November 2026 Deadlines: 10 Contests and Magazines with Deadlines This Month
With plenty of opportunities to submit your work this month, some of which feature interdisciplinary practice or guided support for your writing efforts, it’s prime time to share your work with the world. Don’t forget that acceptances and rejections are by-products of your publishing journey—crafting your authentic art is the goal. We want to see your poems in the world, wherever they emerge; and as always, submit poetry for free to our New Voices. This list is powered by the deadline service Literistic!
Twice each year Black Lawrence Press runs the Black River Chapbook Competition for an unpublished chapbook of poems or prose between 16-36 pages in length. The contest is open to new, emerging, and established writers. The winner will receive book publication, a $500 cash award, and ten copies of the book. Multiple submissions (the submission of more than one manuscript to the contest) are permitted. Collaborative collections are welcome. Hybrid/multi-genre submissions are also welcome; please enter under the submission category that best fits your work.
Deadline: November 1 // Fee
Fonograph Open Genre Book Prize Contest
Fonograf Editions invites submissions to its annual Open Genre Book Prize contest. The winning writer receives $1,500, a standard royalty contract, a 3 week residency at The Rice Place (residency will take place in June 2027), and 15 free copies of their book. The press may additionally accept other manuscripts for publication. 48 to 180 pages (suggested length, manuscripts may be longer or shorter), paginated. Please include title page, tables of contents, and, if applicable, acknowledgments page.
Deadline: November 1 // Fee
Calling all emerging poets! The Foster Poetry Prize awards $1000 and publication in Contemporary Verse 2 to the author of the winning poem. Cash prizes and publication in CV2 are awarded to second and third place, as well as an honorable mention. Your submission may consist of 1-2 poems, and is not to exceed 80 lines total. The mandate and primary aim of Contemporary Verse 2 is to educate, engage, and expand public appreciation of the poetic art form by sharing and promoting high-caliber, original verse and critical writing by local, national, and international poets.
Deadline: November 1 // Fee
The Final Judge for this contest is Martin Willitts, Jr. First Prize includes $1000 plus publication and 50 author’s copies. The entry fee includes a copy of the winning chapbook. Submit 25-34 pages of poetry, single-spaced. Single poems may be more than 1 page long. Consider the smaller chapbook page when calculating line lengths and page breaks. Maximum line length is generally about 70 characters.
Deadline: November 1 // Fee
If you’re an emerging writer at the beginning of your publishing journey, The Writer’s Center Compass Fellowship is a great opportunity for you! Their fellowship program will introduce a new writer each year to their writing family, to help guide them along the next steps on their path, with $1000 in credits toward any TWC workshops within a two-year period, a $300 cash stipend, and opportunities to be published in The Writer’s Center Magazine and featured in TWC events. No previous publication experience is necessary. Applicants must live in the DMV area and be able to travel to Bethesda, MD. Submit 8 pages of poetry, no more than one poem per page and a 500-word statement of purpose.
Deadline: November 1 // Fee
The James Hearst Poetry Prize is a competition intended to recognize the finest poetry. They welcome all forms of previously unpublished poetry and up to five poems per submission. James Hearst wrote like he farmed, with an eye for clean fields and straight fences. A writing professor at the University of Northern Iowa for four decades, he also served as a contributing editor and guiding light for the North American Review. The Complete Poetry of James Hearst was published in 2001 by the University of Iowa Press. The winning entry, runners-up, honorable mentions, and finalists will be offered publication in the North American Review’s spring issue. This year’s judge is Forrest Gander. Submit up to five poems for consideration.
Deadline: November 2 // Fee
Follow Scott King Award in Eco-Poetry
The Scott King Award in Eco-Poetry was instituted in 2026, to honor the memory of Scott King, whose Red Dragonfly Press focused on poetry that illuminated and deepened readers’ connections with nature, ecology, environmentalism, rural life, and conservation. This competition is open to poets of all backgrounds and experience levels. The prize is $1,000 and publication under the new Red Dragonfly imprint of Trio House Press. Anna Lena Phillips Bell will judge the 2026 Contest. Poetry manuscripts must be under 120 pages of poetry (excluding title page, table of contents, and all front matter), written in English by a poet residing within the U.S.
Deadline: November 7 // Fee
Supported by the Jan Michalski Foundation, this award will launch a new publishing imprint: FIELDNOTES Folios, a series of short books showcasing the best new writing from around the world. The winning entries to the prize will be published as the first two books in this series. The focus of the prize is on formally innovative and ambitious new writing from unpublished authors. It aims to promote risk-taking, support new approaches and encourage hybrid forms to emerge at the intersection of genres. Entries of prose or poetry of all forms and styles are invited – including single standalone texts; collections of short texts or poems; and works between text and image. Non-conforming submissions are welcome.
Deadline: November 11 // Fee
Nightboat Poetry Prize
Nightboat Books, a nonprofit organization, seeks to develop audiences for writers whose work resists convention and transcends boundaries, by publishing books rich with poignancy, intelligence and risk. They seek work from any poet writing in English for their annual prize, including international Anglophone writers. Previous book publication is not a consideration for eligibility. Poems published in print or on-line periodicals, anthologies, or chapbooks may be included, but the manuscript itself must be unpublished. Original work only; translations are not eligible for the prize. Manuscripts should be a minimum of 48 pages, paginated, with no more than one poem per page. The winning poet(s) receives a $1,200 advance, a standard royalty contract, and 25 free copies of the published book.
Deadline: November 15 // Fee
This year, Cutthroat calls for poetry that addresses where we go from here. The world is in a great state of flux. The effects of Climate Change, Foregin Wars, the War against Civil Liberties, Genocide, and the current administrations’ domestic and foreign affairs assail us daily. What is your response? How are you as a writer and citizen coping? Send ONLY your finest unpublished/unposted writing. They are open to all styles, but they favor poetry with an edge. Submit up to 3 poems (100 line limit/one poem per page) in 12 point font.
Deadline: November 16 // Fee
