An annual competition for writers, editors, publications staff, and both business and non-profit communicators.

Annual awards of $2,000 (plus publication) are offered for original, unpublished, book-length work in each of three categories: novels, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Reading fee: $20. Deadline: February 28. Open to U.S. residents only.

San Jose State University sponsors this yearly challenge "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels". No entry fee. Official deadline: April 15.

Annual competitions honoring excellence in all areas of communication, with separate categories for print (177 sub-categories), video (216 sub-categories) and audio (140 sub-categories).

Milkweed Editions is a non-profit publisher of literature for adults and young adults based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Milkweed National Fiction Prize is awarded annually for the best fiction manuscript submitted by an author not previously published by Milkweed.

Offers prize money totalling 2,500 pounds for essays (maximum 2,000 words), short stories (maximum 4,000 words), serials or novellas (up to 20,000 words), and poetry (maximum 100 lines). Closes November 30. Modest entry fees.

Publishers of the magazines, "Scribble" and "Countryside Tales", holding quarterly competitions for original, unpublished short stories and poems, some open, some limited to specific themes.

Offers free monthly contests for poetry and fiction. Open worldwide, but to teenagers only.

Promotes annual prose (up to 5,000 words) and poetry (no more than 60 lines) contests relating to contemporary life in three specific regions, namely, the Rockies, the Desert Southwest, and the Northwest Coast.

SFWP provides resources for authors and features online fiction as well as an annual writing contest for prose, both fiction and non-fiction, including short stories, essays and sample chapters of novels. $6,000 in cash prizes. Deadline: mid-January.

Poetry & Short Fiction Contests - Open to U.S. citizens only, Sarabande offers an annual $2,000 prize for both poetry (minimum 48 pages) and short fiction (minimum 150 pages).

Writing contest for women seeks a story, memoir or book chapter on a given theme. Deadline; December 31, thence monthly. Entry fee: $7. First prize: $70.