Erika Dreifus

Each week in this space, Practicing Writing shares no-fee, paying markets for writers of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: competitions, contests, and calls for submissions. These weekly posts complement monthly issues of The Practicing Writer newsletter, where you’ll always find more listings, none of them limiting eligibility to residents of a single municipality, state, or province. (But this blog does share those more localized opportunities, including jobs.)

As always, if you’d like to share a specific opportunity listed here, please credit the blog for the find. Thanks for respecting the time and effort that I put into researching, curating, and posting this information! I do notice, and I appreciate the courtesy.

• From Ecotone, “the literary magazine dedicated to reimagining place”: “From January 20 to 25, 2022, Ecotone will be open to no-fee Submittable submissions from BIPOC writers only.” Payment: “Contributors receive an honorarium upon publication, two copies of the issue in which their work appears, and a one-year subscription beginning with the subsequent issue.” (Hat tip for this one to Shome Dasgupta.)
• “Due to the hardships many are facing during the pandemic,” the Hurston/Wright Foundation is waiving the application fee for its Crossover Award (sponsored by ESPN’s The Undefeated). “Named after the most common dribbling move in basketball, the Crossover Award, aims to highlight an unconventional winner who writes across genres and can effectively crossover between writing styles and techniques. The name also speaks to the potential of the award winner to transition from obscurity to the spotlight. This award will celebrate one writer who contributes a unique perspective to the literary nonfiction landscape and whose writing exemplifies The Undefeated’s ‘Not Conventional, Never Boring‘ mantra.” Essay submissions “should explore and illuminate the various intersections of culture and society through innovative storytelling, original reporting and/or provocative commentary.” Open to “unpublished, Black writers who are 18 years and older. Writers who have published books, including poetry books or fiction narratives, through any publishing platform, are not eligible.” Award includes $2,000 prize.  Deadline: January 31.
• Also fee-free this year from the Hurston/Wright Foundation: the Hurston/Wright Awards for College Writers, open to “emerging Black artists in fiction and poetry enrolled full-time in an undergraduate or graduate school program anywhere in the United States [including low-residency programs].” NB: “Writers who have published books, including poetry chapbooks or fiction narratives, through any publishing platform, including self-publishing platforms, are not eligible.” Cash prizes. Deadline: January 31. (Hat tip here to Galleyway.)
• Also with a January 31 deadline: Moniack Mhor’s Emerging Writer Award, which is “open to unpublished prose writers (fiction) living and working in the UK with a collection of short stories or novel in development. Writers can be writing for any age group (including children and young adults) and may have had excerpts or articles published in the past, but have not yet published any major body of work. We would particularly encourage applications from those who experience barriers to the writing process. Poetry, playwriting, screenwriting and works of non-fiction are all ineligible. Writers who have had a major body of work published in a form other than fiction are also ineligible.” Award: “a tailor-made package worth up to £2,000 including tuition via open courses, retreat time and/or mentoring at Moniack Mhor. One highly commended applicant will also receive a course or retreat.”
• Still another January 31 deadline: the Cave Canem Poetry Prize: “Launched in 1999 with Rita Dove’s selection of Natasha Trethewey’s Domestic Work, the Cave Canem Poetry Prize is a first-book award dedicated to the discovery of exceptional manuscripts by Black poets.” The prize confers “$1,000, publication by University of Georgia Press in fall 2023, 15 copies of the book, and a feature reading. Both the winner and runner-up will be invited to individual critique sessions with the final judge [Willie Perdomo].”
• For those living within a 50-mile radius of St. Louis: The Wednesday Club’s original poetry contest will confer prizes of $500, $300, and $150. Deadline: February 1. Postal entries required. Judge: Barbara Crooker. (Hat tip: Winning Writers.)
• From Jessica Kirzane, In geveb‘s EiC: “If you are a Yiddishist and funny, please send @ingeveb a Purim pitch!” Pays: $100; per further comment, “rough” deadline is March 7.
• You know what’s coming next Monday? The end of January! Which means that the February issue of our newsletter will be going out to you then AND that you should take one more look at the January issue for the many fee-free and paying opportunities that remain open to you there.
• From Joshua Roark: “Poets and Editors! Some big news—looking for a new Editor in Chief for @FrontierPoetry. Hit me up!” Part-time (20 hours/week), fully remote, “competitive pay.” (Hat tip for this one to Brenda Joyce Patterson.)
• The Beloit Poetry Journal seeks applicants “for a newly created Associate Editor (“AE”) position….This is a remote-work position, but preference will be given to applicants in the Boston-Portland (Maine) corridor where the Co-Editors are based. This role requires between 10-12 hours per week (varies depending on publication calendar) at $5,000 per year, paid quarterly.”
• At The New York Times (in NYC), “the Book Review has an opening for a preview editor who will assign and edit nonfiction reviews.” (Hat tip to Mandy Hofmockel’s Journalism Jobs newsletter.)
• Multiple job postings from PEN America.
• In Massachusetts, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown “seeks two full time seasonal Summer Program Assistants for our eleven-week program of nearly 70 inspiring workshops in creative writing and visual arts taught by award-winning faculty….This position assists in managing the Summer Workshops and Summer Project Residencies. Summer Program Assistants report to and work in collaboration with the Summer Program Manager. The Summer Program Assistant responsibilities relate to program operations and development, marketing, and hospitality. They and the Summer Program Manager are the primary contacts for both students and faculty, with the exception of faculty booking and scheduling.The position runs from May 30 – August 19, 2022. The work week is 40 hours per week, with 2 non-consecutive days off per week. Evening and weekend work required. Salary: $17/hr. Includes shared on-site housing.” Apply by February 14. (Note: The Fine Arts Work Center is also advertising for a Program Director.)
• Houston’s Writers in the Schools (WITS) is hiring writing teachers. “Writers are required to attend a minimum of 10 hours of professional development workshops, as well as planning meetings with teachers or WITS staff. Writers are paid an hourly rate of $60 per hour for teaching or leading workshops and $20 per hour for training. WITS Writers generally teach 2 to 6 hours per week in a given school year, and have the opportunity to work in Creative Writing Camp placements throughout the summer months. We are actively seeking bilingual writers who are comfortable teaching in languages other than English; Spanish instruction preferred.”
• In Pennsylvania, “Saint Vincent College invites applications for a tenured track faculty position in the English department at the Assistant Professor rank to begin Aug. 2022….Though the position’s specialization is open, concentrations in minority literatures, modern British literature, or fiction writing are preferred.”
• “The Department of English at Coastal Carolina University invites applications for a visiting writer specializing in creative writing with a primary focus in creative nonfiction. The one-year appointment will be effective August 2022 and carries with it the possibility of an additional one-year reappointment. The teaching load is a 3/3.”