End of Year Opportunities for African Writers
Up to $1400, Print & Digital Publication, Contests
This is the last publication of 2024. Publication will resume Wednesday, 1st of January 2025 at 5pm WAT.
1. Labari Prize for Poetry
Labari is an annual prize created to promote Northern Nigerian peoples and cultures. This year’s theme "Mindscapes of the North" invites writers to reveal the complex layers of thoughts, emotions, and lived experiences of Arewa. It encourages poets to explore the collective cultural identity shaped by shared beliefs, experiences, and ideologies.
Deadline: 20th December 2024 | Prize: N200,000
Things to note:
This contest is open to poets of Nigerian and African descent.
Submissions can be in English or Hausa.
Each poet may submit up only one poem.
Submissions must be original and unpublished. Works that have appeared in personal blogs or small publications are acceptable but must not have been submitted for other prizes.
Submit your poems in PDF or Word Document format. Each poem should be typed, double-spaced, and include the title (but not the poet’s name to ensure anonymity).
Poems must reflect or engage with the theme in creative and meaningful ways.
Submit your work to artsxvibes@gmail.com. Include your name, contact information, and a brief biography (max 100 words) in the body of the email.
2. Afitondo Short Story Prize 2025
Afritondo is a media and publishing platform that aims to connect with and tell the stories of Africans and black minority populations across the globe. For the 2025 prize, they want writers to respond to the theme of “masks”: spiritual, psychological, social, and cultural coverings that people wear. To read more about the theme, visit here.
Deadline: 23rd December 2024. | Prize: Total of $1400
Things to note:
You may only submit an entry if you meet any of the following eligibility requirements:
You are a citizen or national of an African country.
One of your parents is a national of an African country.
You are of black ethnicity or belong to a black minority population anywhere in the world.
Submissions must be in English and must reflect the theme.
Only one submission per writer is allowed.
The submission, including the title, must be between 3000 and 5000 words.
The submission should be in Microsoft Word (doc, docx) and in the following format:
•Double-spaced, Times New Roman or Calibri font, 12-point size.
•The title of the story should appear at the top of the first page, followed by the word count. No further information is required.
• Every page must be numbered.
The author’s name or detail must not be included anywhere on the document to be uploaded. The document must contain only the title, word count, and story.
Submission is accepted only via email. Entries should be sent to submissions@afritondo.com. The subject of the submission should read: Submission for Afritondo Short Story Prize 2025.
The filename of the entry (i.e. the attached document) must be the title of the short story. In the body of the form, share briefly about yourself, including such information as your legal name, country of residence, age (optional), and contact details.
Entries must not have been previously published or shortlisted for another prize. Also, entries published or shortlisted during the judging or publishing process will be disqualified.
Entrants agree as a condition of entry that the prize organisers may publicise the fact that a story has been entered, longlisted, or shortlisted for the prize.
Where a story has been longlisted, it can no longer be withdrawn from the competition.
By submitting an entry, the author agrees to its inclusion in an anthology should the judges select it and to work with editors to get the story ready for publication.
3. Submit to The Maine Review
The Maine Review is dedicated to making contemporary literature accessible and to supporting representation, innovation, and literary artistry. To celebrate the end of the year, they are offering no-fee submissions to all writers.
Deadline: 31st December 2024 | Honorarium: $25-$50
Things to note:
Fiction: Send only one piece of 3,000 words or fewer (though we will consider longer works of exceptional merit) or three flash pieces no more than 1,000 words each
12-point Times New Roman font. Double-spaced
1” margins. Pages numbered
Please include word count in your cover letter
Editor: David Grubb
Poetry: Maximum three poems, no more than five pages total
12-point Times New Roman font
Single-spaced (or as you would like the poem to appear online)
Pages numbered
Co-editors: Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson, Lauren Myers-Hinkle
Please address your cover letter to the editor of each category.
4. Submit Poetry Manuscripts to Bainbridge Island Press
Bainbridge is a small independent press that has a passion for undiscovered poets seeking to publish their first book. Whether this is your first or your fourteenth book, they're excited to engage with you.
Deadline: rolling |. Pay: Unstated
Things to note:
Manuscripts should be approx 80-120 pages in length.
You can submit your manuscripts in Word or PDF format.
To submit, click this link.
5. Vestiges: Call for Prose and Poetry
Black Sun Lit is a small literary publisher of transgeneric poetry and ontological inquiry. For this issue of Vestiges, Black Sun is seeking approximations and proximities: work which is spurred by discursive surmises, similes of illegibility, and linguistic ceremonies of imagistic insults; the inconceivably sad that succeeds in a logic of extravagance and smitten-smote laughter activated by demiurgic pranks; odes and epistles to the twilight of philological fidelity and the tremors of unstable tropes.
Deadline: 31st December 2024 | Pay: unstated
Things to note:
Please submit—in one file—either 1–5 works of prose (no more than 5,000 words), up to 6 poems (no more than 12 pages), or 1 essay (3,500–5,000 words).
All submitted work should be previously unpublished
Theme: Catachresis
Submissions are capped at 100.
Include a cover letter containing a short biographical statement.
6. Send Speculative Fiction to Variant Literature
Variant Literature is a small press and magazine committed to publishing diverse voices at all stages of their careers. They are looking for fiction, especially speculative fiction for their next issue.
Deadline: 31st December 2024. | Pay: Unstated
Things to note:
Fiction 1200 to 5500 words
Fiction must have one or more kernels (pivots/aboutness) supported by satellites (clues/cues/breadcrumbs) and have the makings of metaphor.
Submit only once per submission period, unless specifically invited to resubmit the same period.
Please include a brief 3rd person bio with your submission.
Simultaneous submissions are fine--withdraw if accepted elsewhere.
Do not send previously published work.
7. The Worchester Review: 46th Volume
The Worcester Review is an annual print literary journal published by the Worcester County Poetry Association (WCPA), a non-profit organization formed to promote the writing arts. For it’s 46th fiction volume, they are waiving submission fees for Black, Indegenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) writers.
Deadline: 31st December 2024 | Honorarium: $20
Things to note:
One short story up to 3000 words OR up to 3 flash pieces, 1200 words maximum.
Please include word count on first page.
For flash fiction, please begin each piece on a new page, and include titles.
Titles do not need to be included in the word count.
8. Send Book Reviews to Journal of African Youth Literature
They publish reviews on creative writing, poetry, prose (stories and narratives), plays, with a storyline in ANY language used in Africa, such as Swahili, Amharic, Yoruba, Zulu, Chichewa, English, French, etc. Submissions must be by, about, and/or for born-in-Africa youths. For the purposes of the Journal, ‘African’ is defined according to place of birth or heritage. It is not related to colour or race.
Deadline: Rolling basis | Pay: None
Things to note:
Send reviews to ibrahim.ibrahim@jaylit.com. Word count should not exceed 2,000 words.
9. Send Longform Fiction to WaxWing
Waxwing is published three times a year in February, July, and October. They strive to promote the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices both in English and in translation. For their February issue, they are now accepting longform fiction.
Deadline: 31st December 2024 or after 300 submissions | Pay: Unpaid
Things to note:
Please send only one story
1000 to 10,000 words. Double-space your manuscript and include page numbers.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable and encouraged but please let them know if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Please include a cover letter with your submission that tells them what you are submitting (titles and genre are helpful) and a short third person author bio.
10. Submit Poetry and Prose to Ta Adesa
Ta Adesa is a Ghanaian female-led literary magazine. They publish all year-round and are currently open to poetry and prose submissions.
Deadline: Rolling basis. | Pay: Unstated
Things to note:
Please submit one genre/work for consideration at a time.
They accept simultaneous submissions but immediately inform them when the work is accepted elsewhere.
They do not accept previously published works (this means works that have appeared online or in print – including your personal blog).
For Literary Fiction, please submit up to 3000 words of prose, double spaced, and in Times New Roman, font size 12.
For Poetry, please submit 2-3 poems with a maximum of 30 lines per poem, also in Times New Roman, font size 12. All poems must be submitted in a single document attached.
All submissions should be done via email to: editor@taadesa.org
The subject of your email should be: [*Title of your submission*, *Genre* by *Name*]
Example: Catching a Dragonfly, Fiction Submission by Jane Doe
Include a short bio written in the third person, which includes your nationality, as well as a high quality author image or headshot.
Response time 4-6 weeks. Email editor@taadesa.org on the status of your submission if you do not hear from them within this period.
11. Be Part of Something More—African Writer Weekly
Hello! Esohe here, I’d like to thank you for reading and engaging with AFWW in 2024. It takes a considerable amount of time to curate this weekly list and in 2025, I’d like to do and offer you more; but to do this, I’d like to know what you want. Tell me, in this two minute survey. Please and thank you.
One last thing. I know 2024 may not have been all you hoped it would be. I’m sorry if you struggled, I did too—I am. However, good things too can happen unexpectedly, and one acceptance has the power to open doors you didn’t know could exist for you. Don’t give up enyi m (friend). We will travel far because we are going together.
I look forward to reading your words in 2025. Merry Christmas.
Prose of The Week
Photo by de JD Mason on Unsplash
The Housewife | Nneoma Kenure
Nkeonyere lay on her bed afraid to begin the day because she knew what she had to do. She would log into her phone to find the files and spreadsheets with all the information she needed. Kezie was a planner. Was. Kezie is now a was. Kezie is dead. She pressed her fingers against her eyes in an attempt to clear her thoughts. Their honeymoon came to mind. Tired, after hours of flying, she’d asked for her passport as they settled into their hotel room. Kezie gave her a look.
“Why?” he asked.
“I want it back.”
“I want to have your passport. I want to keep it with mine.”
Poetry of The Week
Postpartum Husbands and Wives | Ishola Joshua
Round the table somewhere among
the most popular lounges in Ilorin,
postpartum wives will come together
to exchange each and every one’s marital grief over steamy plates of pepper soup
topped with half to brimful glasses of wine.
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Imeela (You have done well—Igbo, Southeastern Nigeria)
Thank you for curating these opportunities each week. I hope you have a lovely rest and beautiful moments during this holiday season, Esohe 💖