Your Ultimate Guide To Writing Contests For 2025

I first published a writing competition guide in 2022 and it was so popular, I've updated it for 2025 for this week's article. If you're a planner like me, I love outlining my year ahead, not just in terms of writing goals but also for literary events, writing competitions, authors I'd like to meet and so on - I love having stuff to look forward to! (That being said, some of the competitions below are currently open now for submissions with deadlines by the end of this year, 2024.)

Writing competitions are an incredible opportunity to get your work in front of industry professionals so in this week’s blog post I’ve curated a list of contests - most of which are an international competition - that you may want to consider as part of your author journey.

In fact you may (or may not) know that my own author career started as a result of winning a writing competition in 2016 which led to a 3-book deal. While it can be nerve-wracking to submit your work, the benefits far outweigh any discomfort, helping you understand where you need to improve, who the competition is, and what the publishing industry is looking for. 

If you win, there’s often a cash prize along with the prestige that comes from winning first place. However, even if you're not a grand prize winner taking home prize money, coming in second place, third place, or having an honorable mention in a literary magazine is a fantastic confidence boost. Imagine how good it would feel to share your winning story on social media!

So if you’re serious about your writing and becoming a published author, check out my round up of upcoming writing competitions, many of which have submissions open now. As many of you are from all around the world these are not just United States based; the majority of these are open to international entries. 

While this blog mainly focuses on adults entrants, for writing contests for college students, high school students, and young writers, I would suggest looking at the New York Times student contest calendar . There are lots of student writing contests to choose from, many of which are open to young people all around the world and they cover lots of submission types including personal essay contests, short story competitions, science fiction, letters, flash fiction, diary entries, songs, raps, and even visuals such as graphic novels and illustrations. Check out this link to see which might work best. 

The competitions covered below mainly focus on a work of fiction although in some cases you can compete with non-fiction or a poetry collection. Most writing contests require unpublished work and I'm sure I don't need to add that it must be your original work! 

When reviewing these competitions, please do check the terms and conditions carefully, focusing on requirements such as word count, minimum and maximum length, and what contact information should be added and where it should be included (usually, judges of an annual contest prefer to read submissions anonymously.) I've added entry fees in local currency and there are often options for fee reductions depending on your circumstances. 

So, here’s a list of writing contests for you to enter - best of luck!