Contests for Writers - Part Six

Index of Irish Literary Competitions

Grants and Awards

The AWP Award Series in the Novel, Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction - The AWP Award Series is an annual competition for the publication of excellent new book-length works of poetry, fiction,and creative nonfiction. Winners in the Award Series receive a $2,000 cash honorarium plus publication of their book by University of Pittsburgh Press, University of Massachusetts Press, or University of Georgia Press.

Scriblerus Press - We are actively seeking submissions from new and published authors. What we are looking for: Spleenplays. What is a spleenplay? Spleenplay—a fiction parody of a movie or series of movies. A spleenplay is an unfaithful reverse adaptation: from movie to novel, film to text. A spleenplay isn’t a typical parody that takes broad and clumsy swipes at its target. It’s an aggressive appropriation of the narrative in order to comment on and depart from the original—to imitate the original with critical distance by complicating its plot, characters, themes, and motifs. It’s a spirited reimagination of a formulaic Hollywood blockbuster—dependent on the source for its context, but original in form and voice.

THE VIRGINA KIRKUS LITERARY AWARD - Competition for unpublished fiction–novel or story collection—of 150 or more pages, and not under contract with any publisher. The winner’s book will be published by Back Bay, the trade-paperback imprint of Time Warner’s Little, Brown, in September 2006.

Telluride IndieFest

Taos Land and Film Company

Slam Dance

Scriptalooza

On Cue Productions

Praxis Center Screenplay Competition (Canada)

NICKELODEON PRODUCTIONS FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

Drama Garage

CineStory

Blue Sky International Film Festival

Blue Cat Screenplay Competition

Yahoo Directory "Writing Contests"

Writing Contests from Writing-World

OPEN WINDOWS POETRY & CREATIVE NONFICTION CONTESTS First prize in each category = $500 & 5 copies of Open Windows 2006. 2nd = 5 copies of Open Windows 2006. 3rd = 2 copies of Open Windows 2006. Honorable Mention = 1 copy of Open Windows 2006. Winners will appear in Open Windows 2006. Poetry, any form, length: submit up to 3 in printable form, title on the first page & each continuing page w/ page numbers. OR creative nonfiction, any topic: up to 3500 words, double-spaced, w/ title in top right corner of each page w/ page numbers. No other identifying info on submissions. Submit one copy to: Ghost Road Press, 10200 E. Girard Ave. #C145, Denver, CO 80231. Include cover letter w/ name, address, phone number, email address, title of the work(s) and up to 50 words biographical note. FOR MORE INFO: info@ghostroadpress.com, (303) 368-4716

Associated Writing Programs Awards - Annual awards of $2,000 (plus publication) are offered for original, unpublished, book-length work in each of three categories: novels, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Reading fee: $20. Deadline: February 28. Open to U.S. residents only.

AwardWeb - Information on major literary awards throughout the USA and other countries, particularly focusing on (though not limited to) science fiction and fantasy.

Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest - San Jose State University sponsors this yearly challenge "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels". No entry fee.

Contests for Writers - Part Five

Boulevard Emerging Writers Contest - $1,000 and publication in BOULEVARD awarded for the winning group of three poems by a poet who has not yet published a book of poetry with a nationally distributed press

How to Win a Writing Contest

Scriptunities - Is a unique listing of all current UK and Euroland competitions. It contains 7 pages of up to date competitions, opportunities and contacts.

Screenwriting Contests Database

SpecFicWorld's Annual Speculative Fiction Contest - Science Fiction, Fantasy and/or Horror stories up to 10,000 words are required.

True Life Story Contest - A short story contest looking for true life stories in the categories of friendships, animals, Christmas, and amazing coincidences.

Words Magazine - Seeks original short stories for various themed contests throughout the year.

Pomegranate Words Writing Contests - teenagers only

Guideline Blues: Tips on How to Enter Contests

American Cinema Foundation

WriteMovies.com Writing Contest

EM Koeppel Short Story Contest - Annual contest offers $1,100 first prize for original, unpublished stories. Maximum length: 3,000 words. International English entries welcome. Fee: $15 (one), $25 (two). Submissions: Oct. 1 - Apr. 30 annually.

Whisper Stories Contests - Promotes writing contests in which authors are asked to complete a story from a set opening sentence.

British Literature Competitions & Prizes

A Woman's Write - Each contest theme will be different, but the rules will stay the same - send us your story, essay, memoir or book chapter (word limit is 2,500) along with the $10 entry fee payable via PayPal. ALL ENTRIES will receive a thoughtful critique and we'll pick one winner (for the $100 first prize) per contest - the winning contribution will live at our website through the following contest (at least!) for your friends, family and fans to read. The entries can be creative nonfiction - memoir, journalistic, essay format - or pure fiction. The winner's entry will also be critiqued in depth.

Hey, Want to Win a Literary Competition?

Fire By Nite Awards for Christian Fiction

Literati Short Story Competition

Dragonfly Spirit Writing for Children Short Story Contest

Nevada Film OfficeScreenwriting Competition

The Baltimore Review - Creative Nonfiction Competition: January 1st - April 1st Poetry Competition: April 1st - July 1st Short Fiction Competition: August 1st - December 1st

Venice Arts e-Screenwriting

Contests for Writers - Part Four

Acclaim Film and Television

Contest Advice from Coverscript

Event Creative Non-Fiction Contest - Writers are invited to submit manuscripts exploring the creative non-fiction form. Check your library for back issues of Event with previous winning entries and judges' comments. Contest back issues are available from Event for $5.35 (includes GST and postage; $5US for American residents; $9Cdn for overseas residents).

U.S. Naval Institute Annual Essay and Photo Contests

Cup of Comfort Collections - Seeks true stories on various topics. Winning stories are published. Each collection has a grand prize of $500. All other published contributors receive $100 each. No reading fees. Length: 1,000 to 2,000 words. Deadlines vary.

Conversely Antidote Essay Contest - Annual contest for essays about female-male romantic relationships.

Foster City International Writer's Contest - Fiction, Poetry, Children's Story, Humor or Personal Essay

Writingcompetition.com - How would you like the opportunity to win up to $4000 dollars for writing just one page? Well, here’s your chance.

JOHN REID/TOM HOWARD WRITING CONTESTS INFORMATION - Each year, John H. Reid sponsors three writing Contests. These Contests are open to all writers worldwide, although please note that all entries must be written in English. In order of annual closing dates, these contests are: 1. The Tom Howard Short Story and Prose Contest, deadline March 31, 2006. Entries for Contest 14 are now being accepted. 2. The Margaret Reid Poetry Prize, closing June 30, 2006. 3. The Tom Howard Poetry Contest is still open, but is closing September 30, 2005. (Winners are published in anthologies. Hmmm...)

WinFemme - Monthly and annual film & screenplay festival in Los Angeles. Winners receive staged readings and screenings in Hollywood on a monthly basis with top industry executives who discuss the artist's work.

Ohio Independent Screenplay Awards

Fade In: Screenwriting Awards - Cash prizes and industry exposure from the publishers of Fade In Magazine.

American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest

Scriptapalooza TV - Semi-annual competition that accepts pilots and spec scripts for sitcoms and one hour episodics.

Spec Scriptacular Contest - Spec Scriptacular TV Writing Competition. A television competition for TV episode and movie scripts and original pilot teleplays.

Tennessee Screenwriting Association

Santa Fe Writer's Project

Fake Contests - Educate yourself.

Backdoor Theatre New Play Project - Backdoor Theatre’s New Play project, established in 1985, exists to cultivate playwrights and to showcase new theatre. In a workshop environment, selected plays are mounted with full production value and receive at least six performances in Backdoor’s 170 seat Mainstage theatre. Submitted plays are processed through a play-reading panel, and selection is made in collaboration with the theatre’s professional staff. The selected play is cast from the community theatre talent pool and rehearses for five weeks. Each selected script is considered a “work in progress” and every practical effort is made to achieve a collaborative state among cast, crew, director, producer and playwright.

One-In-Ten Screenplay Competition - Open to all writers. At least one of the primary characters in the screenplay must be a positively portrayed gay or lesbian character.

Haunted Newport Short Story Contest - Original, unpublished stories up to 5,000 words are sought on a paranormal theme, and incorporating at least two Newport, Rhode Island, landmarks.

24-Hour Short Story Contest

Contests for Writers - Part Three

Contestfinder.com

American Screenwriting Competition

William Saroyan International Prize for Writing - The Stanford University Libraries and the William Saroyan Foundation are delighted to announce the first cycle of the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, a competition for newly-published works of fiction (novels, short stories, or drama) or memoirs. This new prize is intended to encourage new or emerging writers, rather than to recognize established literary figures. The prize commemorates the life, legacy and intentions of William Saroyan - author, artist, dramatist, and composer.

Koret Young Writer on Jewish Themes Award - The annual Koret Young Writer on Jewish Themes Award offers a young writer (35 or younger) a $25,000 prize and the opportunity to spend a quarter as writer-in-residence at Stanford University. The residency allows time for writing, teaching one course at Stanford, and giving several workshops in collaboration with Jewish community organizations in the Bay Area.

E-Merging Writers Playrighting Competitions List

South Carolina Fiction Project - This annual writing competition, sponsored by The Post and Courier and the South Carolina Arts Commission, calls for previously unpublished short stories of 2,500 words or less. The stories do not need to be Southern, nor do they need to be set in South Carolina, although such stories are acceptable for consideration. Up to 12 short stories will be selected for publication; each writer whose work is selected will receive $500 from The Post and Courier, which purchases first publication rights. Stories will also be published electronically by putting them on The Post and Courier’s web site, which links to the Arts Commission’s web site.

Moxie Films New Century Writer Awards® Screenplay and Stage Play - The Moxie Films New Century Writer Awards® (NCWA) was established to provide a valuable outlet to recognize the quality screenplays, and stage plays of both unpublished writers and emerging writers with minor or few creative writing credits. We provide cash awards to the Top 3 writers in each of our creative writing contests since monetary awards help legitimize and validate a writer's good hard work. In addition to cash prizes the 1st place stage play will be produced in New York City through MoxieStage, our theatre division, at an off-off Broadway venue for a one-week run minimum. 2nd and 3rd place stage plays will each receive one public reading in New York City at an off-off Broadway venue. Selected Top screenplay will be optioned for an 18-month period, and receives cash. 2nd and 3rd place receive cash, and a public reading each. Now in its seventh year of successful operation, the New Century Writer Awards® is an annual writing competition series. Of the more than three-hundred writing competition for creative writings in the English language in existence across the globe, the New Century Writer Awards® brand is among the largest in terms of the prize awards purse, affiliations, scope, and name recognition. Since its inception the New Century Writer Awards® has awarded 144 creative writers with $81,700 in cash, fellowship and scholarship prizes, connected numerous writers to agency representation, editorial and film studio contacts, and raised $20,000 in independent financing for the production of a film based on one of New Century's Top 10 alumnus, Lisa Kors. The Moxie Films NCWA seeks quality, character driven stories in all genres to consider for further development and production in association with one or more of our alliance companies and independent producers. The final judges of each annual contest include industry producers, directors, film marketing professionals, fiction writers, playwrights, fiction editors, screenwriters, executive producers, and literary agents.

Ayn Rand Institute Annual Essay Contests - For high school and college students

The Communicator Awards - An International Competition Honoring Excellence in Communications - Three Categories: Video, Print, Audio

Byline Magazine Contests

FirstWriter.com - firstwriter.com's fully searchable database of writing competitions contains details and contact information for writing contests from around the English-speaking world. Our database is updated daily, with old competitions being removed and on average two or more new ones added every day, making it widely regarded as the best writing contest listing on the internet. Our InstantAlert service also allows you to receive instant email notification of newly added competitions, or you can keep on top of latest additions with our RSS feed.

Literary Contests, Grants, & Fellowships

Awards and Competitions forFirst-Time Authors

Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest

Places for Writers Contests Listings (Canadian based, I don't know about restrictions/rules for individual contests listed)

The Writers' Union of Canada Awards and Competitions

Columbia: Journal of Literature and Art 2006 Fiction, Poetry and Non-Fiction Contest

Lantern Books 2005 Essay Competition

San Francisco Writers Conference Writing Contest

We Love Writers Writing Contests

Contests from "Funds for Writers" Website

Daniel Singer Prize - Original essays, in any language - no entry fees (check website to verify info)

Contests for Writers - Part Two

WRITERS' Journal Contests - Short Story, Horror/Ghost, Travel, Fiction, Romance, Write to Win!, Poetry, Photo

Screenwriting Expo

Lorain Hemingway Short Story Competition - The contest was created in 1981 to support and encourage the efforts of writers who have not yet achieved major-market success. This competition is dedicated to the craft of writing and awards $2,000 in cash prizes every year to top writers of short fiction.

The Other Network Competition

BlueCat Screenplay Competition

American Accolades

Haydenfilms

Warner Bros. Writers Workshop

Screenwriter Showcase - sponsored by InkTip.com

PAGE Hollywood International Screenwriting Awards

Write-Safe "Present-A-Thon"

Blogfest - "Get paid to write anything"

Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction

International Annual Fish Short Story Prize

Burry Man's Writer Center

Boston Review Annual Short Story and Poetry Contests

VSA Arts

Shell Economist Essay Contest

Annual Canadian National Playwriting Competition

John W. Campbell Best New Writer Award

American Gem Short Script Contest

Poetry Kit Directory of Competitions

Poetry Contest Scams

Gathered from intelligentsia around the web... I report, you decide. I know nothing of any of these contests, but the following links/advice might be helpful to the poets out there. Poetry Scam Watch Poetry Contest Scams and Rip-offs Getting the Scoop on Poetry Contest Scams

Contests for Writers - Part One

Contest Report Cards from MovieBytes

Through Judge-Coloured Spectacles: How to Win a Writing Contest

Choosing a Writing Contest

Contest Advice

Screenwriting Warfare -how to win contests

Nicholl Fellowship -The Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting program is an international competition open to screenwriters who have not earned more than $5,000 writing for film or television. Entry scripts must be the original work of a sole author or of exactly two collaborative authors. Entries must have been written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible. Up to five $30,000 fellowships are awarded each year.

Moondance

Chesterfield Writer's Film Project - The Writer´s Film Project, based at Paramount Pictures, is one of the most prestigious screenwriting fellowships in the United States. The program was originated with the support of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment.

Austin Film Festival

Disney/ABC New Talent Development

Writer's Digest Contests - WD Popular Fiction Awards...The Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition...The Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards...Writer's Digest Annual Writing Competition...Writer's Digest Online Chronicle Competition ...and more.

International Short Story Contest

Cynosure Screenwriting Awards

Screenplay ShootOut - In association with Benderspink

Horror Script Writing Contests Screamfest Another Sleepless Night Screenwriting Competition Breakthrough with a Scream Shriekfest Film Festival Eerie Horror Screenplay Competition ShockerFest International Film Festival Hellfire's Short Horror Screenplay Competition

WritersWeekly.com's 24-Hour Short Story Contest

Clarke-Bradbury Science Fiction Competition

Peoples' Pilot Competition - This is the dawning of the era of YOU, THE NEW WRITER, with your unique vision. To help you sell your series, TV Writer.Com, the most successful television writing site on the Web, has created the PEOPLE'S PILOT COMPETITION. The rewards can be enormous. Your dream, on TV for all to see. With you as the producer/head writer...and collecting the salary that accompanies that job. And all you have to do is commit your dreamchild to paper. Only a few short pages containing the title of your series idea, the main thrust of the storyline or storylines, the characters, and the setting. That's right. This isn't a screenplay or teleplay contest. Television networks and cable channels don't buy series pilot scripts, they develop them with their creators and production companies and packaging agencies they trust. The winners of the PEOPLE'S PILOT COMPETITION will be working with Pendle View LLC, a new company actively looking for new series projects and new writers to work on them. The people behind Pendle View have developed 15 produced feature films and documentaries for Blue Rider Pictures, Artisan Entertainment, Showtime Networks, Hearst Entertainment, Trimark Pictures, ABC Family Channel, and others in the past five years, and are now branching out into TV series development. The company has over 30 projects in active development, with more on the way. Since the networks and cable channels have two pilot development seasons each year, two PEOPLE'S PILOT COMPETITIONS are held as well. One Competition runs from August 1 to December 1, so that the winners can be chosen in time for the pilot season that will begin the following February. The other Competition runs from February 1 to June 1 so that the winners can be chosen in time for the pilot season that will begin the following August. No matter who you are, no matter where in the world you live, this is YOUR chance to make television as good as you always thought it could be!

Spec Scriptacular Competition - The basic fact about the television business is that in order to get into it you, the writer, must have at least 3 great spec episodes written for existing shows. These episodes are your calling cards. They demonstrate that you have what it takes to write "on assignment." In other words, they show that your writing can meet the demands of a show's individual (we would never say "peculiar") style. As more writers work on spec scripts, the competition between them for Industry attention increases. That's why TV Writer.Com has decided to step into the fray with the Spec Scriptacular Competition. In the proverbial nutshell, TV Writer.Com aims to help you get your spec episodes, pilots, and even MOWs read by those who can buy or hire you - by giving your work the ultimate validity short of having been professionally produced. That validity is a Contest Win. The Spec Scriptacular has three categories - Sitcom, Action/Drama and Pilot/MOW/Special. The Sitcom category is for spec episodes of current (or very recent) broadcast and cable network sicoms, which are usually (but not necessarily) half-hour shows. The Action/Drama category is for spec episodes of current (or very recent) broadcast and cable network action or dramatic shows - including sci-fi shows, medical shows, cop shows, lawyer shows, dramedies, et al. These are usually one-hour shows, but this is also the proper category in which to enter any current half-hour action or drama series. The Pilot/MOW/Special category is for pilots of any length that you have written for your own prospective series regardless of genre, for any and all original spec TV movies, and for any and all original spec specials regardless of length. The People's Pilot has shown us that many of you have already written or are eager to write pilots for your own ideas. This is the contest and category in which to enter those pilots. The late, lamented People's Picture Show has shown us that many of you have already written or are writing feature screenplays that can fit into the MOW mold. This is the contest and category in which to enter those screenplays.

Grants & Awards for Poets and Fiction Writers

American Screenwriters Association International Screenplay Competition

Final Draft's Annual Big Break International Screenwriting Contest

ScriptSupplies.com

ScriptSupplies.com This looks like a good place to get supplies as well as to learn from tutorials. Lots of helpful stuff here.

Books for Poets & Lovers of Poetry

Hello, Poets! I love poetry, all forms of it, and I do a bit of writing myself (and will post some of my own work soon enough here). Do you have favorite poems or favorite books of poetry? I hope the following list will prove useful to somebody...

How Can I Start My Own Screenwriting Group?

The American Screenwriter's Association has a list of questions and answers for you to look over if you are thinking about starting your own screenwriting group: What does it take to have a screenwriting group? How do I Find Other Writers to Start a Screenwriting Group? How do I Keep My Screenwriting Group Going? How do I Creatively Maintain my Screenwriting Group? Starting a Screenwriting Group Checklist! You can VIEW THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HERE.

Online Screenplays (Individual Scripts)

Some of these scripts can be viewed online and others are in a downloadable format such as .pdf or .doc. Some links can and do change, so my apologies if you find a broken link. If you have links to online scripts that you think other writers would like to see, please do add to this list by leaving a comment. Thank you! Individual Scripts to Download

Online Screenplays (Major Script Banks)

One of the best ways to improve your own screenwriting is to study produced scripts and figure out what made them sell in the first place, what made them work or NOT work as a story, how did the writer handle exposition, dialogue, action sequences and so on. A couple of caveats: What you will find will be scripts in varying stages of drafts from first draft to shooting script. If you are writing a spec script, you will not be exactly following the shooting script format. A shooting script might contain CAMERA LANGUAGE or other things that you wouldn't normally see in a spec script (which cuts "directing-on-paper" down to an absolute minimum). The second caveat will be: "But if that pro can break the rules, why can't I??????" That's the lament of a lot of new unproduced writers. And this next part will drive you even crazier: There are no rules carved into stone in Hollywood. Whatever works, works. But what USUALLY WORKS BEST for NEW writers is to offer a professionally crafted product to represent what you know how to do. Use the common language of screenwriting that's deemed "standard format" by most of the folks who will be deciding your fate. DO assist them in understanding your story by so doing. DO reassure them that you know how to play the game. Get past the gatekeepers FIRST. Then you, too, can be one of those "But Ma, THEY aren't following the rules!!!" pros. The Online Major Script Banks

10 Articles for Screenwriters

Hauge's The Five Key Turning Points of All Successful Scripts

What Makes Good Story?

Screenwriting Craft: Making Screenplays Vertical by Charles Deemer Hollywood loves buzzwords, and one of the latest is "vertical," as in make your screenplays vertical. Like many buzzwords, this one is based on a fundamental truism: it is easier to read a manuscript that is "vertical" with lots of white space on the page than one that has great text density.

The World of High Concept Ideas

Sitcom: What It Is, How It Works

The Dirty Dozen These 12 easy-to-follow rules could make the difference between a script sold or scrapped.

Points for Style

TUTORIAL: Movie Genres

Cinematic Formulas Commonly used plot devices and how they affect what you see in the movies.

To Live and Die in L.A. Information leaks, bid-rigging, pumping and dumping. Just another day inside the secret network that will make or break you in Hollywood.

Happy Halloween!