2024 Creative Writing Awards

The English Department is pleased to announce that the submission period is open for the 2024 Creative Writing Awards. All current Montclair State undergraduate students can enter the awards listed below. For a full list of all awards offered by the English Department, please visit the Awards & Scholarships website.

Four Creative Writing Awards (open to all Montclair State undergraduate and graduate students):

1.   The Johnny Muller Memorial Scholarship in Fiction: submit one story or excerpt from a longer piece (must be labeled as such), limited to 20 pages total, double-spaced. $1000
2.   The Tom Benediktsson Award for Poetry: submit a maximum of three poems. If you are submitting more than one poem, the limit is 60 lines per poem. If one long poem, the limit is 150 lines. $300
3.   The Carter Ross Flash Fiction Award: submit a single piece of fiction under 1,000 words, not including the title. It must be self-contained, not part of a larger work. $300
4.   The Minnie Max Award for Creative Nonfiction: submit one piece of nonfiction writing, limited to 20 pages total, double-spaced. $300

Deadline for all submissions: 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3. Decisions by late April.

Creative Writing Awards FAQs

1. May I submit material for a Montclair State University creative writing award that wasn’t written for a class? Yes!
2. May I submit material for a Montclair State University creative writing award I have won in the past? No. We have limited prize money and would like to reward as many different writers as we can.
3. Do I need to include a personal statement? No, not for creative writing awards.
4. Do I need to be an English major or minor? The awards are open to any undergraduate student at Montclair State.

For any questions about the contests themselves, contact David Galef, Creative Writing Program Director.