University-Wide Creative Writing Contests

The English Department is pleased to announce that the submission period is open for the 2025 Creative Writing Awards. All current Montclair State undergraduate students, regardless of major, can enter the awards listed below. For a full list of all awards offered by the English Department, please visit the Awards & Scholarships website.

Deadline for all submissions: 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 7. Decisions by late April.

Four Creative Writing Awards (open to all Montclair State undergraduate 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 English Department 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