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2025 Call for Submissions: SWW Annual Writing Contest

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The SouthWest Writers (SWW) annual writing competition is now open for submissions.

All writers, new and experienced, are welcome to enter the contest. Contestants don’t have to be members of SWW or live in the Southwest to participate.

First-, second-, and third-place winners will be awarded monetary prizes and the chance for publication in the 2025 contest anthology, Beyond Boundaries.

The submission window closes at midnight on July 8, 2025. Fees vary depending on submission date.

This year’s contest offers eighteen writing categories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, plus a new category for Short Screenplay.

◆ Fiction Categories

  • Flash Fiction
  • Short Story: Adult, Young Reader/Middle Grade, and Young Adult
  • Opening Chapter of an unpublished novel

◆ Nonfiction Categories

  • Opening Chapter of unpublished nonfiction and memoir
  • Short Memoir, Essay, and Article

◆ Poetry Categories

  • Free Verse
  • Haiku
  • Limerick

◆ Short Screenplay Category

Go to the Contest Page for more details and to enter the contest.

Good luck!

SouthWest Writers is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization devoted to helping both published and unpublished writers improve their craft and further their careers. In 2024, SWW celebrated forty years dedicated to this goal.



2024 Call for Submissions: SWW Annual Writing Contest

Posted on by

The SouthWest Writers (SWW) annual writing competition is now open for submissions.

All writers, new and experienced, are welcome to enter the contest. Contestants don’t have to be members of SWW or live in the Southwest to participate. First-, second-, and third-place winners will be awarded monetary prizes and a publication opportunity in our annual contest anthology.

This year’s contest offers five main categories divided into a total of twenty-five subcategories of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry as well as interior and cover art for the anthology.

Fiction categories include:

  • Opening Pages of published and unpublished novels
  • Stories for Young Reader/Middle Grade and Young Adult
  • Short Stories and Flash Fiction

Nonfiction categories include:

  • Opening Pages of published and unpublished memoirs
  • Essays and Articles

Poetry categories include:

  • Free Verse
  • Haiku
  • Limericks

The Contest Submission Period is June 1 – July 7, 2024. Fees vary depending on submission date.

Go to the Annual Contest page for more details and to enter the contest.

Good luck!



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