Here comes July! Oh my actual god.
Lockdown’s easing but your subbing habit’s definitely not.
We’ve put together over 70 writing competitions, calls for submission, and excellent things with deadlines in July, many of them free-to-enter and with cash and publication up for grabs.
If you need a bit of creative pep and motivation, join our #Submit2020 challenge, and for all your other writing needs, we’ve got you covered.
So browse our fine selection of listings, get writing and send your work out!
Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Line limit: 30 lines
Prizes: adult: $1,000 / 13-18: $200 / under-12: $200
Entry fee: adult: $15 / 13-8 $5 / under-12: FREE
Theme: positive visions of peace and the human spirit
More details and submission info HERE
The Binge Watching Cure
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word count: 100-25,000 words
Payment: $100
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Science Fiction
More details and submission info HERE
Conium Review Innovative Short Fiction Contest
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word limit: 7,500 words
Prizes: $500
Submission fee: $15
More details and submission info HERE
Great American Fiction Contest
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word count: 1,500-5,000 words
Prizes: $1,000 plus publication/ five runners-up will receive $200 plus online publication
Entry Fee: $10
More details and submissions info HERE
Harper Collins Diverse Voices Open Inbox
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Requirements: 30,000 – 75,000 word manuscript of literature for middle-grade audience (aged 8-12) in any genre or format.
Prize: $1,000, Editorial feedback from a panel of HarperCollins editors in writing, including an edit letter and a thirty-minute phone consultation. Consideration for publication by the HarperCollins Children’s Books’ acquisitions group.
Entry Fee: FREE
More details and submissions info HERE
The Novel Award
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word count: minimum 30,000 words
Prize: $10,000 advance plus publication
Entry Fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
Of Words Anthology
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word limit: 3,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Notes: must include an election or voting process in the story.
More details and submission info HERE
Penfro Poetry Competition
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Line limit: 40 lines
Prize: 1st: £300 / 2nd: £100
Entry fee: £5
Theme: Loving the Earth
More details and submission info HERE
Pennine Ink Writers Competition
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word Limit: 500 words
Prize: £50 plus publication
Entry Fee: £3
Notes: Image prompt on website
More details and submission info HERE
People of Colour Destroy Lovecraft
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word count: 350 – 1,500 words
Payment: 750-1,500 words: $10 / 350 – 749 words $5
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: POC characters that turn Lovecraft’s racism and monsters on his/their heads. Preference for submissions from writers of colour.
More details and submission info HERE
Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Requirements: a completed half-hour to one-hour English-language television drama script
Prize: $2,500, a trip to New York City, and an invitation to the International Emmy® Awards Gala in November.
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes: The competition is designed to motivate non-American novice writers under the age of 30.
More details and submissions info HERE
Streetcake Experimental Writing Prize
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word limit: short stories of up to 2,500 words, poems of up to 3 a4 pages
Prize: mentoring and publication
Entry Fee: £1
Notes:The contest is open to writers aged 18-30
More details and submissions info HERE
Still Point Arts Quarterly
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word limit: 5,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: The secret life of objects
Notes: accepting submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, essays and poetry.
More details and submission info HERE
Writer Shed Press
Deadline: 1st July 2020
Word limit: 2,500 words
Payment: $20
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Love and sacrifice
Notes: open to essays, creative nonfiction, fiction and poetry
More details and submission info HERE
V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize
Deadline: 3rd July 2020
Word limit: 2,000-4,000 words
Prize: £1,000 plus publication
Entry fee: £7.50
Notes: entrants must be resident in the UK, Republic of Ireland or Commonwealth.
More details and submission info HERE
Curtis Brown Write from Home Scholarship
Deadline: 5th July 2020
Requirements: first 3,000 words of a novel in progress, with a one page synopsis
Prize: one fully paid place on a Three-Month Online Novel-Writing Course
Entry fee: FREE
Notes: eligibility criteria HERE
More details and submission info HERE
Liar’s League
Deadline: 5th July 2020
Word limit: 800-2,000 words
Prize: a professional reading at a live event
Entry fee: FREE
Theme: women & girls
Notes: both author and protagonist(s) MUST be women (or girls)
More details and submission info HERE
In Parentheses Open Submissions
Deadline: 6th July 2020
Word Limit: Prose: 1,000 words / Poetry: up to 5 pages
Entry Fee: FREE
Theme: mission and motive
More details and submissions info HERE
The HG Wells Short Story Competition
Deadline: 6th July 2020
Word Limit: 1,500 – 5,000 words
Prizes: There are two competitions: The Margaret and Reg Turnill Competition for young writers of 21 years and under, for which the prize winner receives £1,000, and a competition for the over 21s which offers The Grand Prize of £500.
Entry Fee: Over 21s: £10/Students: £5/under-21s: FREE
Theme: “Vision”
More details and submissions info HERE
Scottish Book Trust Writers Awards
Deadline: 8th July 2020
Word limit: Prose: 3,500 words / Poetry: 200 lines
Prize: £2,000, a writing retreat and career development
Entry fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
2020 Alternate Endings
Submission period: 5th – 10th July 2020
Word limit: 1,000 words (up to 3 pieces) of speculative flash fiction
Payment: $80
Submission fee: FREE (optional donations to the Black Lives Matter movement)
Notes: looking for stories from BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of colour) writers who re-envision the future
More details and submission info HERE
Saw it Here First Productions
Deadline: 10th July 2020
Requirements: short plays of 10-15 minutes
Submission fee: FREE
Notes: looking for plays about subjects other than COVID-19
More details and submission info HERE
Write by the Sea Writing Competition
Deadline: 10th July 2020
Word Limit: Fiction/Memoir: 3,000 words/Poetry: 40 lines
Prizes: 1st prize: €500/two category winners: €250
Entry Fee:€10 for one entry, €25 for three
Theme: “Waves”
More details and submission info HERE
The Year of the Virus Anthology
Deadline: 10th July 2020
Word limit: 7,500 words
Payment: $50 + a free copy of the anthology
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: viruses / pandemic
More details and submission info HERE
Capsule Stories
Deadline: 12th July 2020
Word limit: Fiction: 3,000 words / Poetry: up to 5 poems
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: burning up / autumn
More details and submission info HERE
Litro Magazine
Deadline: 12th July 2020
Word limit: 4,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: the macabre
More details and submission info HERE
Globe Soup Short Story Competition
Deadline: 12th July 2020
Word count: 5,000 words
Prize: £1,000
Entry fee: £8
Notes: Stories must be set in a particular country. Which country is revealed after you enter.
More details and submission info HERE
Mason Street Review
Deadline: 12th July 2020
Word limit: 4,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Thrills! Mystery! Suspense!
More details and submission info HERE
The Other Stories
Deadline: 14th July 2020
Word count: 2,000 (or 10% either way)
Payment: $5
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Immortality
Notes: If accepted, we’ll get our fantastic narration team to lend their voices, our editor will sprinkle some magic pixie dust on the track, and you could have your story heard by thousands of listeners each week.
More details and submission info HERE
Bellevue Literary Review BLR Prize
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Word limit: 5,000 words
Prize: $1,000
Entry fee: $20
Theme: health, healing, illness, the mind, and the body.
More details and submission info HERE
Chipper Press: Zombie Diaries
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Word count: 4,500 – 17,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Short stories from the point of view of the zombie
More details and submission info HERE
Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Word limit: 1,200 words
Prizes: 1st: £200 / 2nd: £100 / 3rd: £50
Entry fee: £5
More details and submission info HERE
John Locke Institute Essay Competition
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Prizes: 1st prize: Junior Fellowship worth £500/subject category winners £100
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes: Open to under-18s only. Essay questions can be found here.
More details and submission info HERE
Nowhere Spring Travel Writing Prize
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Word count: 800-5,000 words in any genre
Prize: $1,000 plus publication
Entry Fee: $15
More details and submissions info HERE
Pure Slush: Wrong Way Go Back
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Word count: 150 – 1,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: regret, u-turn, turning back, making changes
More details and submission info HERE
Rattle Poetry Prize
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Line Limit: none
Prizes: 1st prize: $15,000/Finalists: $500
Entry Fee: one-year subscription to Rattle ($25)
More details and submission info HERE
This Sentence Starts the Story
Deadline: 15th July 2020
Prize: $100
Submission fee: FREE
Notes: must begin with the words “Give me twenty”. All writers will receive feedback for their submission.
More details and submission info HERE
Ledbury Poetry Festival Poetry Competition
Deadline: 16th July 2020
Line Limit: 40 lines
Prizes: 1st prize: £1000 cash and a residential course at Ty Newydd Writing Centre plus category prizes
Entry Fee: Adults: £5.75 for the first poem, £3.50 for each additional poem. Children/Young People: First poem free, £1.75 for each additional poem.
Notes: categories for adults (18+), young people (12-17 years) and also children (11 and under).
More details and submission info HERE
Michael Mullan Cancer Fund Writing Competition
Deadline: 16th July 2020
Word Limit: Short story: 2,000 words/Flash fiction: 500 words/Poetry: 40 lines
Prizes: Short story: €200/€50 / Flash fiction: €100/€50 / Poetry: €100/€50
Entry Fee: Short story: €15/Flash/poetry: €10
Notes: all entry fees go to the Michael Mullan Cancer Fund.
More details and submission info HERE
The Stephen Spender Prize
Deadline: 17th July 2020
Requirements: translations of any poem in any language into English – max. 60 lines plus a commentary of up to 300 words
Prize: 1st: £1,000 / 2nd: £750 / 3rd: £500
Entry fee: £8
Notes: separate categories for under-18s and adults
More details and submission info HERE
Chesil Theatre: Take Ten
Deadline: 18th July 2020
Requirements: play of no more than ten minutes
Prizes: winning ten plays to be performed at Chesil Theatre
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: The road not taken
More details and submission info HERE
Staunch Novel Prize
Deadline: 20th July 2020
Requirements: first 5,000 words plus one-page synopsis
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes:Open to thrillers in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.
More details and submission info HERE
Staunch Short Story Prize
Deadline: 20th July 2020
Word count: 500 – 3,500 words
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes:Open to short stories in the thriller genre in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.
More details and submission info HERE
Staunch Flash Fiction Prize
Deadline: 20th July 2020
Word limit: 300 words
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes:Open to flash fiction in the thriller genre in which no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped or murdered.
More details and submission info HERE
Hi 20:20 Short Story Competition
Deadline: 20th July 2020
Word count: 1,000-1,500 words
Entry Fee: £6
Notes: writing in the following genres: adventure/travel, thriller, romance, science/fantasy.
More details and submission info HERE
Lazuli Literary Group Writing Competition
Deadline: 22nd July 2020
Requirements: open to all genres, no word count
Prize: $200
Submission fee: $15
More details and submission info HERE
Tick Tock 500-word Fiction Anthology
Deadline: 23rd July 2020
Word count: exactly 500 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: time travel
More details and submission info HERE
Constellate Magazine
Deadline: 25th July 2020
Word limit: 3,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: nature
More details and submission info HERE
Hawk Mountain Short Story Collection Award
Deadline: 30th July 2020
Requirements: full manuscript of an original short story collection
Prize: $1,000 plus publication
Entry Fee: $20
More details and submission info HERE
Pop-up: 10 Stories to Make a Difference
Deadline: 30th July 2020
Word limit: 750 – 3,000 words of children’s literature
Prize: £500 plus illustration and publication
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: difference
Notes: open to entrants under 26 years old
More details and submission info HERE
Amsterdam Quarterly
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 3,000 words
Entry fee: FREE
Theme: choices
More details and submission info HERE
Anthology Magazine Short Story Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 1,500 words
Prize: €300, hotel stay, trophy and subscription to Anthology Magazine
Entry fee: €15
Theme: friendship
More details and submission info HERE
Beechmore Arts Journalism Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 1,000 words
Prize: 1st: £200 plus publication 2nd: £100 plus publication
Entry Fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
Beechmore Life Writing Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 1,000 words
Prize: 1st: £200 plus publication 2nd: £100 plus publication
Entry Fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
Broken River Prize
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Requirements: 35-50 page poetry manuscript
Prize: £200 plus publication
Entry fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
Budapest Prose Anthology
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 1,000-5,000 words
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes: stories must be set in Budapest
More details and submission info HERE
Casa Africa Essay Prize
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 15,000-20,000 words
Prize: €2,000
Entry Fee: FREE
Theme: Climate change in Africa
More details and submission info HERE
Dreich Chapbook Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Requirements: 20-poem chapbook
Prize: publication
Submission fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
Fiction Factory Flash Fiction Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 1,000 words
Prizes: 1st: £150 / 2nd: £50 / 3rd: £25
Entry fee: £5
More details and submission info HERE
Forever Endeavour Charity Short Story Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 1,000 – 3,000 words
Prizes: £100
Entry fee: £5-£10
More details and submission info HERE
Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Line limit: none
Prize: 15 winners: publication plus Arvon residential course, 85 runners-up: online publication
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes: open to 11-17 year-olds
More details and submission info HERE
Hissac Flash Fiction Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 500 words
Prize: 1st: £200 / 2nd: £75 / 3rd: £50
Entry fee: £5
More details and submission info HERE
Hissac Short Story Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 2,000 words
Prize: 1st: £200 / 2nd: £75 / 3rd: £50
Entry fee: £5
More details and submission info HERE
John McGahern Award
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Requirements: cover letter, biography and 3 x writing samples
Prize: a two-week fully resourced residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and a stipend of €1,000
Entry Fee: FREE
Notes: This is an open call to early career writers of fiction resident in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. Applicants must have had some fiction or short stories published in a recognised journal or anthology selected by an established publisher or editor.
More details and submission info HERE
Lucent Dreaming Flash Fiction Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 800 – 1,500 words
Prizes: 1st: £100 / 2nd: £50 / 3rd: £25
Entry fee: £4 / FREE for low-income writers
More details and submission info HERE
Mainstream: an Anthology of Stories from the Edges
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 2,500 words
Payment: £100 plus publication
Submission fee: FREE
Notes: please include a short statement on why you are an ‘outsider’
More details and submission info HERE
Poetry London Mentoring Scheme
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Requirements: sample of up to three poems plus application
Prize: one year free one-to-one mentoring, plus travel bursary
Entry Fee: FREE
More details and submission info HERE
The Robert Graves Poetry Prize
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Line limit: 40 lines
Prizes: 1st prize: £1,000/Runners up: £100
Entry fee: £5/free for under-19s
Notes: to be awarded at Wimbledon BookFest in October
More details and submissions info HERE
Stone Crop Review
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 500 – 5,000 words
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: fauna
More details and submission info HERE
Understorey Magazine
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word count: 1,500 words
Payment: $50 – $100
Submission fee: FREE
Theme: Gender & technology
Notes: open to Canadian women writers
More details and submission info HERE
Walter Swan Poetry Prize
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Line limit: 30 lines
Prizes: 1st: £200 / 2nd: £100 / 3rd: £75
Entry fee: age 25+: £6 / 18-25: £3
Theme: ‘a kindness’
More details and submission info HERE
Wild Atlantic Words Short Story Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Word limit: 3,000 words
Prize: 1st: €500 2nd: €250
Entry Fee: €10
Notes: Open to writers who are Irish or resident in Ireland.
More details and submission info HERE
Winchester Poetry Prize
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Line limit: 40 lines
Prize: 1st: £1,000 2nd: £500 3rd: 250
Entry Fee: £5 for first poem, £4 for subsequent poems
Notes: Additional prize for best Hampshire-based poet.
More details and submission info HERE
The Writers Bureau Poetry Competition
Deadline: 31st July 2020
Line limit: 40 lines
Entry fee: £5
Prize: a Writers Bureau course of your choice
More details and submission info HERE
If you have a writing competition or opportunity to add to our August listings, contact [email protected] before the 31st of July.
Please note: We rarely list contests with an entry fee of over £20 (with the exception of scriptwriting and chapbook competitions) unless they also offer free entries for low income writers.
