Welcome, Writer!

Writing contests aren't really about winning. (Okay, hear us out!)

They're about giving yourself a goal to work towards, about revising your work again and again until you're a better writer than you were before, and about sending your story out into the universe where it will be read and cherished by another real, live person!

And if you win? Woo-hoo! That's a bonus.

This is the place to find info on what, when, and how to submit to our annual contests, and to read past contest winners' work. 

2024 Contests

Submit your best creative work to one of our annual contests for the chance to see your story featured all over the online NaNoWriMo universe (and some pretty serious bragging rights).

• The "Now What?" Contest — TBD.
  
  
• In the past, we've also run a flash fiction contest. The submission window was usually in May, and the word limit was 300. We don't have the staff power to run that at the moment, but hope to start again in the future. 
  
  

Past Contest Winners

"Now What?" Novel Excerpt Contest:

• 2023 winning excerpts

• 2022 winning excerpts

• 2021 winning excerpts

• 2020 winning excerpts

• 2019 winning excerpts 

Young Writers Flash Fiction Contest:

• 2020 winning stories

• 2019 winning stories 
  

• 2018 winning stories
  
  

More Publishing Opportunities

Write a guest post for the NaNoWriMo blog — Got advice for other writers, young or old? Sign up for the chance to write a participant post on the NaNoWriMo blog. Fill out the interest form here, or read other YWP participant posts for inspiration. 

Self-publish your novel — Are you ready to publish your whole novel, not just an excerpt? Use Blurb's tools to print copies of your novel!