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.

• Quick reminder that mid-month is a great time to ensure that you’ve perused the December issue of The Practicing Writer 2.0 for all of the still-open, fee-free, paying/funded opportunities across poetry/fiction/creative nonfiction. And don’t forget the latest Monday posts here on Practicing Writing, either!
• The deadline is today (December 16) for Oregon residents who might wish to contribute to the spring 2025 issue of Oregon Humanities (theme: “Bloom”). “All contributors are paid between $750 and $1,500, depending on the length and complexity of the piece.”
• For Vermont residents and students: The Vermont Writers’ Prize is open for submissions until January 1. “We look forward to reading your essay, short story, play or poem. It must be on one central topic – Vermont! Whether it is about its people, its places, its history or its values — the choice is yours! There will be a winner for prose and a winner for poetry, and each will receive a cash prize of $1,250. The winning pieces will be published in Vermont Magazine.”
• For poets who are also “full-time year-round residents of New York State and/or Indian Nations therein”: Applications for residencies at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts are due January 5. (Prose categories this cycle do not include fiction/creative nonfiction, although playwriting and screenwriting are eligible.) Note the availability of shorter residencies for parents/caregivers. Residency awards include stipends.
• The New Republic “is looking for an experienced temporary Literary Editor with expertise editing long-form criticism to join our team 25 hours a week for six months, from roughly mid-February to mid-August.” Compensation: “Annual salary will be commensurate with experience; the range is between $70,000 and $80,000. ” NB: For this remote position, “applicants must be based in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Illinois, or Washington, D.C.” Deadline: January 10. 
• At the University of Minnesota, they’re hiring temporary, part-time MFA Admissions Readers. Compensation: “$25.00 – $35.00 hourly; depending on education/qualifications/experience.”
• At Grinnell College in Iowa, “the Department of English invites applications for a one-year term contract with the possibility of renewal appointment in Creative Writing beginning Fall 2025. Assistant Professor (Ph.D.) preferred; Instructor (ABD) or Associate Professor possible. Research and teaching interests might include, but are not limited to: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Screenwriting or Television writing. Term contract renewals are subject to departmental and college priorities and budget availability.”
• At the Ohio State University, they’re advertising for a Visiting Assistant Professor of English (Poetry) and a Visiting Assistant Professor of English (Fiction).