The awards celebrate the incredible poets, novelists, essayists, children’s book authors and writers of all genres from the Motor City. All proceeds benefit our nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward and give back to Detroit youth!
Since launching in 2019, The Detroit Writing Room has heard thousands of powerful stories shared by talented writers who have attended our workshops, events and private coaching sessions. We are excited to offer an opportunity for writers to get published and receive well-deserved recognition at an awards ceremony in Detroit.
Anyone who lives in or is from Metro Detroit is welcome to submit their work for a chance to place in 9 categories. There are two age categories for writers 13-18 and adults 19+.
Choose from the following categories: Poetry, flash fiction, nonfiction, memoir, essay, screenwriting, blogs, children’s book and photography. Browse all categories here.
The deadline to enter is Sept. 3. The awards will be presented at the Detroit Public Theatre in December 2025.
Finalists will be chosen by Writing Room coaches who are award-winning journalists, authors, poets and professors in Detroit and New York. There are also several guest author judges.
You are welcome to enter multiple categories and submit as many entries as you’d like. Each entry is $25 for Writing Room members or $35 for non-members.
Work must be your own. You may not submit work on behalf of someone else.
Entries must be original content that has not been published in a print or online publication. You may submit work published on a personal website or Substack.
Entries must not be under contract with a publisher.
Each category has a word count maximum. If your work exceeds the maximum, you may submit a portion of your story.
Writing entries should be submitted in a Word doc.
Entries for the photography category should be sent as a JPG or PNG. Please send high resolution photography only.
If selected a finalist, work may be lightly edited for spelling, grammar and style. Finalists retain full copyright over their work.
Writers must fill out the following form and submit payment in order for their entry to be considered.
All proceeds from this event benefit our 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm Coaching Detroit Forward and helps support free writing and photography programs for Detroit high school students.
Writers must submit payment in order for their entry to be considered. Once you submit your entry form you will then be redirected to the payment screen.
You may pay for multiple entries at once.
June - Sept. 3: Entries for The Detroit Writing Room Awards are open.
September: Judges review submissions.
October: Finalists are notified.
Dec. 8, 2025: Finalists will learn whether they take 1st, 2nd or 3rd place at an awards ceremony.
Sponsorships help send Detroit students to Coaching Detroit Forward’s summer camps and workshops, where students learn writing and storytelling skills, photography and gain mentors who help them with future internships and job opportunities.
Sponsorships are tax deductible and include benefits such as advertisements in Detroit Voices (the publication featuring all finalists), logo placement online, social media & newsletter mentions, complimentary tickets and more.
You or your company can be part of uplifting the voices and stories told in our city.
Contact events@detroitwritingroom.com for details.
