A collection of writing competitions, prizes, awards and opportunities open for submissions throughout the year for adult writers residing in NSW, Australia.
SEPTEMBER
25 September: KSP Poetry Competition
Submit poems up to 50 lines on any theme for the chance to win 300 plus a weekend residency at the KSP Writers’ Centre in WA.
27 September: New England Thunderbolt Prize
The Thunderbolt Prize is a prestigious, nationally recognised, literary award for crime writers resident in Australia. Includes major prizes and a youth category for writers under 18yrs. Note word count limits: 2,500 words for Fiction & Non-Fiction. 60 Lines for poems. First prize in each category is $500.
29 September: The Wingate Award for Unpublished Manuscripts
The Wingate Award for Unpublished Manuscripts is dedicated to recognising outstanding contemporary Australian fiction and non-fiction that explore Jewish themes. The submitted excerpt must be between 8,000 and 10,000 words and the topic must engage in some capacity with the Jewish experience.
29 September: The Stringybark Past Times Short Story Award
Stringybark Publishing are proud to sponsor the Stringybark Times Past Award 2024. We have an award pool of over $1070 in cash and books to encourage you in this endeavour.
30 September: Aurealis
Aurealis is looking for science fiction, fantasy or horror short stories between 2000 and 8000 words from Australian and New Zealand writers, and non-fiction articles between 500 and 2000 words that would be of interest to readers of these genres.
30 September: Ian Wilson Memorial Fellowship
Established to support emerging children’s authors and illustrators who explore Australian voices and themes, the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust provides the successful applicant with accommodation, local support, and travel to Adelaide, providing creative time away from home for 21 nights in March 2025.
30 September: Anthology Flash Fiction Competition
Submit an original, unpublished flash fiction piece, written in English with a maximum of 250 words for the chance to win a €300 cash prize and the chance to be published in a future issue of Anthology.
30 September: Bridport Prize Memoir Award
Submit a sample of your memoir manuscript for the chance to win £1500, a year’s mentoring from The Literary Consultancy, valuable advice from an editor at John Murray, part of Hachette publishers and more.
30 September: Blacktown Mayoral Creative Writing Prize
Welcome to the Mayoral Creative Writing Prize 2024.
It is open to adults and children (aged 8 to 17 years) who live in Blacktown city. The poems and short stories must be works of fiction.
30 September: SD HARVEY Short Crime Story Award
Submit fiction or non-fiction crime stories of between 2000 and 5000 words for the chance to win $1000.
30 September: The Moth Nature Writing Prize
This prize is awarded annually to unpublished pieces of prose or poetry which best combine exceptional literary merit with an exploration of the writers’ relationship with the natural world. Top prize is €1,000 and a week at Circle of Misse in France.
30 September: Woorilla Poetry Prize
Enter the open section of this prize with poems up to 50 lines on any theme for the chance to win $3000.
30 September: The Letter Review Prize
The Letter Review Prize is awarded every three months in the categories of Short Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Unpublished Books. They offer a yearly Prize pool of $20,000
OCTOBER
1 October: Noosa Arts Theatre National One-Act Playwriting Competition
This playwriting competition offers a unique opportunity for the three finalist playwrights to see their new work performed on stage at the Noosa Arts Theatre during the One-Act Play Festival.
7 October: 2025 Peter Porter Poetry Prize
Australian Book Review’s Peter Porter Poetry Prize is worth a total of $10,000 and is open to unpublished poems of no more than 60 lines written in English. Five shortlisted poems will be published in the January–February 2025 issue.
8 October: The Westwords Prize
The WestWords Prize is a new publishing Prize that welcomes submissions from writers of fiction and narrative non-fiction who have a completed, previously unpublished manuscript, and who have a connection to Western Sydney. The winner of the Prize will receive a publication deal with WestWords’ Books, WestWords’ adult trade imprint.
10 October: NSW Literary Awards
The NSW Literary Awards are the richest and longest running state-based literary awards in Australia and cover all genres of writing, and traditionally-published as well as self-published works.
11 October: The Pearl Prize
The Pearl Prize is presented with Osborne and Fawkner Publishing and supported by Midsumma Festival. A writing award where Queer writers have a platform for self-expression through the writing landscape and into publication.
13 October: Griffith Review 87 No Place Like Home
This edition of Griffith Review heads out in search of home – what it means to us, why it matters and how it shapes our sense of self. Accepting submissions of non-fiction and fiction that responds to the theme, up to 4000 words.
14 October: Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize
Submit poems up to 50 lines for the chance to win $3000, with two highly commended entrants to be awarded $500 each.
15 October: Caledonia Novel Award 2025
An Edinburgh-based international writing competition for unpublished and self-published novelists, with a top prize of £1500.
18 October: Dorothy Shaw Young Writers Competition
The writing competition is in memory of Dorothy Evelyn Shaw, whose advocacy for deaf children to have equitable access to learning literacy is legendary.
25 October: The Writing Prize
The Writing Prize is for Australians forty years and under. The winner will receive $10,000 and their writing featured on www.writing.org.au. Entries can be from an individual or groups of two, three or four people.
31 October: 2024 Ernestine Hill Memorial Award
Submit a short story of up to $4000 words with an Australian Country theme for the chance to win $1000 and digital publication.
31 October: 2024 Rae Alison Cerhan Australiana Ballad
Submit a ballad (poem) of up to 100 lines for the chance to win $600 and digital publication.
NOVEMBER
2 November: Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Commonwealth citizens aged 18 and over can enter a short story of 2000-5000 words for a chance to win £5,000.
5 November: Odyssey Victoria Short Story Competition 2024
This year’s theme is “Regret” and must include a reference to alcohol or other drugs. First place wins $1000 and a one year membership to Writers Victoria.
8 November: Women Writers’ Queensland Marj Wilke Award
Open to Australian Women Writers over the age of 18 years, this short story award honours one of WWQ’s founding members, Marjorie Wilke. Up to 1500 words accepted with first prize $350.
15 November: Creative Writing Ink Short Story Competition 2024
Entries can be on any subject, theme or genre, up to a maximum of 3000 words. First prize is £1,000.
25 November: Boundless Indigenous Writer’s Mentorship
Presented by Writing NSW and Text Publishing with First Nations Australia Writers’ Network, Boundless pairs an emerging Indigenous writer from anywhere in Australia with an established Indigenous writer for a structured year-long mentorship.
30 November: Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition
The competition is open to original, unpublished and unbroadcast poems in the English language of 40 lines or fewer. The poem can be on any subject, in any style, by a writer of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. First prize is €2,000 plus publication in Southword.
30 November: The Bath Children’s Novel Award
A £5,000 international writing prize for un-agented emerging writers who may be unpublished, self-published or independently published.
30 November: Anthology Travel Writing Competition
Established for writers who like to share authentic travel experiences and open to original and previously unpublished travel articles in English by writers anywhere in the world. First prize of €500 and the winning entry published in Anthology magazine.
GENERAL JOURNAL & MAGAZINE SUBMISSIONS
Babyteeth Journal
Accepting submissions across many artforms, including poetry, prose and scripts.
Cordite Poetry Review
A quarterly Australian and international journal of poetry, criticism and research. Regularly open for submission of unpublished poems from Australian and overseas-based writers.
Frankie Magazine
A bi-monthly magazine welcoming submissions from writers that have their own individual voices, speaking their minds.
Griffith Review
Open four times each year, accepting submissions of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and occasional special projects.
HEAT Literary Magazine
Welcoming submissions of fiction, essays, hybrid forms and translated works, HEAT is published six times a year in a slim, intimate format, that throws sharp focus on the work of the featured authors.
Island Magazine
A not-for-profit premium Australian literary magazine of fiction, poetry, nonfiction and arts features. Looking to provide opportunities for new, emerging and established writers from Australia, New Zealand and Australians living abroad.
Mascara Literary Review
Currently accepting fiction and non-fiction up to 3000 words and reviews 1200-1500 words.
Meanjin
Currently closed, the next submissions window for Meanjin (Autumn 2025 issue) will be in late September 2024.
Meniscus
An online, free access literary journal publishing high quality, innovative poetry, short fiction, and creative essays in English, or in other languages with a good parallel translation. Meniscus publishes two issues a year: in April, and in October.
Overland Magazine
Accepting submissions of completed fiction and non-fiction articles and poems, 3000 words or less.
Quadrant
Accepts unsolicited, previously unpublished articles that fit within its general profile of a journal of ideas, essays, literature, poetry and historical and political debate.
Southerly
One of Australia’s oldest literary journals, Southerly accepts short fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, and academic essays from Australian and New Zealand citizens, or residents of Australia.
Westerly
Publishes short stories, micro-fiction, poetry, memoir and creative non-fiction, artwork, comics, essays and literary criticism. Currently closed for submissions for 2024.
Writing NSW publishes these free listings in good faith but does not endorse or warrant the accuracy of any information.