11 Flash and Short Fiction Writing Contests to Enter in March 2021
Enter these 11 writing contests with great prizes in March 2021.
You might be asking yourself: “Are writing contests worth entering?”
The simple answer: Yes!
The longer answer: Yes, absolutely!
Just kidding.
Writing contests are a great way to get you writing when you feel uninspired.
As most seasoned writers know, you can’t wait around for the spark of a muse. You have to actively look around you every day and find inspiration in the smallest of things.
Some of these competitions offer a prompt or topic to kick off your creativity.
Other than that, contests provide the two most powerful motivations for a writer — deadline and the possibility of recognition.
I would also mention the cash, but let’s be honest, none of us are probably writing fiction to make the big bucks.
If you are deterred by the entry fees, don’t worry, there are a few contests you can enter completely free of charge. In this list included.
Here are the contests.
Flash Fiction Contests
The first three competitions are by Fan Story. It’s a platform where you can find over 50 writing contests every month (flash, short stories, poems, essays, etc.).
To enter, you have to buy a membership, which is $10 a month, or $90 for an entire year.
The first seven days count as a free trial, so if you decide it’s not for you, you can get your money back.
The biggest plus of Fan Story is that they provide feedback to every entry.
It’s pretty clear from the name of the contest, you must tell a story in 100 words. There’s no prompt.
Entry fee: membership ($10/month)
Winning Prize: $100
Deadline: 1 March 2021
This time, you have to tell a story in 150 words (the title doesn’t count towards the word limit). Again, there’s no given topic.
Entry fee: membership ($10/month)
Winning Prize: $100
Deadline: 12 March 2021
The story must be between 78 and 82 words (title doesn’t count). No prompt.
Entry fee: membership ($10/month)
Winning Prize: $100
Deadline: 25 March 2021
4. Ernest Hemingway Flash Fiction
This contest is by literary journal Fiction Southeast. The submitted story should be 1 500 words or less.
I didn’t find any prompt or genre they are looking for, so you are free to write about anything you want. You can also go through the featured fiction section to get a feel for what they typically publish.
Entry fee: $10
Winning Prize: $200 + publication in Fiction Southeast; they will also publish three runner-ups.
Deadline: 31 March 2021
Tell a story in under 1 000 words. The story should be in a horror or mystery genre.
Entry fee: $5 CAD
Winning prize: 1. $700 CAD; 2. $200 CAD; 3. place $100 CAD
Deadline: 31 March 2021
Short Fiction Contests
Hosted by B Cubed Press, they are accepting short stories, flash fiction, poetry, and essays on the topic of, you guessed it, death.
This is what they say about the theme:
“Seriously what the hell is death, big guy with bones and a sickle? An ominous Tarot Card? Or is it simply the passing of one thing for another. A change in phase. Or, it is the ending of you, and just you, a personal FU from the universe that say oopsie, you’re out of here?”
Recommended length of stories is under 5 000 words, flash fiction should be under 1 000 words.
It’s not so much of a competition, but more of a call for submission. If your story gets chosen, it will be part of a book.
Entry fee: $0
Winning Prize: $0.2/per word for published pieces
Deadline: 1 March 2021
7. Vermont College of Fine Arts
There are multiple contests, which you can enter:
· Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize
· Ruth Stone Poetry Prize
· Katherine Paterson Prize
· Hunger Mountain Creative Nonfiction Prize
There is no given prompt. They want original and unpublished work.
Here’s what they write in their submission guidelines: “We want writing that explores, questions, & challenges. We want writing that remains open. We want work that thinks about what it’s trying to do for others & the world.”
Entry fee: $20
Winning Prize: $1 000 + online publication; one runner-up will receive $100 and online publication.
Deadline: 2 March 2021
The Current posts new writing competitions each month based on a given topic.
This time the prompt is Repairs:
“For this contest, write a creative, compelling, well-crafted story between 1,000 and 5,000 words long in which one or more characters try to repair something. The “something” can be tangible (e.g., a smartphone, a bad haircut, a broken leg) or intangible (e.g., a relationship). The judges don’t care whether the characters succeed in their repair efforts, so long as they try.”
Read more about general contest rules here.
Entry fee: $0; but you can have your story critiqued for $15.
Winning Prize: there is a cash prize, but they don’t specify how much.
Deadline: 5 March 2021
9. Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize
Entered stories can be on any theme and should have a maximum of 750 words. You can enter multiple stories, but you must pay for each submission. They want only previously unpublished work.
“The winning work will be performed and recorded by an actor in spring 2021, and published on Electric Literature.”
Entry fee: $25
Winning Prize: $1 000 + 10-week course with Gotham Writers.
Deadline: 5 March 2021
10. Nelligan Prize
There are no theme restrictions, length of submitted stories are 10–50 pages. You can also submit your entry through the post office.
Entry fee: $17
Winning Prize: $2 000 + publication in the fall/winter 2021 issue of Colorado Review.
Deadline: 14 March 2021; but there is a 5 day grace period.
11. Zizzle
Write a story based on a dialogue prompt they post on their social media (twitter, instagram, facebook) during the submission period.
Length of a story should be 500–1 000 words.
Entry fee: $5
Winning Prize: 1. place — $1 000; 2. place — $500; three finalists will receive $150 each; they will publish all prize winners and finalists in Zizzle.
Deadline: 15 March 2021
I hope some of these caught your attention and you are going to give it a try.
If you enter, remember that whatever the outcome is, the fact that you finished a story and sent it out is a big accomplishment.
Good luck!
