SouthWest Writers stays active in the writing community by sponsoring annual contests and events that support, encourage, and reward writers of all experience levels.
Annual Writing Contest
SouthWest Writers holds a competition every year which challenges writers to create outstanding short stories or articles, prose and poetry.
The 2025 contest ended July 8 and received over 300 entries across 18 categories. Read the list of winners here!
The winner’s anthology Beyond Boundaries is now available for purchase.
ONGOING Monthly Sage News Challenges:
Every month the SouthWest Sage newsletter offers a challenge for members to hone their skills in various writing styles. These are published in the Sage e-newsletter. Anthologies containing these stories, poems and other writing advice are created every few years with the best of the Sage. The most recent anthology, Kaleidoscope, features prose pieces from 2019-2024.
To read Sage Challenge entries or participate in the challenges, check the Sage Challenge page of this website the first week of each month.
Past Annual Contest Winners and Information
2025 Contest, 2024 Contest, 2023 Contest, 2022 Contest, 2021 Contest, 2020 Contest, 2019 Contest
Past SWW Writing Competitions/Challenges
2004–2014 Annual Writing Contests
2010–2015 Bimonthly Writing Contests — short stories and poetry