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Writing Competitions
Here is a
selection of writing competitions in closing date order. Please email details (no attachments, thank you) of any
competitions you are organising so we can promote them on NAWG's
website.
When
entering competitions do not forget to mention you found out about them on the
NAWG website.
For the annual NAWG / Writers' News competition click
here
For Poetry Competitions take a look at our Poetry
Competition Page
Monthly
or On-going Competitions
Quarterly
short story competition that publishes the top three winners on the short Story
Competition website and awards each with a cash prize. For more information
see:
www.theshortstorycompetition.co.uk
Micro-Fiction Showcase There are three, month-long
competitions, during May. June and July.
These competitions are for micro-fiction. Based on last
year's Showcase we have extended our definition of Micro-Fiction
to allow for up to 60 words for stories and up to eight-lines
for poems.
The very best entries in each of these categories will be
displayed in the online Micro-Fiction Showcase and each month
there will be four winners in each category. Each winner will
receive a prize of €25 and a copy of the previous year's Fish
Anthology, and their entry will appear in the next Fish
Anthology.
At the end of July, the winning entries from all three
monthly competitions will form the final short-list from which
one winner will be selected from both the short stories and the
poems. These overall winners will receive a further prize of
€500 together with a free personal web-site, sponsored by
E-Fastnet.
All winning entries will appear in the Fish Anthology
More
information and rules:
www.fishpublishing.com/Micro-fiction-showcase2.php
The Pages
Quarterly Open Short Story Competition &
Anthology
Submission Deadlines: The next deadlines are June
30th, September 30th and December 31st 2008.
Entry fee as usual is
only £4.00 which includes a basic critique. Each additional entry is
only £2.00.
Prizes are 1st £60.00 2nd £40.00 3rd £20.00. The winning story will be
published on our website, and all three winners plus three runners up
will be published in The Pages Anthology and receive one free copy each.
Cheques or Postal Orders made payable to: Adeola Sheehy-Adekale. Entries
to be sent to: Editor, The Pages, The Basement, 3 St. Michael's Road,
London, SW9 0SL. Email:
the-pages@hotmail.co.uk
Or visit:
www.the-pages.blogspot.com
for further information.
Invisible Ink Short Story
Competition
Twice yearly competition:
Closing dates 31 March and 30 September
Prize: £1,000 + publishing
opportunity
Short stories (2000 - 4000 words)
in general fiction suitable for a mainstream audience. Open to unpublished
prose writers.
Winner is chosen by READER
VOTES and shortlisted entrants receive feedback from readers via the
website. Entrants are invited (but not required) to support fellow writers
by purchasing the current competition anthology - all proceeds go to fund
future competitions and other ventures in new writing.
Full details and online entry
form at website.
Look out for the international "unpublished writers" competition which
started on March 3rd on bookhabit.com. It's free to enter and open to all genres
for works of 50000 words or more - top prize is $5000. Details can be found at
www.bookhabit.com/competition/
The PrimeProse Flash Fiction Award is an international quarterly competition
for original, previously unpublished fictional works of less than 500 words, in
English, in any style or genre.
The winners will receive cash prizes, but each and every entrant will receive
a critique of his work. The first-placed entries will be published online here
on the PrimeProse website but, that apart, the authors will retain all
copyrights.
www.primeprose.co.uk
www.spinetinglers.co.uk
Closing date: Monthly
Launched by writers in Northern Ireland to give aspiring horror and dark fiction
authors a chance to get their foot on the first rung of the publishing ladder.
Every month there will be a competition and the top five stories will be
selected and published on the website. The one judged best by their panel will
win £50.
www.festivalstories.co.uk
No
closing date
Have
you been to Glastonbury, the Isle of Wight Festival, the Wickerman Festival, or
maybe WOMAD or the Big Green Gathering? Have you got an interesting story to
tell about your experience.
Do
you want to see your story in print?
Whether
they make us laugh or cry, we are looking forward to hearing about all your
moments from the festivals. We
want the stories you’d want to tell round the fire in the evening, or read
whilst relaxing in the sunshine.
Stories
can be any length from just a few words, to several pages, but they must
enchant, delight or amuse us.
Great
prizes to be won for the best stories
and publication in a book, which
will be available at the festivals.
RULES
 |
Entrants
must take responsibility to ensure that their entries are entirely original
and do not breach any existing copyright or other rights. |
|
Entrants
are responsible for ensuring that their entry does not infringe any rights. |
|
Entrants
grant the competition organisers the right to use their submissions in part
or in entirety, and grant the competition organisers the right to edit or
change entries in any way deemed necessary for publication. |
|
The
prizes on offer are subject to the terms and conditions of the companies
issuing the prize. |
|
Entrants
will not be entitled to payment for their entries. |
|
No
correspondence will be entered into concerning the judge's final decision. |
|
Entrance
into the competition will be deemed to be acceptance of the above rules and
conditions. |
Do
you have any good pictures from the festivals? We'd love to see them too.
To
enter your story, or pictures, please send them to:
stories@festivalstories.co.uk
pictures@festivalstories.co.uk
This Is Travel/Daily Mail
Reviews
Closing date: Monthly
Prize: £1,000 towards your next holiday
Entry Fee: FREE
This is Travel and the
Daily Mail want to hear from you! Whether you want to have a good old rant about
that Fawlty Towers style hotel, rave about a little bakery in Spain or share
travel tips with other readers, here's your chance to be a travel reporter!
Suffered poor service
while on holiday? Made a complaint but still waiting for a response now you're
home? TV's consumer champion Russell Amerasekera is on hand to help. He'll tell
you what to do - and if that doesn't work he'll fight your corner with the
travel giants himself!
www.thisistravel.co.uk
www.firstwriter.com's
fully searchable database of writing competitions contains details and contact
information for writing contests from around the English-speaking world,
including dozens which are
FREE
to enter
The Reader Classic Rescue Prize
No closing date
If the world's libraries were burning
which book would you save?
Write and tell us which classic (for
these purposes, that's simply any book originally published more than 75 years
ago) you would like to save for future generations. It might be a book that
everyone knows - from the Odyssey to Emma - or it might be something that you
think has been unjustly forgotten - Mrs Oliphant's Autobiography, for example.
It could be a book which has fallen out of print or it could be selling hundreds
every month. Fiction, biography, poetry, thought, the category doesn't matter:
the main criteria for your choice should be that you think it's a book the world
cannot afford to lose.
A Classic Rescue review will be published
in each issue of The Reader and the winner will receive 15 great titles from the
Oxford World's Classic series. Keep your review to a maximum of 850 words,
including plenty of quotations to give our readers the feel of the thing, and
send it, marked Classic Rescue, to:
The
Reader
English Department
University of Liverpool, L69 7ZR
The
Scribble magazine
quarterly short story competitions
Ongoing competitions with
no closing date
For short stories on any subject, to a maximum length of 3,000 words. Prizes of
£75, £25 and £15 in each issue. These are Entry fee is £3 per story, with
FREE
unlimited entries for
annual magazine subscribers. Entry forms are not required.
Website:
www.parkpublications.co.uk
Postal address; Park Publications, 14 The Park, Stow on the Wold, Glos. GL54 1DX
E-mail
(enquiries only):
parkpub14@hotmail.com
www.eternalquality.net
invite written works up to 1000 words in length
Submissions
may be made at anytime and are valid for one month's contest
Each
person can submit up to five entries
All
written material is currently accepted in English, German and Spanish. Volunteer
translators are encouraged to help people of any language submit essays and
poems.
The
Awards are a creative playground. We invite you to be free to play and create
what you feel, on the theme of the eternal qualities
Awards start
on the first and close on the last day of each month. There are no deadlines,
only cycles!
Awarded participants are
announced by the 10th of the following month
Writers'
Forum short story competitions
Closing
date: Each month
www.writers-forum.com
Fledgling
Press Limited Competition
Closing date: End
of each month
Further information at
www.canyouwrite.com
Linkway's
Open Competition Story, Article or Poem
Closing date: End
of each month
SAE to: The Shieling, The Links, Burry Port, Carms SA16 0HU
Secret
Attic
Closing
date: monthly
Entry is
FREE and you can win a prize.
The top
twenty entries will be published in a printed booklet. www.secretattic.com
The David Thomas Charitable Trust Prizes
Closing date:
Monthly
Writers News and Writers Magazine run several competitions for
the David Thomas Charitable Trust. Story categories include: ghost, adult fairy,
love, country, sea, crime, children's. There are several different poetry
categories and This Britain in poetry, prose and pictures.
Full details can be found in Writers' News magazine or from The
David Thomas Charitable Trust, PO Box 6055, Nairn IV12 4YB.
Full details of the Writers'
News and Writing Magazines competitions are also available on their
website: www.writersnews.co.uk
The Seventh Quark
Three separate competitions:
Quarterly
Story Prize (2000-4000 words)
Bi-Monthly
Shorter Story Prize (under 2000 words)
Frantic
Flash Competition.
More details
Email seventhquark@tribe13.co.uk
AUTHOR NETWORK MONTHLY COMPETITION
Different theme each month.
More details at www.author-network.com
“Micro-Stories”
www.txtlit.co.uk competition is open to anyone but must be entered as a
text message from a mobile phone. The theme for August is crime. To enter
simply text crime followed by a space and then the story in no more than 154
further characters to 88010. (Text messages can be no more than 160
characters, hence the restriction.)
The entry fee is £1 plus the cost of a standard text
message as charged by your mobile network operator. There is no limit to the
number of entries but we advise against over doing it. We plan to run
competitions every month indefinitely. The Theme for September will be
romance.
We are offering a first prize of at least £50 which we
will increase depending on the popularity of the competitions.
Rules are as follows:
|
Competitions are open to anyone of any age who has
access to a mobile phone serviced by a UK mobile network provider |
|
Entries must be the original work of the entrant
and must not have previously published or broadcast nor simultaneously
entered for another competition |
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Entry fees are £1 per entry which will be billed
through your mobile phone account. You will also be billed for a
standard text message for each entry by your mobile phone service
provider. Failure to seek the bill payers permission will invalidate the
entry |
|
There is no limit to the number of entries that
anyone can make for a competition |
|
Competitions will run monthly and will begin at
00:01 hours on the first day of the month and close at midnight on the
last day of the month |
|
Competitions can only be entered from a mobile
phone by texting the given keyword, which changes monthly, followed by
the entry to 88010 |
|
Entries for single sms competitions can be no
longer than 160 characters including spaces, punctuation, carriage
returns AND the competition keyword |
|
A first prize of at least £50 will be paid to the
winner of each monthly competition. Prizes will be assessed regularly
depending on the popularity of the competitions |
|
Results will be published on the txtlit website as
soon as possible after the close of the competition. Prize winners will
be notified via their mobile phone |
|
Copyright remains with the author, however, by
entering the competition you give permission for your entry to be
published on the txtlit website and to appear without payment in any
publicity material for txtlit.co.uk or in any future publications
compiled by www.txtlit.co.uk
or its associated companies. In such circumstances every effort will be
made to see that the author is credited for their work |
|
The judge's decision is final and no correspondence
will be entered into |
|
Submission of entries will indicate acceptance of
the rules and conditions |
Please look at the website for further information, or
contact
admin@txtlit.co.uk
The Green Story?
The Green Story is a creative writing
competition, where each month you can read the previous
chapters and then write what you think the next chapter
should be by submitting your own entry, or read and then
vote on the latest entries.
www.thegreenstory.co.uk
There are adult,
children and teenage categories and the competition will last for ten months /
chapters. Each month budding new writers can submit their entries, which are
then voted on by the public, and at the end of every month the winning entry
becomes the next chapter, and once the story is complete it'll be published - on
recycled paper, of course!
So if you fancy your
chances of appearing in print, getting involved in the 2008 National Year of
Reading, or doing your bit for the environment (we've called it the Green
Story for a reason), then click on the link above and submit your entry.
Global Short Story Competition
Closing day for each competition is the last day of
the month
The first prize is £100
More info:
www.globalshortstories.net
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July
2008
Daily Mail/Transworld First Novel Prize
Closing date Wednesday 2 July 2000
The competition is open to anyone aged 16 or over who is not already a published
novelist, and will be judged by best-selling author Joanne Harris, crime writer
Simon Kernick, author and Books Editor of Woman and Home Fanny Blake and
Francesca Liversidge, Transworld's Publishing Director.
Entrants must submit a complete work in the English language of not less than
80,000 words and no more than 150,000 words, along with a synopsis of no more
than 600 words.
The full terms and conditions can be viewed at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/books/authors.html?in_article_id=560555&in_page_id=1826
or by sending a stamped addressed envelope to: Daily Mail First Novel
competition, Transworld Publishers,
61-63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA.
Mere Literary Festival Short
Story Competition
Closing date
7 July
The senior judge this year
is prize-winning novelist and short story writer Marion Molteno. Her novel,
A Shield of Coolest Air, won the David Thomas Award and If You Can Walk You
Can Dance was short-listed for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. Her third
novel, Somewhere More Simple, was published last year.
Stories, on any topic but
with a maximum count of 2,500 words, could win cash prizes of £300, £200,
£100, plus 3x Runners-up of £20.
There are also Local and
Junior awards.
Entry forms with full
details are available by post (with sae please) from MLF, Lawrences, Old
Hollow, Mere, Wilts. BA12 6EG or on line at
www.merelitfest.co.uk - the festival’s new website.
Doris Gooderson Short Story
Competition
Closing
date: 15th July 2008
Wrekin
Writers have launched the 2008 Doris Gooderson Short Story Competition,
inviting writers to submit short stories not exceeding 1200 words, for
an entry fee of £3 or £10 for 4 entries.
Prizes
are £80, £40 and £20 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd
respectively.
The
closing date for entries is 15th July 2008, and full rules
and entry forms are available from the website at
www.wrekinwriters.co.uk Alternatively you can send a stamped
addressed envelope to:
The Competition Secretary
29 Christine Avenue,
Wellington,
Shropshire,
TF1 2DX
Last
year’s competition attracted over 130 entries from all over the world.
Winning entries maybe published on the Wrekin Writer Website.
Writing Club, the online
writing club, is accepting entries for its first-ever open writing
competition.
Closing date is July 19, 2008.
No theme is set for the
short story competition; but the story must be in English, and
unpublished.
Prizes are 100 euro and
publication on
www.askaboutwriting.net and
www.writingclub.org
websites.
Maximum word count is
1,800 words, no entry form is required.
Entry is by email and
writers may enter as many times as they wish. Entry fee is 8 euro
per story.
Entry fees may be paid
through PayPal which converts payments into the writer's local
currency, where it's different to the euro.
A picture is posted on
the Writing Club website for inspiration, if it's required.
Entry details and
requirements may be seen here.
www.writingclub.org/copen1.htm
SHORT STORY COMPETITION run by TOWN & VILLAGE COMMUNITY MAGAZINE in
Dorset (Readership 45,000)
CLOSING DATE: 27 July 2008
JUDGES: novelist Della Galton and author Ian J Burton plus a
Dorset highly commended story will be chosen by editor Janine
Pulford and assistant editor Kris Davy
PRIZE: publication in the magazine's fiction slot PLUS 1st - £75,
2nd - £25 and 3rd - £10 book token.
RULES: Content must be your own and must not be published or have
won a prize elsewhere or be entered for another competition at same
time. Entry must have a title but do not put your name on it. Ensure
a covering sheet with the title, your name and address, telephone
number and email address if you have one is included. Keep a copy as
entries won't be returned. No email or handwritten entries allowed.
If entering through NAWG, please add this to title sheet
Theme: A Winter's Tale
Max word length: 1,000
Enclose £3 entry fee per story. Cheques made payable to Page &
Pulford Ltd.
Address: Town & Village, Short Story Competition, Suite F5, 6
Whittle Road, Ferndown Ind Est, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 7RU
Winners will be announced in September 2008
The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing
Contest
Deadline: July 31, 2008
Winners will be announced on August 31, 2008
Open
to everyone whether experienced or not. This competition welcomes anyone who
loves to arrange words into beautiful art or to write a short story that is
worth telling. And to all who have the ability to dream. Write your best short
story or poem for a chance to win cash prizes. All works must be original.
www.dreamquestone.com
Guidelines:
(1) Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject, style or form, single or
double line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed.
And/or
(2) Write a short story five pages
maximum, single or double line spacing, on any subject or theme, creative
writing, fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, diary, journal
entries and screenwriting). Must also be neatly hand printed or typed.
Multiple poem and story entries are accepted
Prizes:
Writing Contest
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First Prize: $500 |
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Second Prize: $250 |
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Third Prize: $100
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Poetry Contest
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First Prize: $250 |
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Second Prize: $125 |
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Third Prize: $50 |
Entry fees:
Writing Contest entry fee is: $10 per short story
Poetry Contest entry fee is: $5 per poem
To send
entries by mail:
Include title and story or poem, your name, address, phone, email, brief
biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself) on the coversheet, add a
self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Mail entries/fees
payable to: Dreamquestone.com
Dream Quest
One
Poetry &
Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL
60654
Visit
www.dreamquestone.com
for further
details, to print out an entry form or to enter online
Kenneth Grahame Society – Short Story
Competition
Closing date: July 31st
2008
As part of the Kenneth
Grahame Society's celebration of the centenary year of The Wind in the
Willows, a short story competition is being held to echo some of beauty
of Kenneth Grahame's classic. This is a unique opportunity for creative
writers everywhere to write a short story in the same style as The Wind
in the Willows and have it published. It is, similarly, a unique
opportunity for academic writers to use creative writing as an
alternative approach for presenting some new insights into the book. And
it is an opportunity for all to pay homage to their favourite book and
add to The Wind in the Willows canon.
Prizes
1st £500 2nd £150 3rd £100
If there is a good response and sufficient
strong entries, a number of further entries, along with the top three,
will be published in a collection of short stories at the end of the
year. These entries will be awarded a £50 prize and a copy of the book.
There is no entry fee.
Title/Theme
The title is open, but the
story is to be written as a sequel, prequel or countertext to The Wind
in the Willows.
Guidelines and Formats
The length of the short
stories should be approximately 5000 words - similar to the average
length of the chapters in The Wind in the Willows. (Entries of 4500-6000
words will be accepted.)
The cover page should
clearly state the title and number of words, and provide essential
contact details - name, address, email address and phone number.
Entries should be printed
on A4 paper with double line spacing and wide margins. (No handwritten
entries, please.) After the judging of the entries, authors of the
winning short stories will be asked to submit their story in MS Word
format and append a brief biography.
Entries will be judged for
their plausibility and continuity as a Willows sequel (or prequel or
countertext), as well as for the quality of their storyline and style.
Entry Deadline and
Results
Entries must be recieved
by July 31st 2008. The winning entry will be announced and read at the
Kenneth Grahame Society's Willows celebrations in Fowey, Cornwall, on
September 6th-7th 2008.
Entries should be posted to:
Nigel McMorris
Kenneth Grahame Society
37 Ashtree Hill
Tandragee
Co Armagh
Northern Ireland BT62
2HP
E:
badger@kennethgrahamesociety.net
W:
www.kennethgrahamesociety.net
HISSAC Annual Open Short
Story Competition 2008
Closing
date 31 July
HISSAC is the Highland & Islands Short Story Association, which
seeks to lend support to writers and has members from all over the
world; entrants need have no connection whatsoever to Scotland & we
actively encourage writers to enter, no matter where they live. Chairman
of judges is novelist & 2006 Scotsman/Orange Short Story Winner 2006,
Clio Gray
First prize £300, 2nd & 3rd
prizes of £50
Theme is open; we like
unusual, but no stories for children, please
Max. word count 2,500.
Entry fee £4 per entry or £10 for 3
Cheques to “HISSAC”
Winners notified at the end
of Sept 2008, and winner & runners-up will be published on the website.
No entry form needed but please include a cover sheet with story title &
contact details; all entries should be single sided and double spaced,
preferably in a 12 point font
Postal entries only please
to HISSAC, 20 Lochslin, Balintore, Easter Ross, Scotland IV20 1UP
Email:
info@hissac.co.uk
www.hissac.co.uk
Dark Tales Summer 08 Competition
Closing Date:
31st July 2008
The Dark Tales Summer 08 Short Story Competition has now been
launched, and the prize money has been increased to £250 for the winner, £50
for the runner-up and £25 for third place.
All shortlisted stories will be published in Dark Tales Volume 13.
Full rules:
1. UK residents can enter the competition either by post or online.
2. Non-UK residents can enter the competition online.
3. Non-UK residents are also welcome to enter the competition by post
provided that the entry fee can be paid with a pounds sterling (UK) cheque.
4. The entry fee is £3 if you do not require a critique, £5 if you require a
tick-sheet critique, £15 if you require a full critique.
5. Each entry must be no longer than 3000 words.
6. Each entry must be the original, unpublished work of the stated author.
7. For postal entries, stories must be typed or printed legibly, and the
author's name and the title of the story must be printed at the top of each
page.
8. Postal entries must be sent, with adequate postage attached, to:
Dark Tales Summer 08 Competition, 7 Offley Street, Worcester WR3 8BH, UK
to arrive no later than 31st July 2008. Cheques or postal orders payable
to Dark Tales.
9. Stories cannot be returned so please do not send original manuscripts.
10. Entries will be judged by Sean Jeffery and one other judge, whose
decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
11. The winner will receive £250, the runner-up £50 and third-placed £25,
plus publication in Dark Tales. Each winner will be notified within 60 days
of the closing date.
12. All published entrants will receive one free copy of the issue of Dark
Tales their story is published in.
13. Postal entries: Entries must be accompanied by the completed entry form
and the correct payment.
14. Online entries: Please use the online form which should appear after
making your payment via PayPal (see
www.darktales.co.uk ) to upload your story,
or email your story to
stories@darktales.co.uk
- preferably as a Word document - once you have paid via PayPal, ensuring
that the Subject for the email is Dark Tales Contest Entry. Entries must be
uploaded or emailed by 31st July 2008
Closing date is July 31st 2008.
This year the winner can submit their manuscript to London literary
agent
Lucy Luck for a reading without having to sit in the slush
pile. An annual short story competition dedicated to one of
Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists, sponsored
by the Munster Literature Centre. Judge: For 2008 is
Nuala Ní Chonchúir
First Prize: €1,500 (approx US$2300) and publication in the literary
biannual
Southword.
Second Prize: €500 (approx US$790) and publication in Southword
Four other shortlisted entries will be selected for publication in
Southword and receive a fee of 100 euros (approx US$158)
For further information contact: The Munster Literature Centre, 84
Douglas Street, Cork.
munsterlit@eircomdotnet
(replace "dot" with " ." when emailing, this is an anti-spam measure)
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August
2008
The
£2,000 Biographers’ Club Prize
The
deadline for entries is 1st August 2008.
Sponsored
by the Daily Mail
Entry fee: £10 (cheques
made payable to the Biographers’ Club).
Supports
uncommissioned first-time writers working on a biography. This year’s judges are
Nicola Beauman, publisher of Persephone Books and author of Cynthia Asquith
and Morgan: A Life of E.M. Forster; Richard Davenport-Hines, whose books
include biographies of Proust and Auden; and Andrew Crofts, prolific ghostwriter
and author of the forthcoming novel The Overnight Fame of Steffi McBride.
Applicants
should submit a proposal of no more than 20 pages, including a synopsis and
10-page sample chapter (double-spaced, numbered pages), CV, a note on the market
for the book and competing literature, to the prize administrator: Anna Swan,
anna@annaswan.co.uk
or by post to 119A Fordwych Road, London NW2 3NJ.
The 18th Annual
TNT Magazine Travel Writing and Photography Awards is a competition
encouraging talented photographers to submit entries in return for
recognition and fantastic prizes.
The 2007 awards generated a
phenomenal response with a high standard of entries. Judged by TNT’s
specialist panel, including
Lonely Planet’s Tom Hall, the
awards are highly regarded within the independent travel market.
Closing
date: 8th August
Prizes:
Travel
Writing
|
1st prize:
£1000 Supercheque retail and travel voucher |
Readers' Choice Award for Best Travel Story: £500
Supercheque retail and travel voucher
http://travelshow.tntmagazine.com/travelawards
Pint-sized Plays Writing Competition
Entries must be received by August 8th
How much drama or comedy can you pack into a five or ten minute play?
Pint-sized Plays is your opportunity to show just how imaginative and
original you can be. It can be funny, it can be sad... if it can be
performed in a pub, with two or three characters, you could be a winner
of Pint-sized Plays.
The winning six plays will all be performed in pubs in Pembrokeshire
starting this Autumn, during the Tenby Arts Festival and then in other
pubs around the county.
Entries will be judged by Phil Clark, who was Artistic Director of the
Sherman Theatre Company in Cardiff from 1990 to 2006 where he
prioritised new writing, commissioning and directing over 100 new plays.
For full details, go to
www.pintsizedplays.org.uk
4th Annual UK Trade Union Competition
Closing date: 30th August
The 4th annual short story competition open to members of all UK
Trade Unions.
Entry forms available from: Wordsmag (Union Comp), PO
Box 13574, London W9 3FX
More info:
www.wordsmag.com/tradeunion.htm
The Wellington Town Council
(Shropshire) Short Story Competition
Closing
date
31st August 2008
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First Prize overall £150 |
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Second Prize overall £100 |
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Third Prize overall £75 |
Best Story submitted by a
Shropshire resident: Glass Trophy – retained by winner
Entries should be typed on (one side of) A4 paper
- double spacing please - and not exceed 4,500 words
Entry fee: £3.00
The
competition rules and the entry form are available on:
www.wellington-shropshire.gov.uk
Short Story
Competition 2008
Twyford Writers
are proud to
announce their fourth annual short story writing competition based
on the theme:
Chemistry
Closing date:
30th August 2008
Competition
Rules:
1. All entries
must be previously unpublished and entirely the entrants’ own work
and must be no longer than 3,500 words. Simultaneous submissions are
allowed.
2. Each story
must be accompanied by a £3.50 ($6.90) entry fee (Cheques/Postal
Orders made payable to ‘Twyford Writers’).
3. Prizes shall
be awarded as follows: 1st £200, 2nd £100, 3rd £50
3. Entries must
be in English on single sides of A4 paper, page numbered and
preferably double-spaced.
4. Each entry
must be accompanied by a top sheet to include the story title, word
count, entrant’s name, address, telephone number and email address
(if applicable). The stories themselves must bear no identifying
marks other than the story title.
4. The closing
date for receipt of entries is 30th August 2008. Winners will be
notified by September 30th 2008.
5. Postal entries should be sent to:
2 Parson’s
Close, Kentisbeare, Cullompton, Devon. EX15 2BN
6. Entrants
wishing their stories to be returned after the judging period must
enclose a suitably stamped, self addressed envelope.
7. Entry into the
competition shall be deemed as acceptance of the rules.
8. The judges’
decision is final and no individual correspondence shall be entered
into.
PLEASE NOTE
ONLINE ENTRY IS NOW AVAILABLE
Legend Writing
Award short story
competition
Closing date is 31st August
Open-theme, 2000 words max
The Legend Writing Award, set
up in 2001 by our then patron, David Gemmell, and named
after his first, award-winning and
favourite book, Legend. Widely
regarded as prestigious, the competition particularly
aims to encourage new writers in the UK.
Entry fee £7 for first entry, then
£5 for any subsequent entries. Prizes for 2008 are 1st
£500, 2nd £250, 3rd £100 plus 3 runners-up x £50. This
year, after repeated requests, we are also offering an
optional critique service on entries at a charge of £5
per story.
Full rules and entry forms
available on our competition website:
www.legendwritingaward.com or
by post on request from LWA, 39 Emmanuel Road, Hastings,
TN34 3LB
E-mail:
legendwritingaward@yahoo.co.uk
The Fish-Knife Award
Closing date: 31 August 2008
The winner of the
Fish-Knife Award, will receive a first prize of €1,000 plus
publication in the Fish Anthology 2009 . The winner will also
receive an engraved silver fish-knife and ten copies of the
Anthology.
Five runners up will
also be selected to appear in the Anthology and will each
receive an award of €100 plus five complementary copies of the
Anthology.
All winning authors
will be invited to read their work at the launch of the Fish
Anthology 2009.
More information and
rules:
www.fishpublishing.com/fish-knife-award-2008.php
Short Histories IV
Closing date: 31 August 2008
A First Prize of
€1,000 goes to the winner, plus publication in the Fish 2009
Anthology and ten copies of the Anthology.
Five runners up will
also be selected to appear in the Fish Anthology and will each
receive an award of €100 plus five complimentary copies of the
Anthology.
All winning authors
will be invited to read their work at the launch of the Fish
Anthology 2009.
The Historical Novel
Society's definition of historical fiction is:
"To be deemed
historical (in our sense), a story must have been written at
least fifty years after the events described, or have been
written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events
(who therefore approaches them only by research).
We also consider the
following styles of novel to be historical fiction for our
purposes: alternate histories (e.g. Robert Harris' Fatherland ),
pseudo-histories (eg. Umberto Eco's Island of the Day Before ),
time-slip novels (e.g. Barbara Erskine's Lady of Hay ),
historical fantasies (eg. Bernard Cornwell's King Arthur
trilogy) and multiple-time novels (e.g. Michael Cunningham's The
Hours )".
More information and
rules:
www.fishpublishing.com/historical-short-fiction-prize-2008.php
The Criminally-Short Short Histories Awards 2008
Closing date: 31 August 2008 A First Prize of €500 plus
publication in the Fish 2009 Anthology and ten copies of the
Anthology goes to the winner of each category,
A second and third place in each category will also be
selected to appear in the Anthology and will each receive an
award of €100 plus five complementary copies of the Anthology.
All winning authors will be invited to read their work at the
launch of the Fish Anthology 2009.
There is no need to classify your story. Our judges will
decide which category your story best fits.
More information and rules:
www.fishpublishing.com/criminally-short-histories-2008.php
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September 2008
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Bill Naughton
Short Story Competition
Closing Date:
Friday 5th September 2008
Bill
Naughton's success as a writer stems from his ability to appeal to a
very broad spectrum of readers in a manner and style that can be easily
understood. Therefore, in judging our annual short story competition
priority is given to stories, which, in our view, display qualities
similar to those found in Bill Naughton's work. However, this rule is by
no means exclusive and we are most eager to acknowledge excellence where
we find it.
A great short
story must echo in the reader's mind for a long time - it must compel
him to pursue all its implications and question all possible outcomes.
In a novel there is scope to
spell things out and in effect to tie up all loose ends, but in a
quality short story, little must be said yet everything implied.
Rules and Conditions:
Story can be on any topic chosen by the entrant
Typed entries only
Maximum length of story is 2,500 words
Name and address must not appear on story
All work must be unpublished
Entry Fee:
£5.00 (Sterling), €7.00 (Euro) or or $10.00 (U.S. Dollars) per story.
Three stories may be submitted for the price of two.
[No Entry Form required.]
Postal Entries:
Bill Naughton Short Story Competition,
Box No 2008,
Aghamore,
Ballyhaunis,
County Mayo, Ireland.
Prize Money:
First: € 200.00 / Second:
€130.00 / Third: € 65.00
Prizes will be presented at the Kenny Naughton Autumn School.
Click here if you would
like to obtain further information.
http://www.aghamoreireland.com/kennynaughton/shortstory.htm |
Open Short Story Competition
Closing September 30th 2008
£100 1st prize
Publication for best entries. Entry fee £5.00 per 4000 words. Max length 8000
words
Plus regular web-based competitions: poetry, short story, flash fiction and
genre challenges – details on the website
Or send an SAE for details to Earlyworks Press, Creative Media Centre, 45
Robertson Street, Hastings Sussex TN34 1HL or visit
www.earlyworkspress.co.uk
Invisible Ink Short Story
Competition
Closing
dates 30 September
Prize: £1,000 + publishing
opportunity
Short stories (2000 - 4000 words)
in general fiction suitable for a mainstream audience. Open to unpublished
prose writers.
Winner is chosen by READER
VOTES and shortlisted entrants receive feedback from readers via the
website. Entrants are invited (but not required) to support fellow writers
by purchasing the current competition anthology - all proceeds go to fund
future competitions and other ventures in new writing.
Full details and online entry
form at website.
www.invisibleink.org.uk
The Yellow Room
Closing date
30 September
A place where women writers
can gather together for support, encouragement and friendship. Com |