Opportunities for writers – May 2021, including writers conferences, workshops, contests, and submissions. Updated 5/4/2021.
Submit your opportunity to mail@indianawriters.org.
Have a short story, poem or other work you’re just dying to share? Check out these publication, workshop and contest opportunities:
*Advice on Writing Contests:
When considering contests, look to see how they handled winners’ work from previous years: Is there a list of previous winners? Where you can go to read or have access to the winning pieces of writing? Who are the judges? Are they people who you would read yourself? If you win, what kind of audience would you receive for your work? Research contests and their reputations online. Use places like duotrope.com, Poets and Writers (pw.org), the New Pages (newpages.com), or The Review Review (thereviewreview.net), to see whether there is any other information about the contest from other sources.
Opportunities for Writers:
Arts in the Park Veterans Workshop, begins May 22
Writing in Peace, a program of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in partnership with Turkey Run State Park, is a writing workshop for veterans. Led by award-winning writer Bonnie Maurer, the program will occur at Turkey Run State Park with programs both outside in the park and inside a conference room at the park inn. Writer Kurt Vonnegut is the cousin of Richard Lieber, who created the Indiana parks system, and participants will learn about the parks system and write creatively in a natural setting. KVML is interested in helping veterans move on from their military experience to discover what future career or creative experience will help, as Vonnegut would say, “… make your soul grow.” The environment of camaraderie and networking will allow veterans to dream about what they want to do next in their lives and work through the steps to make their life goals come true.
Find out more and sign up for Writing in Peace.
The 11th Annual BOA Short Fiction Prize
April 1 – May 31, 2021
Judge: BOA Publisher Peter Conners
Winner Receives: Book publication by BOA Editions, Ltd. in spring 2023, $1,000 honorarium
Since its founding in 2010, the BOA Short Fiction prize has been awarded to ten of the most exciting and unique voices in American fiction. As with all BOA fiction titles, our prize-winning short story collections are more concerned with the artfulness of writing than the twists and turns of plot. It is our belief that short story writing is a valuable and underserved literary form that we are proud to support, nurture, and celebrate.
Submissions are invited only through Submittable or by post mail. We do not have the staff capacity to read or respond to manuscripts that are submitted by fax or email. *Submission fee: $25 Read the full submission guidelines.
Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize 2021
Open for Submissions
Deadline: May 31st
Judge: Victoria Chang
Winner receives $500, chapbook published as print book, 20 Author Copies, and an amethyst depression glass trophy (circa 1930).
View the complete guidelines and submit.
The Heartland Society of Women Writers is Open for Submissions
The Heartland Society of Women Writers is open to submissions between 1-3k or up to 50 lines of poetry until June 30th. We accept all genres of writing from those who identify as women. View the full submission guidelines.
Call for Scripts
Do You Have A Story “From The Heart”?Imagine Performing Arts in Connersville, IN, is looking for a few good playwrights. They have put out a call for scripts for a night of short plays to be presented Valentines weekend 2022. “We are planning to do four to six short plays that are fifteen to twenty minutes in length. Each show should be a full story with a beginning, middle and end. Since they will run back to back, they should have minimal set requirements” stated Belinda Foreman, president of IPA. Only the first 100 scripts submitted before July 17, 2021 will be considered. The theme for the shows is from the heart. Imagine is asking that there be only one submission per person. “We are looking forward to the collaboration between the playwrights, directors, casts and crew” said Cindy Perez of IPA, “It’s an opportunity to create something that no audience has ever seen, make memories and theater magic.”If you are interested in making a submission the play should be written in the format recommended at this website: http://www.scribd.com/document/135760006/sample-play-script. Questions and submissions can be emailed until July 17, 2021 to Imagineperformingarts@yahoo.com.If you would be interested in directing, acting or working as part of the design team or production crew, email IPA at the email address above or through their website at www.imagineperformingarts.com. Auditions for the winning shows will take place in late 2021. Watch for more information at the Imagine Performing Arts website and Facebook page.
Climate Storytelling Fellowship: Three writers will receive $10,000 each
The Black List is pleased to partner with National Resources Defense Council’s Rewrite the Future program and The Redford Center to offer financial grants and creative support for scripts telling stories with new perspectives on climate change.
The Black List, NRDC and The Redford Center will award $10,000 to each of three screenwriters to support revision of a feature screenplay or pilot with significant climate crisis and/or climate solution themes.
Submissions are open until 7/21. To apply for the fellowship, the submitted script (feature or pilot) must include climate in the story in a meaningful way that involves major characters, events, or plot. Learn more about the Climate Storytelling Fellowship, and how to apply.
Seeking Submissions for Meditation Anthologies
Hazelden Publishing is the leading publisher of addiction recovery and self-help resources. Part of the?Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, the nation’s largest nonprofit treatment provider, we offer a variety of accessible and life changing materials–from daily meditations to evidence-based programs.
In the past, our meditation-a-day format books have been written by a single author. Now, we are taking the opportunity of using the 365 days in a year to expand the number of voices we can uplift and recognize.?The more people who hear about the call for submissions, the more inclusive, reflective of the community, and useful the final books will be.
Complete information about How We Heal: Meditations for Reclaiming Our Voices from Addiction and Sexual Trauma is available here: https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/meditations-anthology-writing-detail
Complete information about Leave No One Behind: Daily Meditations for Service Members and Veterans in Recovery is available here: https://www.hazelden.org/store/publicpage/meditations-anthology-writing-leave-no-one-behind
The Flying Island: New Look for 2021!
Flying Island, the Online Literary Journal of the Indiana Writers Center accepts submissions on a rolling basis from Indiana residents and those with significant ties to Indiana.
- Fiction: up to 5,000 words
- Nonfiction: up to 3,500 words
- Poetry: up to three poems, no more than 50 lines each.
Visit the journal and submit your work.
Washington Post Seeking Op-eds
In our effort to bring in more voices from across America, the Washington Post’s op-ed department would like to hear from writers with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests and outlooks. The one constant should be that they are good writers with strong viewpoints, and value facts and reasoned argument over invective. We’ll welcome one-off submissions, or pieces on breaking news events that we solicit, but we also hope that some writers will develop into regular contributors.
The Washington Post maintains a high bar for acceptance: We receive a large volume of op-ed submissions and have limited space, so even worthwhile op-eds might not be accepted if they don’t meet our needs at the moment. But our having a designated venue for op-eds from across the country does expand the possibility that your submission could find a home here. (A good target length for op-eds is 750-800 words.)
Here are some examples of writing that would fit into this category. As you can see, the range of topics is broad – political, personal, analytical, humorous, legal, business-oriented, you name it. What ties them together is that they don’t originate in Washington or universities or think tanks or other common sources of opinion articles. They bring first-hand experience or on-the-ground knowledge to bear on matters that may be local to the writer but could easily be of interest to readers everywhere.
Extra note: It’s best to send pieces in both an attachment and pasted into the email (reading in the email is fastest, but if there are links within the text, they convert more easily from a document).
Send op-eds to Mark Lasswell, Mark.Lasswell@washpost.com
Write for Sixty Inches from Center
Sixty welcomes writers and artists of all experience levels to pitch ideas for traditional and experimental arts writing around topics, and practices that are relevant to the cultural landscapes of the Midwest.
Priority will be given to writing by, about, and for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ artists, artists with disabilities, and the long list of writing, art-making, and cultural practices that have been neglected in mainstream conversations and canons about art and culture. We publish writing, photography, art, archive materials, video, and conversations that are thoughtful, generative, experimental, and relatable to a variety of readers.
Once a pitch is accepted, writers have full and free access to our editors, transcribers, translators, photographers, and illustrators to support the creation and completion of the final piece.
To see what type of articles they publish and other guidelines, visit the link.
Driftwood Press Submissions Open
John Updike once said, “Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity. Any activity becomes creative when the doer cares about doing it right, or better.” At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. Driftwood Press is a bi-annual literary magazine founded in Tampa, FL in 2013.
As of 2018, we pay our contributors (see guidelines for rates) for each contribution made to our magazine.
At Driftwood Press, we are actively searching for artists who care about doing it right, or better. We are excited to receive your submissions and will diligently work to bring you the best in full poetry collections, novellas, graphic novels, short fiction, poetry, graphic narrative, photography, art, interviews, and contests.]
Visit their website for more information and to submit your work.
Indiana Pizza Club Seeks Writers/Poets for New Literary Magazine Genuine Gold
Deadline September 30
Genuine Gold is a literary magazine produced by the Indiana Pizza Club that strives to publish high-quality, yet unpretentious, poems and short stories from Indiana writers. Obviously we are wild about pizza (It is the greatest food in the world.), but this magazine is dedicated to another couple of our passions – poetry and literature. Even though we are run by The Indiana Pizza Club, we have no specific interest in poems or stories about pizza. In fact, we aren’t particularly interested at all in pieces that deal with our favorite food. (We know that’s weird!)
Instead, we’re looking for poems of any length and short stories of no more than 1500 words that reflect creativity and unique perspectives on life. We welcome submissions of up to 3 poems and/or 2 short stories at a time.
We are interested in submissions from new and established writers and every piece will be reviewed by our editorial staff without seeing author names.
We gladly accept simultaneous submissions, but do ask that you alert us if one of your submissions is accepted by another publication.
You will receive a reply to your submissions within three months, but typically much sooner.
We ask for First North American Serial Rights and that you acknowledge Genuine Gold in the event of subsequent publication. At this time we cannot offer payment for publishing your work.
Submissions are now open and will be accepted until September 30. The inaugural issue of Genuine Gold will be published during the fourth quarter of 2021 in both print and ebook formats.
If you have any questions you can contact us at contact@indianapizzaclub.com
Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub Open for Submissions
Welcome to the Extinction Rebellion Creative Hub: an anthology of songs, fiction and poetry that’s inspiring, meaningful and original, and that reflects the principles, concerns and values of the Extinction Rebellion from a global, regional or local perspective.
This collection is a voice and a resource for Extinction Rebellion members everywhere, and a contribution to the global XR profile in the wider world.
Find out more and submit your work.
blankcoverpress.com
Submissions open in all genres!
For submissions, email: submissions@blankcoverpress.com
https://blankcoverpress.com
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: A Force Outside Myself: Citizens Over 60 Speak
Deadline: Rolling
If you are 60 or older, we’re interested in your thoughts right now and hope you can write a short first-person narrative. (100-500 words) Send entries to Kitania Folk at aforce@mcsweeneys.net and watch our site for ongoing updates.
Awakenings Review Seeks Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction, Photography, and Art
Established in 2000, The Awakenings Review is an annual lit mag committed to publishing poetry, short story, nonfiction, photography, and art by writers, poets and artists who have a relationship with mental illness: either self, family member, or friend. Our striking hardcopy publication is one of the nation’s leading journals of this genre. Creative endeavors and mental illness have long had a close association. The Awakenings Review publishes works derived from artists’, writers’, and poets’ experiences with mental illness, though mental illness need not be the subject of your work. Visit www.AwakeningsProject.org for submission guidelines.
Hip Mama magazine is looking for unique, creative, strong, edgy, alternative parenting stories for upcoming issues.
Check out the magazine here.
Send submissions to: hipsubmissions@gmail.com
Complete Guide to 2021 Artist Grants & Opportunities
A list of the top international open calls, residencies, fellowships, and awards that we believe will benefit artists during the upcoming year! The complete list is broken down into six categories: grants, residencies & fellowships, calls-for-entry, publications, COVID relief funds, and opportunity sites.
This list will be updated throughout the year, so make sure to bookmark the page, check back often. View the list.
Poets & Writers: New Writing Contest Deadlines!
For information regarding writing contests and deadlines:Go Here
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE YOUR OPPORTUNITY LISTED HERE? Email the details to: mail@indianawriters.org