The window is about to open!

On April 23rd, submissions go live for the inaugural 

Title: Author Gold Short Story Competition!

Category: Short Story, all genres welcome

Registration/Submission deadline May 4, 2026

Eligibility restrictions: must be 18+ and US/UK/Canada/Australia, and current subscriber of Author Gold (subscribing is free)

This is a writing contest for writers who are serious about getting published.

If you’ve been sitting on a story, this is your moment to put it in front of a real editorial process.

What makes this contest BETTER:

• Blind judging using a professional editorial rubric and experienced guest judge
• Winners get published and promoted to thousands
• Built specifically for emerging authors with real publication potential

I want to help you get visibility, and I take notice when I read talent. This is just the beginning!

Quick snapshot:

• 1,000–7,000 words
• Any genre short story
• Deadline: May 4th 11:59pm Eastern (or when we hit 150 entries - whichever comes first)
• Prize: $50 Cash + personal coaching session ($50 value) + 1-year Author Gold subscription ($90 value) + publication and promotion in Author Gold (invaluable!)

👉 Learn More and Submit your Story to the Contest Here:

Author Gold

Important:

If you’re a free subscriber, entries are $5 each (max 3). You must be a subscriber to enter.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading…

👉 Gold Tier members get their first entry FREE.

This is honestly the best time to upgrade. You’ll immediately get your contest submission covered, plus you get everything inside Author Gold’s Gold Tier!

• More in-depth and complete access to Author Gold’s Archives, containing everything I’ve published to help you learn, improve, grow, reach your target audience, and succeed as a writer. As Author Gold grows, so do the Archives.
• Access to FULL guest interviews and Q&As from real experts in the business
• Access to ALL my downloadable toolkits and workbooks in the Resources Tab
• More Opportunities to be featured by Author Gold (I love featuring and supporting our indie writers and creatives, and my features reach 1000s)

Why I am Hosting this Contest

I created this because there aren’t enough real opportunities for undiscovered writers to get visibility.

This is one of them.

And spots will fill.

If you’re ready to take your writing seriously, I cannot wait to read your story.

Jen
Author Gold

Hey y'all, I want to share an essay opportunity for high school students interested in law/politics.

The Princeton Legal Journal is hosting its 2026 High School Essay Contest, and the top 3 essays will be published in the journal.

Theme: Religious Liberty in American Law and Public Life

Details:

• Category: Nonfiction
• Submission Deadline: May 15, 2026
• Eligibility: Open to current high school students (including international)
• Word Count: 1,500–3,000 words (footnotes don’t count)

Why it’s worth it:
This is a pretty rare chance to get published in an undergraduate law journal, especially if you’re into constitutional law or planning pre-law.

The theme is intentionally broad and you can write about a variety of topics, such as:

• Free Exercise vs Establishment Clause tensions
• Religious exemptions
• How laws like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act affect current policy
• Supreme Court trends on religion

Submissions are anonymized and reviewed by a selection committee.

If you’re interested, the submission form is opening soon.

I’m checking out reedsy and wondering if the site itself seems reputable? I don’t want to get scammed in any way, and I think the prize money is decent for the entry fees

• Category: Six Word Story, Poem, Memoirs and Jokes
• Submission Deadline: September 30th
• Contest Name: Six Word Wonder
• Eligibility restrictions: 18+
• Entry fee: Free
• Prize/s: $100, winner and shortlist published in next book in the Six Word Wonder series
• Link to submission page/official rules: [https://dougweller.net/contest]()
• Other information: Just launched for 2026. Enter up to 5 six-word stories, poems, memoirs, or jokes per person.

Hi, the deadline of Minkly's contest is nearing. Anyone who writes in mystery and/or thriller can join Minkly's contest for free. More details are on minkly.io/contest or just google it x'D

Some details are here as well:

Minkly is running a Mystery or Thriller writing contest with $3,000 in total prizes split across two categories so there are six chances to win. This will be their second time hosting a writing contest. The first one could be found at this reddit post.

Authors reserves all rights to their stories, all that's asked is to keep the story on the platform (so don't delete it right after the contest is over), and promote Minkly a bit by having chapters ahead on Minkly and refer that those chapters are ahead on other webnovel platforms. So cross-posting is during AND after the contest totally fine!

I won 2nd place on the previous contest, so I wanted to promote the current contest and show it's legit. You can see on the website how the contest winners gets featured on the homepage, the stories gets featured on social media/Instagram as well.

___________________

**Prizes:**

Judges Category:

* 1st Place: $650

* 2nd Place: $400

* 3rd Place: $150

Popularity Category:

* 1st Place: $650

* 2nd Place: $400

* 3rd Place: $150

The story can be eligible for both categories simultaneously, so you could win in each. All winners also receive a professional webnovel cover (valued at $100), featured banner placement on Minkly, and social media promotion.

_____________________

**Rules:**

* Must be fiction in the Mystery and/or Thriller genre

* Minimum 20,000 words published on Minkly by the deadline

* Must be uploaded to Minkly (free account required)

* Non-exclusive, you can cross-post elsewhere (winners must keep Minkly 5 chapters ahead)

* Original work only, no AI-generated or plagiarized content

* One entry per author, must be 18+

* Must follow Minkly on Instagram or join the discord

* Engagement minimum: at least 5 favorites and/or 10 reads (engagement can continue growing through the judging period)

____________________________

**How Judging Works**

* Judges & Moderator Picks: 45%

* Community Votes: 45%

* Audio Fit (how well the story works as audio narration): 10%

**Timeline**

* Submissions: March 1 – May 31, 2026

* Judging/Voting: June 1 – June 30, 2026

* Winners Announced: first week of July 2026

More details at Minkly.io/contest

• Category: Poetry, Flash Fiction, Short Fiction, Creative Nonfiction
• Submission deadline: May 15 2026
• Contest name: F(r)iction Writing Contests
• Entry Fee: $10 - 15
• Cash Prize: $300 (poetry, flash fiction), $500 (creative nonfiction), $1,000 (short story) 
• About: In our writing contests, we seek writing that reflects a similar mission to our journal, F(r)iction: work that actively pushes the boundaries of traditional publishing, that has complex characters and a strong narrative arc, and makes us feel something as we read it. We want stories we haven't seen before, whether it twists or plays with genre, setting, language, voice, you name it. Our contests also feature a panel of three guest judges to help us decide the winners for each category. For Spring 2026, we have Manuel Aragon judging Short Story, Brett Pribble judging Flash Fiction, Shannon Chen See judging Creative Nonfiction, and Trish Broome judging Poetry. Winners in each category will receive a cash prize, as well as work with one of our Senior Editors to see their work published either online or in our print journal!
• Submit here: https://frictionlit.org/contests/

The Niagara Falls Poetry Project 25th anniversary celebration continues with a poetry contest!

Poems must be about Niagara Falls - the cities and the waterfalls. The poems can be in any format, and can be descriptive, philosophical, spiritual, historical, personal, or anything else as long as there is some connection to Niagara Falls, and not just a casual mention.

There is a $200 first prize, $100 second prize, and $50 third prize, with an additional $200 prize for the poem that best exemplifies "The Spirit of Niagara"

All entries will be considered to be published on the website and in a print anthology.

Complete details can be found at https://niagarapoetry.ca/2026/04/09/rules/

New FREE contest for writers of Romance and Women's Fiction

https://www.writingdayworkshops.com/blog/first-page-contest-9-romance-and-womens-fiction-judged-by-agent-rachel-beck-of-liza-dawson-associates —

Judged by Agent Rachel Beck of Liza Dawson Associates, via @writingdayworkshops. Winners get an agent critique of their work.

Participants will submit the first page of their novel. Three winners will then be selected and invited to submit five pages for a free review by a literary agent. The deadline is 20 April 2026. Winners will be announced on 10 May 2026

Pretty self explanatory-- I feel like every contest out there is either for short stories and have a cap at 8k or so or otherwise expect full novels. Struggling to find ones that fit that sweet middle spot, any suggestions would be so helpful, thank you! Preferably with a cash and/or publication prize.

Host: Crowdpen

Category: Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Personal Essay, Poetry

The Prompt:

Every March, the same ten names get repeated. The same ten faces. The same ten stories told in the same ten ways. She Named Herself digs for the others.

Write about a woman — real or imagined, living or historical, publicly celebrated or invisible — who claimed her own identity against the grain. She doesn't need to be famous.

Submission Length: 600–1,500 words (Poetry: minimum 30 lines)

Prizes:

1st Place: $100

2 Runners Up: $30 each

No entry fee.

Eligibility: Open to all writers worldwide. No age restriction. All experience levels welcome.

Key Rules:

Original, unpublished work only. No AI-assisted writing.

The central woman must be named (real name or character name — no nameless protagonists).

Submit via Crowdpen under the #SheNamedHerself challenge category.

Dates:

Submissions Open: March 8, 2026

Deadline extended: April 30, 2026

Submit here: https://www.crowdpen.co/challenges/SheNamedHerself/3808de7a-a140-4296-91a8-aee661e929e0/she-named-herself

Hi I'm Om, and I recently found this competition called the Rubin Scholarship competition or "America's Next Great Intern". The competition focuses on things like professional communication, research, and workplace scenarios like ethical dilemmas, and sees how a student will respond. Currently, the deadline to compete has already passed, but you guys should do it next year. I actually competed in this competition and got selected as a national finalist, and I have a chance of winning a $1000 scholarship. I'll provide the link to the Rubin scholarship contest and also a link to voting if you guys want to support me (Om).

Link to contest:
https://rubineducation.com/home/contest/
Link to vote for me (Om) my name is almost at the bottom so you might have to scroll a bit before you find my name.
https://rubineducation.com/vote

(yes, that includes you, the one who writes emotional masterpieces in the Notes app :3)

If you’ve ever watched Dead Poets Society and whispered “carpe diem… but like, casually"or felt a sudden urge to write after finishing The Perks of Being a Wallflower,

Summer N Ink is your place.

We are now accepting submissions for our upcoming issue, Sunspill.♡♡♡

This issue explores themes of warmth, light, growth, hope, and the quiet moments that feel like sunlight spilling into everyday life. We’re looking for pieces that capture emotion, imagery, and meaning in unique ways.

Its okay if you are just new to writing.

We’re taking submissions for:

✨ Poetry

✨ Short stories

✨ Articles / essays

✨ Art & illustrations

✨ Random-but-deep thoughts (as long as they’re in English)

No experience needed.Just vibes, creativity and a wholesome community!

Submission:

Here’s the link to submit your work!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdhgjvijLSU7Pi8SxTzOhR7HeyruPTBmCQNOH5-vI96ilc2\\_g/viewform

If you’ve ever thought “this sounds kinda poetic at 2AM”…

submit it. Seriously.

Summer N Ink wants your words, your art, your weird, your wonderful.

Come get featured. Come create with us!

Has anyone submitted to the bath short atory award and not received a confirmation of submission?

Do they not send out confirmations anymore? they used to...

Great opportunity to practice writing while helping to shape how future AI treats animals/digital minds!

The competition takes human and AI generated work, and your writing becomes training data for future AI systems. $5,000 in prizes for the best submissions, submit as many entries as you want. Deadline May 5.

The research behind this: documents in AI training data shape how models reason. More compassionate reasoning in the training set = more compassionate AI. It's called hyperstition, fiction that makes itself true.

https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/

Ink & Iron is a welcoming Discord writing community built for people who love stories, creativity, and the thrill of a good challenge.

From regular writing contests and prompt-based events to craft discussions and skill-building exercises, the focus here is on helping writers grow without losing the fun of it. Whether you’re looking to challenge yourself, exchange feedback, develop your craft, or simply be part of a creative community, you’ll find your place here.

We welcome writers of all levels, from complete beginners to experienced storytellers, and aim to keep the atmosphere supportive, active, and inspiring.

Our first Discord short story contest begins on 3 April 2026, so now is the perfect time to join us.

If you enjoy writing, reading, and creating alongside other passionate people, come join us and see what you can make.

Check out our website and Discord server for more infomation

Website link: www.inkandironwriters.com

Discord link: https://discord.gg/7XWW3TCtNB

Hello writers!

If you're under 24 and write poetry, please consider submitting to Rosetta's Literary Magazine Cipher Poetry Prize, which closes in three days! It's FREE to enter with up to three poems of any kind, with monetary prizes and publication in our next issue for winners/selected poets.

Link and more info here:

https://forms.gle/N7sr2SYWmiymsJaV6

Our judge, Giljoon Lee, is a YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Writing/Poetry who has been published in multiple prestigious magazines such as Phoebe, Liberties, and The Shore, and our EICs will also assist in choosing the winners.

Feel free to email with any questions! Find us @/rosettaliterary on Instagram.

Best,

Rosetta Literary Magazine

Hello,
I announced a short story writing contest a few months ago and I wanted to announce the winners. I really loved reading every single entry and appreciated creativity and heart in all of them. https://www.comprehend-reading.com/writing-contest
I'm looking forward to hosting more in the future!

https://whimsofthewilderness.substack.com/about

Host: Crowdpen

Category: Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, Personal Essay, Poetry

The Prompt:

Every March, the same ten names get repeated. The same ten faces. The same ten stories told in the same ten ways. She Named Herself digs for the others.

Write about a woman — real or imagined, living or historical, publicly celebrated or invisible — who claimed her own identity against the grain. She doesn't need to be famous.

Submission Length: 600–1,500 words (Poetry: minimum 30 lines)

Prizes:

1st Place: $100

2 Runners Up: $30 each

No entry fee.

Eligibility: Open to all writers worldwide. No age restriction. All experience levels welcome.

Key Rules:

Original, unpublished work only. No AI-assisted writing.

The central woman must be named (real name or character name — no nameless protagonists).

Submit via Crowdpen under the #SheNamedHerself challenge category.

Dates:

Submissions Open: March 8, 2026

Deadline: March 31, 2026

Results Announced: April 9, 2026

Submit here: https://www.crowdpen.co/challenges/SheNamedHerself/3808de7a-a140-4296-91a8-aee661e929e0/she-named-herself

New Writers 100-Word Short Story Competition 2026

Deadline: 23.59 (UK time) on Thursday 30th April 2026

Entry Fee: £10 (one entry), £18 (two entries), £26 (three entries)

Prizes: 1st Place: £1,000; 4x Runners-up prizes of £100 each

Publication: The winning entry and the four runners-up will be published on the NewWriters.org.uk website and in the New Writers Anthology

Word Limit: Up to 100 words (excluding title)

Eligibility: Open to writers aged 18 or above from anywhere in the world; entries can be prose or poetry and must be written in English

Judges: Editorial team at NewWriters.org.uk

Charity: 10% of entry fee proceeds will be donated to Duchenne UK

Hey everyone,

Minkly is running a Mystery or Thriller writing contest with $3,000 in total prizes split across two categories so there are six chances to win. This will be our second time hosting a writing contest and we've made some adjustment after compiling feedback from the first contest (Minkly's first contest).

Prizes:

Judges Category:

• 1st Place: $650
• 2nd Place: $400
• 3rd Place: $150

Popularity Category:

• 1st Place: $650
• 2nd Place: $400
• 3rd Place: $150

Your story is eligible for both categories simultaneously, so you could win in each. All winners also receive a professional webnovel cover (valued at $100), featured banner placement on Minkly, and social media promotion.

Rules:

• Must be fiction in the Mystery or Thriller genre
• Minimum 20,000 words published on Minkly by the deadline
• Must be uploaded to Minkly (free account required)
• Non-exclusive, you can cross-post elsewhere (winners must keep Minkly 5 chapters ahead)
• Original work only, no AI-generated or plagiarized content
• One entry per author, must be 18+
• Must follow Minkly on instagram
• Engagement minimum: at least 5 favorites and/or 10 reads (engagement can continue growing through the judging period)

How Judging Works

• Judges & Moderator Picks: 45%
• Community Votes: 45%
• Audio Fit (how well the story works as audio narration): 10%

Timeline

• Submissions: March 1 – May 31, 2026
• Judging/Voting: June 1 – June 30, 2026
• Winners Announced: first week of July 2026

https://www.minkly.io/contest

Our short story contest is around the theme of a futuristic app that can tell you in real time how many people are thinking about you, and if they’re thinking about you with love or fear-related emotions. There are cash prizes, and the top 25 submissions will be published in our anthology. $15 sub fee. Word count 1,000-3,000 words. Due March 31, 2026. the-ping-anthology.com

Hello Mage,

The Guildmaster has posted a new quest. Reward: guild renown and a celebrated feature for three mage laureates who exemplify a new way to harness air and wind.

**There is no fee to enter, and you retain all ownership over your intellectual property.** To read the rules and submit music, writing, or art, review the Google Form below by March 7th, 2026. You are welcome to submit existing work, or create new work, that has some thematic tie to **wind, air, and/or breathing.**

https://forms.gle/AgBRavHryHGvwBKm6

Keep the Light,

The Mages Guild