About CrimeCalls™

CrimeCalls™ is a deadline board for mystery, crime and thriller writers: where to submit, when it closes, what it costs and what it pays.

What it is: CrimeCalls™ is a deadline board for mystery, crime and thriller writing: contests, awards, anthology calls, magazines and publishers taking submissions, sorted by deadline, with entry fees and pay shown up front.
Who it’s for: Writers of mystery, crime, noir, cozy, suspense and thriller fiction, from first short story to finished novel, plus the editors and organizers who run these calls.
What it covers now: 64 current listings: 19 contests, 8 awards for published work, 11 anthology calls, 8 magazines and 18 novel publishers. 26 are open anytime and 46 charged no entry or reading fee when last checked.
How often it’s updated: We aim to re-check listings weekly and add new calls as we find them. Last full check: October 27, 2026.
Getting listed or featured: Standard listings are added as a courtesy once we’ve checked them: email [email protected] or see Add a listing. Featured listings (pinned at the top and labelled “Featured” until your deadline) are $39 at the founding rate for the first 10 sponsors, then $99. Editors, coaches, cover designers and writing tools can buy a 60-day featured resource spot at the same price: Advertise.

How we pick and verify listings (editorial standards)

Here’s how we decide what goes on the board and how we check it.

What we cover. Calls for submissions, contests, awards and deadlines for mystery, crime and thriller writing, and nothing else.
Checked by hand. Each listing is checked by hand against the organizer’s official guidelines page and links straight to it, so you can read the rules for yourself. Every listing shows the date we last checked it, and listings drop off the board once their deadline passes. In the rare case that we confirm a call through a well-known submissions database rather than the organizer’s own page, the listing says so.
What we leave out. Pay-to-publish and vanity schemes, where the writer pays to be published, and calls we can’t trace to a published source page. Contests and publishers that charge an entry or reading fee can still be listed, but the fee is always shown up front.
Paid placements. Featured listings and featured resources are always labelled. Paying never decides whether a call is listed: a featured call has to pass the same check as every other listing.
Standard listings. Organizers don’t pay to appear on the board. Standard listings are included as a courtesy once we’ve checked them.
Corrections. If a deadline, fee or link looks wrong, or a call has closed, email [email protected] and we’ll check it against the official page and update the listing.

Organizers do change dates and fees, so always confirm on the official page before you submit or pay anything.

Who runs CrimeCalls

CrimeCalls™ is published by Continuing Education And Training, LLC, 500 Westover Drive, Suite 17707, Sanford, NC 27330. Contact: [email protected].

Browse

Contests · Anthologies · Free to enter · Magazines · Novel publishers · FAQ · $9 submission calendar

Open data

Every current listing is available as open data (JSON), with the same fields shown on the board, plus a plain-text version for AI assistants at llms.txt and llms-full.txt.

Contact

Corrections, new calls and featured listings: [email protected].

We don’t publish reviews or testimonials, and we never share subscriber addresses. Page updated November 1, 2026; listings last checked October 30, 2026.