Lucy Cavendish College Prize 2017. The winner will receive a cash prize of £1,500, together with the offer of a ‘guaranteed’ contract with Peters Fraser Dunlop. A longlist of twenty will be published in March/April, with a subsequent shortlist of five invited to a dinner in Cambridge on May 25th, when the winner will be announced. In addition, all shortlisted entrants will receive a half-hour consultation with Judge and literary agent, Nelle Andrew, who will give editorial feedback and discuss the marketability of the work submitted – something that money can’t buy! Deadline is noon on February 10th, with an entry fee of £12. One vital point: you must be a female author, aged 21 and over.(Sorry, Ed!) Details and entry: http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/fictionprize/
Writers & Artists’ Yearbook Short Story Competition. 2,000 words on an open theme. ENTRY IS FREE, but you must be registered on http://www.writers-andartists.co.uk. The prize is an Arvon residential writing course of your choice, plus online publication. Deadline: February 13th. Details: http://www.writersand-artists.co.uk/competitions.
Exeter Writers Short Story Competition. 3,000 words on an open theme. Entry fee: £6. Prizes: £500, £250, £100, plus £100 for a Devon writer. Deadline February 28th. Details: http://www.exeterwriters.org.uk
Bath Flash Fiction Award is for 300-word entries. Prizes: £1,000, £300, £100, plus fifty long-listed entrants offered publication in an anthology. Entry £9. Deadline: February 12th. Details: https://bathflashfictionaward.com/enter/
Flash 500 Short Story Competition. 1,000-3,000 words. Entry: £7 for one, £12 for two, £16 for three, £20 for four. Prizes: £500, £200, £100. Deadline: February 28th. Details: http://www.flash500.com
Kelpies Prize – novel for children. Are you based north of the border? This prize is for a children’s novel ‘set wholly or mainly in Scotland’. Entry is FREE. Prize £2,000, plus publication. Deadline 28 February. For details, including suggested manuscript lengths for different age categories: http://www.florisbooks.co.uk
Nottingham Writers’ Club Short Story Competition. 2,000 words on the theme of ‘food and/or drink’. Prizes: £200, £100, £50, plus runners-up prize. Non-professional writers only, please. Entry fee: £6 for one or two on-line entries; £5 each for three or more. Deadline: February 28th. Details: http://www.nottingham writersclub.org.uk
And finally – because the deadline is March 1st – the CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition. 3,500 words, but see website for Margery’s definition of a mystery. Prize: £500, plus a selection of Margery Allingham-related books. Entry fee: £12. Details: cwa.co.uk/debuts/short-story-competition
DO PLEASE CHECK OUT ALL DETAILS BEFORE ENTERING. Good luck!
You will see that the typewriters are getting older. Next month we will feature a quill pen…