2025 SWA Sponsored Contests
Here is the updated list of 9 sponsored contests for 2025.
If you have questions, suggestions, or comments regarding our contests or would like to sponsor a contest, feel free to contact Amy Wethington at swa50cne@gmail.com.
Please note: Contests are only open to members.
A cash award is included with placement in our contests along with the prestige of winning.
SWA sponsored contests will open January 1, 2025 and close April 30, 2025.
Please fill out the online form or email your contest submissions to swa50cne@gmail.com.
Contest rules and guidelines
Please take the time to read the contest rules and guidelines before submission.
This document includes information about the judging process, cash awards, and how to submit via email if you are unable to access the online submission form.
Timetable for contest entrants
Contests will open January 1 and close April 30, at the end of the day.
Placement in SWA contests will be announced LIVE during our 2025 Conference, June 6-10. 2025, at Epworth by the Sea in St. Simons Island, GA.
A list of winners will be posted on SWA’s website within a week of the live awards ceremony and in the summer issue of our Purple Pros newsletter.
If applicable, feedback to contest entrants will be shared with the entrants via email, within a week of the awards ceremony.
PDFs of award certificates will be emailed to those unable to attend our 2025 meeting within a week of the ceremony.
Absent award recipients may receive printed award certificates via USPS.
Contest List
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Submit no more than two limericks (each consisting of five lines using an AABBA rhyme scheme). They can be nonsensical, comedic, outrageous, raunchy, or just plain fun.
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For Excellence in Southern Poetry, a single poem of no fewer than 10 lines and no more than 50 lines addressing the Southeast in some broad way, either through subject matter or through style or through homage.
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Fiction, any genre, no poetry, slice of life, or vignette. A complete manuscript with beginning, middle and end -- which is character-driven and has a resolution. Less than 1,000 words; up to 999 words, not counting the title.
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The author shall compose a fictional short story with the following constraints: Genre, thriller with a surprise ending, up to 1000 words, "unconscious young woman sitting in a sports car," included in the text, and - "desperately searching for a flashlight," as a critical part of the story. It will be judged on grammar, on adherence to the prompts, and word count.
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Submit complete manuscript, not to exceed 4,000 words. Short fiction in any of the fantastical genres, such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird, magical, supernatural, superhero, utopian or dystopian, apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic, alternate history. Short story or flash; stand-alone novel chapters also accepted.
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-- Explore the complex interplay between destiny and choice with the prompt, The Dance of Fate and Free Will. We welcome submissions from any genre of fiction or creative nonfiction. It can be written for any age group and set in any timeline—past, present, or future. Your entry can be self-contained or an excerpt from a larger work, as long as it: 1) doesn’t exceed 4,000 words (according to Microsoft Word), and 2) follows the Shunn format https://www.shunn.net/format/. Are you ready to captivate us?
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[Some minimal feedback will be offered.]
Submit first 10 pages of the manuscript (double-spaced); plus a 1-page synopsis and 1-paragraph “elevator pitch.” Any genre, literary or mainstream.
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Submit the first 30 pages or the first three chapters of a crime novel. 12-point font. Double space. Do not use tab indentions—use the paragraph formatting option to set paragraph indentions. A one-page synopsis recommended. File name should include Crime Novel Contest SWA, your title.
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Cozy Mystery Award
Submit first 10 pages of manuscript (double-spaced), plus a 1-page synopsis and 1-paragraph “elevator pitch.” Cozy mysteries are a sub-genre of crime fiction -- a comfort read that leaves the reader satisfied rather than scared. The detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Think TV shows like “Murder She Wrote,” “Father Brown,” and “Death in Paradise” or Agatha Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage.
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NOTE: Whether submitting online or via email, you should receive an email confirming your entry and information within 48 hours. Questions about your entry? Send Amy an email to SWA50CNE@gmail.com.
Email Submission Form to fill out with your contest entry:
First Name: * [___]
Last Name: * [___]
Pen name [if applicable, this name will replace your name entered above on the contest certificate]: [___]
Email Address: * [___]
Contest Category: * choose the appropriate one from a list of nine
• [___] Limerick Award
• [___] Herbert Shippey Award for Excellence in Southern Poetry
• [___] Microcosm Award
• [___] Short Story Contest
• [___] The Vega Award for Speculative Short Fiction
• [___] The Lighthouse Prompt Award
• [___] The H. W. “Buzz” Bernard Award for Novel
• [___] Crime Fiction Contest
• [___] Thursday Writers' Cozy Mystery Award
Title of entry *
This is my only entry to this contest category [* agree ___]
I have read the contest description [see website under contests] and:
• my entry is formatted appropriately [* agree ___]
• my entry meets the word count criteria [* agree ___]
• my name doesn’t appear in the header, byline, filename, or anywhere else [* agree ___]
• This has not been previously published in any form, including blogs [* agree ___]
• I have not [nor plan to] submitted/submit this same manuscript to a different SWA-sponsored contest [* agree ___]
My SWA membership is current [* agree ___]
I have not used A.I. to generate any of this content [* agree ___]
I plan to be at the award ceremony [* yes ___, no ___] only people in attendance will receive a printed certificate. All other award certificates will be emailed as pdfs unless the applicant is willing to cover shipping costs. If applicable, shipping details will be worked out via email.
Attached file [ yes ___, no ___] all author information (including your name) MUST be removed from the manuscript text body, headers, and file name. The manuscript should be saved and uploaded in any standard word processing file type, such as Word or RTF. We do not accept PDFs.
Subject line contains contest category [ yes ___, no ___]
