The University of Massachusetts Press has annual fiction and poetry writing contests. The poetry contest closes at the end of September but the fiction contest doesn’t close until October 30th. There is a $20 submission fee for both but that’s not uncommon. The guidelines and submission information is on their Web site. The poetry is for a collection of poems, not for single poems and the winner receives $1,500. Not bad for a poetry manuscript these days.

The winner in the fiction category also receives $1,500 and will be invited to read in the University’s Visiting Writers Series. This is really not for short stories since the manuscript must be at least 150 pages. Even with it being double spaced, 150 pages would be in excess of 30,000 words. While that may not be enough for a full size book, it could fall into the novella category. They do say that a collection of short stories is acceptable. They even accept previously published works. Might be worth the $20 if you have a manuscript that’s just collecting dust or something to work toward for next year.