And Lit Marches On

NewPages Newsletter #170 Featuring 62 Submission Opportunities & Upcoming Events

Is it an organism…or a pancake? © Nicole Foor

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Hello again. If you live in a state that observes daylight savings, this is your reminder to set your clocks ahead an hour this upcoming Sunday! And, if you have not sworn off sweets for your 2025 resolutions, Fat Tuesday is upon us and a great reason to take a break and treat yourself to a paczki with your favorite coffee or tea. Who knows…maybe it will help fuel you to keep pushing towards your writing, editing, and submitting goals?

How about a good lit mag to go with your coffee and paczki? Head on over to the NewPages Magazine Stand to find your perfect flavor! Recently featured, learn more about The Lake’s March 2025 edition featuring new work from Pratibha Castle, Christian Emecheta, Diana MacKinnon Henning, and more. Then later this week, you can come back to learn more about MoonLit Getaway in Denise Hill’s New Lit on the Block series.

If books are more your style, our reviewers are here to help you find your next read. Aiden Hunt reviews The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective by Steven Johnson. This book tells the story of explosive political violence, boosted in the late 19th century by Alfred Novel’s invention of dynamite, and culminating in the Red Scare arrests and deportations.

Love poetry? Check out Jami Macarty’s review of Susan Hahn’s Corner Office. This collection features the dramatis personae: Earth, Man, and Woman, with each character pining for what is lost. Macarty also covers Amy De’Ath’s Not a Force of Nature, writing at an intersection of feminism and capitalism, poetry and critique. “At the core, Amy De’Ath is a revolutionary, writing against narrow cultural and institutional parameters. She refuses to conform to economic systems of artistic reproduction.”

Kevin Brown also serves up reviews of two books. First is Ali Smith’s Gliff. The book is a dystopian tale following two children who are living off the grid after their mother, and possibly stepfather, go missing. “Smith clearly conveys the oppressive views of those who seek to impose their ideas — especially about gender and heteronormativity — on others, but she also reminds readers that there are ways to resist.”

Next, Brown gives his thoughts on How to Sell Out: The (Hidden) Cost of Being a Black Writer by Chad Sanders. Opening with the line, “This is my last time writing about race,” Sanders talks about the trades he has had to make in order for (mostly) white executives to listen to him and greenlight his projects.

Come back to the NewPages blog throughout the week to enjoy more reviews of Lindsay Turner’s The Upstate, Manahil Bandukwala’s Heliotropia, and Soyoung Park’s (Re)Imagining Inclusion for Children of Color with Disabilities.

With it being a new month, don’t forget that NewPages does keep an up-to-date contest calendar. Don’t miss out on any upcoming contests with March deadlines!

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Inspiration

A fun and lively conversation ensued between me and my friends online this weekend that started around baking but somehow morphed into a loaded conversation full of double entendre and suggestive phrases (even though their saying was in full innocence. . . most of the time). This also brings to mind those shorts you can watch where they say Person A says X and Person B hears Y.

Such conversations can be fun for the writer and the reader, don’t you think? It’s not necessarily all about saying one thing and meaning another, but in away having a singular conversation that suddenly, by accident often times, takes on multiple meanings. Thus, an innocent conversation that started around baking and how to fix cookies from ending up being hunks of concrete takes on another layer about romance and foreplay.

Have you experienced such conversations before? Some people are completely lost in the underlying conversation while others are aware of it but still talking as normal while the others participating are having a wonderful time adding to the second meaning instead of truly talking about the original topic.

Can you write a personal essay about the time the conversation took an unexpected turn and how you were mortified when you found out that your innocent conversation turned into something completely different? How about a poem enacting such a conversation line by line? Or a story where your hapless narrator has no idea the people they are talking to are answering completely different things than they are thinking?

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Calls, Contests, & More

Below is a small preview of this week’s 62 writing contests, calls for submissions, and literary and writing events.

National Baseball Poetry Festival Call for Submissions

Deadline: Noon, Friday, March 28, 2025
The National Baseball Poetry Festival invites submissions of poems that deal with any aspect of the gamesmanship, nature, and atmosphere of Baseball and/or Softball, for example: opening day, ballpark food, childhood memories, first pitch, athletic heroes, uniforms, ball parks, Little League, dugout chatter, the season of the game, etc. No restriction on form. Poets may submit one (1) poem for consideration, which should fit on a single page. The thematic views of baseball/softball and the game will be given wide interpretation by the judge(s). Submissions are free. For full submission guidelines, please visit our website.

The National Indie Excellence© Awards

Deadline: March 31, 2025
The National Indie Excellence© Awards (NIEA) are open to all English language printed books currently for sale including self-published authors, small to midsize independent publishers, and university presses. Now in our nineteenth year, NIEA is a proud champion of self and independent publishing and authors of all genres who produce books of excellence and distinction. Eligible books must have been published within the two calendar years prior to our deadline. Please visit our website for more information about our prizes, awards, and how to submit.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest (no fee)

Deadline: April 1, 2025
Submit one humor poem up to 250 lines to win $2,000. Second prize: $500. Third prize: $250. 10 Honorable Mentions: $100 each. Top 13 poems published online. 24th annual contest sponsored by Winning Writers and co-sponsored by Duotrope. No fee to enter. Accepts published and unpublished work. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. This contest is recommended by Reedsy. Learn more and submit at our website.

New American Voices Award for Immigrant Writers

Deadline: April 7, 2025
The $5,000 post-publication book prize from Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research recognizes prose works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants. Two finalists each will receive $1,000. All finalists will appear at the Fall for the Book Festival in October 2025. $20 entry fee. This year’s Award is judged by Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Mary-Alice Daniel, and Brando Skyhorse. See website for more information.

2025 Prime Number Magazine Awards for Poetry and Short Fiction

Deadline: March 31, 2025
$1,000 first prize in each category plus publication. Two runners-up in each category receive $250 plus publication. Poetry judged by Molly Rice. Short Fiction judged by Dennis McFadden. Reading fee $15. Deadline March 31. Submit online through Submittable. Details at the website.

Submit to Ploughshares' Emerging Writer's Contest!

Deadline: May 15, 2025 at 12pm EST
The Emerging Writer's Contest is now open! Awarded in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry categories each year, Ploughshares’ Emerging Writer’s Contest recognizes works by writers who have yet to publish a book. Winners in each genre receive $2,000, a conversation with Aevitas Creative Management, and publication in Ploughshares. Submit your writing by May 15th at 12pm EST for the chance to be discovered!

2025 Tennessee Williams Contests: Poetry & Short Story

Deadline: March 9, 2025
The Tennessee Williams Museum invites poets and writers to submit original works to the annual Tennessee Williams Poetry and Short Story Writing Contests. Drawing from the 2025 Festival theme, writing contest entries must in some way reference Tennessee Williams’ seminal work A Streetcar Named Desire. Poets and authors should loosely make reference to the play whether it be Williams during the writing process, one of the play’s characters, or one of the actors/actresses who played a role in the film. First-place winners will be awarded a $300 prize while second-place winners will receive a $150 prize. Submissions must be received by midnight on March 9, 2025. More information and submissions at our website.

Extension for Cloudbank Contest

Extended Deadline: March 15, 2025
Cloudbank awards a $200 prize for one poem or flash fiction (500 words or less) in each issue. March 15, 2025 is the new deadline for Cloudbank 19 Contest submissions. Non-contest submissions are welcomed through April 15, 2025. Guidelines details—and more—at our website. Revive us with your fire!

Trio Award and Bogan Award Poetry Book Publication Contests: Win $1,000 and Publication

Deadline: March 31, 2025
Since 2012, Trio House Press has sponsored the Trio Award for a First or Second Book, and the Louise Bogan Award for Excellence in Poetry. Winners receive $1,000 and publication of their manuscript. This year's judges are Sierra DeMulder (Trio Award) and Randall Mann (Louise Bogan Award). Recent Trio House authors include Christian Gullette, Susan L. Leary, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, and Artress Bethany White. Our mission is to publish poetry and prose that moves, inspires, and encourages connection, empathy, and understanding. Check out the guidelines and submit your manuscript at our website.

Announcing the 2025 Perkoff Prize from the Missouri Review!

Deadline: March 15, 2025
The 5th Annual Perkoff Prize is now open for entries. The Perkoff is a tri-genre contest that awards $1000 and publication each to writers of the best story, set of poems, and essay that engage in evocative ways with health, wellness, and medicine as judged by the editors. Each entrant receives a 1-yr digital subscription to the Missouri Review and a digital edition of our latest anthology, Life Support: Stories of Health and Wellness. Entry fee: $15. Deadline: March 15. Read the full guidelines here.

Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize

Deadline: March 3, 2025 5PM ET
The Gutsy Great Novelist Chapter One Prize is awarded for an outstanding first chapter of an unpublished novel. First prize is $1,000; 2nd is $500; and 3rd is $250. The prize is open internationally to anyone over 18 writing a novel in English in any genre for adult or YA readers (fiction only). Winners will be announced March 31, 2025. See full guidelines at our website.

Emma Howell Rising Poet Prize

Deadline: April 1, 2025
The Emma Howell Rising Poet Prize winner receives $2,000 and publication by Willow Springs Books. Anyone’s first book by a poet under 35 is eligible. Manuscripts should be a minimum of 48 pages with a $25 entry fee. The deadline is April 1st. Visit the website for complete guidelines. Willow Springs Books, c/o Inland Northwest Center for Writers, 601 E Riverside Avenue, CAT Room 442, Spokane, WA 99202. Anish Nekkalapudi, Managing Editor.

Please note: only paying subscribers get access to all 62 submission opportunities! You can become a paying subscriber for only $5 a month and get early access to submission opportunities and events before they go live on our site.

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