September 2020 Deadlines: 12 Contests and Magazines With Deadlines This Month
New month, new courage: submit yourself to these fellowships, magazines, awards and internships. Remember, too, acceptances and rejections are by-products of this journey—crafting your authentic art is the goal. And as always, submit poetry for free to our New Voices.
Featured: Our Award for New Poets
Submissions are open to new and emerging writers (poets with no more than one full-length published work forthcoming at the time of submission). The winning poet will be awarded $3000 and publication on Frontier Poetry. We do not hold preference for any particular style or topic—we simply seek the best poem we can find. Send us work that is blister, that is color, that strikes hot the urge to live and be. We strongly invite poets from all communities. You, & your words, are welcome here. Judges this year: Paige Lewis, Camonghne Felix, and Jake Skeets.
Deadline: September 20 // Entry Fee
$50 Cash Prize. One Poem. Your First Publication. With Artist-Made Broadside Art. Debut with us. Guest Judge: Luisa Muradyan
Deadline: September 1 // Entry Fee
Asian American Literary Review
The Asian American Literary Review is a space for writers who consider the designation “Asian American” a fruitful starting point for artistic vision and community. In showcasing the work of established and emerging writers, the journal aims to incubate dialogues and, just as importantly, open those dialogues to regional, national, and international audiences of all constituencies. Submit one piece of fiction of up to 5,000 words, 6-11 pages of poetry–single long poems of at least 5 pages are also accepted–or one piece of creative nonfiction of up to 5,000 words. Translations should try to include a copy of the original text as a separate file.
Deadline: September 1 // Free
The Carolyn Bush Award 2020
The Carolyn Bush Award aims to support innovative, hybrid, and cross-genre work that contributes to expanding the discourses and practices of poetry. The award honors the life and work of Wendy’s Subway Co-Founder Carolyn Bush by providing in-depth support to an early-career and emerging female-identifying writer.
Deadline: September 7 // Entry Fee
Into the Void
We accept poems of all forms and styles, including the wildly experimental. We’re looking for musicality, economy of words, vividness, evoking of the senses, voice. Poems can be about anything at all, and of all shapes.
Deadline: September 7 // Free
The Anzaldúa Poetry Prize
This prize is awarded annually, in conjunction with the Anzaldúa Literary Trust, to a poet whose work explores how place shapes identity, imagination, and understanding. Special attention is given to poems that exhibit multiple vectors of thinking: artistic, theoretical, and social, which is to say, political. First place is publication, $1,000 prize, and 25 contributor copies. Up to five finalists will be announced, and all poems will be considered for publication as a general submission. Submit 15 to 30 pages of poetry. Please include no more than one poem per page. The author’s name should not appear in the document. Guest Judge: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo.
Deadline: September 15 // Entry Fee
Key West Literary Seminar Emerging Writer Awards
The Cecelia Joyce Johnson Award, Scotti Merrill Award, and Marianne Russo Award recognize and support writers who possess exceptional talent and demonstrate potential for lasting literary careers. Each award is tailored to a particular literary form. The Merrill Award recognizes a poet, while fiction writers may apply for either the Johnson Award (for a short story) or the Russo Award (for a novel-in-progress). Winners receive full tuition support for our January Seminar and Writers’ Workshop Program, round-trip airfare, lodging, a $500 honorarium, and the opportunity to appear on stage during the Seminar. Submission may be a packet of 5-7 poems, a complete short story of 20 pages or fewer, or an excerpt from your novel of 25 pages or fewer. One letter of recommendation is required.
Deadline: September 15 // Entry Fee
Green Mountains Review
Green Mountain Review is currently accepting submissions for the Black Voices issue, guest edited by Naomi Jackson and Keith Wilson. Please submit a cover letter and include up to 5 poems or up to 25 pages of prose. We publish poetry, essays, fiction, interviews, book reviews, and art. We are also always looking for work that pushes these boundaries and are open to audio and video submissions; we’re also happy to be surprised. Surprise us.
Deadline: September 15 // Free
The Puritan
Baffle us, tangle us up, or break our hearts. We’re looking for poems of any length (including sequences and long poems). Send up to four poems at a time. Feel encouraged to push boundaries with your fiction. We have diverse tastes; try us out. Length is up to you, but a story over 10,000 words will only be considered if it is of exceptional quality (and nothing over 12,000 words, please). Only send one story at a time, unless you are writing flash fiction (or stories under 500 words), in which case you can send up to three. We accept essays as pitches–no more than 250 words–or finished essays.
Deadline: September 25 // Free
Red Mountain Press Discovery Award
The Red Mountain Discovery Award for a First Book of Poetry awards publication of a full-length book of poetry. The most important criterion is that the manuscript manifests significant themes in beautiful, strong and evocative language.
Deadline: September 20 // Entry Fee
Gasher Chapbooks
We are currently accepting submissions for poetry chapbooks. Manuscripts must be between 25-45 pages. We accept simultaneous submissions. Please, let us know if your submission is accepted elsewhere. Currently, GASHER is only accepting submissions from those who reside in the U.S.
Deadline: September 30 // Entry Fee
The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
We will award the Tom Howard Prize of $3000 for a poem in any style or genre, and the Margaret Reid Prize of $3000 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style. Honorable Mentions: 10 awards of $200 each (any style) Length limit: 250 lines per poem. You may submit published or unpublished work. For the purpose of the Margaret Reid Prize, a poem in a traditional style employs regular meter and/or rhyme, or is written in a recognized poetic form. This includes traditional Western forms such as ballads, sonnets, and blank verse, Asian forms such as tanka and haiku, and other traditional forms.
Deadline: September 30 // Entry Fee
