Competitions to Enter in September

 

I’ve always been fascinated by doorways, wondering what or who lies through them. Old ones can really get my imagination seething… So why not hunt one down that fires YOUR imagination? Write a story. Open a door for your reader…

Val Wood Prize for Creative Writing 2018. To celebrate 100 years since women won the right to vote this year’s competition is entitled: Women’s Writes. Open to all genders over 16 years of age, entries should be in the form of a short story, with entrants free to write about whatever they wish, but each story must feature a strong female protaganist. The winner will receive £100 and their entry will be published on their website and shared via various social media outlets. The runner-up will receive £50 and there will be two commendations of £25. Max. word count is 1,500 and the deadline 15 September. Details: http://www.valeriewood.co.uk

 

 

 

Do you live in London? London Short Story Prize. Win a first prize of £1,000 in the annual competition from London writer development agency Spread the Word, which is designed to publish the best new stories coming from the capital. They are looking for unpublished stories up to 5,000 words and the winner will not only receive £1,000, but also have a meeting with an agent. Two runners-up will each receive £250 and a meeting with an editor. Highly commended entries will be published in the London Short Story Anthology 2018. Entry is £8 per story. Deadline 17 September. Details http://www.spreadtheword.org.uk

Mere Literary Festival Write in the Week timed Flash Fiction Competition. On a theme to be announced in 14 September, deadline 22 September. Prizes: £60, £30, £15. Entry fee £2, with £1 for each subsequent. Details: info@merelitfest.co.uk

Hammond House International Literary Prizes 2018, run by the University Centre, Grimsby, are open for entries on the theme: ‘precious‘. The 2018 Short Story Competition is for fiction between 2,00 and 5,000 words. The first prize is £500 and there are second and third prizes of £100 and £50. The top 25 entries will be published. The entry fee is £10. The 2018 Screenplay Competition is for ten-minute screenplays. The winner will receive £25 and their screenplay will be professionally produced and submitted to the Aesthetica film festival. Entry fee £10. The 2018 Poetry Prize is for a single poem, with prizes of £100, £50 and £25. Entry fee is £10 for each poem. Deadline is: 31 September. Details: http://www.hammondhousepublishing.com

Erewash Writers’ Open Short Story, for short stories up to 2,500 words. Prizes: £100, £70, £30. Entry fee: £3, £5 for two, £2.50 thereafter. Deadline 27 September. Details: erewashwriterscomps@hotmail.co.uk

The Imison Award for original radio plays by writers new to radio. Prizes: £2,000. Entry fee: £30. Deadline 29 September. Details: http://www.societyofauthors.org/imison-award

Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize 2018 for stories up to 6,000 words. Prizes: £1,000, or a year’s editorial support. Entry fee: £10. Deadline 28 September. Details: info@galleybeggar.co.uk

Bedford International Writing Competition for stories up to 3,000 words, and poems up to 40 lines, on any theme. Prizes: £300, £150, £100 in each category. Entry fee: £6, £12 for three. Deadline 30 September. Details: http://www.bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk

Manchester Fiction Prize for short stories up to 2,500 words. Prizes: £10,000. Entry fee: £17.50 Deadline 14 September. (PLEASE NOTE: ON CHECKING THIS TODAY, I FIND THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM 29 SEPTEMBER!)  Details http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/fiction

Caterpillar Story for Children Prize. Short stories up to 2,000 words for children aged 7-11. Prizes: 500 Euros, plus a two-week stay at The Moth retreat; 300 Euros; 200 Euros. Entry fee: 12 Euros. Closing date 30 September. Details: enquiries@thecaterpillarmagazine.com

Chorley & District Writers’ Circle Annual Short Story Competition, for stories on the theme of natural justice. Prizes: £100, £50, £30. Entry fee: £5. Deadline 30 September. Details: http://www.chorleywriters.org.uk

Grindstone Literary Services Novel Prize for an opening chapter, maximum 3,000 words. Entry fee £20. Prizes: £1,000; £100; publication. Discount on Curtis Brown online writing course. Deadline 28 September. Details http://www.grindstoneliterary.com/competitions.

The 2019 International Beverly Prize for Literature is for an original, unpublished manuscript of fiction, non-fiction, drama, memoir or criticism. The winner will receive £500 and publication with Eyewear Publishing. The entry fee is £20 and the closing date 15 September. Website: https://store.eyewearpublishing.com/

My apologies for being a bit late with this list – blame editing fever. As always, I rely on you double-checking any competitions you’re interested in, since terms and conditions, or entry dates, can change at the last minute. See my note above, on the Manchester Fiction Prize. 

All that remains is for me to urge you to give something a try. And to remember Samuel Beckett’s famous words:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

 

 

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Competitions to Enter in August

Tags

1000-Word Challenge, All Desires Known, Bench Theatre's Supernova Festival, Costa Short Story Award, Exeter Story Prize, HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Award, Ilkley Literature Festival, Of Human Telling, Writers' block

When is a short story competition not a short story competition? I’ve been entering these things for years, only ever winning two and being short-and-long-listed on a handful of other occasions. HOWEVER, winning isn’t all that’s on offer.

Competitions can be incredibly successful for curing writers’ block. If you’re stuck with your novel, turning your back on it and creating something new, perhaps in a different genre, can help you return to your manuscript with fresh perception.

Writing a short story might also develop a character or set of characters who will take hold of your imagination and inspire something much more significant. Tanya’s two published novels — Of Human Telling and All Desires Known — had their genesis in a short story about people living in the shadow of an English public school. My own novel, currently being edited prior to submission, began life as a short story, but elicited the comment from a judge that she felt the subject matter: ‘really called for a book’.

Competition entries can also help develop the persistence that writers desperately need. A story that failed in the Olga Sinclair Award several years ago served its time in my rejects drawer, was then re-written and re-named, and went on to success in the Hysteria Short Story Competition. It can be seen under Writings on our masthead, together with Tanya’s Across the River, a winner in Writer’s Forum, and Marshmallow Truth, a winner in Writing Magazine. Both stories were entered in a number of competitions over the years without any real success. Persistence pays off.

So what’s stopping you?

Costa Short Story Award. Short stories up to 4,000 words on any theme. Prizes: £3,500; £1,000; £500. FREE ENTRY.  DEADLINE 3 AUGUST. Entry details from: http://www.costabookawards.com

Ilkley Literature Festival Short Story and Poetry Competition for short stories and poetry. DEADLINE 1ST AUGUST. Short story, maximum 3,000 words. Entry fee £5. Prize: £200. Poetry, maximum 30 lines. Entry fee £5. Prizes: £200; £100; £75. Details: http://www.ilkley-literaturefestival.org.uk/join-in/competitions

Exeter Story Prize and Flash Competition. Story: max 10,000 words. Flash: max 1,000 words. Fee: £12. Prizes: £500 plus trophy; £150; £100. Tricia Ashley Award for best humorous entry: trophy plus £200. Deadline 31 August. Details: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk/competitions.html

1000-Word Challenge. Flash: max 1000 words. Entry fee: £5. Prizes: ££100; £50; £25. Details: http://www.1000wordchallenge.com

Bench Theatre’s Supernova 8 Festival of new one act plays will take place at the Spring Arts and Heritage Centre, Havant, Hampshire in February 2019 and if you are resident in the UK, or a British citizen, you have until 17 August to submit a play for consideration for the festival. There is no entry fee and although no payment is made, if your play is performed you will gain all-important performance credit. Submit original plays of a maximum of 45 minutes and no more than six actors. Shortlisted plays will be given feedback. Full details: http://www.benchtheatre.org.uk/supernova.php

The HWA Dorothy Dunnett Short Story Award is inviting entries of unpublished historical short fiction, set at least 35 years in the past, of up to 3,500 words. The winning story will receive £500, publication in The Whispering Gallery and on http://www.historiamag.com, mentoring sessions and tickets to the HWA Crowns ceremony in November, when the award will be presented. Runners-up will receive mentoring and invitations to the awards ceremony. The entry fee is £5 per story and the closing date is 31 August. Details: https://historicalwriters.org/dorothydunnett/

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award.  For unpublished poems of up to 40 lines and short stories of up to 2,000 words. Entry fee for poems: £12; short stories: £18. Details: http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/cwa

The Prague City of Literature Project is inviting applications for 2019 writer-in-residency stays. Six are available, each for a two-month period and writers-in-residence are reimbursed for a return ticket and provided with accommodation and a monthly stipend of 600 Euros. Applicants should have a cultural interest in Prague, at least one published literary work, a willingness to take part in the local literary life and a project they will be working on during their stay. At the end of their stay they must undertake to provide the Municipal Library in Prague with a text inspired by the residency to be used by the Prague City of Literature Project. Closing date to apply is 31 August. Details: http://www.prahamestoliteratury.cz

The C21 Drama Series Script Competition invites entries for a pilot script for an international TV drama series. Six finalists will present their script to a panel of commissioners and broadcasters, including representatives from Amazon, Netflix and the BBC. The winner will receive a $10,000 option from WritersRoom to develop the project. There is no entry fee. Deadline is 31 August and details can be found via: http://www.c21media.net/script/

The John O’Connor Short Story Competition 2018 offers a bursary to attend the John O’Connor Writing School and Literary Arts Festival in Armagh between 1 and 4 November, plus £250. The prize includes accommodation, but not travel expenses. The competition is for short stories between 1,800 and 2,000 words. There is an entry fee of £10. Deadline 28 August. Details http://www.thejohnoconnorwritingschool.com

As ever, please let me urge you to double check all competition details on the relevant website before entering.

Writing Competitions to Enter in July

Tags

Cinnamon Press Annual Debut Fiction Prize, Daily Mail First Novel Competition

We’d all love to be shortlisted by the Bridport, but here are some other competitions worth considering, which should have fewer entries against which to compete. Working on a poem, short story or piece of flash fiction can provide a useful cure for writer’s block – or a break from the slog of editing a 100,000-word novel. Why not give one of them a go?

Daily Mail Random House First Novel Competition. The first prize in this competition for a novel for  adult readers is a £20,000 advance. Entries must be original, previously unpublished fiction in any genre for adults except saga, sci-fi or fantasy. In addition, entrants must not previously have published a novel with a valid ISBN, or be represented by a literary agent. The prize is an advance against publication and literary representation by Luigi Bonomi of LBA Books Ltd. Manuscripts must be available by March 2019 and the entry deadline is 13 July 2018. Please note, you must enter by post, sending the first 3,000 words of a debut novel, plus a 600-word synopsis, printed in 12pt font and double-spacing on single sides of A4, to Daily Mail First Novel Competition, c/o Penguin Random House Group, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London. SW1V 2SA. Website details: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/first novel

The Brighton Prize wants short stories between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and flash fiction up to 350 words. Short story prizes are: £1,000, plus 2 x £100. Flash Fiction prizes: £500, plus 2 x £50. ‘We love stories that work on the stage as well as they do on the page.’ Deadline 7 July. Details: http://www.brightonprize.com

Ledbury Poetry Festival Competition is for poems of up to 40 lines. Prizes: £1,000 plus a week at Ty Newydd; £500; £250. Entry fee: £5, £3.50 for each subsequent. Deadline 12 July. Details: http://www.poetry-festival.co.uk

Wrekin Writers are inviting entries up to 1,200 words for the 2018 Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition. There is a first prize of £200, a second of £100 and a third of £50. Half of the competition profits are donated to Severn Hospice. The entry fee is £5, and the closing date 12 July. Details: https://wrekinwriters.wordpress.com

Wasifiri New Writing Prize. Poetry, up to five poems; fiction and life writing up to 3,000 words. Prizes: £300 in each category, plus publication in Wasifiri. This is run by The Open University in London, so well worth supporting. Entry fee: £6 for one category; £10 for two categories; £15 for three categories. Closing date 15 July. Details: http://www.wasafiri.org

The H G Wells Short Story Competition is for short stories on the theme of ‘peace’ of 1,500-5,000 words. There is a £250 prize in the adult category and £1,000 in the Margaret and Reg Turnhill Prize for writers under 21. Winning entries will be published in an anthology. Adult entry fee is £10, while under 21 entries are free. Closing date is 23 July. Details:  https://hgwellscompetition.com/

HISSAC Flash Fiction and Short Story Competitions. Flash fiction: max 500 words. Story: max. 2000 words. Fee: £5; £12 for 3; £18 for 5; £25 for 7. Prizes: £250; £50; £25. Deadline: 31 July. Details: http://www.hissac.co.uk

The Olga Sinclair Award, promoted by Norwich Writers, is looking for short stories of up to 2,000 words on the theme of ‘markets’. There will be ten winners, with the top three receiving prizes of £400, £250, £100. All ten will be published in a non-profit-making anthology. Postal deadline is 16 July, online deadline 31 July. Details: https://norwichwriters.wordpress.com/the-olga-sinclair-open-short-story-competition/

Trapeze Books Write Your Own Love Story competition offers a £10,000 book contract plus mentoring from Trapeze author, Anna Stuart. One lucky runner-up will receive a place on a Curtis Brown on-line novel writing course worth £200. Send your first 5,000 words, plus biographical details and a brief synopsis by 30 July to lovestories@orionbooks.co.uk  Full details and advice on what they’re looking for at: https://www.curtisbrowncreative.co.uk/sam-eades-on-write-your-own-love-story-a-new-competition/

Inktears Flash Fiction, up to 500 words. Prizes: £250; £50; £25 x 8, plus your story and biographical details published to the readership of the Inktears website (something well worth taking a look at).

To Hull and Back Humorous Writing Competition. Do you have a well-developed sense of humour? Christopher Fielden is looking for ‘funny stories’ up to 4,000 words and isoffering generous prizes: £1,000; £500; £250; 3 x £50; 14 x £25. Winners and those shortlisted will be published in an anthology, together with a writer’s profile, ‘a delightful picture of you, a short bio telling readers how amazing you are and details of  your website, if you have one.’ Entry fee: £11 for one, £18 for two and £22 for three. Closing date is 31 July. Details: http://www.christopherfielden.com

Original unpublished short stories are invited to enter the Sean O’Faolain International Short Story Prize 2018. First prize is 2,000 euros, plus a week-long residency at Anam Cara Retreat in West Cork, Ireland. There is a second prize of 500 euros and four shortlisted entries will receive 120 euros each. If a winner attends the Cork International Short Story Festival to collect their prize, hotel accommodation, meals and drinks will be provided. The entry fee is 15 euros and the closing date for submissions 31 July. Website: http://www.munsterlit.ie/SOF%20Page.html

Cinnamon Press Annual Debut Fiction Prize. The first 10,000 words of an unpublished novel, novella or short story collection. Prize: A year’s mentoring worth £1,000, plus publishing contract, and 100 copies of your novel. Entry fee: £12. Deadline 31 July. Details: http://www.cinnamonpress.com

Stroud Book Festival International Writing Competition 2018. Poetry up to 40 lines, flash fiction up to 500 words; Katie Fford Award for Mainstream Fiction excerpt up to 3,000 words and 200 word synopsis. Prizes: £500; £250; £100; and 4-night writing retreat. £50 Katie Fford award. Entry fee: £5, £3 each additional. Closing date: 31 July. Details: https://stroudbookfestival.org.uk

Novel Writing Scholarship. Irish author Marian Keyes is funding the Marian Keyes Scholarship, offering a place on Curtis Brown Creative’s six-month on-line course. Writers from under-represented backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. The course runs between 10 September and 4 March and is taught by Lisa O’Donnell. Writers should be either unmarried and not cohabiting, with an annual income of less than £25,000 and personal savings of less than £5,000, or married or cohabiting with a total household income of less than £35,000 and personal savings of less than £5,000. To apply, send 3,000 words of a work in progress and a one-page synopsis, and complete the online application form. Website: https://writ.rs/mariankeyesscholarship   Deadline: 29 July.

Checking out all these competitions is fiddly, and sometimes I sadly get things wrong, so please remember to check all rules and guidelines before entering.

Something for everybody there, surely? Good luck!

 

Competitions to Enter in June

 

First of all, check out my post of May 7, which gives details of the Richard & Judy New Novel Competition. If you want a crack at winning that £30,000 prize, the deadline is June 14. Soon.

In celebration of the centenary of the creation of Czechoslovakia and other Czech and Slovak anniversaries the free-to-enter 2018 BCSA International Writing Competition has a theme of ‘Anniversary’. The winning prize has been increased to £400 and there is a second prize of £150. Both winners will be published in the British Czech and Slovak Review. The British Czech and Slovak Association is a registered charity with the aim of ‘raising awareness of matters relating to the history, arts, literature, politics and economies and science of Britain and the Czech Republics and the societal transitions in those Republics since 1989’. There are no age, nationality or educational restrictions on entering the competition – and although erudite offerings are welcome, one of the past winners was a humorous story. The closing date is June 30 and full details can be found on their website: http://www.bcsa.co.uk

Farnham Flash Festival has launched a new flash fiction competition for stories up to 500 words, with prizes of £100 (adult category), £50 (age 14-18), and £25 (12-14 and 7-11). The entry fee is £5 per story and the closing date June 10. Details at: http://www.farnhamflashfestival.org.uk

The Moth Short Story Prize 2018 has a first prize of £3,000, a second prize of £250 plus a stay at Circle of Misse writing retreat in France, and a third prize of £1,000. Stories on any theme are welcome, as long as they are previously unpublished. Deadline June 30. Full details: http://www.themothmagazine.com

The biannual Dorset Fiction Award invites entries for its summer competition for short fiction up to 1,000 words. There is a first prize of £500, with the winner and nine runners-up published in an anthology. Entry fee is £7 per story, and the closing date June 9. Website: http://www.dorsetfictionaward.co.uk

VS Pritchett Story Prize for short stories of 2,000-4,000 words. Prize: £1,000 plus publication. Entry fee: £7.50. Deadline June 29. Details: https://rsliterature.org/award/v-s-pritchett-memorial-prize

Bath Flash Fiction Award, max. 300 words. Entry fee £9; £15 for two; £18 for three. Prizes: £1,000; £300; £100; 2x£30. Deadline: 15 June. Details: http://www.bathflashfictionaward.com

The Wigton Poetry Competition 2018 has a first prize of £1,500 and a runner-up prize of £400 for poems of up to forty lines. Three highly commended poets will each win £100. The entry fee is £6.50, three for £17, £5 each subsequent. Closing date June 8. Details (including extra prizes for poems written in Gaelic): http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/poetry-competition

The Brighton Prize is open for stories in two categories: short stories between 1,000 and 2,000 words, with a first prize of £1,000 and two runners-up each getting £100. Entry fee is £8. Their flash fiction category is for fiction up to 350 words, with a first prize of £500, with two runners-up each getting £50. The entry fee is £6. There is a £100 book token for the best entry in either category from a Sussex-based writer. Winning entries will be published in an anthology. Website: http://www.brightonprize.com. Closing date June 30.

Please check entry details, especially deadlines, really carefully in case of error. And don’t forget Writers’ Forum and Writing Magazine also have competitions, some of them available for non-subscribers.

The Rejection Diaries

Tags

Bath Novel Award, Fiona Mitchell

The Bath Novel judges have started releasing ‘teasers’ for their short list – and many, like myself, will doubtless be desperately persuading ourselves that our plots somehow resemble those described below. Try as I might, however, it can’t be done. Another competition entry bites the dust…

There is, however, much to be learned. My book isn’t actually bad (it’s been long listed in one competition and came third in another), but clearly it isn’t good enough. My opening page in particular lacks the impact to stand out against competition like this: 

• ‘Stranded time-traveller misfit goes on the run.’
• ‘Two families bound together in the aftermath of tragedy.’
• ‘Young care leavers are re-homed in a remote Cornish resort.’
• ‘Spare and tenderly written story of siblings reunited in rural Ireland.’
• ‘Tightly written tale of a divided community. Interesting, vivid characters with exceptional sense of place.’
• ‘A summer fling, an affair and an unexplained death during a family holiday.’

There is a pattern here: strong and well-written characters combined with drama and a vivid sense of place. Something that reaches out from the page and grabs the reader.

I wish the writers of the above books every success and am enjoying a frisson of vicarious pleasure at imaging how they must feel at the moment. Well done to every one of them.

A member of ninevoices recently drew our attention to an excellent post by Fiona Mitchell on what can be learned from rejection. She wrote amusingly of her ‘Folder of Doom‘, containing a sheaf of rejections, but listed five positive things that she’d learned from them. Well worth studying. So I’m not about to make a drama out of not getting on this short list. Nobody died. Nobody took out a big pointy sword and threatened me with it. I simply need to give my opening a bit (maybe even a lot) more welly and keep my sense of humour handy. And there are plenty of other competitions out there.

 

Check out Fiona Mitchell’s encouraging piece here: https://fionamitchell.org/2018/05/09/5-types-of-rejection-letters-and-what-you-can-learn-from-them/

Richard & Judy New Novel Competition

Tags

Costa Book Awards, Elinor Olifant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman, Goodhouskeeping Novel Competition, Lucy Cavendish Prize, Margaret Kirk, Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre, Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller, Scottish Book Trust First Chapter Award, Shadow Man

I’ve just caught up with the fact that Richard and Judy have launched another competition to find a first-time author with the potential to become a best-selling writer. Previously Tracy Rees, author of Amy Snow, and Caz Frear, author of Sweet Little Lies went on to enjoy fantastic sales after being chosen by them.

‘Search for a Bestseller‘, supported by W H Smith, is accepting manuscripts from unpublished writers until June 14th. Richard and Judy will then themselves be leading the selection process, helped by editors and agents. The winner will receive a £30,000 publishing deal with Bonnier Saffre, and specialist advice from literary agency Furniss Lawton.

Aspiring authors must submit 10,000 words of original fiction aimed at adults, plus a synopsis of the full novel and a short author biography, via Richard and Judy’s website: http://www.richardandjudy.co.uk/richard-and-Judys-Search-For-A-Bestseller-2018/711

Great novels rarely spring fully formed from their writer’s laptop. I’ve recently finished (and been bowled over by) Elinor Olifant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. As a work-in-progress, this book was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Prize. In 2014, it won the Scottish Book Trust First Chapter Award, allowing Gail to spend valuable time shaping and editing at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre.  Then, in 2017,  she was the Costa Book Awards winner. Not an overnight success, then. A hard worker rewarded.

Most novels evolve and grow over time. Entering your manuscript into competitions can give you the impetus to finally finish your book. A long-listing, or short-listing might provide the spur to invest in a writing course. Like Gail Honeyman, Margaret Kirk, who won the Good Housekeeping First Novel Competition in 2016 with Shadow Man, credits a crime-writing course at Moniack Mhor with ‘literally changing my life’. Something about that bracing Scottish air perhaps.

Competitions are a tremendous encouragement. Even if you don’t win. Even if you aren’t short-listed, or long-listed. Competitions concentrate the mind. They glue you to that laptop into the small hours and get the book written. Then all that’s needed is editing, persistence and yet more editing.

 

Competitions to Enter in May

 

My apologies for being a bit late with this, but you still have time to enter some first-rate competitions.

Enter full length playscripts for the Nick Darke Award, which has a £6,000 prize, funded by Falmouth University. There is no set theme, but your entry should not have had a production, rehearsed reading or won any other competition. Details: http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/nickdarkeaward. Deadline 21 May.

Short fiction is invited for a new RETREAT WEST CHARITY ANTHOLOGY to support the 2018 Hundred Years March. In November, women in East London will be marching to celebrate the centenary and acknowledge that women’s rights still need to be fought for. All profits will be sent to Hestia, a charity supporting adults and children in time of crisis, including domestic abuse and slavery. Entries should be between 300 and 3,000 words and address themes which are detailed on the website: https://retreatwestbooks.com. Closing date 27 May.

The Wundor Short Fiction Contest 2018 is open for entries of up to 45,000 words. Enter novellas, short stories, or even flash fiction (from a single page to 45,00 words) in this competition for unusual fiction. The winner will receive £500 and their book will be published by Wundor Editions. Two runners-up will have extracts of their work published on the website and be considered for publication. The entry fee is £10 and the closing date 31 May. Details: http://www.wondoreditions.com

The 2018 Yeovil Literary Prize offers four categories: Submit a synopsis and the opening chapters (up to 15,000 words) of a NOVEL. Prizes are £1,000, £250 and £100. The entry fee is £12. SHORT STORIES up to 2,000 words. Prizes are £500, £200 and £100, with an entry fee of £7. POETRY, up to 40 lines. Prizes are £500, £200 and £100. Entry fee £7, £10 for two or £12 for three. WRITING WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS. Prizes £200, £100 and £50. Closing date 31 May. Details: http://www.yeovilprize.co.uk

Solution Loans is running a free-entry spring short story competition for stories on the theme of The Wedding Gift. There is a first prize of £200 and online publication, and three runners-up will each win £50. Entries should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words. The closing date id 31 May. Details: http://writ.rs/theweddinggiftcomp

A competition in which fees of £5 per entry will support the animal care Lord Whisky Sanctuary Fund seeks poetry with a maximum of forty lines on the theme of ‘Animals‘. Prizes will relate to the total number of entry fees received – thirty percent for the first prize, ten percent for the second prize, and two further prizes of five percent. Details: http://www.lordwhisky.co.uk/news-and-events. The closing date is 31 May.

Welsh Poetry Competition for a poem of 50 lines maximum on any theme. Prizes are £500; £250; £100. 17 runners-up will be published on site and in an anthology. Entry fee £5. Details: http://www.welshpoetry.co.uk

John Austin Baker Creative Writing Prize for a poem or flash fiction on the theme: Marine Life. Entry fee £5. Prizes: £500; £250; £100; vouchers for children’s winners. Details: AngSocWelAnimals@aol.com

Peggy Chapman Andrews First Novel Award. 5,000-8,000 words, plus synopsis. Fee: £20. Prizes: £1,000 plus mentoring and possible representation; £500 plus manuscript appraisal. £100, plus partial appraisal. Details: http://www.bridportprize.org.uk/peggy-chapman-andrews-award-first-novel. Deadline: 31 May.

Frome Festival Short Story competition for 1,000-2,200 words, on any theme. Prizes: £400; £200; £100. Winning entrants published on the website and may be sent to Women’s Weekly and/or Frome FM for consideration. Entry fee: £8. Deadline 31 May. Details: fromeshortstorycompetition.co.uk

Please take care to check all details before entry.

 

 

 

Competitions to Enter in April

Tags

Bath Novel Award, Binstead Arts Poetry Competition, Bristol Short Story Prize, The Pin Drop Short Story Award 2018, Ver Poets Open Competition

 

 

It’s SPRING, guys. Time for new beginnings. New short stories, new novels, new flash fiction, new poetry. You promised yourself you would write more, remember?

Dark Tales Horror & Speculative Fiction Competition for a short story, maximum 5,000 words. Prize: £100, plus publication. Entry fee: £2.50 (subscribers), or £4 (non-subscribers). Deadline 30 April. Details http://www.darktales.co.uk/contest.php

Harper’s Bazaar Short Story Competition 2018 are inviting 2,500 word entries on the subject of ‘The Looking Glass’. The winner will have the opportunity of publication in Harper’s Bazaar and will receive a two-night stay and three-course dinner for two at Amberley Castle Hotel in Suffolk, plus a selection of gifts from Smythson. There is NO entry fee, but entries must be original and unpublished. Deadline is 9 April Details: http://writ.rs/harpersbazaarstorycomp2018

For its 2018 annual creative writing competition, Brentwood Writers’ Circle has taken the theme of Room 101. Entrants are invited to think of something they hate that should be consigned to Room 101 and write about it in exactly 101 words. Prize momey totals £101: £51 for the winner; £30 for second and £20 for third. Entry is £3 and the closing date is 30 April. Details: http://www.brentwoodwriterscircle.org

Binstead Arts Poetry Competition. Poem: 40 lines max. Theme ‘country’. Prizes: £150; £100; £50, plus an invitation to read poems at the Binstead Arts Festival. Entry: £5, first poem, £3.50 thereafter. Deadline 9 April. Details: http://www.binsted.org/poetry-comp-18.

Bath Novel Award for your first 5,000 words and a synopsis. Prizes: £2,500; manuscript feedback and agent literary introductions; Cornerstones Literary Consultancy online editing course. Entry fee: £25. Deadline: 30 April. Details: http://www.bathnovelaward.co.uk

Ver Poets Open Competition for a 30 line poem. Entrants must be over 16. Prizes:£600; £300; £100, plus publication and invitation to read winning poems at poetry afternoon. Entry Fee: £4; £10 for three. Deadline 30 April. Details: https://verpoets.co.uk/poetry-competitions

Bristol Short Story Prize. Story: max. 4,000 words. Prizes: £1,000; £700; £400, plus 17x£100. Entry fee £8. Deadline: 1 May Details: http://www.bristolprize.co.uk

The Pin Drop Short Story Award 2018 is inviting entries of original, unpublished stories up to 4,000 words for its annual award, staged by Pin Drop in association with the Royal Academy of Arts. The winner will receive £500 with the winning story narrated live by an actor at a special event at the Royal Academy. The event will be recorded for Pin Drop’s podcast series.Entry is FREE and the deadline is 15 April. Details from http://www.pindropsudio.com

Please check the websites for full details, and remember that Writing Magazine and Writers’ Forum also have competitions, many of which are open to non-subscribers.

With Criminal Intent?

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Amy Lloyd, Good Housekeeping Novel Competition, Luigi Bonomi, Margaret Kirk, P D James, Penguin Random House, Red River, Sandra Parsons, Selina Walker, Shadow Man, Simon Kernick

Do you yearn to be the next P D James? If so, I understand that The Daily Mail First Novel Competition offers a previously unpublished crime writer a prize of £20,000 plus a publishing deal with Penguin Random House, one of the world’s most respected publishers.

Judges will be top crime writer Simon Kernick, leading literary agent Luigi Bonomi (who will represent the winner), top publisher Selina Walker (who will publish the winner) and Daily Mail literary editor Sandra Parsons (who, presumably, will provide publicity in her paper).

They’re asking for your first 5,000 words, a 600 word synopsis, and a covering letter about yourself. The deadline is May 5 and your entry needs to be POSTED, so give yourself extra time to visit the Post Office. The book, which must be for an adult readership, needs to be completed by November.

If you don’t read The Daily Mail and missed this do check the full terms online at dailymail.co.uk/crimenovel

This contest was launched last year and had more than 5,000 entries. The winner, Amy Lloyd‘s crime thriller Red River, has already been sold to publishers all over the world and film rights are currently being negotiated. It was published in January.

Ninevoices have two members working on crime novels, and a third whose short story about bodies buried on Tunbridge Wells Common was shortlisted in a magazine competition.

Competitions like this don’t come every day, especially ones that are FREE. In 2016 Scottish writer Margaret Kirk won the Good Housekeeping Novel Competition with her book Shadow Man and is now an established writer. The Good Housekeeping competition, incidentally, is open until the end of this month. See details in our post of February 9.

If you feel you’ve set yourself an impossible task with your writing, be encouraged by this, from Simon Kernick:

“It took 30 years, numerous unfinished projects, two unpublished novels and about 300 rejection letters before I finally got a publishing contract. Since then, I’ve written 15 crime thrillers, and I can honestly say I enjoy the process as much now as I did when I first began.”

Only thirty years and three hundred rejections? Why are we dithering?

 

Competitions to Enter in March

Poets under the age of thirty on 1 January 2018 who have a Scottish parent, were born, brought up in or have lived in Scotland for the last three years are invited to submit a collection of their poetry for the biennial Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. The winner will receive £20,000 (that isn’t a misprint!), a runner-up £2,500 and other shortlisted poets will receive £1,000. Sadly deadline is TOMORROW, 2 March, but you could just about make it. Please check details with care at: http://www.edwinmorganaward.com/award.html

The Good Housekeeping Novel Competition. Deadline for this (which is free to enter) is 30 March – but it must be sent by POST and you also need their application form, from the February magazine. More details are in my post of the 9th February, or can be found online by googling: How to Get Your Novel Published Good Housekeeping

The London Magazine Novel Writing Competition 2018. This inaugural competition, in collaboration with Author Enterprises, is accepting international entries for literary fiction, between 40,000 and 120,000 words, to be submitted with a 400 word summary. All entries must never have been published, self-published, published on any website, blog or online forum, broadcast, or have won or been placed in any other competition. A caution against putting too much of your precious work online if you hope to subsequently sell it or get agent interest.

First prize is £1,000 and your novel published by Author Enterprises. Second prize: £200; third prize: £100. The entry fee is £20 per manuscript, the opening date 1st March 2018 and closing date 30th April 2018. They require your completed manuscript and you need to study their website thelondonmagazine.org for their rules and submission details.

Fowey Festival Adult Short Story Competition 2018 is in honour of celebrated Fowey author Daphne du Maurier and the title for this year’s entries is “Don’t Look Now“. They ask for up to 1,500 words in any prose style. Prizes are: £100 and £75. Entry fee is £5 and the closing date is 16 March. You may only enter one story. Details: foweyfestival.com

Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing is for unpublished and unperformed one-act plays (30 minutes or less, no more than six actors) by amateur playwrights. Prizes: Three winning scripts will be selected for performances during three Drama Nights at the Windsor Fringe Festival in October, with £500 for an overall winner announced on the last night. Entry fee: £10. Closing date 5 March. Details http://www.windsorfringe.co.uk

Evesham Festival of Words 2018 Short Story Competition, with categories for adults (2,500 words) and children (500 words) for stories on any theme. Prizes: £150 adult; £30 children. Entry fee: £5 adult, junior free.  Deadline: 23rd March. Details: eveshamfestivalofwords.org

Henshaw Press Short Story Competition. 2,000 words. Prizes: £100; £50; £25. Entry fee: £5.Deadline 31 March. Details: henshawpress.co.uk

There are also, of course, numerous competitions in Writing Magazine and Writers’ Forum.

Please check all details before entering any of these competitions in case the rules have altered or my fingers have slipped into error.