Seen and Done

Here’s another look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month.

• The Goldenberg Prize from Bellevue Literary Review is for stories up to 5,000 words, the entry fee is $20 and first prize $1,000. Enter by 1 July.
• The Slice from Forkapple Press wants a collection of at least 5 stories amounting to 150-200 pages. It’s $20 to enter: the winner gets $500, some copies, and 25% of profits on publication. Like the sound of that. Again the deadline is 1 July.
• For Hastings Book Festival you need a story up to 2,500 words. It’s a strangely precise £8.25 to enter with a prize of £250 and the deadline is 8 July.
• The H.G.Wells prize is back, looking for 1,500 to 5,000 words on the theme ‘The Middle Ground’. £10 entry, prize £500. Again the deadline is 8 July.
• The Doris Gooderson prize from Wrekin Writers looks for 1,200 words: £5 and a £200 prize. You have until 14 July to enter.
• For the New American Fiction competition you need a full work of at least 100 pages, but it can be a collection of short stories or even flash fiction. It costs $25 to enter and you can win $1,500. The deadline is 15 July.
• The Adrift short story competition from Driftwood Press has the same deadline and a word limit of 6,000. The prize is $500 which perhaps doesn’t look the best value given the entry fee of $30.
• The Petrichor prize (for finely crafted fiction), from Regal House Publishing looks for somewhere between 100 and 375 pages. $25 to enter for a prize of $1,000. Again the deadline is 15 July.
• The Lazuli Literary Group want up to 150 pages of thoughtful, intelligent and beautiful writing of any kind. $15 to enter and the winner gets $500 – there may be multiple winners if the entries are good enough. Once more the deadline is 15 July.

All the rest have a deadline of 31 July.

• Southlands Arts has a maximum of 2,000 words, a fee of £3 and a prize of £100.
• Leicester Writes takes up to 3,500 words and charges £7 for a prize of £200.
• The Anthology Short Story competition is for a mere 1,500 words, and it will cost you €18, but for a prize of €1,000.
• The Olga Sinclair competition from Norwich is for stories up to 2,000 words on the theme ‘Weave’. £5 entry and a prize of £200.
• The Plaza Prizes First Chapters looks for 5,000 words from the beginning of your ms + a 300-word synopsis. Entry costs £20 and the prize is £1,500.
• Over in Munster they are again honouring Séan Ó Faoláin, master of the form, with a short story contest. Up to 3,000 words, €10 entry and besides a nice €2,000 prize you’ll be invited to do a reading in Cork.
• By far the biggest prize on offer comes from The Novelry with their unusual offer, The Next Big Story Prize. They want your first 1,500 words: the novel need not be finished. If you’re from the UK it’s £15 to enter and the top prize is £75,000. If you’re from the USA, Canada, or Australia it’s US$15 to enter and the prize is US$100,000. In effect, this is two parallel competitions. If you’re from anywhere else, you can’t enter at all. Eight people from the shortlist get free entry to a course to polish up their offerings, with the final winner walking off with the prize. I assume this is intended to promote the Novelry’s courses, but it does seem a lot of money.
• Finally, Wild Atlantic Words wants up to 3,000 words, it’s €10 to enter and the prize is €500.

If you get anywhere with any of these, do let me know.