March 2026 Deadlines: 10 Contests and Magazines with Deadlines This Month

Gulf Coast is the nationally-distributed journal housed within the University of Houston’s English Department, home to one of the US’s top ranked creative writing programs. Submit up to 5 poems per submission with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address in the header on each page. Translations of poetry (up to 5 poems per submission) should include a brief bio of the author and indicate whether the translator has been given permissions. For poetry, they encourage authors to include the departing language in their submission. Gulf Coast is now able to pay $50 per page for poetry, fiction, and nonfiction.

Black Warrior Review believes poetry is spiritual, that poetry is history. It evokes the emotional and physical spaces we have traveled before, and the possibilities of the future and the pangs in the present. They are interested in poems that explore the history of things and place, poems that interrogate the personal and how the colonial and postcolonial histories are embedded in the body, the tongue, the tree, the cushion, the roof, and the land and by history, what has changed through this history and what is their influence in the present. They are interested in poems that explore personal history, poems that explore dysfunction through the little things, poems that explore BIPOC spaces. They are interested in experimental poems that dissect the normal, poems that explore illness, memory loss and ordinary life.

Offering workshops in fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and playwriting, the Conference invites talented writers to come to Sewanee each summer to learn from each other in a welcoming and supportive environment. Fiction and nonfiction application manuscripts should be 20-40 pages. Poetry application manuscripts should be 10-15 pages. Contributors receive assistance covering two-thirds of the actual cost to attend. The conference will take place July 14-26th of this year.

Quillkeepers Press is holding a poetry chapbook competition to be released by Fall 2026. One to three winners will be chosen. Those selected will receive 5 complimentary copies of the chapbook and a standard publishing contract. There is no specific theme, but manuscripts should include something that grabs one by the throat and dares to never let go. Captivate them with your words! Please keep in mind that, although they are not looking for a designated theme, manuscripts should have a central theme. For example, refrain from submitting a manuscript that combines both love poetry and mental health poetry. Manuscripts should be 30-40 pages long.

YesYes Books is happy to announce their Open Reading Period for full-length poetry manuscripts is open! Collections by a single author as well as collaborative manuscripts will be considered. Manuscripts with accompanying black and white artwork will be considered. Manuscripts must include 48-120 numbered pages of poetry and a table of contents. Full Length publication with YYB comes with the following: $1000 advance toward royalties, 40 author copies, 15%-25% royalties, and $500 toward tour expenses.

Glossy Planet is a lit mag that responds to the world in real time. Every month, they drop a new challenge tied to what’s happening in the headlines, the culture, and the moment. They seek impact and heat, not polish or perfection. Their monthly challenges open on the 1st and close on the 15th—check their site for the March challenge details beginning on March 1st. They accept flash prose, poetry, microessays, and genre-defiant oddities, with $1,000 awarded to the winner, $200 to second place, and $100 to third place.

The Prairie Schooner Raz-Shumaker Book Prize Series welcomes manuscripts from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English. Both unpublished and published writers are welcome to submit manuscripts. The poetry prize is for a collection of poems, and manuscripts should be at least 50 pages long. Use a fairly standard serif font such as Times New Roman, Cambria, or Garamond, sized at 12 pt, with one inch margins. This not only ensures readability but prevents many file compatibility issues. Please do not list your name or contact information anywhere in your manuscript. Winners will receive $3000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press.

The sixth annual Wolfson Poetry Chapbook Prize is an award for a chapbook-length manuscript (maximum 40 pages, minimum 25 pages) of original poems in English. The winning poet receives $500 in prize money, plus 50 copies. Winning manuscripts are published by Wolfson Press, a nonprofit organization belonging to Indiana University South Bend. Although the contest judge selects only one winner annually, we may offer to publish a small number of select finalists in addition to the prize winner. The contest judge is Nancy Botkin, author (most recently) of The Next Infinity (Broadstone Books 2019) and The Honeycomb (Winner of the Steel Toe Books 2022 Chapbook Award). Poets published in this series include Steven Ostrowski, Renee Agatep, Triin Paja, Julia B. Levine, John Surowiecki, and Jim Daniels.