250+ Writing Contests to Enter in 2025

Eligibility & Restrictions

Your work must include line breaks, no prose poems. Must be at least 120 lines, not counting the title, partitions between stanzas, or paratextual elements– such as epigraphs or dedications– while no longer than, roughly, chapbook length.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Submissions should be double-spaced, with standard 1″ margins and should not exceed 15 pages. Poems should also be previously unpublished. Only one submission is allowed per person per contest.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The award is open to the public. Books must have been published in 2024 and must clearly contain a printed 2024 copyright. A member, author, or publisher may submit or nominate more than one title.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The submitted poem can be up to 70 lines. The Prize is open to anyone, from anywhere in the world. There are no style or subject restrictions: all poems welcome.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Open to full-length poetry manuscripts. Minimum 45 pages. No page limit. Poets at any stage in their writing life, published or unpublished, are eligible to submit. There are no citizenship limitations or requirements.

Eligibility & Restrictions

All translations must be original and unpublished and not assisted with AI. For poetry, you may submit up to five poems and their translations. For prose, just one work and its translation. Poems should not exceed one to two pages, be in size 12 font Times New Roman, and in a word doc. Prose should be no more than 500-2,000 words, be in size 12 font Times New Roman, and in a word doc.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Anyone can enter. Submitted poems can be of any length, subject, or style. Each contestant can submit up to three poems.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain there for at least another 12 months. Over the age of 18. Working on a full-length collection of poetry.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Submit up to 45 pages (double-spaced, MS Word for fiction or essay; PDF or jpeg for graphic narrative). Contest manuscripts should not have your name or other identifying information on any page. Please note that if your name is drawn into a panel of a graphic narrative, it should be blacked out.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Anyone can enter. Please send as much poetry or prose of which you are the sole author and that were not written earlier than 1999.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The competition is open to anyone, except Colorado State University students, alumni, and employees. Manuscripts must be at least 48 pages but no more than 100 pages. They may be composed of any number of poems. The theme and style are both open. Manuscripts may consist of poems that have been published, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Anyone can enter. Minimum 3 pages; maximum 10 pages. You can only submit one entry. Submission must be previously unpublished material. Students currently enrolled at San Francisco State University are ineligible.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Poets 35 years old and younger who have not previously published a book-length poetry manuscript are eligible. Poets who have previously published chapbooks are welcome to enter. Manuscripts that have been submitted in previous years may be resubmitted.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Submit 3 poems in a single file, any style, any subject, any length. Previously published work and translations are not eligible. Simultaneous submissions are accepted.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Each poet may submit 15–30 pages of poems in English only (no translations). Individual poems may be previously published in any format, but the manuscript as a whole must be unpublished as a collection.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Submitters may send up to five poems in a single document for consideration. Each poem must not exceed sixty lines. Prose poetry, experimental poetry, and poetry with a visual element are all welcome. Any submissions should be written primarily in English.

Eligibility & Restrictions

– All poems MUST be single spaced; 12-point font or larger. Handwritten poems will not be considered. – Only one poem per page. If the poem is continued on a second page, please include the title of the poem on the second page, and staple pages together. (No poem should exceed two pages.)

Eligibility & Restrictions

The book must be the work of a single author, at least 50 pages long, on any topic and in any poetry style. Manuscripts, videos, CDs, chapbooks, and self-published books are not eligible, nor are books that have already won an award. However, books that have won a pre-publication award by the publishing press remain eligible.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Books written by authors based in Northern California and published for the first time in 2024 are eligible for consideration. In the case of children’s picture books, the author of the text must live or be based in Northern California; the illustrator may live anywhere.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Poems must be original and previously unpublished work. They accept up to three poems from each writer as well as simultaneous submissions.

Eligibility & Restrictions

UIndy students will consider chapbook submissions of 15-40 pages in poetry or prose. Collaborative works (two or more authors) are eligible, as are mixed-genre works.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Who’s Eligible:Young Writers (13-19). Piece Length: 50-500 words

Eligibility & Restrictions

Poems cannot exceed 50 lines in length (including line breaks), and must include all five words listed for the week. A modicum of poetic license is acceptable, as long as the original spelling is intact. Poems should be newly written, during this 7-day period. There is no limit to volume of entries. Entrants should be at least 18 years of age at the date of submission.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Anyone can enter. The Minute Poem is a poem that follows the “8,4,4,4” syllable count structure. It must have 12 lines total and 60 syllables.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The Dorset Prize is open to anyone writing in the English language, whether living in the United States or abroad. Translations are not eligible for this prize, nor are previously self-published books.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Line Limit: 40 lines max. Theme: textura (‘texture, web, structure’). The prize is open to adults (18+).

Eligibility & Restrictions

You may enter as many poems as you like in each category, but you must submit to each category in separate documents. Please upload the poems in one document for each category.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The competition is for anyone aged 16 and over, from anywhere in the world. Poems must be in English, your original work, on any subject, in any style, no longer than 40 lines. Poems should have neither been published elsewhere (including self-published) by 16th April 2025.

Eligibility & Restrictions

The contest is open to K–12th grade students, ages 5–19. Students must be enrolled in school to be eligible. All entries must be submitted by a parent, guardian, educator, or facilitator unless the student is 18 years old or older. Poems should not exceed 32 lines in length (written) or 3 minutes (signed). For ASL poetry, please include a brief written summary of the poem’s content.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Anyone can enter. Submissions must be in English, unpublished and not concurrently entered for any other competition, and remain unpublished until the results are declared. Submissions should not appear in any print or online publication, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), or forums as the competition is anonymous. There is no limit on the number of submissions per competitor.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Entrants should submit a collection of poems. Manuscripts must be previously unpublished. Some or all of the poems in the collection may have appeared in periodicals, chapbooks, or anthologies, but these must be identified. Manuscripts must be at least 48 typed pages. The preferred length is between 60 and 100 pages.

Eligibility & Restrictions

Entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Individual poems in the submitted manuscript may have been published previously in magazines, journals, anthologies, chapbooks, or self-published books, but these poems must be submitted as part of an original manuscript and the author must retain copyright of the work.

Eligibility & Restrictions

They welcome submissions of up to four poems . If your work has been selected from an unsolicited submission and published in Southword before, they will ask that you please don’t submit for one year before submitting again.