Submissions are open for a wealth of opportunities with a deadline of August 15 or August 16. Each contest offers a prize of $1,000 or more, or a prize of $500 with no entry fee—and one also awards two cases of beer. Cheers, writers!

Baton Rouge Area Foundation Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence: A prize of $10,000 is given annually to an emerging African American writer for a book of fiction published in the current year. The winner also receives travel and lodging expenses to attend an awards ceremony and participate in educational outreach events in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in January 2020. Anthony Grooms, Edward P. Jones, Elizabeth Nunez, Francine Prose, and Patricia Towers will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: none.

Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales Poetry Prize: A prize of $500, publication by Broadkill River Press, ten author copies, and two cases of Dogfish Head craft beer are given annually for a poetry collection written by a poet living in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, D.C., or West Virginia. The winner is expected to attend a reading and award ceremony at the Dogfish Inn in Lewes, Delaware, on December 14. Lodging is provided, but travel expenses are not included. Joseph Millar will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: none.

Grayson Books Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication by Grayson Books is given annually for a poetry collection. Robert Cording will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: $25.

Gulf Coast Barthelme Prize for Short Prose: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Gulf Coast is given annually for a work of short prose. Deadline: August 16. Entry fee: $20, which includes a subscription to Gulf Coast.

Indiana Review “1/2 K” Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Indiana Review is given annually for a poem or a work of flash fiction or creative nonfiction. Megan Giddings will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: $20, which includes a subscription to Indiana Review. 

Kore Press Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,500, publication by Kore Press, and 20 author copies is given annually for a poetry collection by a woman, trans, or gender-nonconforming poet. Erica Hunt will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: $28, with some entry fee scholarships available.

Red Wheelbarrow Poetry Prize: A prize of $1,000 and publication in Red Wheelbarrow will be given annually for a poem. The winner will also receive 20 copies of a letterpress broadside of the winning poem. Marilyn Chin will judge. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: $15.

TulipTree Publishing Stories That Need to Be Told Contest: A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a poem, a short story, or an essay that “tells a story.” The winner will also receive a two-year subscription to Duotrope and publication in the contest anthology, Stories That Need to Be Told. Deadline: August 15. Entry fee: $20.

Visit the contest websites for complete guidelines, and check out the Grants & Awards database and Submission Calendar for more contests in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction.

Earlier this year, quantum physicists succeeded in un-ageing a single, simulated particle, essentially moving it backward through time for one millionth of a second. The feat required so much manipulation and was considered so impossible for nature to replicate that scientists present it as reinforcement of the irreversibility of time. But what if the reversal of a single moment in time was possible? Write a personal essay that reflects on one moment in your life that you would do over, if you could. What actually happened, and what do you perceive as the long-term consequences if things changed? 

Catacombs decorated with bones in Rome, an underground reservoir in Istanbul from the sixth century, a former subterranean city in northern France with hundreds of rooms, chapels, town squares, and a bakery. In a recent National Geographic article, nine different historic sites around Europe that are located underground are rediscovered. Consider what strange activities might be unfolding at any given moment right under your feet. Write a story that takes place in an underground location. Have historical sites been repurposed for an entirely new function, or has something new been built? Is the atmosphere lively and bustling, or cool and foreboding?

“I wanted to leave behind speakers who succumbed to paranoia, emaciation, and sleep. More and more, there arose in me speakers who would self-emancipate, lurk and leap, bite and fight, and consume ravenously,” writes Justin Phillip Reed on the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog about the poems that came after finishing his book, Indecency (Coffee House Press, 2018). In his essay, Reed considers the figure of the monster in mythology—as a metaphor and an agent of dehumanization— and its relation to anti-Black constructions, and finds a revitalizing sense of urgency in confronting these ideas. Think of a current topic or personal situation that has been troubling and exhausting you for some time. Write a poem that combats succumbing to this conflict, one that lurks and leaps, bites and fights. 

Welcome to the United States of Writing Blog! I’m Justin Rogers, and I’ll be reporting from my hometown of Detroit, Michigan. I am a poet—check out my Poets & Writers Directory profile for more on that—and I work as a youth program coordinator at InsideOut Literary Arts organizing after-school creative writing programs and coaching youth teams for regional and national poetry slam competitions.

As a literary outreach coordinator for Poets & Writers, I’ve been tasked to further engage with the literary community in my city, let folks know about the tools and resources P&W has to offer (and there are so many), and report back about all that’s happening. Already so many faces have brightened up during my conversations with them about the Literary Events Calendar (where anyone can add events for free) and mini-grants offered through the Readings & Workshops program (find out how to apply here).

I’m excited to continue sharing with Detroit the information and opportunities that P&W offers and, on a personal level, to learn more about my city and the literary world at large. Check the blog weekly for my reports from the field. Looking forward to being your guide out in Detroit!

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Palette Poetry’s Emerging Poet Prize is currently open for submissions. In the spirit of the journal’s mission to “uplift and engage emerging and established poets in our larger community,” the award honors poets who have published no more than two full-length collections. The winner will receive $3,000 and publication on Palette Poetry.

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Using the online submission system, submit one document of up to three poems with a $20 entry fee by August 15. Eligibility extends to international poets writing in English. Visit the website for complete guidelines. 

This year’s contest will be judged by Kim Addonizio, whose books include the memoir Bukowski in a Sundress: Confessions From a Writing Life (Penguin, 2016) and the poetry collection Mortal Trash (Norton, 2017). The contest’s most recent winner is Victoria C. Flanagan, who won for her poem “In Response to My Mother When She Says Hearing Me Read My Writing’s like Hearing God.”

How much do you trust the Internet, and its users, to guide your life? For the last three years, data engineer and programmer Tyler Wood has set up a system online where thousands of subscribers watch a livestream of a plant and vote on whether or not it should be watered. Write a personal essay about an instance when you have trusted the knowledge or opinions of Internet strangers to provide information about something such as where to eat, what to buy, how to fix something, or how to navigate a place or situation. Did you have feelings of hesitation or did you trust the advice implicitly? 

Earlier this month, a New York City resident formerly from California posted on social media about his mysterious and shocking discovery of a perfectly intact burger from the West Coast fast food chain In-N-Out Burger lying in the middle of the street in Queens. Write a short story that revolves around a character stumbling upon an inexplicable, mirage-like object on the street, perhaps one that evokes particular nostalgia or poignant longing. Why does it resonate so deeply with your character? Does the discovery result in wild speculation and conjecture when attempting to explain the mystery?

What happens when your favorite children’s book character grows up and moves out? A piece for the UnReal Estate series on Apartment Therapy’s website imagines what the studio apartments of characters like Ramona Quimby and Nancy Drew would look like if they designed their homes as adults. Taking inspiration from this idea, envision a favorite book character’s home years after the events depicted in the story. Write a poem that describes this environment—the furniture, colors, lighting—reflecting upon how your understanding of the character’s personality and narrative arc are physically manifested in this imagined grown-up home.