Tag: competition

August 2024 Competitions

July 22, 2024

A selection of writing competitions with deadlines in August that I might enter.

  • Black Warrior (from the University of Alabama) wants stories up to 6,000 words, by 2 August. Entry is $20 and they say there is a cash prize, but not how much. Let’s hope it’s more than $20.
  • Aurora (from the East Midlands) is back, looking for stories up to 2,000 words: entry is £9 and you can win £500 plus membership of the Society of Authors. Deadline 7 August.
  • Gival wants between 5,000 and 15,000 words: $25 to enter and top prize $1,000. Deadline 9 August.
  • Juxtaprose will take as few as 500 words or as many as 7,000: it’s $15 to enter, you could win $1,000 and the deadline is 11 August.
  • Book Pipeline’s standard deadline is 20 August (pay more for a later entry). They have ten different categories: for literary pieces the word count can be between 40,000 and 120,000. It’s $45 to enter and there’s a prize of $2,500 for each category.
  • The Westerwood competition from the Scottish Association of Writers looks for 2,000 to 3,000 words: £7 entry and a (rather modest?) £100 prize. Enter by 24 August.
  • The Masters Review summer competition is for stories up to 6,000 words long: $20 entry and $3,000 prize. Deadline 25 August.
  • OTP look for 1,000 to 5,000 words: entry is free and if successful you’ll be paid their standard fee. Stories must be on the theme ‘Expertise’ and be submitted by 30 August.

All the rest have that psychologically compelling end-of-the-month deadline (31 August)

  • Publishing Lab want full-length works, either novels or collections. $28 entry and they will give the winner a contract and $10,000 advance.
  • Aesthetica look for up to 2,000 words: £18 to enter and you could win £2,500, an Arvon course and other goodies.
  • NAWG want stories between 500 and 2,000 words: a £5 entry fee gets you the chance of a £200 prize.

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

FreeFall

June 27, 2024

One of my stories has been shortlisted in FreeFall magazine’s annual contest! I’m not allowed to say which one until the judging is complete.

July 2024 Competitions

June 23, 2024

Here again is a look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month (so no poetry or competitions not open to UK writers, for example).

  • With a deadline of 1 July, New American Fiction looks for a full work of various kinds (novel, novella, collection) likely to be at least 100 pages.  Entry $25, top prize $1,500
  • It’s still not quite too late to enter the London Independent (LISP) contest if you are willing to pay the late fee of  £16.50 and get your entry in by 1 July. They want up to 3,000 words and the prize is a mere £100, so honestly not great value for money at this stage.
  • The Goldenberg Prize is offered by the Bellevue Literary Review – entries must be on the themes of health, healing, illness, mind and body, and run to no more than 5,000 words. Entry is $20, top prize $1000, and again you need to be quick because the deadline is 1 July.
  • The Hastings Book Festival wants up to 2,500 words: the entry fee is a weirdly precise £8.25 and top prize just £250. Deadline 7 July.
  • The HG Wells prize this year is for stories on the theme ‘The Fool’, of up to 2,500 words. Entry is £10 and the prize is £500. Deadline 8 July.
  • The Doris Gooderson Prize comes from Wrekin Writers, who say that at least half the profits from their comp will go to the Severn Hospice. They want stories up to 1,200 words, entry is £5 and the top prize is £200, with a deadline of 12 July.
  • Leicester Writes will accept stories up to 3,500 words: entry is £7 and the prize is £200. Enter by 15 July.
  • With the same deadline, the Adrift comp has a word limit of 6,000: entry is $30 and the top prize is $500.
  • Petrichor looks for 100 to 350 pages of finely crafted prose. Entry is $25 and the prize is $1,000.
  • Witcraft looks for short humour of 200-1000 words: $5 to enter with a prize of $250, and like all the rest the deadline is 31 July.
  • My good friends in Norwich are again running the Olga Sinclair Prize: up to 2,000 words on the theme ‘Nature’, £9 entry and £500 prize.
  • And in Munster the prestigious Séan Ó Faoláin prize is for stories up to 3,000 words. Entry is €19 and the first prize is €2,000 plus an invitation to read your piece in Cork, accommodation paid for.
  • Hawk Mountain wants a collection of stories: $20 entry and you could win $1,000 plus publication.
  • The Plaza Literary: First Chapters comp wants the first 5,000 words of your work: entry £20 and a prize of £1,500.

May 2024 Competitions

April 20, 2024

So here I am, back again with a list of competitions I might enter during May. I’ve included ones with a deadline of 30 April, since I didn’t do an April list. Here they are first.

  • F(r)iction wants up to 7,500 words: entry is $10 and first prize $1,000.
  • The Plaza Prizes include a category for short stories up to 5,000 words: £15 to enter and  a prize of £1,000
  • Desperate Literature again offer a prize which besides €2,000 includes a residency and consultation. Up to 2,000 words, €20 to enter.
  • Free Fall takes up to 3,000 words. Entry is CA$25 and top prize CA$500
  • The Ironclad Creative short story competition has the unusual theme of ‘7:12 am’. £7 to enter and the prize is £100.

Moving on into April…

  • The Cheshire novel prize is back – send the first 5,000 words plus a synopsis. It’s a full £29 to enter and the top prize is £1,000, deadline 1 May.
  • With the same deadline the Tom Howard/John H Reid competition offers $3,500. $22 entry and up to 6,000 words are accepted.
  • Letter Review will take up to 5,000 words, you win a share of $1000 and it’s free to enter. Deadline 1 May again.
  • Leapfrog is looking for longer works – minimum 22,000. It’s $35 to enter and your main prize is publication, though all finalists get $150. Enter by 5 May.
  • Another novel competition is the Goldfinch one- again your first 5,000 plus a synopsis are required. £10 to enter, prize £300, deadline 15 May.
  • Lush Triumphant from sub-Terrain looks for 3,000 words, entry $30, prize $1000. Again, the deadline is 15 May.
  • I don’t normally do very short pieces, but the postcard competition from Geist looked interesting. You have to send them a postcard and a 500-word piece which relates to the picture. It’s CA$25 to enter and the prize is $500: deadline 20 May.
  • Do not forget the mighty Bridport competition, with its prize of £5,000. Entry is £14 and the word limit is 5,000. Last year I was shortlisted – so close! The deadline for this one and all the rest is 31 May.
  • MTP want up to 3,000 words. An entry fee of £8 gives you a chance of winning £1,000, and a decent chance of featuring in their chunky annual anthology, which is always named after the winning story.
  • Finally the good old Frome Festival is back. 1,000 to 2,200 words, entry is £6 and the prize £400.

Good luck – if you get anywhere with these, do let me know!

February 2024 Competitions

January 22, 2024

Here once again is a selection of writing competitions I might enter with deadlines in February.

  • The Jim Baen Memorial prize is for positive, realistic  stories about space exploration in the near future. Up to 8,000 words are required, it’s free and the winner gets an award, publication, and 8 cents per word on publication. The deadline is 1 February
  • The Prototype Prize, for UK or Ireland entrants only, seeks a book-length work, especially one at the intersection of literary or artistic forms. It’s free to enter, the deadline is 1 February and you could win £3,000
  • The Porterhouse Review wants stories up to 8,000 words. They should be ‘emotionally affecting, haunting, bizarre, and in firm control of the machinations of storytelling’.$10 to enter, a prize of $750, and again the deadline is 1 February.
  • The Writers and Artists Yearbook want up to 2.000 words and it’s free to enter. You could win a place on an Arvon course and online publication. Stories must be on the theme ‘Risk’ Enter by 12 February
  • The Mary McCarthy prize from Sarabande Press wants 150-200 pages. The entry fee is $29, with the top prize being $2,000 plus publication. The deadline is 15 February.
  • Brink literary journal wants hybrid (or cross-genre) stories – but not avant garde experimental writing. It’s $22 to enter and the deadline is again15 February.
  • The Elmbridge Literary Competition has a theme of ‘Fame’ and a word limit of 1,500. £5 to enter (by 23 February), with a £250 prize.
  • Stringybark needs stories with a link to Australia (but it could be as little as a Vegemite sandwich). Up to 1,500 words: A$15 to enter and a prize of A$500. The deadline is 25 February.

All the rest have a deadline of 29 February.

  • Exeter Writers are back, looking for up to 3,000 words: a £7 entry fee might get you a £700 prize.
  • The Grace Paley competition from AWP looks for 150-300 pages, with an entry fee of $30. The top prize is $5,500, plus publication.
  • Bridge House want up to 5,000 words on the theme ‘Good News’: not really a competition as such but an invitation to submit; still, the selected work will be published and paid royalties.
  • Letter Review is looking for up to 5,000 words for a top prize of $600 ($20 entry fee).
  • NOWW (the Northern Ontario Writers’ Workshop) wants 2,000-3,500 words. It’s $CA10 to enter and top prize is $CA150.
  • The Edinburgh Short Story Award from the Scottish Arts Trust accepts up to 2,000 words: £10 entry and the prize is £3,000.

Good luck – if you get anywhere with these, do let me know!

December 2023 Competitions

November 21, 2023

Rather slim pickings this month for competitions – December always seems to be quiet, especially in the UK. Perhaps everyone is saving their creative energy for really great Christmas cards? Anyway, here we are.

  • The St Louis Writer’s Guild is again offering the stingiest prize: $15 to enter, but the top prize is $50. Maximum 3,000 words and the deadline is 1 December.
  • The Breakwater Review contest, with the same deadline, costs only $10 to enter and offers a decent $1000 prize. You can go up to 4,000 words.
  • The Skobeloff competition is free, but your only prize is publication. They want stories of love and romance up to 5,000 words long, and you’ve got until 10 December.
  • The Masters Review is looking for chapbooks, between 25 and 45 pages. It’s $25 to enter but you could win $3,000 plus 75 copies of your chapbook to give to friends and relatives. (Or use as a sort of taster with novel submissions? Maybe not.) The deadline is 17 December.
  • For the Jacob Zilber prize from Prism magazine you need up to 4,000 words and an entry fee of $35: top prize $1,500, and the deadline is 21 December.

The rest all have deadlines of 31 December, possibly something to fill those empty days between Christmas and New Year.

  • The Letter Review has an entry fee of $20 and a top prize of $5,000: stories up to 5,000 words.
  • Boulevard magazine will take up to 8,000 and charge $18, offering a prize of $1,500.
  • Finally, the Danahy Fiction Prize from the Tampa Review costs $20 to enter with a prize of $1,000. Stories up to 5,000 words.

So ends another year of authorial competition. Merry Christmas!

September 2023 Competitions

August 23, 2023

Here’s my regular look at writing competitions I might enter during the coming month – some interesting ones this time.

  • First, we have one of the most prestigious competitions in the calendar, from Manchester. Up to 2,500 words, £18 to enter and a top prize of £10,000. The deadline is 1 September, so I hope you’ve got something nearly ready.
  • Also among the early ones is On the Premises magazine, which wants stories of 1-5,000 words by 1 September. It’s free to enter and first prize is $250. Stories must be inspired by a picture on the site (of closely packed trees).
  • Also with a deadline of 1 September, is the strange Owl Canyon Hackathon. Teams of two writers collaborate, each given a different final paragraph; they take it in turns to write the preceding 49 paragraphs, trying to steer events towards their own conclusion. The two stories are then split off and judged separately. I think that’s how it works. There may not be enough time to get organised, but the good news is it’s free to enter, with a $2,000 top prize
  • Terrain wants stories up to 5,000 words: entry is $20, the top prize $1,000, and the deadline is 4 September.
  • Juxtaprose wants stories up to 10,000 words: entry is $15, first prize $1,000, and the deadline is 6 September.
  • Publication is the only prize for Horror and Ghost stories of up to 5,000 words, but entry is free The deadline is 10 September.
  • Ovacome wants stories up to 1,500 words:entry is £8 and the prize £250. The contest supports an ovarian cancer charity, but stories need not be related to that. The deadline is 15th.
  • The Silver Apples Redemption prize is for stories rejected by other competitions or publishers. 1,500 to 4,00 words, £10 entry and a prize of £200 – the deadline is 15 September.
  • The Green Stories Project wants stories on the theme of ‘microbes’, highlighting the benefits of Environmental Biotechnology (you may want to watch their video). Stories should be 1000-3000 words and they also want two hundred words explaining the thinking behind the story. It’s free to enter and the prize is £500: enter by 21 September.
  • The annual contest in memory of Dinesh Allirajah is on the theme ‘The Uncanny’ this year. It’s free, the top prize is £500 and length must be 2-7,500 words. The competition closes on 22 September.

All the rest have a deadline of 30 September.

  • SaveAs want stories up to 3,500 words on the theme ‘All In the Mind’. Entry is £4 and the prize £200
  • The annual Hammond House competition is back, with the theme ‘Fate’. Entry is £10, top prize £1,000 and the word count should be between 1,000 and 5,000.
  • Crowvus would like a Christmas ghost story in the good old tradition. Up to 4,000 words, just £3 to enter, and a prize of £100.
  • Then we have Henshaw Press (now run by Hobeck Books) with their regular competition. 2,000 words, £6 to enter, and £200 prize.
  • Galley Beggar Press want up to 6,000 words. It’s $10 to enter and you could win $2,500
  • The Iowa  and John Simmons contest, for collections of stories of at least 150 pages, offers no prize except publication, but is free to enter.
  • Finally, Quagmire magazine’s second competition offers a prize of $350 CAD for stories between 1,000 and 5,000 words on the theme ‘Meaning, Purpose, Existentialism, Absurdism’. Entry is $10 CAD

Good luck if you enter any of these, and do let me know if you get anywhere!