Below are the writing contest listing sites I used to create my own events lists. I would recommend them all.
Winning Writers. Expressly does free contests. You have to make an account with an email, but they don’t spam you or anything. This is my #1 favorite place to find contests.
Christopher Fielden. Includes entry-fee contests, but you can search your genre easily using Control-F. Christopher does an awesome job and updates every month. Please note the sidebar, which categorizes the type of writing: novel, short story, poem, etc.
Almond Press. Comprehensive and easy to read.
Poets and Writers. You can select “free entry” from the drop-down. There are a lot of contests here for books published in “the previous calendar year” and for translations, but hiding among those, you’ll find great contest listings too.
Freelance Writing. It’s a bit clunky to navigate, so I usually do it by “Ascending” deadlines. Not all the contests that list no entry fee end up being free. However, there are a lot of contests to choose from.
Other useful resources:
- Reedsy
- iWriterly (For pitch events.)
- Chicken Soup for the Soul (For personal essays/nonfiction poetry.)
- SubIt Calendar (Finds free webinars and pitch events.)
Thank you so much for all the hard work you put into Free writing events over the years, and I wish you well on your writerly journey! It was through this website I was able to eventually find my creative writing Mfa, as well as works from various writers and poets I currently love. It’ll be sad to see this site go, but I wish you the best of luck with your passion and future career as an author, and am glad you’re pursuing your own dreams now rather than everyone else’s expectations. Take care and wish you and yours great health & wealth!
Thank you so much for the kind words, Jean! I’m so gratified to have impacted your life in some small way. Thank you for the understanding as well. It sounds like we’re both on the up-and-up, no? I’ll look out for big things from you once that MFA is complete! (Or maybe even before!)