Writing Opportunities for December 2023

Here’s our gift to you this December: a curated list of literary submission opportunities that caught our eye that we hope brings you and your work publication victories!

(Want more opportunity listings like these? Then sign up for a "Repeat Offender" membership at our Patreon for only $12/month or higher to see our monthly shortlist of literary opportunities. You’ll also get access to video series, a members-only Discord channel, party invitations, and more!)

Smokelong Quarterly
https://smokelong.submittable.com/Submit
Deadline: Rolling
Prize: $100
Notification: up to 2 weeks

W.Y. BOYD LITERARY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MILITARY FICTION
https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/2/apply
Submission deadline: 12/31/23
Prize: $5k
”This award honors the best fiction set in a period when the United States was at war. It recognizes the service of American veterans and military personnel and encourages the writing and publishing of outstanding war-related fiction.”
(For novels)

Elegant Literature
https://www.elegantliterature.com/contest/
Submission deadline: 12/31/23
Prize: $3K
Submission fee: $10
”Write a story involving Wicked Wonderland, and a button.”
For new writers only -- all genres but leans to fantasy

Black Caucus American Library Association
https://www.bcala.org/awards-and-news/literary-awards
Submission12/31/23
$1k
For Black writers --- Categories are poetry collection, first novel, work of fiction, work of nonfiction (each category has $1k prize)

The Moth (Irish Lit Mag, not the storytelling organization))
https://www.themothmagazine.com/a1-page.asp?ID=9324&page=49
Deadline: 12/31/23
Prize: $6,572
Submission fee: $16
A single poem

The Sun's "Readers Write"
https://www.thesunmagazine.org/submit/readers-write
Deadline: 1/1/24
Prize: Publication and subscription

The Jack Hazard Fellowship
https://www.newliteraryproject.org/jack-hazard-fellowship
Submission deadline: 1/4/24
Prize: $5k
Notification: Early spring
For high school teachers

Steinbeck Fellowship
https://sjsu.edu/steinbeck/awards-fellowships/steinbeck-fellowship/index.php
Submission deadline: 1/5/24
Prize: $15k
San Jose State University fellowship to "complete a significant writing project"