ALL CONTESTS UNDER THIS LINE ARE COMPLETED AND CLOSED. BENEATH IS THE ARCHIVE OF OUR PREVIOUS CONTESTS.
Contests: 2025 (CLOSED)
We are also doing something different for this upcoming year. We know how our writers and our readers love our contest. We took a look and noticed that our last contest was a year ago! To rectify that, we’ve decided that we’re doing a year of contests. Starting now, you can submit to any of our monthly contests until that contest deadline (which will be 15th of that month). So, for example, you will have until January 15, 2025 to submit to our first contest which will be the Winter Competition.
January
Contest: Winter Competition (P/F/N)
- Work that best exemplifies the season of winter.
- A winner will be chosen in each genre.
- Deadline: January 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
29: Poetry Winner: Jennifer Choi
30: Fiction Winner: Gary Hardy
31: Nonfiction Winner: Lily Ogden
February
Contest: Love Song Competition (P/F/N)
- Work that best exemplifies the concept of a love song.
- A winner will be chosen in each genre.
- Deadline: February 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
26: Poetry Co-Winner: James G. Piatt
27: Fiction Winner: Angie Curneal Palsak
28: Poetry Co-Winner: Haley DiRenzo
March
Contest: Spring Competition (P/F/N)
- Work that best exemplifies the season of spring.
- A winner will be chosen in each genre.
- Deadline: March 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
29: Poetry Co-Winner: Vanaja Malathy
30: Fiction Winner: Gail Brown
31: Poetry Co-Winner: Stephen Kingsnorth
April
Contest: Poetry Competition (G/S/B)
- Work that best exemplifies the genre of poetry
- A bronze, silver, and a gold “medal” will be chosen
- Deadline: April 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
28: Bronze Winner: Salem Burdett
29: Silver Winner: Alex Andy Phuong
30: Gold Winner: Matthew Lee
May
Contest: Micro Fiction Competition (G/S/B)
- Work that best exemplifies the genre of micro fiction
- A bronze, silver, and a gold “medal” will be chosen
- Deadline: May 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
29: Bronze Winner: Jacob Young
30: Silver Winner: Oliver Kleyer
31: Gold Winner: Scott Tierney
June
Contest: Micro Memoir Competition (G/S/B)
- Work that best exemplifies the genre of micro memoir
- A bronze, silver, and a gold “medal” will be chosen
- Deadline: June 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
28: Bronze Winner: Anna Lee
29: Silver Winner: William Hong
30: Gold Winner: Evangeline Sanchez
July
Contest: Hybrid Competition (G/S/B)
- Work that best exemplifies the genre of hybrid
- A bronze, silver, and a gold “medal” will be chosen
- Deadline: July 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
29: Bronze Winner: L. Simplón
30: Silver Winner: Khoi Pham
31: Gold Winner: Sarah Wolfe
August
Contest: Summer Competition (P/F/N)
- Work that best exemplifies the season of summer.
- A winner will be chosen in each genre.
- Deadline: August 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
29: Poetry Winner: Rita McDermott
30: Fiction Winner: Farytude
31: Nonfiction Winner: C. Jane Swick
September
Contest: Autumn Competition (P/F/N)
- Work that best exemplifies the season of autumn.
- A winner will be chosen in each genre.
- Deadline: September 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
28: Poetry Co-Winner: Emer McDermott
29: Poetry Co-Winner: Mary Bone
30: Poetry Co-Winner: Carissa Coane
October
Contest: 13 Days of Halloween (13)
- Work that best exemplifies the holiday of Halloween.
- The 13 best works that exemplifies the theme will be chosen
- Deadline: October 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
18: Previous Winner: Dylan Jack James
19: Previous Winner: Justin Alcala
20: Previous Winner: Mary Steinberg
21: S.G. Benson
22: Carrie Farrar
23: Laura Dennis
24: Laura Boatner
25: Bernardo Villela
26: William Swanger
27: Ken Gosse
28: Ciaran McLarnon
29: Elanur Williams
30: K.R. Moore
31: Nina Dinan
November
Contest: “The Thursday” Competition (G/S/B)
- Work that best exemplifies the pop culture concept of November being “the Thursday of the Year”
- A bronze, silver, and a gold “medal” will be chosen. Winners can be from any genre.
- Deadline: November 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
28: Bronze Winner: Oleg Daugovish
29: Silver Winner: Ken Gosse
30: Gold Winner: Clarence Heller
December
Contest: 12 Days of the Holidays (12)
- Work that best exemplifies the Holidays.
- The 12 best works that exemplifies the theme will be chosen
- Deadline: December 15th
- The dates for posting the winners will be the following:
20: Ken Gosse
21: Ken Gosse
22: Douglas J. Lanzo
23: Douglas J. Lanzo
24: Rachel Cheng
25: Benedicte Grima
26: Scott Tierney
27: Denise Diehl
28: Ben Macnair
29: James Bates
30: Claire Griffis
31: D.R. James
13 Halloween Tales Contest (CLOSED)
April 24- October 13, 2023
It’s time for our next contest! Our editors are looking for poems, short stories, and art pieces which celebrate the Halloween Season. They can be from any genre. They can also be any level of scary from scaredy cat to seasoned horror movie fan.
Each day, between the 19th and the 31st we will post one of the winning submissions.
The requirements:
- Entries must be submitted by OCTOBER 13, 2023.
- They can be up to 10 pages.
- You can turn in more than one submission in more than one genre BUT only one submission per winner will be posted during our 13 Halloween Tales event.
- They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T SUBMIT IT.
Entries must be a poem, a short story, or an art piece. As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Winners will be publicly announced as their work is posted each day of our event. There will be full list of winners posted on October 31st.
All contests will be emailed about the results by October 17th.
May Flowers Contest (Closed)
It’s time for our next contest! Our editors are looking for poems, short stories, and art pieces which celebrate flowers and other flora. They can be from any genre.
The requirements:
- Entries must be submitted by APRIL 15, 2022
- They can be any length and you can turn in more than one
- They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T SUBMIT IT.
Entries must be a poem, a short story, or an art piece. As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Winners will be announced on May 1, 2022.
Summertime Contest (Closed)
April 1- May 31, 2021
It’s time for our next contest! Our editors are looking for poems, short stories, and art pieces which celebrate Summertime. They can be from any genre.
The requirements:
- Entries must be submitted by MAY 31, 2021
- They can be any length and you can turn in more than one
- They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T SUBMIT IT.
Entries must be a poem, a short story, or an art piece. As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Winners will be announced on June 14, 2021.
Springtime Contest (Closed)
March 01- April 3, 2020
It’s time for our next contest! Our editors are looking for a way to say goodbye to Old Man Winter and welcome the upcoming Spring season. We are looking for poems, short stories, and art pieces which celebrate Springtime. They can be from any genre.
The requirements:
- Entries must be submitted by APRIL 3, 2020.
- They can be any length and you can turn in more than one
- They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T SUBMIT IT.
Entries must be a poem, a short story, or an art piece. As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Short Fiction Contest (Closed)
July 17 – August 30, 2019
It’s time for our next contest! Our editors are immense lovers of short fiction and although we usually accept all genre’s for our contests, this time we only want fiction. They can be anything from science fiction, romance, comedy, literary fiction, etc.
The requirements:
- Entries must be submitted by AUGUST 30
- They can be any length and you can turn in more than one
- They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON’T SUBMIT IT.
Entries must be within the fiction genre. As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Winners will be featured on our website and social media accounts.
High School Contest Winners:
We are proud to announce the winners of our second annual high school contest. We started this contest last year to give young writers a place to send their work, find out what it is like to submit to a magazine and get their work seen. We read some really wonderful submissions but as always we can always choose a few winners. We encourage everyone who submitted to the contest to continue to send more of their work in the future.
Poetry:
1st place: “Don’t Tell Me” by Sa’Raye Wynder-Burs (Woodbridge Senior High School)
2nd place: “The Pencil” by Rebat Matin (Woodbridge Senior High School)
3rd place: “The Girl in the Front” by Ya’Rose Sambou (Northwood High School)
Fiction:
1st place: “The Man” by Alexander Choi (Winston Churchill High School)
2nd place: “Sardines” by Aliki Dimitoglou (Winston Churchill High School)
3rd place: “90 Day Ghost” by Sarah Boyt (Woodbridge Senior High School)
2nd Annual High School Writing Contest (Closed)
We’re so excited because it’s time for our second annual High School Writing Contest. We started this contest last year because we wanted to give students a chance to showcase their work. Writing has been a part of our lives since we were in school and there are students out there who are just as passionate as we were and deserve a place to show the world what they can do.
Here are the details:
– Submissions can be FICTION, POETRY, or ART
– They must be emailed to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com
– They MUST include your full name, school name and a short bio
– Send all work as either a WORD DOCUMENT or PASTE it into the body of your email!
– You are allowed to send multiple submissions
So if you are a high schooler, we are happy to consider your work for the contest. If you are not in high school, but you know a high schooler, feel free to send them this notice. We want as many submissions as possible and we look forward to reading all of them.
Feel free to share the flyer below.
Christmas Contest (Closed)
November 11 – December 25, 2019
It’s time for our next contest! We’re giving you nearly two months to come up with Christmas themed fiction, poetry, and art. It can be about anything Christmas related: Santa Claus, decorating, candy canes, presents, etc.
The requirements:
– Entries must be submitted by DECEMBER 25
– They can be any length and you can turn in more than one
– They must be APPROPRIATE. This means NO sexual themes, minimal language (preferably none at all), no excessive violence (preferably none but use your discretion). Basically, if you wouldn’t want your grandma to read it, DON”T SUBMIT IT.
– Entries must have a Christmas theme.
As always, send everything to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com and spread the word. We look forward to seeing what you come up with.
#MicropoetryChallenge (CLOSED)
Until October 17, 2019
We wanted to do something a little different for our next challenge. Instead of a formal contest, we’re jumping on the Twitter poetry bandwagon.
All you have to do is:
- Tweet a MAXIMUM 7 lines of poetry
- Use #micropoetrychallenge
- Tag us @AcdmyHeartnMind
- (Optional) Follow us!
You have until OCTOBER 17.
We will screenshot the posts and put them on our website at the end of the challenge. Good luck!
Summer Contest (CLOSED)
July 1 – August 30, 2018
In honor if summer, our next contest is summer themed. It can be about anything related to summer: summer love or heartbreak, happiness or depression, family, loss, vacations, beaches, etc., as long as it has a summer theme.
As always, send all entries to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com.
Guidelines:
- Entries must be submitted by JULY 31.
- You can submit more than one.
- Content MUST be safe for work.
- Must be summer themed.
There will be winners in the following categories:
- Fiction
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Poetry
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Art
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
Good luck!
High School Contest Winners
Here are all of the winners of our first annual high school contest. We got so many incredible submissions and it was such an honor to read and publish the work of these young writers. Part of our mission here at Academy of the Heart and Mind is to provide a platform for new writers and the high school contest does just that. We plan to make the high school contest part of the cornerstone of our website and have submissions from high schoolers across the world in the future.
Fiction:
First Place “Sophia” by Amelia Frey
Second Place “Delilah’s Song” by Janie Pitner
Third Place “The Tooth of Time” by Lucas Nieman
Poetry:
First Place “Grapefruit” by Faith Rhodes
Second Place “Dymond” by Shakya Joseph Hall
Third Place “Things, Things” by Yasmine Bryant
Honorable Mentions:
April Showers Contest
April 23 – May 10, 2018 (Closed)
April is here and in a lot of places that means a lot of rain. But you know what they say, April showers bring May flowers. For this months contest, we want you to come up with stuff with the theme of rain.
Guidelines:
- Entries must be submitted by MAY 10.
- You can submit more than one.
- Content MUST be safe for work.
- Must be rain themed.
There will be winners in the following categories:
- Fiction
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Poetry
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
- Art
- First Place
- Second Place
- Third Place
Our Spring Contest Winners
Congratulations to everyone who entered our spring writing contest in March. As always we loved reading each and every one of your submissions but we could only choose a few winners. Surprisingly we got no fiction this time around but we got plenty of poetry. the winners are:
Poetry
First Place: Gloria Klinger
Second Place: “Rainy Day Charm” by Ann Christine Tabaka
Third Place: “The Sound of Music” by Dr. S. Imbesat
Art
Pat St. Pierre
Honorable Mentions
“Horary of the Seasons” by Emily Strauss
“Rustle of Spring” by Feby Joseph
“Electric Lightbulbs, Cold Cuts, and College Debt” by John Grochalski
Spring Contest (Closed).
March 10th through March 31st.
Spring is right around the corner! It’s finally time to get rid of the winter coats and snow and prepare for warmer weather. It’s also a time for growth and renewal. So for our next contest, send in work with the theme of spring. It can be anything you want.
Guidelines:
- Entries must be submitted by MARCH 31.
- You can submit more than one.
- Content must be safe for work.
- Must be spring themed.
There will be winners in the following categories:
- Fiction
- First Place
- Second Place
- Poetry
- First Place
- Second Place
- Art
- First Place
- Second Place
Prize:
Winners will be featured on our front page and social media.
There is NO fee for entree!!
Love Is In The Air Contest Winners!
First and foremost, thank you so much to everyone who entered our February contest! We got more submissions than we ever thought we would get and we’re extremely grateful to everyone who entered. It was very exciting reading all of your work.
All of the winners have been posted on the website and our social media, but here’s another shoutout to everyone in one place. Please, take the time to read all of them. They truly did some fantastic work and we’re excited to see what they come up with in the future.
Fiction:
First Place: Susanne Thomas “Faint of Heart”
Second Place: Clynthia Burton Graham “Ruby’s Wall Singer”
Third Place: Deryn Pittar “The Braille Reader”
Poetry:
First Place: Feby Joseph “Sleep II”
Second Place: Philip Clark “My Cigarette”
Third Place: Bernadette Perez “My First”
Art:
First Place: Amanda Lee
Second Place: Terry Tripp “Swing Dance”
We got so many amazing submissions that it was very difficult to choose these winners. There was a lot of other incredible work and we felt it was only right to give a few honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Lynn White “Sunrise Sunset” “The Chase”
Sravani Singampalli “The Rain Brings Love”
Love Is In The Air Contest (Closed)
February 1 – February 28, 2018
February is the month of love and for this month’s contest we want you to come up with a love story. It can be happy, sad, tragic, funny, a letter to someone you love or hate, anything you want! Or you can make a drawing of how you would describe love. Share with your friends so we can get a lot of good competition!
Guidelines:
- Entries must be submitted by FEBRUARY 28.
- You can submit more than one.
- Content must be safe for work.
- The only requirement is that it must be a love story in some way.
There will be winners in the following categories:
- Fiction
- First Place
- Second Place
- Poetry
- First Place
- Second Place
- Art
- First Place
- Second Place
Prize:
Winners will be featured on our front page and social media.
There is NO fee for entree!!
January Challenge!
(Closed)
Until January 31
We challenge you to write every day during the January Challenge! Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and even art. Start off the year right with lots of writing. January will be the month to inspire creativity at Academy of the Heart and Mind.
Prize:
Everyone who enters will have a chance to be featured. There will be no first, second, and third place winners. All you have to do is WRITE.
How many can you send?:
Send us as many submissions as you want! You can send one every day, or send your best work at the end of the month.
Need a little inspiration?:
Use the writing prompts below to kick off your daily writing.
We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Holiday Contest Winners
Thanks for to everyone who entered our Holiday Contest. All of you send in fantastic stories and poems and it was a pleasure reading each of them. Through careful consideration we have chosen the winners from the Fiction and Poetry categories.
The First Place Winner of the Fiction Contest is “We Better Get Back Before Dark” by David Ritterskamp
The First Place Winner of the Poetry Contest is “Six Holiday Haiku/Senryu” by Katelyn Thomas
The Second Place Winner of the Poetry Contest is “The Holiday” by Bernadette Perez
The Third Place Winner of the Poetry Contest is “Canal Fog” by Emma Woodford
Holiday Contest (Closed)
Nov. 11 – Dec. 24, 2017
Now Closed
Come see the Winners on Christmas
This is our first ever contest at Academy of the Heart and Mind! Since the holidays are right around the corner, send us holiday/winter themed work.
Submit your entries by DECEMBER 20. Winners will be announced on December 24. Send all submissions to academyoftheheartandmind@gmail.com.
- There is no limit to how many submissions you can send
- Try to keep submissions at about 20-25 pages maximum
- As always, keep it safe for work
There will be a first place winner and a runner up in the following categories:
- Fiction
- First Place
- Second Place
- Poetry
- First Place
- Second Place
- Art
- First Place
- Second Place
There is NO fee for entree!!
Prize: Winners will be featured on our front page and on our social media.
We are very excited to see what you come up with!
Academy of the Heart And Mind 