Self-Published Book Awards
Sponsor – Writer’s Digest
Deadline Date – 01-Apr-2025
Program Information – View Details
Each year, Writer’s Digest honors self-published authors with the Self-Published Book Awards to spotlight today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors.
Prizes are awarded in the following categories:
- Genre Fiction: Includes all sub-genres such as Romance, Horror, Science Fiction, Humor, etc.
- Nonfiction/Reference: All sub-genres of Nonfiction and/or Reference (Cookbooks, Guidebooks, Textbooks, How-To etc.)
- Inspirational/Self-Help: Spiritual, New Age etc.
- Memoirs/Life Stories: Biographies, Autobiographies, Family Histories etc.
- Early Readers/Children’s Picture Books: Stories told through a combination of text and pictures, generally written for children.
- Middle Grade/Young Adult: Stories written for a young audience but not told through a combination of text and pictures.
The competition is open to all English-language self-published books for which the authors have paid the full cost of publication, or the cost of printing has been paid for by a grant or as part of a prize.
All contest entrants must be aged 18 years or older or over the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which they reside.
One Grand Prize winner will receive:
- $10,000 in cash
- An interview in Writer’s Digest (March/April 2026 issue) and on WritersDigest.com
- A paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference, including a trophy presentation at the keynote
- A coveted Pitch Slam slot at the Writer’s Digest Conference where the winner will receive one on one attention from editors or agents
- Publication of an excerpt from their winning book on WritersDigest.com
One First Prize winner in each category will receive:
- $1,000 in cash
- Their name and the winning book’s title published in Writer’s Digest (March/April 2026 issue) and on WritersDigest.com
All Grand Prize and First Prize winners will receive:
- A one-year subscription (new or renewal) to Writer’s Digest magazine
- A one-year subscription to Writer’s Digest Tutorials
- 20% discount off purchases made at Writer’s Digest University
- A special graphic recognizing their winning status
Honorable Mention recipients will receive promotion on www.writersdigest.com and a special graphic for use in promoting your selection.
All entrants will receive a brief commentary from one of the judges.
Nonfiction Prize
Sponsor – Phoebe Journal
Deadline Date – 15-Mar-2025
Funding – $500.00
Program Information – View Details
The sponsor is now accepting submissions for the 2025 annual creative nonfiction contest. The winner will be published online this May in phoebe54.2.
phoebe welcomes and hopes to see literary and visual art from writers and artists of all races, ethnicities, national origins, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, genders, gender expressions, ages, abilities, military statuses, and other distinguishing identity traits. phoebe also welcomes and hopes to see literary and visual art from writers and artists of all genres, styles, and aesthetics. phoebe makes every effort to be open to all and closed to no one.
An entry fee of $7 is required. Applicants may submit multiple entries, but must pay an entry fee for each new submission.
The contest winner will receive $500 and publication in phoebe 54.2 (digital issue). Honorable mentions selected for publication will receive our standard contributor rate of $30 per accepted piece.
Poetry Pamphlet Award
Sponsor – Cinnamon Press
Deadline Date – 31-Mar-2025
Program Information – View Details
Cinnamon Press is accepting applications for the 2025 Poetry Pamphlet competition. Open to all poets – beginners and established writers – two authors will receive a publishing contract plus 30 copies.
Individual poems may have been published online or in magazines provided the writer retains copyright.
The poetry pamphlet competition is open to all writers. International entrants welcome Pamphlets co-authored by two poets are welcome.
The sponsor will award two authors a publishing contract plus 30 copies.
Phoebe Fiction Contest
Sponsor – Mason (George) University
Deadline Date – 15-Mar-2025
Funding – $500.00
Program Information – View Details
Every spring, phoebe hosts contests in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction, each with a $500 prize.
A submission consists of one piece of up to 5,000 words.
phoebe welcomes and hopes to see literary and visual art from writers and artists of all races, ethnicities, national origins, religions, sexes, sexual orientations, genders, gender expressions, ages, abilities, military statuses, and other distinguishing identity traits. phoebe also welcomes and hopes to see literary and visual art from writers and artists of all genres, styles, and aesthetics. phoebe makes every effort to be open to all and closed to no one.
The author of the winning submission will receive $500 and publication in phoebe 54.2 (digital issue). Honorable mentions selected for publication will receive our standard contributor rate of $30 per accepted piece.
Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships
Sponsor – Poetry Foundation
Deadline Date – 24-Feb-2025
Funding – $27,000.00
Program Information – View Details
The Poetry Foundation awards five Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships annually. Among the largest awards offered to young poets in the US, the $27,000 prize is intended to support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age.
Fellowships support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age.
Eligibility requirements are as follows:
- Applicants need to be between the ages of 21 and 31 in 2025. If you are turning 21 or are 31 at any time in 2025 you are eligible to apply.
- Applicants must be US citizens or currently reside in the US.
- Applicants should be able to demonstrate a clear commitment to poetry.
- One of the Poetry Foundation’s priorities when selecting the 2025 Fellows is to support poets who have not had substantial institutional support in their careers thus far.
Five fellowships in the amount of $27,000 each will be awarded.
Greg Grummer Poetry Contest
Sponsor – Phoebe Journal
Deadline Date – 15-Mar-2025
Funding – $500.00
Program Information – View Details
Phoebe provides an award for the best poem submitted, with the winning author receiving $500 and publication in phoebe.
Submissions may include three to five poems, totaling no more than 10 pages.
Entrants may submit multiple entries, but must pay an entry fee for each new submission.
The prize consists of $500. The winners of these contests, as well as honorable mentions, will be published in our spring online issue, 54.2. Honorable mentions, as well as visual art selected to appear in the issue, will be paid our standard rate of $30 per accepted piece.
Short Story Contest
Sponsor – On the Premises
Deadline Date – 28-Mar-2025
Program Information – View Details
On The Premises holds contests for short stories. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise provided in the contest rules. For this contest, authors are asked to write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which someone or something important to the story is not where it/they always have been, or where it/they would be expected to be located, or is in the process of changing location from where it/they have always been. The distance it/they have moved or is traveling is not important, but the move itself must be important to the story. Whether this change in location is an improvement or a problem is up to the writer.
On The Premises holds contests for short stories. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise provided in the contest rules.
All short stories must be between 1,000 and 5,000 words long. One submission per author per contest will be accepted. Stories must be in English. Stories must not have been published prior. There is no fee for entering the contest. No fiction aimed at readers younger than 12, no exploitative sex, no over-the-top grossout horror, and no stories that are obvious parodies of (or other uses of) well-known fictional worlds/characters created by other authors. Other than that, they’ll take anything from the most super-realistic literary drama to crazy farces (real-world or otherwise) to any variant of science fiction or fantasy writers can imagine.
Winners receive cash prizes and publication. The prizes are as follows:
- First Place — US $250
- Second Place — US $200
- Third Place — US $150
- Honorable Mention — US $75
Novelette Print Prize
Sponsor – CRAFT Literary
Deadline Date – 16-Mar-2025
Funding – $3,000.00
Program Information – View Details
For the CRAFT 2025 Novelette Print Prize, CRAFT is seeking submissions of polished novelettes from 7,500 to 15,000 words. The 2025 Novelette Print Prize will be awarded in January 2026. One grand-prize winner, chosen by ‘Pemi Aguda, and will receive $3,000, print publication, royalties, and twenty author copies. The winner will have the option of international distribution through drop-shipping at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and other platforms, earning fifty percent of royalties on their published novelette.
This prize is open to all literary fiction writers. Work should be written primarily in English, though stylistic code-switching/meshing is warmly welcomed. Submissions of novelette (novella) should be complete and cohesive, though may be organized into chapters or sections. A strict word count of 7,500 to 15,000 is a requirement. CRAFT will accept previously unpublished work only. Submission should be double-spaced and in Times New Roman 12.
Each entry will cost $30 and multiple entries will be welcomed. This prize is open to all literary fiction writers. International submissions are welcome.
One grand-prize winner will receive $3,000, online excerpt publication, print publication, twenty author copies, royalties, and a free class from The Loft Literary Center. ‘Pemi Aguda will also write a foreword for the print publication.
de la Torre Bueno First Book Award
Sponsor – Dance Studies Association
Deadline Date – 17-Feb-2025
Funding – $1,000.00
Program Information – View Details
The de la Torre Bueno First Book Prize is awarded annually to the best first book in dance studies published in the English language in the previous calendar year. All members of DSA are eligible for this prize, although membership is not a prerequisite. Books translated into the English language are acceptable, so long as they have been published during the Prize year. Books consisting in their entirety of previously published essays, reviews, or articles are not eligible. Edited volumes are not eligible. Authors who have previously published edited volumes as editor are eligible, as long as the nominated book is their first solo monograph. The award is for works published in the previous calendar year (2024). It carries a cash prize of $1000.
The de la Torre Bueno First Book Prize is awarded annually to the best first book in dance studies published in the English language in the previous calendar year.
The sponsor welcomes nominations or submissions from or on behalf of casualized and independent scholars, researchers, and/or artists.
This carries a cash prize of $1000.
