October 2025 Deadlines: 10 Contests and Magazines with Deadlines This Month
Have you been leafing through your poems, thinking some of them are ready to be published? Consider sending your poems out to these contests and publications. Several of them come with added bonuses for submitting your work, like a free copy of a magazine, for example. And remember, rejection is part of the process toward eventual acceptance and publication. As always, submit poetry for free to our New Voices. This list is powered by the deadline service Literistic.
Submit poems on any theme, up to 250 lines each. The Tom Howard Prize of $3,500 for a poem in any style or genre and the Margaret Reid Prize of $3,500 for a poem that rhymes or has a traditional style wil be awarded. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $500 each (any style). The top 12 entries will be published online, and two-year gift certificates to Duotrope will be awarded to the top two winners. You may submit published or unpublished work. Each submission may contain up to three poems. You may make multiple submissions. For the purpose of the Margaret Reid Prize, a poem in a traditional style employs regular meter and/or rhyme, or is written in a recognized poetic form. This includes traditional Western forms such as ballads, sonnets, and blank verse, Asian forms such as tanka and haiku, and other traditional forms.
Deadline: October 1 // Fee
Gordon Square Review welcomes works of translation, simultaneous submissions, and previously published work no longer available in print or online. Only include one poem in your submission. Writers accepted for publication receive a $25 honorarium. As a publication of Literary Cleveland, Gordon Square Review is proud to support Northeast Ohio writers. Please make a note in your submission if you currently live in Northeast Ohio (including the Cleveland, Akron/Canton, Youngstown, Kent, or Lorain/Elyria/Oberlin areas) or if you have a strong tie to Northeast Ohio as a past resident, student, etc. Accepted poems will appear in the November 15 issue.
Deadline: October 1 // No Fee
The Missouri Review invites entries for the 2025 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize. Winners in fiction, poetry, and nonfiction receive $5,000 plus publication in the Spring 2026 issue of TMR. Winners receive publication and promotion in addition to the cash prize. Create a submission of poems between 6 to 12 pages in length. Each entrant receives a one-year subscription to the Missouri Review in digital format and a digital copy of the latest title in our imprint, Missouri Review Books, a short story anthology by former contributors. Previous Editors’ Prize finalists are welcome to enter again.
Deadline: October 1 // Fee
Reed Magazine is California’s oldest literary journal. This magazine’s taste is eclectic and celebrates the wonderful diversity of forms, styles, and levels of diction available to the contemporary poet. They seek submissions that exhibit craft, complexity, and creativity while giving voice to a diverse array of artists at various stages in their careers. Writers are welcome to submit up to five (5) poems per submission. Submitters can expect to hear back from Reed Magazine by the end of December 2025.
Deadline: October 1 // No Fee
The Lindenwood Review: a journal of literary prose is an annual online literary journal, produced with the support of the MFA in Writing program at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. This literary arts magazine welcomes submissions from both emerging and established writers. They are especially interested in prose poems with a distinctive atmosphere and interesting use of language; and mostly, work that moves readers and inspires writers. Prose poems should be in paragraph format with no line breaks or stanzas. Maximum length for each submission is 10 pages. Minimum length is one paragraph.
Deadline: October 1 // No Fee
Little Patuxent Review
Little Patuxent Review is a community-based publication focused on writers and artists from the Mid-Atlantic region, but all excellent work originating in the United States will be considered. The editors of LPR welcome vibrant creative writing that demonstrates a strong sense of craft, a clear voice, and an ability to captivate the reader. The editors and readers of LPR have a variety of aesthetics and welcome a broad range of work, from the experimental to the conventional. Send work that will engage the imagination. You may submit up to three poems of a maximum of 100 lines.
Deadline: October 15 // No Fee
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor is proud to sponsor The Windhover. The journal is dedicated to promoting poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction that considers Christian perspectives and engages spiritual themes. Each spring the journal hosts a writers’ festival, inviting their published authors and interested readers to come to campus for a weekend of workshops and presentations on the connection between faith and the arts. Submit no more than five poems submitted in one document. They seek writing that avoids the didactic, the melodramatic, the trite, the obvious, and that invites rereading.
Deadline: October 15 // No Fee
A prize of $1,500, royalty contract, and publication by Finishing Line Press is given annually to the winner for a poetry chapbook by a writer who identifies as a woman and has not yet published a full-length collection. A winner and 10 finalists to be included in the New Women’s Voices chapbook series. The final judge for this competition is Deirdre Fagan. Submit a manuscript of 16 to 30 pages of poetry plus bio, title page, and acknowledgments. Hybrid manuscripts are accepted in addition to traditional poetry manuscripts: prose poetry or formal verse. Color or black/white art may be included with the manuscript in accordance with the page limit.
Deadline: October 15 // Fee
Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, seeks high quality submissions from both emerging and established writers. They want to see your best work, regardless of form, style, or subject matter. Past issues have included such writers as Peter Ho Davies, Bob Hicok, and Maggie Smith. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as Grist is immediately notified if the piece has been accepted elsewhere. Previously published work will not be considered, work will not be considered from those currently or recently affiliated with the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Submit 3-5 poems. Submissions will be considered for publication in either the print issue or online. Payment is $10 per poem plus a contributor copy.
Deadline: October 31 // Fee
Established in 1998, in honor of the poet Benjamin Saltman (1927–1999), this award is for a previously unpublished (including self-published works) original collection of poetry. Awarded collection is selected through an annual competition which is open to all poets. This year’s final judge will be Brenda Cárdenas. Submit a manuscript with a 48 page minimum, 96 page maximum, with identifying information on the cover sheet only.
Deadline: October 31 // Fee
