The Jay Yes International Short Story Contest 2026 is a global writing competition created for unpublished writers aspiring to share their stories with the world. Participants are invited to submit original short stories between 2500 and 4000 words.
Exceptional entries may also be considered for further publishing opportunities with the contest’s publishing partner, Zero Degree Publishing. There are other benefits including podcast opportunities for winners and contributors of anthology. With no entry fee and driven by an inclusive literary vision, the contest champions a shared commitment to storytelling. The jury eagerly looks forward to discovering bold, moving, and truly jaw-dropping narratives from across the globe.
The American Association of Australasian Literary Studies (AAALS), together with the American Australian Association, welcomes submissions to our annual creative writing competition between 1-31 March 2026.
We invite entries in the following categories:
Poetry
Creative Prose
Indigenous Writers Poetry
Indigenous Writers Creative Prose
With the generous support of the American Australian Association, the winner of each prize will be awarded US$1000, plus publication in the journal Antipodes.
Have you written a novella in prose or verse? Or a hybrid novella that crosses genre boundaries? Enter the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) and Recent Work Press (RWP) ‘Novella Prize’ for your chance to win.
If you win you will receive: a written commendation from AAWP. This ‘tick of approval’ will see your manuscript assessed without delay. You will, effectively, leap to the top of the submissions pile. You will also receive a $500.00 cash prize and fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP (November 2026) where you will be invited to read from your work.
If your full manuscript is as robust as the synopsis and opening extract, you may secure a publishing contract with RWP: https://recentworkpress.com
Take advantage of this stunning opportunity. Fast track your writing journey in a fiercely competitive market.
In 2026, the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) and Westerly Magazine are offering a prize for Life Writing. We welcome submissions of autobiography, biography, memoir, and essays. We celebrate Life Writing as a rumination upon memory and experience and encourage creative and hybrid approaches.
The prize is open to writers at all stages of their journey; emerging and established writers are welcome to enter. The prize recognises excellence in nonfiction, creative nonfiction and hybrid modes of storytelling. Hybrid storytelling is broadly conceived as storytelling that crosses traditional boundaries of nonfiction and creative nonfiction and/or is experimental in form.
We invite you to send Life Writing submissions of up to 3500 words. The winner will receive a written commendation from AAWP, a $500 cash prize, a one-year subscription to Westerly, and conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP, where they will be invited to read from their work. Please see item 3 (Terms and conditions). The winner’s work will be considered for publication by Westerly.
We encourage you to take advantage of this stunning opportunity to celebrate diverse interpretations of nonfiction, creative nonfiction and hybrid modes of storytelling, and be welcomed into the thriving community of writers associated with the AAWP.
We are deeply interested in capturing a composite “picture” of what people are writing about. Now. Please send creative work—short-short fiction, “sudden” fiction, “sketchy” stories, creative nonfiction, poetry, as well as hybrid forms.
We are accepting submissions on the following scale: up to 400 words prose, 40 lines for poetry, 200 words for prose poems, and the equivalent for hybrid forms. Submissions must be previously unpublished. Please send your most polished work, without delay.
If you win you will receive a written commendation from AAWP and a $500 cash prize. You will have your work published on the Express Mediawebsite and receive a Voiceworks subscription. You will also receive fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP, where you will be invited to read from your work. Read the full terms of entry here
This prize is offered in partnership with the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF), and is open to translators at any stage of their career.
The winner receives a written commendation from AAWP, a festival pass to UWRF and accomodation for the duration of the festival (*Terms and Conditions apply, see below). In addition, you will receive fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP, where you will be invited to read from your work. The editors at Meniscus Literary Journal will also consider your work for publication.
Entries must be no more than 30 lines (poetry) or 3000 words (prose), and entrants can translate their own work into English. Entries must be accompanied by a ‘Translator’s Statement of Intention’ (up to 400 words) addressing the aims of the translation.
If you win you will receive: a festival pass to UWRF and accommodation for the duration of the festival (*Terms and Conditions apply, see below). In addition, you will receive fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP. The editors at Meniscus will also consider your work for publication.
Take advantage of this stunning opportunity to celebrate the craft of writing at Southeast Asia’s largest and most exciting literary festival. Be welcomed into the thriving community of writers within the AAWP. Enter your short story and make the most of this generous publication pathway and networking opportunity for emerging writers. Entries should not exceed 3000 words.
Enter your poem in the ‘AAWP/UWRF Emerging Writers’ Prize for Poetry for your chance to win.
If you win you will receive: a festival pass to UWRF and accommodation for the duration of the festival (*Terms and Conditions apply, see below). In addition, you will receive fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP. The editors at Meniscus will also consider your work for publication.
Take advantage of this stunning opportunity to celebrate the craft of writing at Southeast Asia’s largest and most exciting literary festival. Be welcomed into the thriving community of writers within the AAWP. Enter your poem and make the most of this generous publication pathway and networking opportunity for emerging writers.
Have you written a poetry collection, literary novel, short story collection or a hybrid work that crosses genre boundaries? Enter the Australasian Association of Writing Programs’ (AAWP) ‘Chapter One’ competition for your chance to win.
If you win you will receive: a written commendation from AAWP and a letter of recommendation to the University of Western Australia Publishing (UWAP). This ‘tick of approval’ will see your manuscript assessed without delay. You will, effectively, leap to the top of the submissions pile. You will also receive a $500.00 cash prize and fully subsidised conference fees to attend the annual conference of the AAWP (November 2026) where you will be invited to read from your work.
If your full manuscript is as robust as ‘Chapter One’ you may secure a publishing contract with UWAP: http://uwap.uwa.edu.au.
Take advantage of this stunning opportunity. Fast track your writing journey in a fiercely competitive market.
You must be an AAWP member, and you may enter as many times as you like.
The Prizes and Partnerships Portfolio is managed by AAWP President | Chair, Associate Professor Julia Prendergast, contactable directly at jprendergast@swin.edu.au
Got a question? Want to be on our focused Prizes email list? Email us at prizes@aawp.org.au
AAWP prizes have been ratified by Arts Law: ‘Arts Law was very impressed with AAWP’s attitude, which clearly demonstrated AAWP’s respect for writers.’
‘The second issue of Meniscus for 2025 features writers from around the globe composing short fiction, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and experimental works exploring and expressing aspects of being human, being in society, and being in the world. Some pieces deploy humour, some are manifestly tragic, some are imagistic and highly evocative. A surprising number of the contributions hone in on what it is to live with, or care for, someone with a serious illness (cancer and dementia being at the front of the line). Others pick up on how we live in both natural and built environments; on families, meals, and memories; on how our collective and individual pasts inform our present; and—perhaps inevitably—on conflict, and the corrosive nature of contemporary politics. As a set of prose and poetry works, they show how deeply satisfying is writing that combines sharp observation, a grasp of writing techniques, and a deep sense of empathy.
Also in this issue are the winning works from this year’s prizes offered by the Australasian Association of Writing Programs in partnership with the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival including the winning entries of the Emerging Writers’ for Prose, Emerging Writers’ for Poetry, and the Translators’ Prize. Congratulations to all who were shortlisted too, whose writing is well worth the reading.’
The new issue of Meniscus is crammed with poems and short stories and flash fiction, all of them reflecting the imaginations, voices and observations of writers who are doing what writers do: translating the world into text. The writers published here hail from across the globe: from the Americas, the UK and Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. They hold various identities, bring various levels of prior experience in writing, and work their genres in a multitude of ways. This stunning range of experiences and contexts mean they produce a kaleidoscopic swirl through the possibilities of language, the multiplicities of ways of telling, and the performativity enabled by creative writing, thinking and practice.
The American Association of Australasian Literary Studies (AAALS), together with the American Australian Association, welcomes submissions to our annual creative writing competition between 1-31 March 2025.
The competition invites entries in the following categories:
· Poetry
· Creative Prose
· Indigenous Writers Poetry
· Indigenous Writers Creative Prose
With the generous support of the American Australian Association, the value of these prizes has been increased. The winner of each prize will now be awarded US$1000, plus publication in the journal Antipodes.
Brought to you by the Next Generation Indie Book Awards (the largest book awards program in the world for self-published authors and independent publishers) and Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group
Submissions accepted: Short stories or poems in English (5,000 words or fewer)
Categories: 30+
Deadline: Thursday, February 27 2025
Prizes for winners: Cash awards, gold medals, digital promotional stickers, social media exposure, publication in the Anthology of Winners, and a complimentary copy of the anthology
This initiative is part of theNext Generation Indie Book Awards, which celebrates independent and self-published authors worldwide. We’re committed to providing a platform for writers to gain recognition and connect with a wider audience.
There are just ten days left to submit your entries for one of our seven prizes for writers and translators, brought to you by AAWP and our prizes partners.
Do you create work that lives in the category of: short story – poetry – hybrid writing – translation – under 25 writer work – creative nonfiction – manuscript chapter – novella? There’s a prize waiting to receive your entry.
These amazing prizes offer recognition and exciting opportunities for the winners, but every entry gives you invaluable experience in polishing and putting forward your best work.
TEXT editors are calling for paper abstracts and creative EOIs for a December special issue of the journal. The theme of the issue is “Writing from the Fringes”, and possible subject matter includes (but is not limited to) the following:
· Written perspectives from writers of colour
· Writers challenging neo-liberalism and patriarchy
· Writing from the shadow/y land of Gothicism
· Writing and reading Aboriginal Gothic literature/stories
· Writing to challenge/subvert gender stereotypes
· Writing and reading from positions of neurodiversity
· Writing and reading from positions of disability
· Thoughts and perspectives on reconfiguring Australia’s literary “canon”
· Writing through/about trauma and pain
· Writing through/about personal “hauntings”
· Writing through/about racism
· Writing through/about experiences of dislocation
· For love or money? Writing through socio-economic hardship
· Writing about diaspora and the immigrant’s/migrant’s experience
· The margins as a liminal space (place): What is happening there?
· (Re)writing history/perspectives from historical narratives, suppression, and oppression
· Exploring relationships with the more-than-human world (through written work)
· Writing that uses other englishes and/or languages other than English in English-based writing
· Writing from/through translation.
Abstract Submissions
Abstracts for scholarly papers should be 200 words and sent to the editors at textsifringe@gmail.com with the subject line: “EOI for Scholarly Submission”.
Final scholarly papers would be 6,000 to 8,000 words, per TEXT guidelines (including endnotes).
EOIs for Creative Submissions
EOIs should be sent to the editors at textsifringe@gmail.com with the subject line: “EOI for Creative Submission”.
Creative EOIs should include a 200-word synopsis/description of the proposed work and its relation to the special issue’s theme, as well as a 200 to 300 word- (10 to 20 lines) creative sample.
Final prose works would be 2,000 to 3,000 words or a conventional equivalent for script-based works. Poem sequences of up to 80 lines (500 words for prose poems) are also welcome.
The deadline for scholarly paper abstracts and creative EOI submissions is Monday 22 April.
RMIT University’s non/fictionLAB is proud to partner with Mekong Review to commission a new series of short, collaboratively-written literary works or criticism (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics work, book reviews etc) for publication in forthcoming issues of the international publication.
Mekong Review, under the managing editorship of Kirsten Han, is a quarterly English-language magazine of arts, literature, culture, politics, the environment and society in Asia, written by people from the region or those who know it well. From its founding in 2015 by Minh Bui Jones, its aim has been to provide a fresh perspective: one that covers Asian histories, lives and cultures through emerging regional voices. Its approach is close to that of publications like the New York Review ofBooks and the London Review of Books—that is, basing its writing around new publications of interest—but its view is distinctly Asian. Contributors are requested to please familiarise themselves with the content and style of Mekong Review.
In line with the publication’s position as a cosmopolitan and free press in Asia, this series will examine the notions of space and place through creative exchange and collaboration between writers from Australia and SE Asia. Questions that these pieces might consider/respond to include: What are the pressing conversations or exchanges we might have today about space, place, home, housing, belonging and/or unbelonging? How do writers understand and/or represent place and space? How does the politics of place inform our writing/art? What kinds of spaces do we create through writing? What opinions do we share or differ on regarding space/place phenomena? How might we approach the writing of place together from our respective positions?
Works will be commissioned IN PAIRS but published as a single work. We would like one writer to be based in Australia and one in the SE Asia region. You might like to discuss and debate a book, cocreate a poem, story or comic, review one another’s books, interview one another, or anything in between or beyond! It is up to you to choose your writing companion and approach.
There will be up to EIGHT works commissioned. Prose: 1000-1200 words; 50-60 lines poetry; comics up to half a page (dimensions W 24.96 x H 16.74 cm).
How to submit your EOI:
Interested contributors need to submit:
150-word abstract articulating the form and nature of the intended work
Bios for each author
A piece (or excerpt) of writing by each contributor in the form (e.g. fiction, review, poem)proposed in the abstract (or similar sample of writing).
Please submit the above to both Sree Iyer sreedhevi.iyer@rmit.edu.au and Kirsten Han kirstenhan@mekongreview.com by 20 January 2024. Decisions on abstracts will be made by first week of February 2024, and final pieces will be due on a rolling basis as negotiated with Mekong Review. *
*Please note that the first issue in the series (May) has a deadline of 20 March for final pieces. Please indicate in your submission if you would be able to make that deadline.
Industry-based writers (ie non-salaried practitioners without university affiliation) will be paid for their work.
