Propel your writing career by entering a contest
Part of being a writer is getting your writing out into the world. Entering your stories, poems or screenplays gives you the opportunity for publication and recognition.
Entries for these four contests are due at the end of December or early next year. For information about other upcoming contests, check out writing magazines, including Writer’s Digest, The Writer and Writer’s and Poets.
Meridian’s 2012 Editors’ Prize Contests – poetry and short story
Fiction writers may submit one story of 10,000 words or fewer. Poets may submit up to four poems totaling 10 pages or fewer. Entrants receive a subscription to Meridian’s electronic edition. Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication in the Spring/Summer issue of Meridian are given annually for a poem and a short story.
Deadline: December 30, 2011
Entry Fee: $8
For more information and contest rules, check out the website.
Scriptapalooza – screenplay
Scripts from any genre are accepted. Submit one copy of a 80 to 140-page screenplay. Writers may pay an extra fee to receive feedback on their script, which includes notes about the first 20 pages, pacing, dialogue, setting, character, structure and more. (See contest rules for more details.) The first place winner receives $10,000 cash. Semifinalist winners and higher will receive help pitching and promoting their scripts.
Early bird deadline January 5 – $40
Regular deadline March 5 – $50
Late deadline April 16 – $55
FINAL deadline April 19 – $60
For more information, visit the Scriptapalooza website.
Glimmer Train Press – Fiction Open
Submit a story of 2,000 to 20,000 words during the month of December. A prize of $2,000 and publication in Glimmer Train Stories is given quarterly for a short story.
Deadline: December 31, 2011
Entry Fee: $18
Visit the website for complete rules.
Ruth Hindman Foundation – H. E. Francis Short Story Competition
Submit three copies of a story of up to 5,000 words. A prize of $1,000 is given annually for a short story. Mail submissions to:
Department of English, Morton Hall 222, H.E. Francis Contest, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899.
Deadline: December 31, 2011
Entry fee: $15 (entry fee is tax deductible)
Visit the H.E. Francis Contest website for more information.
onewildword 
I don’t think I write literary enough to ever win a competition unfortunately. 😦 Or perhaps I just lack the confidence? Good luck to you if you enter them though 😀
http://wordsinsync.blogspot.com/2011/12/in-honour-of-national-guards-375th.html
It’s easy to lack confidence as a writer. Some days the writing feels like it flows and other days, not so much. It doesn’t help that we’re so close to our own sentences, which makes it hard to see our writing objectively. I recommend forming a writers’ group with several other writers you trust to give each other feedback. If you continue to write and polish your work, no doubt it will be ready to enter into a contest. Good luck Shah!