A free poetry contest, plus 7 paying markets for short stories, true stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, and much more

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James McIntyre free Poetry Competition (20^th year)

Entry Levels: JK & SK, All School Grades & Adult

Guidelines: Maximum of (3) entries/person

Suggested Styles: Rhyming Verse, Diamante, Limerick, Haiku.

Lots of Awards – for best poems in different age groups and in different styles, plus several special prizes, awarded in the different age groups.

NEW - Canada 150 – Celebrating 150 years of Canadian History

NEW - Vimy Ridge – in Commemoration 100 years on. 

“Cheesiest Poem” Award  

J.C. Herbert Award - Best Long Poems about Ingersoll, Past or Present

Best Dairy Ode

Bonnie Mott Award - Best Poems about Local People (in Town of Ingersoll or area)

Deadline: April 28, 2017 at 4:00 p.m. Guidelines here. Entry form here.

No entry fee!

Submit your poems to poetry@ingersoll.ca In .doc or .docx file format.

Judges: Brian Henry will judge the Kindergarten through Grade 12 divisions. Brian is a book editor, writer, creative writing instructor and the publisher of Quick Brown Fox, Canada's most popular blog for writers.

Stephanie Gunter will be the judge for the adult division. 

 Note: Keep on top of all the annual writing contests in Canada. Order your copy or the Canadian Writers Contest Calendar 2017. Details here.

Chicken Soup for the Soul is seeking true stories and poems for seven new anthologies: My Kind of America – 101 stories about the True Spirit of our Country, deadline April 30, 2017; Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, deadline May 15, 2017; Positively Happy! 101 stories about Positive Thinking and Living a Happy Life, deadline May 31, 2017;  My Crazy Family, deadline June 30, 2017; Miracles and More, deadline Aug 31, 2017; Stories of Redemption, deadline Aug 31, 2017; Christmas and Holiday Collection – 2018, deadline: Oct 31, 2017.

Pays $200. Guidelines here.

Alaska Quarterly Review is a literary journal devoted to contemporary literary art, publishing fiction, short plays, poetry, photo essays, and literary nonfiction in traditional and experimental styles. It is published by the University of Alaska Anchorage in partnership with the Center for the Narrative and Lyric Arts. The editors encourage new and emerging writers, while continuing to publish award winning and established writers. Pays $50-$200 for prose; $10-$50 for poetry. 

Deadline: May 15, 2017. Guidelines here.

Lamplight is a quarterly for literary dark fiction, both short stories and flash fiction. “We are looking for the creepy, the weird and the unsettling. We do not accept stories with the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, serial killers, hitmen, cannibals, excessive gore or sex, excessive abuse against women, revenge fantasies. Length: up to 7,000 words. Pays 3 cents per word.  Reprints accepted at 1 cent per word.

Deadline: May 16, 2017. Guidelines here.

Griffith Review is designed to foster and inform public debate and to provide a bridge between the expertise of specialists and the curiosity of readers. We wish to give writers the space to explore issues at greater length, with more time for reflection than is possible under the relentless pressure of daily events. Our aim is to provide the opportunity for established and emerging writers, thinkers and artists to tease out complexity and contradiction and propose new ways of thinking and seeing. 

Griffith Review is currently seeking submissions for “Storied Lives – The Novella Project V: Pieces 10,000 – 25,000 words, either fiction or creative nonfiction that explores the personal tales of those whose exploits have made a difference. 

"We are looking for novellas, memoir, biography and reportage, from family stories that resonate down the generations, to individuals who forged breakthroughs, battled the odds and continue to shape and define the world. We are looking for narratives of those who intersected decisively with their times and left a trace that a beautifully written story can map.

"The lives may be big or small, imagined or real. Those we select for publication will be exemplary instances, with writing that embodies a coalescence of individuals and their times. We are particularly interested in stories about experiences that continue to inform the present day (even if from the deep past) – stories that sing on the page, that go beyond the bones of a life to a bigger picture."

Payment is negotiated, depending on length. 

Deadline: May 22, 2017. Guidelines here.

CICADA for ages 14+ is a YA lit/comics magazine fascinated with the lyric and strange and committed to work that speaks to teens’ truths. 

Currently they want fiction, poetry, comics, and essays on the theme of Aliens. “We love works about extraterrestrials and outer space, but we also encourage authentic and diverse works about immigration, gentrification, and feelings of otherness and dissociation. Not welcome: cultural appropriation.” Deadline April 27, 2017.

Also, fiction, poetry, comics, and essays on the theme of Puppets & Dolls. Around the world, puppets and dolls serve many purposes—children’s toys, storytelling props, decoration, conduits for the supernatural. How do we pull one another’s strings to get what we want? How do we project our feelings onto one another? How can this harm a relationship? Respectful works exploring manipulation/toxic relationships: great. Exploitative, explicit, or abusive works: nope. Also encouraged: works about totally non-metaphorical dolls and magnificent puppetry performances.  Deadline: May 27, 2017.

Guidelines here.

Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine has been around since 2008. “I want this site to be purely about love for fae and fairy tales,” says publisher Kate Wolford. Length: 700 – 3,000 words. Pays $30 for a story, $10 for a poem.

Upcoming themes: "Donkeyskin," deadline May 30, 2017;  “Emporers New Clothes, deadline July 30; “Godfather of Death," deadline Sept 30; “Elves and the Shoemaker, deadline Nov 30. Guidelines here.

See Brian Henry’s schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigating tip: For more paying markets, go to the Labels for this posting listed below and click on Paying Markets, or Best Paying Markets. In the list of Labels, you’ll also find a links to various other collections of postings.