November 2025 Competitions

Here is another selection of writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in the coming month.

Presented once again in a handy tabular form!

As always these are just the competitions I might enter myself, so they don’t generally include flash fiction or poetry. I hope, though, that there’s something that interests you.

PrizeLengthFeePrizeDeadlineComments
Commonwealth Short Story Prize2-5kFree£2,500 region, £5,000 overall01/11/2025 
Ascent Novel Prizefirst 3000 words, pitch and synopsis£29.00£1,000.0001/11/2025Feedback for all entrants + online community
Scribble Short Story3,000£5.00£100.0001/11/2025Theme ‘Accused’
F(r)iction1,001 – 7.5k$15$1,00007/11/2025 
Galley Beggar Press 6,000£11.00£2,500.0008/11/2025 
Curious Curls10,000$2.00$25015/11/2025Theme ‘Hole’
NORward20p$21$75015/11/2025 
Writer’s Digest short short1,500$30$3,00017/11/2025 
Narrative Magazine15,000$27$2,50021/11/2025 
Fish short story5,000£24.00£3,000.0030/11/2025 
PrairieFire5,000CA$34CA$125030/11/2025 
Tadpole Press100$15$1,00030/11/2025 
Inkspot2,500/5,000£10/£15£1,000.0030/11/2025 

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

Mirabelle Gin

This year I have tried out using Mirabelle plums to flavour gin, in the same way as sloes. (I’ve done some of those too.) The result is now bottled and while it doesn’t have quite the impact of the sloe variety it’s an agreeable fruity variation. The sloes need a bit longer but will be ready before Christmas (which is creeping up on us now).

October 2025 Competitions

The tabular format seemed to work last time, so I think I’ll stick with it (feedback always welcome, though).

As always these are just the competitions I might enter myself, so they don’t generally include flash fiction or poetry. That said, there’s a range of prizes here, some generous, others less so.

PrizeWord countFeePrizeCommentsDeadline
Calvino Prize25p$25$2000 In the spirit of Calvino but not pastiche01/10/2025
Zoetrope All-Story5,000$30$1,00001/10/2025
Jeffrey E. Smith (Missouri Review)8,500$25$5000 01/10/2025
Letter Review5,000Free ($5 for extra)Share of $1000 01/10/2025
Dzanc Books40,000$25$2,500 +pubCollections01/10/2025
Spokane Prize (Willow Springs Books)min 92 pages$25$2000 There are some other rules about lengths.02/10/2025
What the Wild Carries5,000$20$2000 + pubVarious genres05/10/2025
Moonlit Getaway2,500$CAD8$CAD250 12/10/2025
Caledonia Novel Award20p +200 syn£28.001500 + framed award You don’t have to be Scottish.15/10/2025
The Raven (Pulp Lit)2,500$35publication  + $300 15/10/2025
Tennessee Williams Festival7,000$25$1,500 + Festival invite 15/10/2025
Eyelands250k€40.00Translation into Greek, pub + ceramic Unusual comp based in Greece20/10/2025
Bedford3,000£8.50£2,000.00 31/10/2025
Southport Writers Circle2,000£3.00£200.00 31/10/2025
Ironclad6,000£9.00£100.00Theme: ‘Switch’31/10/2025
The Hope Prize5,000$30$10,000 + pubStories of ‘Hope, courage, and resilience’31/10/2025

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

Fruit

The mini peaches from our mini peach tree still feel quite firm, but they are a good colour and have started to drop off the tree of their own accord (I blamed the foxes at first), so they have to be picked. They are in fact ready to eat – I think they might be nice grilled with a bit of crème fraîche or similar.

September 2025 Competitions

This month I’m trying the experiment of just putting the competition information into a table. It’s slightly simpler for me and it’s probably easier for readers?  Let me know if this causes problems. If you’re looking at this on a phone, I suggest holding it sideways.

Full disclosure: I am running Croydon Writers’ Michael Round Prize, which is listed below – not as a judge but as the administrator.

ContestMax WordsFeePrizeDeadlineComments
River Styx             3,000$20$100001/09/2025 
American Literary Review             8,000$15$1,00001/09/2025 
Terrain             5,000$20$1,00002/09/2025 
Masters Review summer             6,000$20$300007/09/2025 
Aesthetica             2,000£18.00£2500 +course etc08/09/2025 
Santa Fe Writers Project Award No limit$30$1,50015/09/2025 
Paul Cave Prize             1,000£15.00£75.0030/09/2025 
Write Time             1,501£5.00£50.0030/09/2025Only writers over 60
NAWG 500-2k£5.00£200.0030/09/2025 
Hammond House 1-5k£10.00£1,000.0030/09/2025Theme: Secrets
Henshaw (Hobeck)             2,000£6.00£200.0030/09/2025 
Juniper 55-75k$30$100030/09/2025 
Michael Round Prize             2,000Free£100.0030/09/2025Theme: Far and Wide
Writer’s College             2,000$15$100030/09/2025Theme: All the things we didn’t learn
The Ghost Story          10,000$20$1,50030/09/2025 
Creative Writing Ink             3,000£12.00£1,000.0030/09/2025 
Pudding Press Detritus 20p£10.00Publishing contract30/09/2025For stories rejected elsewhere
Letter Review Short Story             5,000$20$33330/09/2025 
Crowvus ghost Story             4,000£3.00£100.0030/09/2025 
George Garrett Prize 100k$28$200030/09/2025 

And a quick mention for the good people at Chaotic Creators, who have a poetry competition going. Up to 40 lines, deadline 12th September, £10 entry, £50 prize plus publication and a printed copy of the magazine. Theme: autumnal, gothic, horror vibes.

No Plaints

Hurrah! My poem Plaints of the Old Git has won first place in the ‘rhyming poetry’ category of the annual Writers’ Digest competition! The prize is $1,000 plus various other goodies.

I’m not quite sure whether I’m allowed to share the poem here, but if so I will. It consists of three sonnets, with two lines filleted out of the second so as to come within the 40 line limit.

Mirabelle Gin

For the last couple of years I’ve made sloe gin. This year I thought I’d try a batch of mirabelles. So here it is, just needs three months of regular turning.