2026 Contests

DEADLINE & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Deadline for entries is 11:59 PM CST on August 31, 2026.

Winners will be announced at the 2026 AWC Conference.

Prizes

Roger Williams Peace Award for Writing

$250 award to the writing of any genre/category that best promotes peace among human beings.

Limit 1500 words for prose/poetry or 10 pages for other formats (graphic novel, etc.). A minimum of 10 entries must be received for the prize to be awarded. If the minimum is not reached, entry fees will be refunded.

First Chapter of a Novel

$250 award

Up to 10 double-spaced pages, first chapter ONLY. Sponsored by The Book Club for Troublesome Women.

All Other Categories

Certificates and cash awards of $150 (1st place) and $50 (2nd place) will be awarded for the following categories:

·      Short Story (limit 1500 words), sponsored by Alabama Writers' Forum

·       Flash Fiction (limit 500 words), sponsored by Richard Key

·       Microfiction (limit 100 words), sponsored by Doug Gray

·       Inciting Incident (limit 2 pages), sponsored by Jonathan Pierce

·       Memoir (limit 1500 words), sponsored by Sarah Elizabeth Moreman

·       Non-fiction/Lyric Essay, sponsored by David Schjott

·       Formal Poetry, sponsored by Alabama State Poetry Society

·       Free Verse Poetry (limit 40 lines), sponsored anonymously

GENERAL CONTEST RULES

1.   Simultaneous submissions are permitted. If a submission is accepted for publication or wins a disqualifying award during the submission or judging period, AWC should be notified immediately by email to AWCcontests@gmail.com and the work withdrawn from consideration. Any prize money awarded to the withdrawn entry will revert back to AWC.

2.   Entries must be original and unpublished and may not have won a money prize in a previous AWC contest. No previously published work will be accepted.

3.   AWC reserves First Rights for work to be included in the anthology of the year’s winners, with rights afterward reverting to the authors.

4.   Sitting AWC voting Board Members are not eligible.

5.   Multiple entries are accepted, but only one prize per person is awarded in each category.

6.   Each entry must be submitted separately.

7.   Judges read blind for this contest. Failure to remove your name from the manuscript itself will disqualify your entry. The only place that identifies the author should be in the online entry form.

8.   Members pay a reduced entry fee for competitions. If you would like to become a member and take advantage of this reduced entry fee, make sure you renew or establish your membership prior to submitting your contest entry.

9.   Follow manuscript formatting instructions below.

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION

Submissions for the AWC Writing Contests are now being accepted. The entry fee for each competition category is $10 for members of the Alabama Writer’s Cooperative and $15 for non-members.

You can purchase your entries by adding them to your online shopping cart and then paying at check-out. You don’t have to send us an email receipt of payment (since we receive those and track them).

PROPER MANUSCRIPT FORMATTING

Each entry should be sent in standard manuscript format (one-inch margins, 12pt. Times New Roman font). Prose should be double-spaced; poetry spacing is at the poet's discretion.

Please leave the manuscript blind by removing all signs of the author’s name from the manuscript. Failure to remove your name from the manuscript itself will disqualify your entry.

1. Complete the online entry form and upload your properly-formatted entry (blind manuscript) as a Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) by clicking the Contest Submission Form link below.

2.   You will repeat this process for each individual contest entry in a separate entry form.

3.   Each entry should be added to the shopping cart and then paid for as a total when checking out.

4.   Make sure to include the category you are paying for in the blank above the payment.

Example: Earnestine is sending the first chapter of her glorious novel, I Love Mosquitos, as an entry for the novel contest. She typed her name; her contact information; her bio; and the title, category, and word count of her entry into the online entry form. Then she uploaded the manuscript to the form. She pressed submit. To finish her entry process, Earnestine put the First Chapter of Novel Contest Entry into her online shopping cart and then paid for it. Because her novel is the best novel in the world and she would hate to see it ignored as a result of not following directions, Earnestine looks forward to winning the 2026 award and seeing her name published in the anthology.