Welcome back to another writing contest post! A lot of these titles may look familiar, but they’re either open for the spring this year or they’re about to close. If you’re a speculative writer, submitting to contests provides a valuable opportunity for you to gain recognition and boost your resume. The contests below are also some of the most well-known. So here’s an update on when and how to submit to these contests!
The Ghost Story Supernatural Fiction Award
This contest now runs throughout the year, with the spring cycle opening February 15th and ending April 30th, with publication in June. They look for, well, ghost stories! Their website states, “Ghost stories are welcome, of course—but your submission may involve any paranormal or supernatural theme, as well as magic realism.”
They look for works between 1,500 and 10,000 words. The entry fee is also $20. Find their full guidelines here.
The Dream Foundry Contest for Emerging Writers
This contest is for emerging speculative writers. According to their guidelines, you’re only eligible if you have professionally published less than 4,000 words and you have made less than $320 from those publications. For example, if you have two stories of 1,000 words published, and you received $50 for both of them, you would be eligible to enter.
They look for stories up to 10,000 words, but they don’t want novel excerpts. Find their full guidelines here.
The Writers of the Future Award
This one might be the most familiar, but the next cycle closes on April 1st. Named after sci-fi author L. Ron Hubbard, this contest looks for science fiction and fantasy stories up to 17,000 words. Like Dream Foundry, this contest also has specific guidelines for who is eligible. According to their site, “The Contest is open only to those who have not professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories.”
There is no entry fee, and first prize wins $1,000. Find their full guidelines here.
The Baen Fantasy Adventure Award
This contest specifically looks for fantasy. According to their site, “It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open, e.g. epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, etc.” They look for short stories of up to 8,000 words, and there is no entry fee.
The contest closes on April 30th! Find their full guidelines here.
The HG Wells Short Story Competition
Based on the author H. G. Wells, this speculative fiction contest looks for short stories between 1,500 and 5,000 words. However, this is a UK competition, so their contest prize is £500. This year’s theme is titled “The Middle Ground,” so interpret that however you want. Anyone is welcome to submit!
Find their full guidelines on how to enter here.
This contest looks for science fiction, fantasy, and horror. For the spring submission cycle (2025), they look for stories with “Roots” as the main theme. Their website says, “Roots. The point of origin, the source of life. Buried in earth and history, they are links to the unseen. Roots can crack stone and carry messages; they can bind us to solid ground or trip us up and send us sprawling.”
This contest closes on March 31st, but it’s not too late to submit! Also, this contest is open to non-professional writers. Find their full guidelines here.
Baltimore Science Fiction Society Writing Contest
Lastly, this writing contest is only for non-professional writers living in Maryland. I still thought this one would be important to share! This contest opens on April 1st and closes in June, and first place winners receive $250.
To find out more of their guidelines and what they are looking for, check out their site here.
Just to let everyone know, I won’t be able to create a post for next week. Everything should be back up and running the week after! Happy reading.
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