Writing Competitions to Enter in May

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Bath Novel Award, Bluepencil Agency First Novel Prize, Bridport Prize, Bristol Short Story Prize, Colm Toibin International Short Story Award, Frome Festival Short Story Competition, Nick Darke Award, The Yeovil Literary Prize

As writers, we need to overcome rejection and it helps to have several irons in the fire at any one time. Competitions are great for this, giving you something else to keep you going or work towards. And the occasional – perhaps surprise – win is a huge encouragement. No excuses, then, for not entering lots of the following:

Colm Toibin International Short Story Award for stories up to 2,000 words. Prizes: 700É, 500É 300É. Entry fee: 10É. Closing date: 1 May. Details: http://www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com (These things can be won – a member of ninevoices – not me – did so a year or two ago and had a wonderful trip to Ireland to accept her award.

Mairtin Crawford Awards for short stories up to 2,500 words or 3-5 poems. Prizes: £500 and invitation to read at Belfast Book Festival. Entry fee: £6. Closing date: 1 May. Details: https://belfastbookfestival.com/mairtin-crawford-award

Bristol Short Story Prize for stories up to 4,000 words. Prizes: £1,000, £500, £250; £100 for 17xshortlisted. All published in prize anthology. Deadline: 4 May. Details: http://www.bristolprize.co.uk

Nick Darke Award for full-length stage plays: Prizes: £6,000. FREE ENTRY. Closing date: 4 May. Details: http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/nickdarkeaward (Please double-check this one, it proved elusive)

Bath Novel Award for the first 5,000 words of a novel, plus a one-page synopsis. Prizes: £3,000; 2nd agent introductions and manuscript feedback; 3rd Cornerstones online course. Entry fee: £29. Closing date: 31 March. Details: http://bathnovelaward.co.uk

Bluepencilagency First Novel Prize for the first chapter of an unpublished novel up to 5,000 words. Prizes: £1,000, manuscript review, introduction to judge/literary agent Nelle Andrew. Entry fee: £20 Deadline: 29 May. Details: http://www.bluepencilagency.com

Bridport Prize for short stories (up to 5,000 words), novels (first 8,000 words), poetry (up to 42 lines) and flash fiction (up to 250 words). Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £500 and ten £100 highly commended for short stories and poetry; £1,000, £500, £250 and five £100 highly commendeds for flash fiction; £1,500, £750, plus editiorial guidance. Entry fee: £9 per flash fiction; £10 per poem; £12 per short story; £20 novel. Deadline 31 May. Details: http://www.bridportprize.org.uk

Frome Festival Short Story Competition for stories 1,000-2,200 words. Prizes: £400, £200, £100. Entry fee: £8. Closing date: 31 May. Details: http://www.fromeshortstorycompetition.co.uk

The Yeovil Literary Prize 2022 is inviting entries in the following categories: Novel. Enter the opening up to 10,000 words and a synopsis up to 500 words. Prizes are £1,250, £300 and £125. The entry fee is £14.50. Short Story. Enter short stories up to 2,000 words. Prizes are £600, £250 and £125. Entry fee is £8. Poetry. Enter poems up to 40 lines. Prizes are £600, £250 and £125. Entry fee £5 per poem. Children’s/Young Adult Novel. Enter the first 3,000 words and a 500-word synopsis. One illustration may be included. Prizes are £600, £250 and £125. Entry fee £12.50. Writing Without Restrictions. Enter work that doesn’t fit into usual competition categories. Prizes are £250, £125 and £75. Entry fee £6. Entries may have appeared online, but must be commercially unpublished. Closing date: 31 May. Details: http://www.yeovilprize.co.uk

As ever, please check entry details before committing yourself.

Good luck!

Creative Writing Competitions to Enter in May

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Bath Novel Award, Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Prize, Bridport Prize, Colm Toibin International Short Story Award, Frome Festival Short Story, Peggy-Chapman Andrews First Novel Award, The Chairman's Prize, The Poetry London Prize, The Sitcom Mission, The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition, Writing Magazine Competitions, Yeovil Literary Prize

STOP PRESS: Maggie Richell-Davies’ novel, The Servant, is now available on Amazon – and was only published because she entered and won the HWA/Sharpe Books 2020 Unpublished Novel Award. Competition details were posted on on this blog, so that could have been YOU!    https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B087SD83VV

With so many of us in lock-down, and experts saying book reading can boost the brain and relieve depression, it is up to us to keep making up stories until the happy day when we can again spend time in our favourite coffee shop.

The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition for new writers. The winner receives a publishing contract with Chicken House Books, with an advance of £10,000 and the offer of literary representation from Kate Shaw of the Shaw Agency. They are additionally running The Chairman’s Prize, which is given to a manuscript hand-picked by Chicken House publisher Barry Cunningham. The winner gets a publishing contract and £7,500, plus the offer of representation by Kate Shaw. Writers must be unpublished and unagented, with BAME authors particularly encouraged to apply. Enter original, unpublished novels for children of any age between 7 and 18, plus a synopsis. Entry fee: £18. Closing date: 4 May. Details: http://www.chickenhousebooks.com 

The Poetry London Prize is for original, unpublished poems up to 80 lines. Prizes: £5,000; £2,000; £1,000. Entry fee £4 for Poetry London subscribers and £8 for non-subscribers. Closing date: 1 May. Details: https://poetrylondong.co.uk/

Fancy yourself as a scriptwriter? The Sitcom Mission is open to submissions for a fifteen-minute sitcom script with a ‘bold and exciting central character or characters’, good dialogue and the catalyst of an exciting incident to kick-start the story. Plus, of course, it needs to be funny. A good script should get your work in front of major industry professionals. Entry fee is £10 and the deadline is 11.59pm on 3 May. Check out the submission details: http://www.comedy.co.uk/sitcom_mission/info/

Bath Novel Award 2020. First 5,000 words, plus single page synopsis. Open to unpublished, self-published, and independently published authors. £3,000 first prize, plus manuscript feedback and agent introductions to shortlisted authors. Entry fee: £28. Deadline 31 May. Details: bathnovelaward.co.uk

Colm Toibin International Short Story Award. Short stories 1,800-2,00 words. Prizes: 700 Euros; 500 Euros; 300 Euros. Entry fee: 10 Euros. Closing date: 13 May . Details: http://www.wexfordliteraryfestival.com  [Note: a member of ninevoices won this last year. Why not you, this year?]

Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Prize. The first chapter of an unpublished novel, up to 5,000 words. Prize: £1,200 in prizes, manuscript review, introduction to judge, literary agent Nelle Andrew. Entry fee: £20. Closing date 31 May. Details: http://www.bluepencilagency.com

Frome Festival Short Story. Short stories 1,00 to 2,200 words. Prizes: £400; £200; £100. Entry fee: £8. Closing date: 31 May. Details: http://www.fromeshortstorycompetition.co.uk

The Bridport Prize – Peggy Chapman-Andrews First Novel Award for 5,000-8,000 words, plus 300 word synopsis. Must be unpublished, unagented and unplaced in any other competition. First prize £1,500 plus mentoring and agent introduction. Runner-up £750, plus mentoring and agent introduction. Three shortlisted writers receive £150, plus inclusion in anthology. Entry fee: £20. Deadline: 31 May. Details: bridportprize.org.uk

The Bridport Prize – Poetry for up to 42 lines. Must be unpublished, unagented and unplaced in any other competition. Prizes: £5,000, £1,000, £300, 10x£100. Entry fee: £10. Deadline: 31 May. Details: bridportprize.org.uk

The Bridport Prize – Short Story for stories up to 5,000 words. Must be unpublished, unagented and unplaced in any other competition. Prizes:£5,000, £1,000, £300, 10x£100. Entry fee: £12. Deadline: 31 May. Details: bridportprize.org.uk

Yeovil Literary Prize for novels (opening chapters and synopsis, up to 15,000 words). Short stories: maximum 2,000 words. Poems up to 40 lines. Writing Without Restrictions. Western Gazette Best Local Writer. Prizes Novel £1,000; £250; £100. Short story and poetry: £500; £200; £100. Writing without restrictions: £200; £100; £50. Local prize: £100. Entry fee: novel £12; short story £7; poetry £7, £10 for two, £12 for three. Writing Without Restrictions: £5. Closing date 31 May. Details: http://www.yeovilprize.co.uk

And don’t forget that the invaluable Writing Magazine – still winging its way to subscribers and also available on-line – holds its own regular writing competitions and provides details of many available elsewhere.

Forgive me if, in these troubled times, any of the above details turn out to be inaccurate. So, do check them on-line before entry.

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Competitions to Enter in June

Tags

Bridport Prize, Competitions, Poetry, Short stories

Not many competitions to enter in June – half-term, holidays, the silly-season – but there are some. They are modest by comparison with the major prizes on offer at other times of the year, but it’s worth remembering that will mean less entries to compete against.

Troubadour International Poetry Prize for original poems by adult writers in English and no longer than 45 lines. Closing date: 21 June. Entry fee £5. Prizes: £5,000; £1,000 and £500, with 20 £25 prizes and a £100 Troubadour restaurant gift voucher and bottle of champagne for entries from London and the South-East. Details: http://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/prizes

Erewash Writers’ Group New Writer Competition, for a story up to 3,000 words by new writers only. Prize: £40. Entry fee £3. Details from: erewashwriterscompetition.weebly.com/2016-ewg-new-writer-competition.html

Words Magazine Short Story Competition. Up to 2,000 words on the theme of Christmas (Yes, I know – but magazines have long lead times!). Entry is FREE. Prizes: £50 and £25 plus, presumably, publication in the magazine. Deadline June 30. Details: http://www.words-mag.com

Henshaw Press Short Story Competition. Up to 2,000 words. Prizes: £100; £50; £25. Fee: £5. Details: henshawpress.co.uk

Please remember to check the websites for full details before entering.

And don’t forget that there are a handful of days left in May, if you’re tempted to have a go at the Bridport. I sent my novel entry in, experienced a glitch, but was given all kinds of help in sorting it out. They are truly lovely people. (Mind you, they’ll probably still give my book the thumbs down, but that’s writing for you!)

What is a good short story?

Tags

Bridport Prize, competitions, judging, Short stories

‘All judging is arbitrary and personal.’ This was Kate Atkinson’s opening remark in her report as judge of the Bridport short story competition back in 2001. So, some consolation to the thousands who hadn’t won.

I read the report carefully. I intended to enter the competition the following year. What did this particular judge look for? ‘That elusive something that sends us away knowing our lives have been improved in some small indefinable way…every good story is a journey at the end of which the reader and the writer gain the satisfaction of having been taken somewhere. Somewhere else.’

This was inspiring advice. Every one of the short-listed stories published in the 2001 Bridport story collection had achieved this effect. If only one could write like that!

Tobias Hill, the judge in 2002, pointed out in his report that not all good writing makes good short fiction. ‘The short story has its own particular demands and it is not a short cut to a novel, or a poem unpacked from its shrinkwrap, or a play with the exits and pursuing bears all painstakingly painted in.’ Many of the Bridport entries ‘didn’t really understand what the short story is about, or what it is capable of doing.’ Mine was evidently one of them.

Rose Tremain made some pungent – and ultimately helpful – comments in her report in 2003. ‘It is as hard to write a really first-rate short story as it is to write a really first-rate poem. Both need a strong informing idea. Both demand an economy of means… Very few stories…had any poetic coherence. Very few had tight plotting. Very few sounded any original note and very few were either moving or funny.’

What did the winning ones have in common? ‘A sense that the writer knows what she/he is doing. Good writing is like a boat which doesn’t leak, which has a sure hand at the helm.’

A nice nautical allusion for those of us who feel all at sea when it comes to short stories – and something to keep us on course when we enter this year’s writing competitions.