Writing Competitions to Enter in May

Tags

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Bluepencilagency First Novel Prize for the first chapter of an unpublished novel up to 5,000 words.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!

Writing Competitions to Enter in April

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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…!

 

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.