full story, including spoilers
The first 10,000 words of your manuscript (written in English)
The competition is open to both completed drafts and works in progress.
The shortlist will be announced in October, with the winner being unveiled in November.
The winner will be offered:
A two-book publishing deal with Joffe Books
A £1,000 cash prize
A £25,000 Audible audiobook contract for the first book
A two-year membership to the Society of Authors
Entrants must be British citizens (including those living abroad) or UK residents
The Simple Script Writers’ Project, an annual writing competition, is a writing project that was founded in 2024 primarily aimed at supporting writers in Ghana and in the future all writers globally. This year, they are inviting entries under the theme: The Concept of Religion.
“Religion in and of itself is not a bad thing. Nothing is. However, like every other idea/concept explored by humans, it has advantages and disadvantages, as well as susceptibility to abuse, especially in Ghana. We have to talk about it, because it is the honest conversations that will bring about the healing, the understanding and the balance which is lacking in contemporary Ghana.”—TSSP
Deadline: 30th September 2026 | Prize: GHS 13,000 total
Things to note:
Writers can draft their stories around these subtopics.
Religion as both a unifying and a potentially divisive force.
The role of religion in both advancing and regressing Ghana’s society.
The clash of Ghanaian culture and religion; post-colonial Ghana.
Any other storyline on the concept of religion within Ghanaian societies as inspired by writers.
This year’s competition is open to ONLY writers of Ghanaian descent. Writers do not necessarily have to reside in Ghana at the time of submission.
Only one story per person.
Your story should be written ONLY as prose. Any story written as a screenplay will be automatically disqualified.
Any story written with AI will be automatically disqualified.
Words should be 5000 words maximum and 2500 words minimum.
Font style should be Times New Roman
Font size should be 12
The document should be uploaded in PDF and your name or any personal details should not be on the document.
The winning and shortlisted stories will be published on our Simple Script Writers Project website.
Any enquiries about the submission should be sent to thesimplescriptproject@gmail.com
Game Developer is looking to expand their freelance roster & add some new voices into the mix for 2026 and beyond! They are particularly interested in writers they can reach out to with commission opportunities or future ‘call for pitches’ topics. They are inviting writers interested in game development to submit pitches for commission or indicate interest.
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: From $300
Things to note:
They publish 1-3 freelance articles a month
They write for an audience of game developers, not gamers; every article they publish should have takeaways that improve the work or lives of game developers, increase the accessibility of game development, or have a positive impact on the game industry as a whole.
Afreada is inviting fiction submissions from African writers. They’re drawn to slice-of-life, literary fiction that allows readers to travel — across the continent and throughout the diaspora — experiencing different places, cultures, and perspectives through the ordinary dramas of daily life. However, they are not the right home for genre-led fiction such as crime, horror, thriller, fantasy, or sci-fi.
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: £100
Things to note:
Send stories of 2,500 words and above, though they remain open to exceptional short stories of any length.
Please format your document in Times New Roman, 12pt, with double spacing throughout.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome, but please withdraw your work from consideration if accepted elsewhere.
All published work is subject to an editorial process, and they work closely with writers to shape the final piece.
Selected stories may be adapted for audio, but they will always seek permission before any adaptation.
To submit, fill the form on this page.Send this to a writer who needs it ❤️
Torch Literary Arts seeks original creative work by Black women writers. They are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what Black women’s contemporary writing should be. Accepted submissions will be published in their Friday Features.
Deadline: Rolling basis | Pay: $150
Things to note:
Include a one (1) page cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and a brief bio. The cover letter page does not contribute to the overall page count.
Note: Submissions without a cover letter may not be read.
Upload your text submission as a Word (DOC, DOCX) or portable document format (PDF).
Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.
Numbered pages.
Margins should be between 1” and 1.5”.
Poetry: submit up to five (5) poems totaling no more than eight (8) pages.
Fiction, Creative Nonfiction: 12-point font. No more than fifteen (15) pages or 3500 words (whichever is achieved first). Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.
They want CNF that is thought-provoking, engaging, and personal. Please see the following examples for the type of creative nonfiction we publish:
Brittany Rogers, “Before Uses of the Erotic”
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, “Two Traumatic Births Changed My Experience of Motherhood”
Drama/Screenwriting: submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than fifteen (15) pages. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Indicate if a performance video or dramatic audio reading will be available with the text submission if selected.
The RP Critical Writing Prize is an award for new writing on any aspect of contemporary portrait painting. Now in its fourth year the prize is establishing itself as an important and significant platform for new and emerging voices as well as for more established commentators. One of the aims of the prize is to provide a platform for aspiring writers on the visual arts and specifically to spark intelligent conversation about the contemporary portrait.
Deadline: 2nd December 2026 | Prize: Total of £1000
Things to note:
Applicants are invited to send the title and the first 200 words of their essay to: luke@therp.co.uk
The full (final) text should be approximately 1000 words and not more than 1500 words.
The text could be a review of a forthcoming exhibition, of an existing piece of work, or it could take a more creative or experimental form.
Please note that we are looking for texts which are enquiring, provoking, and jargon-free. They are not looking for academic dissertations or specialist scholarly papers, couched in highly technical or theoretical language, so it is not advisable to submit academic texts.
Three of the applicants will be selected to submit their complete texts and awarded either the first prize of £500 or one of two ‘special mention’ prizes of £250.
All three texts will be published in the RP Annual Exhibition Catalogue published in May (2027). The catalogue is a well-established document of record within the sector.
The prize is open to all and is free to enter. There is no age limit.
Submissions must be in the English language.
No formal education or qualification is required to apply for this prize.
Anthony Connolly ~ President of The Royal Society of Portrait Painters; Alexander Marr ~ Professor of Renaissance and Early Modern Art, University of Cambridge; Alison Smith ~ Chief Curator NPG.
Click here to submit an opportunity.
If you did not receive a reply to a previous editorial inquiry by 31st January 2026, please send a query to editor.afww@gmail.com.
The Future of an Ancient Guardian | Somtoo Celestine Ezioha (Nigeria)
The birds stopped first.
Oji did not notice it right away. He was in the south field, knee-deep in the red-earthed rows, pressing his thumb into the last of the yam mounds to check for rot before the dry months hardened everything. The Idemili River ran east of the field, close enough that he had been hearing it for thirty-eight years without ever actually listening.
Then it changed.
Not louder. Not quieter. The river was still running south as it always had, but the sound had shifted the way a voice shifts when a person is deciding whether to lie. Oji straightened. The birds that lived in the iroko trees along the field’s edge were gone, or silent—he could not tell which. The air was flat and close and wrong in a way he had no name for…
If you’d like your already PUBLISHED prose featured in ‘Prose of The Week’ please fill this form.
My Loneliness Is Killing Me | Warsan Shire (Somalia)
He smokes until he sees something
moving in the smoke, remembers
Joy like blindness: swimming at Jazeera
Beach, gorging on belonging, barwaaqo,
iftiin. He remembers riding through Suuqa Bakaaraha
on a motorbike, held onto by women with hair
trailing behind them like black smoke…
If you’d like your already PUBLISHED poetry featured in ‘Poetry of The Week’ please fill this form.
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Ka ụbọchị taa mara gị mma. (May today be good to you—Igbo, Nigeria)
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