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.

The Boston Review is having their Thirteenth Annual Short-Story Contest. Winner will receive $1,000 and have the winning story published in the May/June, 2006 issue of the Boston Review. There’s a $20 entry fee and the deadline is October 1, 2005.

There’s a list of all the previous winners with their winning story. I enjoyed reading some of them. It’s well worth the time to explore the winning stories.

Here is the guidelines for paid awards for non-published creative writing, including a full-length novel, Hackney Literary Awards, offered by Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama. They are offering $5,000 for the 1st place winner in the novel category and $2,500 national and $2,500 state level; 1st $600, 2 nd $400, and 3 rd $250 in the poetry and short fiction categories. They are taking manuscripts for the full-length novels now and will close on September 30th. The poetry and short fiction will not be accepted until Oct. 1st with the deadline being Dec 31st. There’s a $25 entry fee for the novel and a $10 entry fee for the poetry and short fiction. That’s fairly common for most literary contests.

The link also provides a list of last years winners. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of their winning stories or poetry but there is a link to photos of the awards ceremony Here.

Got any short stories or poetry laying around collecting dust? Got a novel completed but no publisher interested? Well, dust them off and send them in to this literary contest. You never know, you could become a winner!

Ms. Magazine is having a best fiction contest. The contest guidelines are minimal and the prize is $1,000 US and publication in the Spring 2005 issue of the magazine. There is a $15 US reading fee but that’s not unusual. Amy Bloom will choose the winners. You can get the information from Ms. Magazine.

Incase anyone reading this doesn’t know who Amy Bloom is, here is her Web site. I read Come to Me, a collection of short stories, several years ago and they still linger in my mind. I think any well written story about family interaction and the complexities born within them leaves an impact on my psyche. Probably because of all the years I spent unweaving my family tapestry in order to find myself, only to discover that the whole tapestry was much more beautiful than the individual threads.