AWP members can view our full list of curated opportunities on our Contests & Calls web page.
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices (Best American Essays, Best of the Net) announces its Annual Lit Contest, which is open April 1–June 1. The judges are Jessica Treadway (Fiction Prize), Porsha Olayiwola (Stephen Dunn Poetry Prize), Sven Birkerts (Michael Steinberg Nonfiction Prize), and John Vasquez Mejias (Graphic Lit Prize).
Prizes: $1,000 (fiction), $500 (poetry), $500 (nonfiction), $500 (graphic lit)
Entry fee: $20
Deadline: June 1
The aim of the Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize is both to celebrate the best of new short fiction under two thousand words and to give winners the most visibility possible for their writing.
Prize: €2,000
Entry fee: €20
Deadline: April 19, 2026
Marsh Hawk Press is accepting submissions of poetry manuscripts to the annual Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize. We welcome submissions from emerging as well as established poets.
Prize: $2,000
Entry fee: $30
Deadline: April 30, 2026
The $5,000 Narrative Prize is awarded annually for the best short story, novel excerpt, poem, graphic story, or work of literary nonfiction by a new or emerging writer.
Prize: $5,000
Entry fee: $27
Deadline: April 30, 2026
The Cave Canem Prize supports the work of Black poets to overcome the obstacle of publishing their first book of poems.
Prize: $10,000
Entry fee: No fee
Deadline: April 30, 2026
What Book Press seeks full-length works in any genre—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, hybrid. In keeping with their eclectic collection of titles, they are looking for work that thrills them with a bending of literary expectation, or a striking use of form, or a poignant portrayal of the human condition—or (why not?), all three.
Prize: Publication with standard royalties contract
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: April 30, 2026
For this contest from Winning Writers, a story is any short work of fiction, and an essay is any short work of nonfiction. All themes are accepted.
Prize: $3,500 (first prize)
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: May 1, 2026
A prize of $1,000 and publication by Regal House Publishing is given annually for a novella.
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $25
Deadline: May 15, 2026
The Lost Kite Editions Chapbook Prize is awarded annually to a chapbook of any genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, etc.).
Prize: $1,500
Entry fee: $5
Deadline: May 15, 2026
Founded in 2010, the Montreal International Poetry Prize is a global competition awarding C$20,000 to a poet for a single poem of forty or fewer lines.
Prize: C$20,000
Entry fee: C$25
Deadline: May 15, 2026
The LemonLight Prize is an annual international poetry competition presented by Ink & Ribbon Press, a nonprofit literary publisher devoted to the craft and permanence of poetry in print.
Prize: $3,000
Entry fee: $15
Deadline: May 30, 2026