gritLIT 2026 Short Story Contest

Genre: Short Story
Entry Fee: $15 CAD
Deadline: January 15, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET
Prize: First prize of $500 CAD; two honourable mention prizes of $150 CAD each
Description: gritLIT, Hamilton’s annual literary festival, is now accepting accepting original fiction or nonfiction pieces of up to 500 words. The contest theme is truth-telling, and writers are encouraged to use their creative freedom when interpreting this theme.
Details: https://www.gritlit.ca/contest

 

National Magazine‘s 49th Annual Awards

Genre: 29 categories, 18 of which are Writing and Visual Awards
Entry Fee: See variable fees for multiple categories at http://magazine-awards.com/
Deadline: Early bird deadline of January 9, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET; final deadline of January 16, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET
Prize: See multiple categories and awards at http://magazine-awards.com/
Description: The 2026 National Magazine Awards feature 28 categories, with two special awards, and eight additional categories that are part of a cross-programming initiative with the Digital Publishing Awards.
Details: http://magazine-awards.com/

 

2026 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence

Genre: Editing
Entry Fee: None
Deadline: January 30, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET
Prize: Grand prize of $2,000 CAD; finalist awards of $500 CAD each
Description: Shine a spotlight on great editing by submitting a nomination for the 2026 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. You can nominate another editor or even yourself. The Tom Fairley Award is presented annually to an exceptional editor who played a significant role in the success of a project completed in English or French. The editor must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. The 2026 award recognizes an outstanding editor on a project published in the 2025 calendar year. Anyone involved in the work can submit a nomination, such as the publisher, editor, author or designer. Self-nominations are encouraged.
Details: https://editors.ca/about/awards/tom-fairley-award/

 

Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest

Genre: Short Fiction, Short Nonfiction, Poetry
Entry Fee: $15 CAD
Deadline: January 31, 2026, at 12:00 pm PT
Prize: First prize in each category of $200 CAD, a 2026 festival registration package, and a certificate for registration in one of the online writing courses presented; second prize in each category of $125 CAD and a 2026 festival registration package; honourable mention in each category of $100 CAD and a 2026 festival banquet package; all winning entries will be published in the 2026 edition of the Askew’s Word on the Lake Anthology
Description: Whether you’re an established or emerging writer, the Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest has a place for you. Part of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival in Salmon Arm, BC, the contest is open to submissions in short fiction (up to 2,000 words), nonfiction (up to 2,000 words), and poetry (up to three one-page poems). In addition to the prizes noted above, all winners will be published in the annual Askew’s Word on the Lake Anthology, and will receive copies of the anthology in print and e-book.
Details: https://wordonthelakewritersfestival.com/saw/writing-contest/

 

BookLife Prize Nonfiction Contest

Genre: Nonfiction
Entry Fee: $119 USD
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Prize: Grand prize of $5,000 USD and an author profile in Publishers Weekly; one finalist from each respective submission category will receive $1,000 CAD worth of BookBaby’s Facebook + Instagram for Authors service, a promotional “blurb”  from one of the guest judge’s for the Prize, and a mention in Publishers Weekly; all entrants receive a Critic’s Report (a brief critical assessment of their novel written by a Publishers Weekly reviewer)
Description: Unpublished or self-published novels in the English language. The BookLife Prize seeks to support independent authors and discover great written works in four nonfiction categories – Memoir/Autobiography, Self-Help, Inspirational/Spiritual, and Business/Personal Finance. Submissions must contain 40,000 to 100,000 words.
Details: https://booklife.com/about-us/the-booklife-prize.html

 

Bristol Short Story Prize 2026

Genre: Short Story
Entry Fee: £14
Deadline: January 31, 2026, at 23:59 BST
Prize: First prize of £1500; second prize of £500; third prize of £250
Description: Entries of up to 4,000 words from any genre and from published and unpublished authors alike are accepted.
Details: https://bssp.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/

 

Brucedale Press 27th Annual Acrostic Story Contest

Genre: Fiction
Entry Fee: $5 per story CAD
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Prize: First prize of 25% of the entry fees; second prize of 15% of the entry fees; third prize of 10% of the entry fees; all winners will be published in The Leaf
Description: Your story must begin with “Eventually, everyone realized…“. Every entry must begin with the phrase above, then the openings of the following 25 sentences will work through the letters to Z, then A to D. For complying with the rules, check you have used all 26 letters as sentence openers. Giving too few or too many sentences will disqualify your story.
Details: https://www.brucedalepress.ca/contest/

 

Danuta Gleed Literary Award

Genre: Short Story Collection
Entry Fee: None, but all submissions must be made by publishers only
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Prize: First prize of $10,000 CAD; two finalist prizes of $1,000 CAD each
Description: The award was created as a celebration of the life of Danuta Gleed, a writer whose short fiction won several awards before her death in 1996, and is administered by The Writers’ Union of Canada. The prize is awarded annually to a Canadian writer for the best first collection of published short fiction in the English language. All entries must be Canadian-authored titles published in English between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2024. Only first collections of short fiction are eligible.
Details: http://www.writersunion.ca/danuta-gleed-literary-award

 

New Writers Flash Fiction Competition 2026

Genre: Flash Fiction
Entry Fee: £10 per entry, £19 for two entries, and £27 for three entries
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Prize: First prize of £1,100; second prize of £300; third prize of £200
Description: The New Writers Flash Fiction Competition 2026 is open to stories of up to 300 words on any theme or subject. It is open to entrants from anywhere in the world and £1 from each entry will be donated to charity (First Story).
Details: https://newwriters.org.uk/

 

River of Words Competition 2026

Genre: Poetry (Ages 5 – 19)
Entry Fee: None
Deadline: January 31, 2026, at 11:59 pm PT
Prize: See multiple categories and awards at  https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/centers-institutes/center-environmental-literacy/river-of-words
Description: This free, annual, international youth poetry and art contest — the largest in the world — inspires students ages 5 to 19 to translate their observations into creative expression. Poems should not exceed 32 lines in length (written) or 3 minutes (signed). For ASL poetry, please include a brief written summary of the poem’s content.
Details: https://www.stmarys-ca.edu/centers-institutes/center-environmental-literacy/river-of-words

 

The Ontario Poetry Society’s Entitled Titles Poetry Competition 2026

Genre: Poetry
Entry Fee: $5 CAD for up to 3 poems or $2 CAD for each additional poem
Deadline: January 31, 2026
Prize: First prize of $100 CAD; second prize of $50 CAD; third prize of $25 CAD; 20 honorable mention awards; all winning poems receive a certificate, publication in the chapbook anthology and one free chapbook
Description: Poems to be written on the theme of a movie title, or a title of a play, or a book title, or a song title. The entitled title needs to appear either as the title of your poem or somewhere in the body of your poem, or as the epigraph for your poem. Poems to be no longer than 32 lines.
Details: https://www.theontariopoetrysociety.ca/contest-The-Entitled-Titles-Poetry-Competition.html