Coming up for air -- spring literary contests galore

 In my last post -- if I can remember that far back -- I promised the next would be on banned books. April fool! It's a post about spring literary contests. It's been way too long since I posted about contests, and this will also include information about Twitter pitch events.

First, the conventional spring contests including Texas-centric events readers may not always find in their inboxes, followed by links to sites of many, many more:

Now - April 17: The Houston Writers Guild announces its Journey into Art short story contest. Entry fee: $20 for HWG members, $35 for nonmembers. Cash prizes with provision for publication in the Guild's anthology "Journey" series. The contest's focus is on stories that include art -- visual, performance, or literary -- in some form, although art doesn't need to be the main event. 

Now - May 5 (early bird) or June 5 (regular deadline): Writer's Digest is now accepting entries for its Annual Writing Competition. The May 5 deadline is for early bird submissions with reduced fees. These are $20 for first poetry submissions, $15 for each additional poetry submission; and $30 for first manuscript submission, $25 for each additional manuscript submission.

June 5 is the regular, drop-dead deadline for submissions: $25 for poetry + $20 for each additional submission and $35 for first manuscript submission + $30 for each additional submission. Cash prizes for winners in a number of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry genres, plus additional recognition. 

Now - June 20: The Writers League of Texas annual manuscript contest is now open. Although the WLT changed its agents and editors conference to a biannual format, with the next in 2024, the manuscript contest continues annually. This year's winners in all 10 fiction and nonfiction categories will meet virtually with a top literary agent (the final judges in their category) via Zoom. Also new this year is the WLT Inklist, a catalog of log lines for all winners and finalists to be shared with literary agents and book editors this fall.

All contestants, winners or not, may opt for a written critique on their entry or entries. Writers may enter up to four entries per category. They may also enter as many multiple categories as they like, with exceptions for memoirs.

Contestants do not need a completed manuscript to enter. All that's required are the first (roughly) 10 pages of the manuscript plus a synopsis that describes the rest of the book the writer plans. Fee for each entry: $55 for WLT members, $65 for nonmembers. Each of these includes a written critique. For writers who do not wish to receive a critique, the entry fee is $25 for WLT members, $35 for nonmembers. 

April 1- to be determined: Dallas literary journal Carve Magazine typically opens its annual Raymond Carver Short Story Contest in March. This year, the site states the contest opens April 1, with no additional details yet posted.

Now - June 30: Feeling stressed about writing? Try the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which proudly challenges authors "to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never published." Writers may submit as many entries as they can stomach, each consisting of a single sentence. These may be any length, but judges pray that they may not exceed 50-60 words.  

Image: Pixabay

Is there a fee? Next question. Is there a prize? Merely a pittance, plus bragging rights for those who dare. The contest is named for 19th century novelist, Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose opening sentence to his novel, Paul Clifford, began "It was a dark and stormy night," and continued for approximately (I lost count) another 50 words aided by a plentitude of punctuation marks. 

As readers may suspect, entrants tend to write with a high degree of hilarity, not the mention nearly unbearable puns. Inquiring writers may wonder, can there possibly be a Texas angle to such silliness? Glad you asked! Texas residents have frequently won honor (so to speak) in the contest's numerous "dishonorable mentions" lists. Check the winning entries and refresh your spirits, dear friends.

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But fee (or fie, foh, fum) on deadlines. The following sources (all free to use) list more contests, as well as regular submission calls, grants, and more:

Reedsy includes weekly themed writing prompts with cash prizes in its contest list.

Poets & Writers lists both writing grants and contest for more literary competitions.

The Submissions Grinder lists contests as well as general literary submissions. This free resource is similar to the for-pay site, Duotrope.

Erica Verillo's Publishing . . . and Other Forms of Insanity posts monthly lists of submissions, contests, conferences and more.

Arthur Klepchukov's Writing Contests Worth Your Time updates seasonally but is currently only available for contests through February 2023.

Writers of the Future hosts science fiction writing competitions, repeating quarterly.

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And then, there's the Twitterverse. 

Although Twitter's popular #PitMad is no more, the concept of literary pitch parties has proliferated. These aren't ways to make money, but some can catch the eyes of agents and editors, or at least promote solidarity among writers. They tend to come and go as quickly as a tweet. The most up to date list I found was at writing community.ca. Unfortunately, this site is on semi-hiatus, but it still lists Twitter pitch parties through the next several months as well as their associated websites.

What's missing from all this? Don Hammons, the writer behind the WRiTE Club readers-choice contest says it unlikely to return for 2023. And Ralan.com, a longtime source of writing submissions and contests, also bit the dust in February of this year. 

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Next up: Will I ever get around to the topic of banned books? Maybe, unless some other bright, shiny object catches my eye first!