Novel and Short Story Contests 2026–2027
Put together by the TypeTak team for fiction writers. Checked on October 24, 2026, and updated on the 1st of every month. Contests that have closed stay on the page with the month their next round usually opens, so you can plan a year ahead whenever you read this.
A writing contest is a call for entries judged by a panel, with prize money, publication or an agent meeting for the winners. This list covers fiction contests adults can enter in the US, UK, Ireland and online. It leaves out poetry, essay and student-only contests.
At a glance
Most English-language contests charge an entry fee, usually $15–35 or £8–33. Novel contests rarely want the whole manuscript. They ask for the opening, anywhere from 500 to 20,000 words, plus a synopsis. November is busy with novel-opening prizes in the UK, and the big serial-platform contests run in summer.
| Type | What you send | When most close |
|---|---|---|
| Novel-opening prizes | First 500–10,000 words and a synopsis | All year, many in Nov–Jan |
| Short story prizes | One complete story, usually up to 5,000–7,500 words | All year; Bridport and Fish in spring and autumn |
| Serial-platform contests | A story posted on the platform | Wattys in July, WSA January to September |
Open now
Sorted by deadline. Fees are per entry.
| Contest | Run by | Deadline | What to send | Fee | Prize | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BPA Pitch Prize 2026 | Blue Pencil Agency | Nov 1, 2026 | First 500 words, 300-word synopsis and a pitch | £15 | £500 and one-to-one meetings with 7 agents | Oct 24 |
| The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest | The Masters Review | Nov 8, 2026 | Novel excerpt under 6,000 words | $20 | $3,000 and agent review | Oct 24 |
| Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize | Galley Beggar Press | Nov 8, 2026 | Story up to 6,000 words | £11 | £3,000 | Oct 24 |
| F(r)iction contest | Brink Literacy Project | Nov 13, 2026 | Story of 1,001–7,500 words | $15 | $1,000 | Oct 24 |
| Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition | Writer's Digest | Nov 16, 2026 | Story up to 1,500 words | From $30 | $3,000 | Oct 24 |
| Deborah Rogers Writers' Award 2027 | Deborah Rogers Foundation | Nov 24, 2026 | 15,000–20,000 words of a work in progress | Free | £10,000 | Oct 24 |
| Letter Review Prize | Letter Review | Nov 27, 2026 | First 5,000 words of a novel, or a story up to 5,000 words | $30 novel / $25 story | $1,000 shared among 3–4 winners | Oct 24 |
| Bath Children's Novel Award 2026 | Bath Novel Award | Nov 30, 2026 | First 5,000 words of a children's or YA novel and a one-page synopsis | £33 | £5,000 | Oct 24 |
| Fish Short Story Prize | Fish Publishing | Nov 30, 2026 | Story up to 5,000 words | €24 | €3,000 | Oct 24 |
| Writers of the Future (Q1 of the contest year) | L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future | Dec 31, 2026 | SF, fantasy or light horror story up to 17,000 words | Free | Quarterly prizes | Oct 24 |
| The First 5K Novel Prize | Writing Magazine | Dec 31, 2026 | First 5,000 words and a synopsis | £27.50 | £5,000 and an agent meeting | Oct 24 |
| Exeter Novel Prize | Wordkitchen | Jan 31, 2027 | Up to 10,000 words and a synopsis | £23 | £1,000 | Oct 24 |
Writers of the Future says on its entry page that “AI is not accepted.” The Commonwealth Short Story Prize has moved the opening of its 2027 round to January 2027 while it reviews its entry rules on AI.
Annual calendar
These rounds have closed for 2026. They tend to run at the same time each year, so each moves back up to the table above when the next call opens.
| Month | Contest | 2026 round | What it is | Next round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge | Registration usually in January | Timed rounds with an assigned genre and subject | January 2027 |
| January–September | Webnovel Spirity Awards (WSA) | January–September 2026 | Serial contest on Webnovel | 2027, dates not yet announced |
| May | Bath Novel Award | Closed May 31 | Adult novel opening and synopsis | Spring 2027 |
| May | Bridport Prize | Usually closes late May | Short story, flash fiction and a first-novel prize | May 2027 |
| July | The Wattys | July 2–23, 2026 | Stories posted on Wattpad | Summer 2027 |
| August | Kindle Storyteller Award (UK) | Closed Aug 31 | Book published through KDP during the entry window, £20,000 | Summer 2027 |
| January | Commonwealth Short Story Prize | Moved | Unpublished short story by a Commonwealth citizen, free | Entries open January 2027 |
Serial-platform contests
On Wattpad and Webnovel you don't send a manuscript. You post the story on the platform and tag it for the contest, and the story has to reach a set length on the platform by the deadline. Plan how many chapters you want written before the contest opens, because posting on a schedule matters more than the closing date. Our Wattpad writing guide and Wattpad tags posts cover the posting side.
The Kindle Storyteller Award is different again: you enter by publishing the book through KDP during the entry window.
Before you enter
- Word counts are hard limits. Count the way the rules say. A novel-opening prize judges only the pages you send, so end the extract at a scene break and keep the synopsis to the length asked. Our manuscript format and novel word count posts have the details.
- Check where you can enter from. The Deborah Rogers award is for writers living in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth prize is for Commonwealth citizens. Most online contests take entries from anywhere.
- Fees are normal, and free contests exist. A fee of $15–35 is usual. A contest that also wants money to publish the winners is a different thing, so look the organizer up on Writer Beware before you pay.
- Ask whether simultaneous entries are allowed. Some prizes let you enter the same story elsewhere as long as you withdraw it once it's accepted, and others don't. Almost all want work that hasn't been published, and many count your own blog as published.
- Read the AI clause. Writers of the Future, Writer's Digest and several science fiction markets turn away work written with AI. We collect the wording contest by contest in Can you use AI to write a book?.
Feedback in TypeTak before you enter
Most contests don't tell you why an entry didn't place, so it helps to hear where your story loses a reader before you pay the fee. TypeTak is an AI writing editor where you write alongside an agent, and its feedback reads your pages and points out what to fix.
- What to fix, and how. Press Feedback on the editor toolbar and it reads the passage on screen and answers in this order: Overall impression, Evaluation by aspect, Strengths, Areas to improve. Each point in the last part says what the problem is, why it trips the reader and how to fix it.
- An opening that agrees with itself. The Consistency card checks the passage against its own timeline and logic and against the lore you've written, with any conflicts at the top.
- Repeated words caught on the page. The Style card highlights repeated words, sentence habits and clichés right in the text.
You make the changes yourself. To keep feedback from leaving line edits in the text, turn off Page revision with feedback under Settings > Agent.
If the contest has an AI clause, read it first to see whether it covers feedback like this. When the story's ready, paste it into the word counter for a final check against the limit.
FAQ
Are entry fees normal for writing contests?
Yes. Most English-language contests charge $15–35 or £8–33 per entry. Be wary when a contest also asks the winners to pay for publication.
Can I enter the same story in two contests?
Only if both contests allow simultaneous entries. Those that do usually ask you to withdraw the story once it wins or is accepted elsewhere.
Are there novel contests that only want the opening?
Most of them. The First 5K Novel Prize, the Bath awards, the Exeter Novel Prize and the BPA Pitch Prize all judge the opening pages and a synopsis.
Are there free writing contests for adults?
Yes. On this page, the Deborah Rogers Writers' Award, Writers of the Future and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize are free to enter.
Revision log
- 2026-10-24 — First published
Sources
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