Contests equals Awards

Submitting your work to contests and awards is a great way to get your work noticed. Here’s a list of submission opportunities for children’s writing and illustrating. We normally only list contests that do not require an entry fee.

Also, check out these other compilations of contests:

• Sub It Club’s monthly lists of contests (see their )

Before entering a contest, pay attention to warning signs:;

Ongoing Contests & Awards

(every month, deadline 5th day of each month)

• What: Comment on the contest announcement on the 4th of each month for a chance to submit your first 400 words of an MG or YA ms
• Prize: Winner’s entry will be posted on blog & critiqued by four members of The Winged Pen
• What: monthly illustration challenge with a prompt, due 20th of each month
• Who: SCBWI members
• Prize: winning pieces featured in SCBWI’s monthly newsletter

ONGONG

• What: apply for emergency funds during the pandemic
• Who: people of color in the children’s publishing industry (agents, editors, authors, illustrators) who’ve been furloughed or lost their jobs
• Award: emergency funds

OCTOBER

Oct. 1 -3

• What: write a kid lit-aged (board book to YA) story/poem/piece up to 200 words based on a fall-themed photo prompt
• Prizes: win critiques, books, and other prizes from authors, agents and editors

Oct. 20

• What: Twitter pitch party for children & teen fiction/nonfiction
• Who: for self-identifying historically marginalized authors & illustrators
• Prize: attention from agents & editors with invitations to query

Sept. 20-Oct 20

• What: submit three sequential images illustrating the theme “silver lining” either in full color for PB audience, or B&W for MG audience
• Who: SCBWI members
• Prize: free tuition virtual SCBWI winter conference

Oct. 29

• What: Twitter pitch party for picture book creators (illustrators and authors)
• Prize: attention from agents & editors with invitations to query

Oct. 1–31

• What: apply for one of 15 mentorships with award-winning book creators (12 writers, 3 illustrators)
• Who is eligible: anyone who personally identifies with an underrepresented community or working on a book with a diverse protagonist
• When to apply: Oct 1–30, 2020

Sept. 15-Oct. 31

• What: apply to win full tuition to the 2021 SCBWI LA conference plus expert consultations
• Who: SCBWI member with a MG or YA manuscript
• Prize: tuition to 2021 SCBWI conference, 20 minute consultation with agent Tracey Adams, 20 minute consultation with a MG/YA editor

NOVEMBER

Aug 16- Nov. 1

• What: submit a short story aimed at the middle grade audience that centers joy and features and centers Black boys ❤000 words
• Who: Black male/nonbinary author over 18, un-agented, not traditionally published
• Award: inclusion in a soon-to-be-announced MG anthology that will center the joy of Black boyhood, edited by Kwame Mbalia

Nov. 1

• What: Apply for a $500 grant
• Who: mothers with at least one child
• Award: three grants given every six months

Nov. 1

• What: one of two winners to share a $3,000 grant
• Who: SCBWI members who have published two PAL books but have not sold anything in five years
• Prize: a $3000 grants shared between two winners

Sept 15- Nov 15

• What: apply to one of ten grants
• Who: unpublished writers or illustrators from underrepresented group
• Award: paid trip and tuition for LA SCBWI summer conference, manuscript consultation, and publicity

DECEMBER

Dec. 3, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. EST

• What: Pitch your manuscript on Twitter (PB, MG, YA, adult)
• Prize: attention from agents & editors with invitations to query

now-Dec. 15

• What: Nominate a 2020 trade book published in the US with environmental themes
• Award: Four awards of $1,000 to four categories (PB, MG, YA, nonfiction). Award split between author and illustrator where appropriate.

2022

Mar 12, 2022

• What: win an award for a book of poetry published in English
• Who: SCBWI member with a book of poetry published in 2019, 2020, or 2021 (Verse novels not eligible)
• Award: $1,000

source https://medium.com/@klinkerbud/contests-equals-awards-849b1d410bd6?source=rss-8a287f9546ea------2