Playwriting Contest - Deadline: October 31, 2009

Bloomington Playwrights Project
Reva Shiner Play Contest

Submission Period: Deadline: 10/31/2009

Eligible Entry: Entries for the playwriting contest must be unproduced and unpublished plays one hour and fifteen minutes to two and a half hours long.

Open to: No Restrictions

Entry Fee: $10

Prize: $500 and play production

Short Story Contest - Deadline: Oct. 15, 2009

Rosebud Magazine
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Prize for Imaginative Fiction

Submission Period: Deadline: 10/15/09

Eligible Entry: short story up to 4,500 words that takes literary and creative risks

Open to: Entrants do not need to be US citizens.

Entry Fee: $10 or $15 to include a copy of Rosebud magazine in which the winners appear

Prize: $1,000 and publication in Rosebud magazine

Free Science Fiction Contest Deadline: Sept. 30, 2009

L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest

Submission Period: Deadline: 09/30/09

Eligible Entry: unpublished science fiction or fantasy short story or novella, 17,000 words or less

Open to: Writers who have not had a novel or short novel professionally published.

Entry Fee: No Entry Fee

Prize: 1st prize: $1,000
2nd prize: $750
3rd prize: $500

Legitimate free writing contests are hard to find! Try it!

Free Short Story Contest Deadline: Aug. 16, 2009

Spruce Mountain Press; Ourpastloves.com
Past Loves Short Story Contest

Submission Period: Deadline: Aug. 16, 2009

Eligible Entry: true story of a past love, 700 words or less

Open to: No Restrictions.

Entry Fee: No entry fee.

Prize: 1st Prize: $100 and publication on the website
2nd Prize: $75
3rd Prize: $50

Free short story contests are a rare find. Why not try it?

Short Fiction Contest Deadline: October, 01, 2009

Zoetrope
Zoetrope All-Story Short Fiction Contest

Submission Period: Deadline: 10/01/09

Eligible Entry: short story, unpublished, 5,000 words or less

Open to: Any writer, in or outside the United States

Entry Fee: $15 per story

Prize: 1st prize: $1,000 and publication in Zoetrope Spring 2010 issue
2nd prize: $500
3rd prize: $250

Top 10 finalists will be considered for agency representation.

Short Story Contest Deadline Oct. 01, 2009

Boston Review
17th Annual Short Story Contest

Submission Period: 10/01/09

Eligible Entry: previously unpublished short story written in English, 4,000 words or less

Open to: No Restrictions.

Entry Fee: $20; $30 for international submissions

Prize: $1,500 and publication in the Boston Review

12th Annual Short Fiction Contest Deadline: Oct. 30, 2009

Manhattanville College & Inkwell Journal
12th Annual Short Fiction Contest

Submission Period: 08/01/09 - 10/30/09

Eligible Entry: up to 3 unpublished stories, 5,000 word limit

Open to: No Restrictions.

Entry Fee: $15 per story

Prize: $1,500 and publication in Inkwell