Writing Competitions to Enter in April

Tags

Bath Short Story Award, Desperate Literature Prize, Edge Hill Short Story Prize, Grey Hen Poetry Prize, Red Planet Prize, Swanwick Writers' Summer School, William Shakespeare, Writing Competitions

This month we celebrate the birthday of the great William Shakespeare, so what better time to pursue one’s own writing ambitions than through entering one of the following competitions:

Bath Short Story Award for stories up to 2,200 words. Prizes: £1,200, £300, £100, plus The Acorn Award of £100 for an unpublished writer. Entry fee: £9 each. Closing date: April 11. Details: https://bathshortstoryaward.com

Red Planet Prize for new series drama scripts. Prizes: script commission and masterclass with award-winning writers. Entry fee: Closing date: April 3. Details: http://www.redplanetpictures.co.uk/the-red-planet-prize.

RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award – for stories up to 4,000 words. Prizes: a reading by a special guest at an evening at the Royal Academy of Arts. ENTRY IS FREE, so what is stopping you? Closing date: April 15. Details: http://pindropstudio.com/

The international Desperate Literature Prize 2022 will receive 1,500 Euros and a writing residency at Civitella Ranieri Foundation for original unpublished short fiction no longer than 2,000 words. The winner will also get an introduction to literary agent Charlotte Seymour from Johnson & Alcock and a manuscript assessment and follow-up meeting from an editor at The Literary Consultancy. Two runners-up will each get 750 Euros. The winners and runners-up will all be published in an anthology with one of the prize’s partner journals and be invited to participate in Desperate Literature salons in Madrid, London and Edinburgh, with one shortlisted writer offered a spot at the Tbilisi International Festival of Literature and a 400 Euro travel stipend. Closing date April 15. Details: https://desperateliterature.com/

Edge Hill Short Story Prize for published short story collections. Prizes: £10,000, £1,000. FREE ENTRY. Closing date: April 15. Details: http://www.edgehill.ac.uk

Grey Hen Poetry Prize invites submissions of unpublished poems of up to 40 lines by women over the age of 60. Prizes are £100, £50 and £25, with publication online. Entry is £3, or four for £10. Closing date: 30 April. Details: http://www.greyhenpress.com

Finally – why not raise your writing profile by attending Swanwick, the Writers’ Summer School? There are three competitions to win a place: a poem of up to 40 lines, a short story of up to 1,000 words; children’s fiction up to 1,000 words. The theme for all entries is: ‘Community’. Prizes: a fully inclusive week at the 2022 Summer School for the winner; a Writing Magazine manuscript appraisal for the second; and a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2022 for the third. Entry fee: £6 for each piece; multiple entries are allowed. Closing date: April 30. Details: http://www.swanwickwritersschool.org.uk/win-a-place

Good luck with those entries – just make sure you double-check the details online first, in case there have been changes since I compiled my information.

Writing Competitions to Enter in April

Tags

Bath Short Story Award, London Independent Story Prize, RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award, Retreat West Micro Fiction

With Easter fast approaching…

With Easter fast approaching, we suggest you let your imagination roam and write an entry for one of the competitions below. How about a story about whoever might live through the portal in this old tree, near Kent’s Scotney Castle? A rabbit family? A fairy band? Some lilliputian people?

On another miniature theme, Retreat West Micro Fiction require exactly 100 words, to a prompt posted on the website each month. Prizes: 50% of the total entry fees received. Entry fee: £4. Closing date 10 April. Details: http://www.retreatwest.co.uk

The Yeovil Literary Prize is for novels (opening chapters and synopsis up to 15,000 words), short stories (maximum 2,000 words), poems (up to 40 lines) and ‘writing without restriction’. Prizes: Novel: £1,000, £250, £100; Short story and poetry, £500, £200, £100; Writing without restrictions: £200 £100, £50. Entry fee: Novel: £12; Short story: £7; Poetry: £7 for one, £10 for two, £12 for three; Writing without restrictions: £5. Closing date: 30 April. Full details: http://www.yeovil

The Bath Short Story Award is for stories up to 2,200 words, in any style, and on any subject. Prizes: £1,200, £300, £100, £50 for the best local writer, £100 Acorn Award for the best story by an unpublished writer. Entry fee: £8. Deadline 19 April. Details: http://bathshortstoryaward.org

Killing It : The Killer Reads Competition from HarperFiction is open for entries from undiscovered crime writers. They want the first 10,000 words of an unpublished commercial crime, thriller or suspense manuscript. Three winners will be chosen, and will receive editorial reports from HarperFiction editors on their full manuscript plus editorial mentoring from a HarperFiction editor. Send the first 10,000 words of a complete or near-complete work, plus a synopsis of up to 500 words and a brief paragraph about yourself. ENTRY IS FREE, but each writer may enter once only. The closing date is 7 April. Details: http://www.killerreads.com/killing-it/

RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award for stories up to 4,000 words. Prize: A reading by a special guest at an evening at the Royal Academy of Arts. FREE ENTRY. Deadline: 15 April. Details: http://pindropstudio.com/

London Independent Story Prize for short stories, max. 1,500 words; flash 300 words; short screenplays, max 30 pages; feature screenplays. Prizes: £100 for stories and flash, Final Draft software for screenplays. Entry fee: £7 for flash, £10 for screenplays. Earlybird deadline: 15 April. Details: http://www.londonindependentstoryprize.co.uk

As ever – PLEASE double-check all entry details, including the deadline dates. We live in changing times and this has altered things like deadlines, or even resulted in cancellations of some competitions.

Someone has to win, remember. Best of luck that it might be you this time round.

Writing Competitions to Enter in April

Tags

Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize, Bath Short Story Award, Bristol Short Story Prize, Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition, Grey Hen Poetry Competition, Grindstone Literary Prizes, Hastings Writers Room 'Misrepresentation' Stories, Mairtin Crawford Awards, Manchester Metropolitan University QuietManDave Prize, Momya Press Short Story Competition, Red Planet Prize for new TV Series drama scripts, Retreat West Micro Fiction Competition, Royal Academy & Pin Drop Short Story Award

Annie, adored granddaughter of ninevoice’s Christine

 

In these difficult and troubling times we thought we would treat you to a small, but precious ray of sunshine. This very young lady was born on 18th March, and is therefore rather young to enter writing competitions – but she has absolutely the right genes, so give her time. 

Welcome to our world, lovely Annie! 

In the light of my most recent post, I expect you all to be encouraged to enter one of the following competitions.

Because I entered the HWA/ & Sharpe Books Unpublished Novel Competition last September my book – The Servant -will be published some time next year. And because I entered another competition, I got as far as the Exeter Novel Award longlist. On top of which, another member of ninevoices has TWO Exeter trophies in her possession – because she did the same. ‘Nuff said…

Red Planet Prize for new TV Series drama scripts. Prizes: Script commission and masterclasses with award-winning writers. Entry is free. Closing date April 3rd. Details: http://www.redplanetpicture.co.uk

Manchester Metropolitan University QuietManDave Prize for flash fiction. 500 words maximum. Prizes: £1,000; £200; £50 in each category. Entry fee: £5. Deadline 17 April. Details: http://www.2.mmu.ac/qmdprize

Bath Short Story Award for 2,200 words max. Prizes: £1,200; £300; £100; £50 local prize; £100 for unpublished writer. Entry fee: £8. Deadline 20 April. Details: http://www.bathshortstoryaward.org

Bristol Short Story Prize. 4,000 words max. Prizes: £1,000; £500; £250; 17 x £100. Entry fee: £9. Deadline 30 April. Details: http://www.bristol-prize.co.uk/rules 

Grey Hen Poetry Competition for a poem of up to 40 lines. Rules: for women poets aged 60-plus. Prizes: £100; £50; £25. Entry fee: £3, or four for £10. Deadline: 30 April. Details: www. greyhenpress.com/poetry-competition-entry-rules

Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize for prose up to 2,500 words on the theme of ‘Forgiveness and Retribution’. Entry is free. Prizes: £10,000; £3,999; £2,000. Closing date April 1st. Details: alpinefellowship.com

Retreat West Micro Fiction Competition for 100 words exactly, to a prompt posted on the website at the start of each month. Prizes: 50% of total entry fees received. Entry fee: £4. Closing date: 12 April, monthly. Details: http://www.retreatwest.co.uk

RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award, up to 4,000 words. Prize: A reading by a special guest at an evening at The Royal Academy of Arts. Entry is free. Deadline 15 April. Details: http://www.royalacademy.org

Momya Press Short Story Competition for stories up to 3,000 words on the theme of ‘Outsiders’. Prizes: £110; £55; £25. Entry fee £11. Closing date: 15 April. Details: momyapress.com

Grindstone Literary Prizes for short stories, up to 3,000 words, and poems, up to 40 lines. Prizes: £500, £200, 4 x £50 in each category. Entry fee: 8. Closing date 28 April for short stories, 28 May for poems. Details: http://www.grindstoneliterary.com

Mairtin Crawford Awards. 3-5 poems; short stories, up to 2,500 words. Prizes: £500 and invitation to read at the Belfast Book Festival. Entry fee: £6. Closing date: 29 April. Details: http://www.crescentarts.org/about/book-festival/mairtin-crawford-award

Cranked Anvil Short Story Competition for stories up to 1,500 words; quarterly. Prizes: £150; £75; £30. Entry fee: £5, £3 for second, £2 for third. Closing date: quarterly, 30 April, 31 July, 31 October. Details: https://crankedanvil.co.uk/shortstory/

Hastings Writers Room ‘Misrepresentation’. Short stories, up to 1,500 words, on the theme ‘misrepresentation. Prizes: Gold and Silver memberships of Retreat West. Entry fee: £6, £10 for two. Closing date: 30 April. Details: http://www.hastingswritersroom.org/competitions 

There is a fair amount of choice there, so why not enter more than one?

As ever, please take care to check details, especially deadline dates. And good luck…!