Hello Writers!
Welcome back to another edition of Writing Deadlines with your weekly roundup of the best writing competitions, prizes, and submission opportunities.
This week’s edition looks a little further down the road than usual. Alongside the summer deadlines, several of the competitions below won’t close until well into 2027, so there’s more breathing room than ever to get a piece into proper shape before you hit send. And if your budget’s feeling the pinch, you’re in luck: nearly half of this week’s opportunities are free to enter, so there’s really no excuse not to submit something!
This week: 15 opportunities | July 2026 to June 2027 | Prizes up to $13,000
Whether you’re after a quick 90-word micro-fiction dash or ready to send a full manuscript, there’s a mix of paces and price tags to suit almost every writer. And with so many free entries in the mix this week, it might just be the perfect edition to finally send off that piece you’ve been sitting on.
Creative writing quote of the week:
The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.
– William Zinsser
Deadline: 24 July 2026
The Author Gold Short Story Award is open worldwide to writers aged 18 and over. The award welcomes submissions from writers across all genres, including literary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, thriller, romance, historical fiction, and horror. Stories of 1,000–7,000 words are judged anonymously across five criteria, including story structure, originality, and publication readiness.
Entry fee: $5 per entry (free for Gold Tier members’ first entry)
Top prize: $50 cash, a one-hour author coaching session, and a complimentary one-year Gold Tier membership
Find out more: https://shorturl.at/0cAIA
Kicks off soon on 24 July!
An international competition run by Not Quite Write, a podcast exploring fiction writing and media. In just two weeks, writers around the world will be challenged to create original piece of fiction in response to a prompt. The July 2026 round opens at midday Friday 24 July, with prompts announced by email, and closes midnight Sunday 26 July.
This is one of just two remaining rounds of the Not Quite Write Prize this year, so don’t miss out and grab your tickets now!
Entry fee: AU$35 (~ US$24 or £18)
Top prize: $1,500 cash, the Not Quite Write Trophy, and print anthology publication
Find out more: https://notquitewritepodcast.com/prize/ref/office@almondpress.co.uk/
Deadline: 29 July 2026
This prize is run by composer David Yardley, inviting UK-based fantasy and historical-fiction poets to submit original lyrics suitable for musical setting. The 2026 theme is “Chimeras,” broadly interpreted as either mythical creatures or illusions. Entrants must be UK residents aged 18 or over, and may submit up to two previously published or unpublished works of no more than 50 lines. The winning lyrics will be set to music and performed live at the “Of Carols & Chimeras” concert on 20 November 2026.
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: £100, the work set to music and performed by professional musicians, complimentary concert tickets, and 50% royalties on future performances or recordings
Find out more: https://davidyardleymusic.com/green-dragon-guild-of-london-poetry-prize-2026/
Deadline: 31 July 2026
A monthly short fiction prize run by Elegant Literature, a digital magazine dedicated to supporting new and unpublished writers. The July 2026 theme is “Terrible Twos,” with entrants required to incorporate the prompt word “match.” Entries of 500–2,000 words are welcome in any genre, and are judged on creativity, character, structure and flow, and quality of writing. The contest is open to new or unpublished authors worldwide who are Elegant+ members.
Entry fee: Free (with Elegant+ membership)
Top prize: $3,000 and free enrolment in the New Novelist Accelerator programme
Find out more: https://www.elegantliterature.com/?aff=almondpress&p=2324
Deadline: 31 July 2026
The Grateful American Book Prize is awarded annually to high-quality, 7th-to-9th-grade-level historical fiction, fiction, nonfiction, and biography about important people and events in American history. Eligible books must have been published between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2026. Self-published books do not qualify.
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: $13,000, a lifetime membership to The New York Historical, and a medallion designed by artist Clarice Smith
Find out more: https://gratefulamericanbookprize.org/
Deadline: 31 July 2026
Each July, Sarabande Books, an independent literary press based in Louisville, Kentucky, opens direct submissions from writers and translators without the mediating factor of agents or judges. The press welcomes full-length manuscripts of poetry, short fiction, hybrid work, literary nonfiction, and literature in translation, written in English. Agented manuscripts are not eligible, though work previously published in magazines or anthologies may be included.
Entry fee: $30 for manuscripts
Top prize: Publication
Find out more: https://sarabandebooks.submittable.com/
Deadline: 22 August 2026
The Ink of Ages Fiction Prize is an annual international contest run by the non-profit World History Encyclopedia and sponsored by Oxford University Press. The prize celebrates original short fiction across two categories, Historical Fiction and Mythological Fiction, with no part of the story set more recently than 50 years ago. The contest is free to enter and open to writers worldwide.
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: $500 cash, global publication and promotion, custom artwork by an in-house cartographer, translation into multiple languages, and a lifetime World History Encyclopedia membership
Find out more: https://fictionprize.worldhistory.org/
Deadline: 30 August 2026
This prize is run by Palette Poetry, an online literary journal, and judged by poet Divya Victor. The competition invites poets worldwide to submit original, previously unpublished ekphrastic poems inspired by a specific piece of visual art. Entrants may submit up to three poems in a single document; writers from historically marginalised groups may submit for free until the budgeted allocation is reached.
Entry fee: $20
Top prize: $3,000, publication, and an interview in Palette Poetry
Find out more: https://www.palettepoetry.com/2026-ekphrastic-poetry-prize/
Deadline: 31 August 2026
Roseway, an imprint of Fernwood Publishing, is publishing a sequel to the acclaimed anthology Thyme Travellers, featuring speculative fiction by Palestinian writers and edited by Sonia Sulaiman. The anthology is open to writers who identify as Palestinian, living anywhere in the world. Submissions of fantasy, science fiction, or horror fiction, between 1,000 and 5,000 words, must be original and written without AI assistance.
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: 8 cents per word
Find out more: https://soniasulaiman.com/thyme-travellers-2-call-for-submissions/
Deadline: 23 September 2026
The Nature Writing Prize is organised by The Nature Conservancy Australia in partnership with Australian Book Review. Now in its eighth instalment, the prize invites Australian writers to submit essays of 3,000–5,000 words on the 2026 theme, “Writing of Place,” exploring the beauty, complexity, and significance of specific landscapes or environments.
Entry fee: $30 (discounted to $25 for Australian Book Review subscribers)
Top prize: $8,000 and publication in the January/February 2027 issue of Australian Book Review
Find out more: https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/get-involved/take-action/nature-writing-prize/
Deadline: 1 October 2026
An annual micro-fiction competition run by Fairfield Scribes, the team behind the magazine ScribesMICRO. It welcomes any genre of fiction, creative nonfiction, or prose poetry (but not line poetry) written in 90–110 words. Entrants may submit up to three stories, each accompanied by its own entry fee. Winning entries must be available for publication in ScribesMICRO Issue 64.
Entry fee: $5
Top prize: $250 and publication
Find out more: https://www.fairfieldscribes.com/the-scribes-prize.html
Deadline: 14 October 2026
The Peter Porter Poetry Prize is organised by Australian Book Review and honours the life and work of Australian poet Peter Porter (1929–2010), a longtime contributor to the magazine. Now in its twenty-third year, the prize invites poets to submit original, previously unpublished poems of up to 60 lines, judged by Mindy Gill, Nam Le, and Felicity Plunkett.
Entry fee: $30 ($20 for ABR subscribers) (unconfirmed on organiser page — please verify)
Top prize: AU$6,000
Find out more: https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/prizes-programs/peter-porter-poetry-prize/2027-peter-porter-poetry-prize
Deadline: 31 October 2026
The Aluminium Crown Short Story Contest is run by The Aluminium Crown Contest Collective, a small independent organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. Now in its second year, the contest is built around a speculative prompt: Melbourne’s Central Business District enclosed within a protective structure, the “Central Business Cube.” Entrants aged 18 and over must write an original story of 500–4,000 words engaging with this premise. The contest is funded through a container deposit recycling scheme, with organisers topping up any shortfall to guarantee the minimum prize.
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: AU$300 (minimum) and publication on the contest website
Find out more: https://www.aluminiumcrown.com/about
Deadline: 28 February 2027
The Canterbury Tales Writing Competition 2026/7 is organised by the Chaucer Heritage Trust and is open to school-age students, including those in schools, colleges, home education, and youth community organisations. The tenth annual competition invites young writers to create a poem or story of up to 500 words reflecting the theme “Transformations,” in the spirit of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The competition has three age categories: Junior (5–10), Intermediate (11–14), and Senior (15–18).
Entry fee: Free 🆓
Top prize: £300 for the winning entrant in each age category, plus £1,000 for the winning entrant’s school library
Find out more: https://chaucer.org.uk/canterbury-tales-writing-competition-2026-7-transformations/
Deadline: 30 June 2027
Organised by author Christopher Fielden, and now in its tenth edition, this competition invites writers worldwide to submit an original humorous short story of up to 2,500 words in English, with no restriction on genre or theme beyond containing some element of humour. Entrants may submit up to three stories each, though only one cash prize can be won per author. An early-bird entry fee applies until 31 March 2027.
Entry fee: £10 (early-bird fee, until 31 March 2027)
Top prize: £1,000 cash, plus the winner’s face on the anthology cover and their copy of the book ridden to Hull and back on a Harley-Davidson
Find out more: https://www.christopherfielden.com/to-hull-and-back-humorous-short-story-competition/
InkStained: On Creativity, Writing, and Art by John Urbancik
Born out of a yearlong challenge to write a story by hand, in fountain pen, every single day, InkStained blends memoir, craft guide, and creative pep talk into one candid meditation on what it actually takes to keep making things. Rather than prescribing rules, Urbancik shares his own hard-won observations and offers exercises designed to help readers find their own creative process. It’s less a lecture on technique and more a companion for anyone determined to keep the ink flowing, however messy the page gets.
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There are currently 68 upcoming writing competitions listed in our online calendar. It’s worth bookmarking and checking for new events regularly.
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That’s a wrap on this week’s roundup! With deadlines stretching all the way into next year, there’s no need to rush — but a distant date is no excuse to sit on a finished draft either. Every submission starts with a single sentence, so why not write it today?
A few gentle reminders as you prepare your submissions:
Read the guidelines carefully. Word counts, eligibility requirements, and formatting details all matter!
Give yourself plenty of time to polish your work before the deadline arrives.
Don’t let fear of rejection hold you back. Every submission is a step forward, and every published writer has a drawer full of “not this time” letters.
Always do your own research before entering. Carefully read the terms and conditions for each event!
If you know a fellow writer who might benefit from these opportunities, please do pass this along. We’re all in this together, cheering each other on.
Happy writing!
Victoria
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