Here are the writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in December. I haven’t found all that many this month, especially British competitions. Most of these are American ones, but I believe they are all open to international entries.

• Chimera are looking for fantasy novels (at least 50,000 words) submit the first 10,000 words with a one-page synopsis. Entry is £6 and the prize is a whacking £2,500 It’s.probably  too late to start writing, though: the deadline is 1 December
• The St Louis Writers’ Guild has been running its annual competition for over a hundred years: previous winners include Tennessee Williams. However, first prize is a mere $50. Honourable Mentions get $10, which is actually less than the $15 entry fee. The word limit is 3,000 and again the deadline is 1 December.
• Crazy Cats Theatre want a chaotic and/or violent story about the twelve days of Christmas, of up to 2,500 words. Entry is £10, the prize £100, and twelve stories will be published online. The deadline is 6 December. 
• Omnidawn is back, again looking for fabulist stories between 7,500 and 17,500 words. $18 to enter, and a respectable prize of $1,000. Deadline 6 December.
• Third Coast want stories up to 9,000 words long: entry is $15 and top prize is again $1,000. The deadline is 15 December.
• Writers Digest has a ‘Short short story’ contest, for pieces up to 1,500 words (hey, I’ve read shorter). $35 entry, and a decent prize of $3,000. Get your entry in by 15 December.
• Sunspot Lit are running a ‘Goldilocks Zone’ competition for stories that have the balance between fine literary writing and popular appeal just right. Up to 2,500 words, entry is $9.50 and the prize is $200. The deadline is 19 December..
• The Kind Writers are looking for like-minded folk. They want stories up to 3,500 words (though they are open to a range of creative works), with an entry fee of $10 and a prize of $150. You must provide a short biography setting out the acts of kindness which qualify you to compete. The deadline is 30 December.

The last three all have a deadline of 31 December.

• Write Time is for over-sixties (why yes, I really am that old). 1,500 words, entry £3, prize £50.
• The Lascaux Review offers $1,000 for stories up to 10,000 words: entry is $15.
• Boulevard magazine’s Emerging Writers competition allows up to 8,000 words and their entry fee is $16: the prize is $1,500

Let me know if you succeed with any of these, and Merry Christmas!