Sponsor/Host: Moonlight (moonlight.ink)

Category: Horror flash fiction

Submission length: 2-5 short "bubbles" (sentences), across up to 5 chapters

Entry fee: No fee

Link: https://moonlight.ink/contests/15d249a2-77d0-4b42-8923-f9575dcce62c

Other info: New round runs weekly. First place wins $50 (prize pool grows as more people join). This round's deadline is July 24, 2026, and the winner is announced within 48 hours of the round closing.

It will normally be a paid contest that helps fund outreach into communities. But to help it get traction and to show everyone we’re legit and not a scam we’re offering to fund up to 20 story entries. Based on an honor system of we help and you help us.

If you’re interested leave a comment or send a DM

Here’s what we’re asking: if you enter and submit a story, please also interact with our “wall”. Leave a comment, introduce yourself, or whatever. Also if you wouldn’t mind trying to get some other writers you know in there with your referral link in your account. And one last thing, if you happen to be the winner then, post that on the wall and possibly even here or other socials to show proof that we’re a legit contest.

While we’re not a publisher we can’t promise to make you famous, but we can promise that you’ll be helping out the community if we can get this thing going.

My bad guys. Forgot the link: www.kindness.iconicbrands.biz

Also, we will help the communities by various means: charity donations, food drives, coat drives, helping the homeless, animal shelters or anything that can be considered help for the community. We have a feedback page that we welcome any suggestions and once we have a decent community ourselves we will have votes on what we should do

THE FIRST WITNESS.
A MYTHIC SHORT STORY CONTEST. $200 AMAZON GIFT CARD. Winner may also be considered for paid future novel work.
DEADLINE: OCTOBER 31, 2026
FULL RULES AND SUBMISSION LINK:

https://djyoung1796-bit.github.io/whitecloud-contest/

Adam and Eve left Eden, but humanity could not begin through incest. Write an original mythic short story, told by a witness who saw how mankind entered the world. The winner receives a $200 Amazon gift card and may be considered for paid future novel work. Deadline: October 31, 2026.

https://djyoung1796-bit.github.io/whitecloud-contest/

Adam and Eve left Eden, but humanity could not begin through incest. Write an original mythic short story, told by a witness who saw how mankind entered the world. The winner receives a $200 Amazon gift card and may be considered for paid future novel work. Deadline: October 31, 2026.
https://djyoung1796-bit.github.io/whitecloud-contest/

Interstice Journal is now accepting flash, fiction, and creative nonfiction submissions for our Fall 2026 issue! Learn more about our journal here. Submit your work using this form!

We are drawn to writing that is:

• Character-driven instead of plot-driven; focused on relationships and intimacies
• Pieces that feel inexplicably human in a world that constantly challenges our humanity
• Intimate, restrained, and emotionally layered
• Attentive to silence, subtext, and what remains unsaid
• Willing to sit in ambiguity rather than resolve it; exploring the gaps/uncertainties in humanity and our relationships

Submission Details

• Short Fiction: up to 5,000 words
• Flash Fiction: up to 1,000 words
• Creative Nonfiction/Essays: up to 3,000 words
• Submit as a .docx file
• Use a standard, readable font (e.g., Times New Roman, 12 pt, double-spaced)
• Include a title and word count on the top of the first page, and number the pages
• Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please notify us if your work is accepted elsewhere
• One submission per category per reading period
• We currently do not offer any compensation.

The reading period will be from July 1 - August 31. We aim to respond within 4-6 weeks.

If accepted, you grant Interstice Journal exclusive rights to publish your work for the first time. All rights revert to the author after publication; you are free to submit the published work elsewhere or republish it. Interstice Journal does not accept previously published work, including works published on personal blogs and social media sites. After publication, we may keep your work archived on our platform indefinitely. We may also use your work for promotional purposes during and after publication, with proper credit given.

Hey folks,

I'm a part of a short story collective. We are on our second year and would love to hear your speculative take on our theme! Its free to entry and the cash prize starts at $300aud for the winner, but is growing... as I explain below.

Aluminiumcrown.com is our website.

The setting/scape is the Australia city of Melbourne encased in a giant cube (due to environmental issues) and cut off from the rest of the world in the year 2055... we want you to think inside the box!

The story is up to you, and can be any genre or draw any picture of what society may evolve into! Just place it inside the CBC! Ahem, central business cube.

Full details on the website.

Also, we fundraise solely via an environmental/recycling scheme ran in Australia which I think y'all might find intriguing (and hopefully push your governments to implement the same!). The incoming can donations we trade for cash are what keeps your potential windfall growing... submit and you may win your weight in crushed cans! Kidding, its cash. We'll give you cash :)

The Aluminium Crown Collective,

Melbourne

Open Call! If you’ve got a short story sitting in your drafts… this might be the push you need.

Submissions just opened for the Second Round of the Author Gold Short Story Award, and it’s built specifically for emerging writers who actually want visibility (not just another line on a resume).

Quick details:

• Genre: Any
• Length: 1,000–7,000 words
• Deadline: July 24th 11:59PM Eastern
• Eligibility: 18+ worldwide
• Entry: $5 (free for Gold Tier Members)

What makes this one worth your time:

• Blind judging with an editorial scoring rubric
• Publication + promotion to an active audience
• Feedback-driven, not just “submit and disappear”
• Prize includes cash + coaching + 1-year subscription

Our Round 1 winner, "Goodbye, Dad" by Patrick Geraghty, has enjoyed over a 1000 reads (and counting) in it's first week.

If you’re trying to move from “writing privately” to actually getting your work seen, this is a solid opportunity.

👉 Full details + submission:
https://authorgold.substack.com/p/writing-competition

Pocketbook Press, an independent publishing house dedicated to reviving the charm and accessibility of classic pocket-sized books, is seeking emotionally resonant, unpublished short fiction for our inaugural anthology, The Pocketbook Press Anthology: Volume 1. We’re looking for short stories that evoke the spirit of winter, whether cozy, strange, romantic, eerie, or bittersweet.

Word count: 500–3,500 words

Genre: Open (literary, romance, horror, thriller, speculative, etc.)

Deadline: August 4, 2026

Authors may submit up to two (2) stories, but we will only publish one (1) story if selected.

No Entry Fee.

Details: https://www.pocketbookpress.com/submissions OR [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]?subject=via%20ARTDEADLINESLIST.COM)

I submitted to the Bridport First Novel competition and my new writing routine consists of opening my novel, obsessively scouring the internet for any vaguest ghost of a hint about what's happening to my submission, then dragging myself out by the bootstraps and finally writing (during which my brain feels soooo infinitely better than while doing the other thing). My question is for anyone who has gotten rejected (not long-listed) in previous years: when did your Submittable status change to "Completed"? At the end of July when results are announced, or earlier?

On another note - if you also submitted to the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel competition, have you noticed that the "favourite first lines" they're posting are... kinda bad? If anyone's from here got posted, I'm so sorry, and probably I just have bad taste, and congratulations!! Sorry. But some of it's just grammar. Anyways. Thank you for reading!!!

"Summer on Story Street" micro flash fiction contest. No genre restrictions. Max 100 words. The winner will be announced on August 15 2026 and wins $100 and publication in the Story Street Review online. The three runners-up will also will $25 and publication. The contest is free to enter, and is open for entries from July 1 through 15 2026. For full contest rules and guidelines: https://storystreetwriters.com/word-on-the-street/summer-on-story-street-flash-fiction-contest/

Ink & Iron is a small online writing community, and our second short story contest is now live.

It’s free to enter, open to writers of any level, and this time, we have a £150 prize pool:

1st place: £75

Runner-up: £50

Best Critic: £25

Prizes will be rewarded in the form of an Amazon/ Kindle /Audible Voucher.

The contest is entered anonymously and judged by the participants. Once the stories are submitted, author names are hidden, everyone reads the entries, gives feedback, and votes. The winner, runner-up, and best critic are all chosen by the people taking part, not by a private judging panel hidden away behind the scenes.

For the contest itself, you build your story by choosing one prompt from each column of our prompt table, that is viewable on our website. There is also a random prompt generator if you’d rather let fate grab the steering wheel and see what wall you hit.

To enter, you’ll need to join the Ink & Iron Discord, where you’ll find the contest links, prompts, rules, submission page, and everything else you need.

Key details:

Entry fee: Free

Prize pool: £150

Word limit: 2,500 words, not including the title

Deadline: 17 July 2026

Submission format: Google Doc

Judging: Anonymous peer vote

Feedback: Participants read, vote, and critique each other’s stories

Join the Discord here:

https://discord.gg/mgAC9ryBB

Please read the rules before entering, as we’ve made a few changes since our first contest.

Whether you’re new to short fiction, looking for feedback on your writing, or just fancy a two-week deadline with a bit of friendly pressure behind it, you’re very welcome to enter.

Who doesn’t love to double drop? Post your flash fiction story on this sub, then jump over to www.chickenblue.com and enter the July version of the competition. And when you’re there, check out the winner of June in our hall of fame.

It’s free to enter, the deadline is 15th July and there’s €88 prize for the winner. All entries must be English. Why wouldn’t you do it?

Check out Today’s Parent

📚 Calling all young Canadian storytellers!

I'm proud to be supporting Story Search Canada — Kids Edition, a national writing contest for children ages 7–12.

This is an incredible opportunity for young writers to share their imagination, creativity, and unique voice. Three winners will become professionally published authors with their own real books, and over $5,000 in prizes will be awarded.

Every great author starts with a single story. If you know a child who loves creating characters, inventing adventures, or filling notebooks with ideas, this could be their chance to take that first step.

✏️ Pick up a pencil.
📖 Share your story.
🇨🇦 Find your voice.

Learn more and enter at: storysearch.ca 

#StorySearchCanada #YoungAuthors #KidsWriting #LiteracyMatters #CanadianKids #CreativeWriting #FutureAuthors

Hi, our youth-run publication, ARCHIVE, is hosting a writing contest based on the theme 'youth'!

• Category: Short story
• Deadline: July 30th, 2026, 10 AM EST
• Contest name: Youth Unfiltered
• Eligibility: Ages 11-26
• No AI allowed!

If you want to check if we are legitimate, here is the link to our website: archive-magazine.com

Thank you and have a great day everyone :)

THANK YOU!!! LETS WIN THIS!!!

I saw that the Baltimore Science Fiction Society has an Amateur Writing Contest. I'm just wondering if they get a lot of submissions given that it's limited to writers from Maryland.

Submit your poetry by July 15. Several will be published. Top two will receive $30. More details at: https://pineberry6.wordpress.com/contest/

Jitney Books is accepting submissions for The New Voices Fiction Award, an opportunity for emerging and established fiction writers to share their work with an independent publisher dedicated to recognizing new voices.

Contest Details:
• Category: Fiction
• Submission Deadline: July 15, 2026
• Eligibility: Open internationally.
• Entry Fee: $15.

We are looking for original fiction that demonstrates creativity, strong storytelling, and a unique voice. If you win, you could get published, receive recognition, and receive a monetary prize, so give it a shot. After all, you could be $200 richer.

Full guidelines, eligibility requirements, and submission information can be found on: https://duotrope.com/duosuma/submit/the-new-voices-fiction-award-6GP8W

If you have any questions about the contest, feel free to ask below. We look forward to reading your work.