Earn Over $1,000 from Writing in May
Try your luck and write for these publications.

Wondering how you can earn $200 and over as a writer this month?
You could try entering a writing contest or apply for a cash grant.
Many programs focused on writers go unnoticed every year. But this year, can be different if you and your fellow writers apply.
Here are the details you need to meet the submission deadline of 23 & 31 May 2022.
Bacopa Literary Review Writing Contest
Bacopa Literary Review is the host of this international contest.
The contest has three prose and poetry categories:
- Fiction up to 2,500 words
- Creative non-fiction up to 2,500
- Humor up to 2,000
- Free Verse Poetry is 1 to 2 poems
- Formal Poetry is 1 to 3 poems
- Visual Poetry is one poem only
Only unpublished work that has never appeared in print or self-published online will get acceptance. Authors can only submit a piece to one category.
- Prize: $200 & $100 for the six categories
- Deadline: 23 May 2022
- Published writing examples: Editor’s Blog
- Details: Here
Humane Education Network: A Voice for Animals
The 14–15-year-old section requires an essay addressing the mistreatment of one animal species or one cause of animal suffering. It will raise awareness of this species and how to protect it. The submission can focus on companion animals, farm animals, or wildlife.
The 16–18-year-old section requires an essay addressing one of threes scenarios:
- mistreatment of one animal species
- one cause of animal suffering
- the preservation of one endangered species.
The setting can be anywhere, and the essay must include workable solutions to ease animal suffering. The submission can focus on companion animals, farm animals, or wildlife.
The teen will need to choose one scenario of animal mistreatment and one animal category for their submission.
- Prize: Individual prizes of up to $500
- Word count: less than 1,500
- Deadline: 31 May 2022
- Participants: All 14 to 18-year-old students
- Details: Here.
The Black Orchid Novella Award
The Wolfe Pack seeks novellas inspired by the Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series.
It should not be a padded short story. Instead, it should be a tight, fast-paced short story or novel. The plot is to focus on the deductive skills of a sleuth.
Only mailed submissions will get accepted.
- Prize: $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine
- Word count: 15,000 to 20,000
- Deadline: 31 May 2022
- Participants: All writers
- Details: Here.

Speculative Literature Foundation Grants: Older Writers Grant
Do you know a writer over the age of 50? Let them know they can apply for this Older Writer Grant.
The Speculative Literature Foundation offers a grant to assist someone older working at the professional level. They will need to fill out the application form. Provide a 500-word autobiographical statement describing their work and including their date of birth, plus a writing sample.
Speculative literature is a catch-all term. This inclusive genre spans fantastic literature. It includes hard science fiction, epic fantasy, ghost stories, slipstream, horror, folk, fairy tales, magical realism, and modern myth-making.
- Prize: $1,000
- Writing sample: 10 pages of poetry or drama | 5,000 words of fiction or creative non-fiction
- Deadline: 31 May 2022
- Applicants: All speculative fiction writers above 50
- Details: Here.
Owl Canyon Press Essay Contest
The work of all international writers receives welcome here.
The prompt is an essay on an aspect of Marc Jampole’s experimental literary work, The Brothers Silver.
Papers in a foreign language should also come with an English translation.
Topic focus includes:
“point of view issues, use of language, relationship to Jampole’s poetry, comparison to other novelists or literary trends, textual readings, social criticism in the novel, images of Judaism and other religions, significance to contemporary literature, and symbolism in the novel.”
- Prize: $5,000; $1,000; $300
- Word count: 2,000
- Deadline: 31 May 2022
- Participants: All writers
- Details: Here
CNO Naval History Essay Contest — Professional Historian
How does the website describe the contest?
“The Chief of Naval Operations invites entrants to submit an essay that applies lessons from naval history to establishing and maintaining (US) maritime superiority in an era of great power competition.”
The competition is open to historians. The suggested list includes history museum curators, archivists, history teachers, professors, persons with history-related doctoral degrees, and authors of books on naval history (not including self-published works). Civilians with articles published in an established historical or naval journal or magazine can also take part.
- Prize: $5,000, $2,500
- Word count: 3,500
- Deadline: 31 May 2022
- Participants: American and international professional historians
- Details: Here
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