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| © Susi Schaefer |
Submitting your work to contests and awards is a great way to get your work noticed. Here's a list of submission opportunities for children's writing and illustrating. We normally only list contests that do not require an entry fee.
Also, check out these other compilations of contests:
- Sub It Club's monthly lists of contests (see their contest roundup calendar)
- Funds for Writers
- Lee & Low's roundup of Awards & Grants for Authors of Color
- Institute for Children's Literature runs contests (for fee)
- Poet & Writer's Database of Writing Contests (includes fee contests)
Before entering a contest, pay attention to warning signs:Writing Contests are Important: How to Choose the Right Ones from the Scams; Awards Profiteers: How Writers Can Recognize Them and Why They Should Avoid Them
Twitter Pitch contests & 1st Five Pages Workshop by Adventures in YA Publishing
Most Popular Twitter Pitch Parties
James Cross Giblin Scholarship for Highlights Foundations courses
Four on 400 (every month, deadline 5th day of each month)
What I Gained from Contests (Besides my Agent)
Draw This!
Most Popular Twitter Pitch Parties
James Cross Giblin Scholarship for Highlights Foundations courses
Four on 400 (every month, deadline 5th day of each month)
- What: Comment on the contest announcement on the 4th of each month for a chance to submit your first 400 words of an MG or YA ms
- Prize: Winner's entry will be posted on blog & critiqued by four members of The Winged Pen
What I Gained from Contests (Besides my Agent)
Draw This!
- What: monthly illustration challenge with a prompt, due 20th of each month
- Who: SCBWI members
- Prize: winning pieces featured in SCBWI's monthly newsletter
ONGONG
- What: apply for emergency funds during the pandemic
- Who: people of color in the children's publishing industry (agents, editors, authors, illustrators) who've been furloughed or lost their jobs
- Award: emergency funds
JUNE
May 31 - June 30 We Need Diverse Books Walter Grant
- What: apply for one of ten $2,000 grants (apply by June 30 or first 300 applicants, whichever comes first)
- Who: diverse, unpublished writer or illustrator (PB thru YA)
- Prize: $2000 grant
JULY
AUGUST
- What: Submit a middle grade manuscript reflective of a diverse background, with an emphasis on #ownvoices
- Who: anyone over age 18
- Prize: $1,000, a manuscript critique, and consideration for acquisitions
July 3 Open Call for "If" Poems
- What: submit a poem beginning with the word "if" for consideration in a poetry anthology edited by Charles Waters and Irene Latham, for children 4-8 years old
- Award: publication in picture book anthology to be published by Candlewick
July 6 Picture Book Boot Camp 2020 with Pat Cummings
- What: apply for a three-session workshop with two editors (from Chronicle & Random House) and an agent (Marietta Zacker) to polish a picture book manuscript
- How: submit 200 word writing sample, 10 participants will be chosen ($300 fee for workshop)
July 1-31 The Ampersand Prize
- What: submit your unpublished MG or YA manuscript
- Who: unpublished writers from Australia and New Zealand
- Award: a publishing contract with advance against royalties
AUGUST
Aug. 1 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Grant
- What: apply for a grant to help complete a novel-in-progresss
- Who: writers of a published novel for children or teens who've gotten good reception but not significant sales
- Prize: $5,000
- What: design a website banner for Kidlit411
- Prize: 1st place: $150 + Illustrator Spotlight & display of banner; 2nd place: $100 + Illustrator Spotlight & display of banner; 10 honorable mentions: Illustrator Spotlight & display of banner
Aug. 31 Lee & Low New Voices Award
- What: submit your unpublished picture book manuscript under 1500 words (fiction, nonfiction or poetry) addressing the needs of children of color or Native Americans
- Who: un-agented writers of color or Native Americans who have not traditionally published a picture book
- Prize: Award winner: $2,000 plus standard publication contract, Honor winner: $1,000
Aug. 31 Lee & Low New Visions Award
- What: submit your unpublished middle grade or YA novel or graphic novel addressing the needs of children of color or Native Americans (MG < 75,000 words, YA < 95,000); submissions must be exclusive
- Who: un-agented writers of color or Native Americans who have not traditionally published a novel
- Prize: Award winner: $2,000 plus standard publication contract, Honor winner: $1,000
