Wisconsin People & Ideas Writing Contests

press release: Since 1994, Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine has provided annual awards for excellence in Wisconsin-based writing and poetry. Our fiction and poetry contests accept submissions from January 15 to March 15 and are open to all Wisconsin residents and students age 18 and older. We encourage emerging and established writers to send in their best works of fiction and poetry for a chance to win up to $500 and other prizes along with publication in Wisconsin People & Ideas, a reading at the Wisconsin Book Festival in Madison, and a one-week residency at the lovely Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point.

March update: The Wisconsin People & Ideas magazine Poetry and Fiction Contests have been extended to March 31, 2023.

Thanks to our 2022 contest judges Amy Quan Barry (fiction) and Rebecca Dunham (poetry), as well as to preliminary contest screeners CX Dillhunt, Josh Ruffin, and Claude Clayton Smith. All contest judging is done blindly and the winning submissions are selected through criteria established by individual judges. The contests are administered by Christopher Chambers, interim editor of Wisconsin People & Ideas. Thanks also to the Wisconsin Academy donors, members, and the following contest sponsors for their support of Wisconsin writers:  Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Book Festival and Shake Rag Alley.